The Westish Harpooners – a F2P Dynasty

[gemini615]

Cool deal, congrats!

[sethisthegoat]

Originally Posted by gemini615

Cool deal, congrats!

Thanks! Obviously I'd love to get a championship with my Cleveland team...but getting a championship with a F2P team (while my P2P team in Diamond hasn't gotten a title yet, and I think has reached the championship series just once) feels pretty good. I realize that by the playoffs things get a lot more random...but still.

Also...winning a championship and getting promoted should bring a little more PP...

[sethisthegoat]

The Harpooners are off to a 4-4 start in the Gold League, 1 game back in the division. Only updating now because we've pulled the trigger on an upgrade at Right Field, sending Shane Victorino to the minors.

We spent 3,400 PP on 1955 All-Star RF Al Kaline, of Detroit Tigers' Fame.

Kaline comes to us with base batting stats of 82/59/75/54/53 and RF defense at 62 (which, yes, is a step back from Victorino's great D, but still respectable and perfectly fine at RF).

Kaline has only played in 1 game so far, a loss. But in the game he went 2-for-3.

Victorino was a heckuva fielder, notching 3 straight Great Gloves in RF, and a lifetime +111.1 Zone Rating across 3 seasons.

From the plate, he was a lifetime .269/.303/.397 for the team. This wasn't a move because Victorino was bad, exactly, but felt necessary as the Harpooners face fiercer competition.

Current PP: 1,712

[sethisthegoat]

Record: 15-11, 2 GB, 3rd Place
Current PP: 422
Acquisition: We signed 1957 All-Star SP Jack Sanford (86) in mid-April. In 2 games started, he's 1-1 with a 4.72 ERA in 13.1 IP.

Jose Quintana is now pitching in relief and Jose Berrios was sent to the reserves.

Who's Hot?
Willie Stargell: 6 G, 7 for 20, 2 HR, 3 RBI
Fernando Valenzuela: 3 G, 3-0, 1.52 ERA

[sethisthegoat]

Record: 54-53, 9.5 GB in the division, 2 GB in wildcard

Harpoonders are near the bottom in nearly every offensive category, except 8th in AVG w/ .254, 9th in HR with 102, and 2nd in Stolen Bases with 104.

Defense and pitching is better, with the team in the top 3 in strikeouts, efficiency, zone rating and errors, but 10th in starter ERA and 5th in bullpen ERA.

Who's hot?
Ian Anderson: 6 G, 3-0, 1.50 ERA (9-7, 3.48 ERA overall)
Jose Quintana: 9 G, 2-0, 0.92 ERA, 19 K in 19.2 IP
Fernando Valenzuela: 2 G, 1-0, 1.80 ERA (11-8, 3.15 ERA overall)

New signee Jack Sanford is 5-7 with a 4.82 ERA overall.

Garry Maddox leads in AVG. again, but just has a .296. Willie Stargell is hitting .226 with 20 HR.

Jose Alvarado was the team's lone all star, with 24 saves and a 1.41 ERA, and a K/9 of 12.2.

[sethisthegoat]

The Harpooners are sitting at 68-65, in a 3-way tie for 2nd place in the division and the 2nd wildcard spot.

It's been a great year for Westish's 1st year in Gold, though there are many positions for improvement: Harvey Haddix is 5-18 with a 5.42 ERA; DH Willie Stargell is hitting just .220, with 25 HR; 1B Cecil Cooper is hitting just .252; and Troy Tulowitzki is hitting .233 (but with great defense).

Ian Anderson is 12-8 with a 3.35 record on the season, and 6-1 with a 2.21 ERA in his last 12 games.

Westish has 2,432 PP currently.

[sethisthegoat]

The Harpooners finished with an 83-79 record in their first season in Gold, good for 3rd place in the division and 2 games shy of the Wildcard.

As the season has ended, the team immediately placed Willie Stargell up for auction, hoping for an influx of cash prior to next season starting.

The club has also added Future Legend 1B Pete Alonso (86), who will replace Historical All-Star Cecil Cooper (76) in the starting lineup next season.

The 1980 Cooper has been a solid starter since partway through the Harpooners' Bronze season in 2022. In 4 full seasons, he played in at least 154 games each year, including 160 this season. His lifetime average with the club is .256, with 108 HR and a lifetime 10.6 WAR. Defensively, Cooper has never shown a ton of range, though he's been pretty efficient as a first baseman.

In his actual career, Cooper hit .352 in 1989, with 25 HR and 122 RBI. He was a lifetime .298 hitter, with 241 career HR in 17 seasons split between Boston and Milwaukee.

The Harpooners hope Alonso makes a positive impact on the team, and hopes to add 1 more piece before next season begins.

[sethisthegoat]

Westish is in Gold 329 this season. In addition to adding Pete Alonso at 1B, the team has added two more outfielders to the squad: 1979 Hardware Hero Sixto Lezcano (88) and 1953 All-Star Carl Furillo (85). Lezcano will become the team's starting DH, while Furillo will train at LF.

Adalberto Mondesi, will continue to be the utility defender, splitting time at every position in the field.

This is the team's second season in Gold. This season, as we give updates, we'll also go a little more in-depth about different players/cards, looking at some history of the game, starting with the next update.

[sethisthegoat]

Record: 12-14, 2 GB in the division and wildcard
Offensive Rankings: Near the bottom in everything except 5th in home runs
Defensive/pitching ratings: 8th-13th in everything except Ks, Efficiency (both 6th) and Zone Rating (3rd).

Here's hoping the stats can turn around a little. We've won 5 straight games to come into the beginning of May.

RF Al Kaline (86) is hitting .340; newcomer DH Sixto Lezcano is hitting .304 and leading with 5 HR; fellow newcomer Pete Alonso (86) is hitting just .209, but with 4 HR.

Jack Sanford has a rotation-leading 2.84 ERA, but is sitting at just 1-3.

I said in the last post that I would start profiling players each update. Today's update is Garry Maddox, specifically the 1976 Unsung Hero card with the Phillies, rated 87. He's been a favorite card of mine since I grabbed him, and this is his 4th season with Westish.

Card ratings:
Contact/Gap/Power/Eye/K's:
81/85/23/35/54

Speed/Stealing/Baserunning
77/82/67

Defense:
Range/Error/Arm: 100/67/41
LF/CF/RF: 33/103/79 (a previous owner spent some time training him at LF. I basically just play him at RF:

Won't dive into his specific stats too much with me, but he's hit above .300 each full season with me, and has had WAR of 9.2, 9.5 and 7.3 in the past 3 seasons (2 in Silver, 1 in Gold)

In fielding, over his 7+ total season with 2 teams, he's a +192.1 in Zone Rating at CF. 17 total errors in 2,591 chances, and has 9 Double Plays.

Over his 3 seasons with Westish, the card has been Player of the Week twice; MVP once, Great Glove 3 times and All-Star twice.

In real life, Maddox hit .330/.377/.456 in 1976, with 37 doubles and 6 triples. He stole 29 bases, and was caught 12 times. Lifetime, over parts of 15 years with Philly and San Francisco, Maddox hit .285/.320/.413 with 1,801 total hits. 1976 was his best statistical season. His nickname was the "Secretary of Defense," with a fielding percentage of .983 for his career, and 77 total errors in 4,556 chances.

Maddox was born in 1949 in Cincinnati, and debuted for the San Francisco Giants in 1972, retiring as a Philly in 1986. Garry served in the Army during Vietnam.

Maddox was traded on May 4, 1975, to the Phillies for 1B Willie Montanez. This is the season that Maddox won his first Gold Glove, going on to win 8 consecutive Gold Gloves. The following quote was written by Bill Conlin: "Two-thirds of the Earth is covered by water, the other one-third by Bill Maddox."

Maddox helped lead the Phillies to a World Series in 1980, and a runner-up finish in 1983.

[sethisthegoat]

Record: 27-26, 4.5 GB in division, 2.5 GB wildcard
Offensive rankings: 3-6 in everything except OBP (10), Base Running (9)
Defensive/pitching: 10-13 in everything except Efficiency and Zone (5 & 6)

Rookie Sensation Pete Alonso was POTM in May with a .370 average, 9 HR and 29 RBI for the month. He's .277, 11 HR and 38 RBI overall.

RF Al Kaline leads the team with a .328 average, followed by Sixto Lezcano at .324. Historical All-Star Manny Machado is hitting just .241, but has 10 HR.

Rookie Sensation Harvey Haddix is the only starting pitcher with a sub-4.00 ERA, at 3.44. He's 5-4 on the season.

Harvey Haddix profile:
This is Harvey's 5th season with Westish, 3 in Silver and now 2 in Gold. Lifetime record is 57-61, with a 4.29 ERA and 727 Ks in 953 IP.

IRL, Haddix played for St. Louis, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Baltimore over parts of 13 seasons. In his rookie year in 1953, he was 20-9 with 1 save in 36 total games, with a 3.06 ERA. It was his highest win total in his career, which capped off with 136 total wins.

Known as "Kitten," the lefty once pitched 12 perfect innings as a Pirate against the Milwaukee Braves in 1959. The team lost the game in 13, but he still owns the Major League record for most consecutive batters retired in 1 game at 36.

He won 1 World Series as a player, winning game 7 of the 1960 World Series on the Pirates.

[Magus978]

I've always been wary of the Haddix cards...the low movement makes him easy fodder for home runs

That said, I'm glad he's doing well for you.

[sethisthegoat]

Originally Posted by Magus978

I've always been wary of the Haddix cards...the low movement makes him easy fodder for home runs

That said, I'm glad he's doing well for you.

Yeah, he was pretty awful last season. 9-18.

[sethisthegoat]

Westish's middling season continues, as the club is now 40-41 midway through the year, 6.5 games back from the division.

One issue the team has (which was, sadly, overlooked by management previously) is that every batter except 1 (backup 1B Cecil Cooper) is right-handed. The team has a losing record vs. right-handed pitchers, but is 16-9 vs. lefties. This is an issue that will be addressed moving forward, however it could take a while.

Westish is led in batting average by Al Kaline (.321), Sixto Lezcano (.311) and Carl Furillo (.282), and home runs by Lezcano (13), Manny Machado (13) and Pete Alonso (11).

Harvey Haddix leads in ERA (3.55), wins (8) and strikeouts (110), while Jose Alvarado out of the 'pen has 17 saves and a 2.00 ERA.

[sethisthegoat]

Westish's 1st season up in Gold came to an end before the playoffs, as squad finished 79-83, a full 14 games back and in 4th place in the division. The team was very much in the middle of most statistical categories.

As the season came to an end, Westish has signed All Star 1975 3B Ron Cey, of the Dodgers. Rated a 90, he will replace All Star Manny Machado in the starting lineup, and will knock Rookie Kris Bryant to the reserve roster. Cey is a good defensive option (78), with solid across-the-board offensive numbers, if nothing spectacular (61/64/76/53/45).

The next order of business as the team moves forward will be to improve starting pitching. Harvey Haddix led the team with a 14-13 record and a 3.77 ERA.

PP status: 896

[sethisthegoat]

Year 2 in Gold appears to be much more of the same for the Westish Harpooners.

After 1 month, we sit at 12-13 and 5.5 games back in the division, and a half game back in the wildcard.

There are some things to be happy with: The team is 5th in average and batting WAR, and 3rd in Home Runs and Stolen Bases. Adalberto Mondesi (who stole home in a recent game) already has 19 SBs on the season.

The ERA is high again, with starters at 4.88. Defensively, the team's +5.8 Zone Rating is good for 2nd best.

Top performers:
Mondesi: Slashing .240/.275/.433 with 5 HR and the 19 SB is a great start, and he's on pace for a 5.5 WAR. Defensively, he's at +1.1 in his Left Field position.
Al Dark: Slashing .367/.394/.578 with 4 HR and 17 RBI, already at a 1.5 WAR and on pace for 9.8. He's also at a +2.5 Zone Rating at 2nd Base, looking to follow up on his Great Glove Award from a season ago.
Ron Cey: New to the team this season, Cey is slashing .293/.305/.489 with 4 HR and 13 RBI.
Lance McCullers Jr.: 1-1 with a 3.21 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP in 4 starts.

Westish has a long way to go, and is seeking out upgrades to the pitching staff.

Available PP: 2,556

[sethisthegoat]

Record: 37-42, 4.5 games back (snapped a 6-game losing streak on July 1)
Best Achievement: May 31, 2028: Turning Two - 5 double plays vs. Niigata Nigiri

Rankings:
Runs Scored: 14th
OBP: 15th
Stolen Bases: 4th

Runs against: 3rd
Starter ERA: 3rd
Bullpen ERA: 8th
Def. Efficiency: 2nd
Zone Rating: 1st

This is a league where there are a lot of runs being scored, and the Westish Harpooner bats are just not keeping up.

Ernie Lombardi leads in Batting Average with a .295, while Troy Tulowitzki is scraping the bottom of the barrel with a .193 average.

Who's hot?
Cecil Cooper (backup 1B): 8 for 20 in the last 18 appearances, hitting .347 overall. Starting 1B Pete Alonso is hitting just .223 with 8 HR.
Al Dark: 10 for 20 in the last 5 games with 2 HR, our star 2B is slashing .287/.316/.441 with 17 doubles and 9 HR, on pace for about a 5.0 WAR.
Adalberto Mondesi: 9 for 26 in his last 7 games, with 3 HR. Overall, Mondesy is slashing .262/.289/.482 with 9 2B, 9 3B, 13 HR and 49 SB, good enough for 2nd place in the league (behind another Mondesi, and ahead of 4 more Mondesis...)

Who's not?
Al Kaline has fallen off dramatically in this 3rd Gold League season, hitting just .232/.298/.371 with 10 HR. He's also a negative defender.

In the pitching staff, Jack Sanford is 6-7 with a 3.93 RA, and Lance McCullers Jr. is 6-4 with a 3.87 ERA. Closer Jose Alvarado has 22 Saves and a 2.84 ERA, while setup man Kirby Yates has a 1.05 ERA in 34.1 IP, and a 0.84 WHIP.

Westish is sitting on 3,936 PP right now, looking at many upgrade options.

[sethisthegoat]

The Westish Harpooners sit at 81-71, 3.5 games back in the division and 1.5 games ahead in the 2nd wildcard spot, with a Magic number of 10 and a 74% chance to make the playoffs.

The club added Live 3rd baseman Justin Turner (97) to the roster as a platoon with offseason acquisition Ron Cey. We are also toying with moving him over to 1B to start in place of Future Legend Pete Alonso, which may be the long-term move.

In 15 games at 3rd, Turner is slashing .316/.371/.491, while Cey for the season has .264/.298/.452 with 23 HR. Alonso's hitting just .231 with 13 HR, and All Star Manny Machado has started playing some at 1st, and is hitting .265/.333/.503 in a backup role for the season.

Jack Sanford leads all starters with a 3.17 ERA and a 14-12 record. Fernando Valenzuela is 15-8 with a 4.09 ERA, and Jose Alvarado has notched 40 saves.

The team still struggles to score, but pitching and defense lead the way, as Westish has the top defensive efficiency and zone rating in the conference.

Al Dark has been the player of the year for the club, slashing .301/.335/.483 with 38 doubles, 1 triple, 20 HR and 73 RBI, on pace for a 5.9 WAR. Defensively, he's sitting at a .993 fielding percentage, a 4.73 Range Factor and a +11.6 Zone Rating.

Go Harpooners!

Sitting at 1,599 PP

[sethisthegoat]

Have been on IRL vacation this week. But Westish is back in the Playoffs with a 97-win season!

The only addition we've made this season is RHP Historical All-Star Closer Trevor Rosenthal (91).

[sethisthegoat]

With an 85-win season, we didn't expect a deep playoff run, but we're here!