The Westish Harpooners – a F2P Dynasty

[sethisthegoat]

The Westish Harpooners are gearing up for the regular season, currently sitting 26-21 in Spring Training. The Harpooners are a F2P team. In the initial pull, they drew a 1947 Joe Gordon (89), a 2006 Derek Jeter (76), a 2006 Josh Johnson (75) and a 1958 Bill Mazeroski (73).

During the first 2 weeks of Spring Training, the team had a 10-run come-from-behind victory, and free agent pickup Andrew McCutchen hit 3 HR in a single game. These achievements brought an influx of cash – 7,000 PP – that allowed the team to bring in 42 new prospects, including a Diamond Josh Donaldson. Due to the club’s overwhelming riches at 3rd base – a pair of 77s in 2015 Kris Bryant and Live Miguel Andujar – Donaldson was quickly flipped so that the team could bring in yet more prospects. Aside from these 10 combined pack openings, the club has added the following players through free agency (see: Auction House): The aforementioned Live Andrew McCutchen, 1952 LF Hank Sauer and 2000 C Mike Lieberthal. The Harpooners also grabbed 1971 All-Star C Ray Fosse off the waiver wire.

The Harpooners are coached by Westish legend, Henry Skrimshander, the team’s former shortstop. The club is going to ride out the remainder of Spring Training with its current lineup, in the hopes of adding a player or two before the start of the upcoming season.

Roster:
Starting Pitchers:
Jose Berrios, 74, 2019 MLB Twins
Chris Flexen, 68, 2019 MLB Mets
Dick Hughes, 68, 1967 Cardinals
Josh James, 68, 2019 Astros
Josh Johnson, 75, 2006 Marlins

Relief Pitchers:
Matt Grace, 63, 2019 Nationals
Jonathan Holder, 68, 2019 Yankees
Dillon Maples, 62, 2019 Cubs
Jake McGee, 60, 2019 Rockies
Alex Reyes, 59, 2019 Cardinals
Pedro Strop, 71, 2019 Cubs
Ryan Tepera, 68, 2019 Blue Jays

Catchers:
Ray Fosse, 71, 1971 Indians
Mike Lieberthal, 69, 2000 Phillies

Infielders:
Dale Alexander, 68, 1929 Tigers 1B
Joe Gordon, 89, 1947 Indians 2B (DH)
Bill Mazeroski, 73, 1958 Pirates 2B
Miguel Andujar, 77, 2019 Yankees 3B
Kris Bryant, 77, 2015 Cubs 3B
Ozzie Guillen, 61, 1990 White Sox SS
Derek Jeter, 76, 2006 Yankees SS

Outfielders:
Andrew McCutchen, 78, 2019 Phillies LF
Hank Sauer, 79, 1952 Cubs LF
Clyde Milan, 66, 1912 Senators CF
Chuck Klein, 79, 1929 Phillies

I’m pasting the current team leaders below. Will update with any player changes prior to the start of the season, then will update every couple of days.

[sethisthegoat]

As Spring Training comes to a close the Westish Harpooners have amassed a record of 72-58, which is good enough for 9th place in the Pool. (The 1st place team is 35.5 games again...they're the Bronx Bombers and loaded with a lot of Perfect and Diamond cards...)

Anyway, head coach Henry Skrimshander is really impressed with the team's overall performance in the pre-season. The team is led at the plate by first baseman Dale Alexander, a member of the 1929 Detroit Tigers. He's hitting .332 with a .975 OPS, 23 HRs and 69 RBI in 101 games. Josh Johnson is the team's current ace, with 12 wins and 7 losses in 29 games, tossing a 3.83 ERA with a 1.37 WHIP.

Skrimshander announced a special tryout for the team, as they're inviting 18 players to try out for the team, made possible in-part by strong individual performances from Andrew McCutchen and the team's recent 7-run come-from-behind victory.

The first batch of tryouts could build some depth in the farm system, but may not crack the majors. This class was led by Nick Markakis (68), Howie Kendrick (64) and historical all star Steve Blass (60).

The second batch of tryouts fared slightly better, with Giants reliever Sam Dyson (68) getting a shot to crack the main team. 2010 Yankee starter Phil Hughes (65) may also get a shot on the team, possibly as a long reliever.

The final group was led by Indians' reliever Dan Otero (69). 1957 Yankees' closer Bob Grim (62) and 1999 Mets' shortstop Rey Ordonez (60) will also each get a look.

After team evaluation, Sam Dyson and Dan Otero are the only players who made the team for the beginning of the season. It was a close call with Rey Ordonez, considering his superior defense, but Ozzie Guillen's slightly better offense make him a better fit as a back-up SS to Derek Jeter.

The Harpooners' opening day roster will look like this:

[sethisthegoat]

Through the first month of the I206 season, the Westish Harpooners are leading their division with a 15-11 record, 2.5 games up on 2nd place. The club sits in 9th place overall, 1 game back from a Promotion spot at this time.

"We've been really excited about the start of the season," Manager Henry Skrimshander said. "We're hitting the snot out of the ball."

It's true...the team is in the top 3 in the conference in every offensive category except for steals. Leadoff man CF Clyde Milan (1912 Washington) has a .343/.384/.410 line and has stolen 11 bases in 13 attempts.1929 RF Chuck Klein has a .330/.384/.495 hitting from the 3-spot.

It's from the mound that things get a bit more problematic. Supposed ace "Rookie Sensation" Josh Johnson has been dreadful, going 1-5 with an 8.02 ERA in his 7 games. His WHIP is at 1.96. The only possibly encouraging thing about his statline is his .412 BABIP, which surely has to improve...right???

Fellow Starter Jose Berrios is leading the team with a 4-1 record and 2.95 ERA, and a 1.2 WHIP. His BABIP is at .278. Closer Pedro Strop has 6 saves in his 8 appearances with a 0 ERA and .68 WHIP in 7.1 innings.

As a team, the Harpooners rank 10th in Runs against and Starters ERA, 7th in FIP, Pitching WAR and Strikeouts; 11th in Defensive Efficiency and Errors, and has a Zone Rating of -4.9, which is good enough for just 15th in the conference. (Last I checked...there are 15 teams in the conference. Eek!)

There's still a long, long way to go in the season. In the meantime, the team is holding pat. If the current trends continue through month 2, they'll be looking for some pitching and defense through free agency.

[sethisthegoat]

The Harpooners' season continues with its upward momentum, as the club sits at 34-20 atop its division, and 3 games ahead in the Promotion standings. In mid-May, the club did add defensive specialist 2007 Troy Tulowitzki at SS in the hopes of bolstering a league-worst defense. The club is now 12th in Zone Rating and 11th errors. Tulowitzki is hitting just .175, but the team still leads the conference in BA.

[sethisthegoat]

Realizing I need some lefty bats and pitching...

[sethisthegoat]

The Westish Harpooners had four players selected to the All-Star game: Starting pitcher Jose Berrios and his 12-5 record, 3.52 ERA; closer Pedro Strop with his 26 saves and 1.26 ERA; Catcher Mike Lieberthal, hitting .279/.337/.474; and CF Clyde Milan, hitting .329/.386/.384 with 37 stolen bases and a 4.1 WAR.

As a team, the Harpooners are 65-42 and leading their division by 7.5 games. However, they've gone 5-5 in their last 10. Here's hoping for a good month of August!

[sethisthegoat]

Things are tightening up for the Westish Harpooners. They just snapped a 7-game losing streak that leaves them with a 68-50 record, 3.5 games up in the division. The streak included 3 straight losses to second-place Tacoma.

In a bid toward bettering their playoff chances, the club brought in left fielder Michael Brantley (live, rated 74) for the struggling Andrew McCutchen. Brantley was obtained through a recent pack-opening tryout.

The club is still struggling mightily with starting pitching, as Jose Berrios has cooled off. Berrios hasn't won since June 30. It's now Aug. 18, and he's lost 4 of his 8 starts since the end of June. Ben Lively, who was added at the end of June, has only won once, compared to 4 losses, in his 9 starts.

The entire team has cooled off, as the team's front office seeks to address the slide. Ben Lively is being demoted, and Rookie Sensation Tom Seaver (74) has been brought on board to help bolster a struggling staff as we head toward the end of the season.

[sethisthegoat]

And then there was this:

[sethisthegoat]

A huge outing by Josh James in relief (4Ks in 1 inning) allowed, allows the Harpooners to add a new arm to the starting rotation as our push for the playoffs revs up in high gear. Future Legend Ian Anderson (85), of the Braves, is joining the starting rotation, replacing 1967 one hit wonder Dick Hughes (68), who was 8-10 on the season with a 4.80 ERA. This complete's the team's makeover of its starting rotation, having added Jose Quintana and 1967 Tom Seaver to the rotation during the month of August. Seaver's 3-1 with a 1.59 ERA in his 4 starts, while, Quintana is 1-0 with a 2.40 ERA in 2 starts.

The club sits at 78-57, 3 games ahead in the division.

[sethisthegoat]

The Harpooners had a tremendous finish to the season, ending 95-67 and winning a hyper-competitive division. The NC's two wildcards are both coming from the West Division. The Harpooners will face the Holbrook Hammers in their first round game. The Hammers are led at the plate by 1980 Brewer All-Star Cecil Cooper, who hit .317/.339/.474 with a 4.3 WAR. The team's pitching Ace is Claude Passeau, from 1943, who was 15-11 with a 3.18 ERA. The Hammers have a really good defense, while their offense rated middle-of-the-pack in the conference.

On the Harpooners' side, leadoff man Clyde Milan nabbed the NC batting title with a .326 average, swiping 50 stolen bases on top of that and with a 5.9 WAR. Jose Berrios led the pitching staff with a 16-10 record and 3.26 ERA, however late-season additions Jose Quintana, Ian Anderson and Tom Seaver (74 version) were a combined 13-5 in their starts.

In the postseason, the squad will switch to a 4-man rotation and will move Josh Johnson to the bullpen as a long reliever.

[sethisthegoat]

The Harpooners took their opponents to the limit, but couldn't pull out the win in the end, falling 3 games to 2 in the Division round.

The Harpooners did, however, secure Promotion. They have 2,750 PP to fine tune their roster for the Bronze League. Club manager Henry Skrimshander plans to bring 2 groups of 6 in for tryouts to see who sticks.

"It was a tough way to end the year, but we are excited for new challenges in a new league next year," he said.

[sethisthegoat]

Thanks to reliever of the year Pedro Strop and the team's productive season of a season score of over 1,000, Westish was able to bring in 24 players for tryouts to start the new year. Here are the players they brought in, followed by Opening Day Rosters, as the team prepares for its Bronze League Debut.

Group 1: Jonathan Lucroy (64), Kyle Wright (49), Jesus Sucre (51), Joe Connor (53), Javier Guerra (42), Pablo Reyes (59). All Live. All duds.

Group 2: 1997 Angels all-star Jason Dickson (60), Yolmer Sanchez (62), Tommy La Stella (59), Ben Taylor (59), Adam Engel (52), Brandon Dixon (58). This tryout session isn't going well so far.

Group 3: Austin Dean (58), Eric Stamets (49), Trent Thornton (59), Austin Voth (59), Tyler Thornburg (48), Jacob Rhame (60). Ugh.

Group 4: Ryder Jones (54), Joey Krehbiel (61), Aaron Brooks (55), 2001 Hardware Hero Fernando Vina (62), 1980 Hardware Hero Steve Stone (68) and 2014 All Star Michael Brantley (77).

The 2014 edition of Michael Brantley will replace the Live edition, though they are quite similar.

Aside from this addition, the Bronze Opening Day Rosters will look much the same as the Harpooners' Playoff Roster.

We are in Bronze 226

[sethisthegoat]

Harpooners end their first month in Bronze with a 10-15 record. The team is bad everywhere except for in the Pen. Ian Anderson has the team's best ERA for a starter at 4.31. Offensively, only 2 batters are currently swatting +.300, while 5 starters are .256 or worse, and backup catcher Mike Lieberthal is a miserable 2 for 21 in his 7 games.

On the plus side, the team has earned 1,510 PP. There are a few enticing players, but team management has decided to hold off in hopes of going after a bigger fish later in the week.

We'll know more when we get to June about just which path the Harpooners are following.

[sethisthegoat]

The Westish Harpooners improved in the month of May enough to bring their record to .500, at 26-26, sitting just 3 games back in the division...and 4 games back in the wildcard.

The club acquired Silver Historical All-Star 1B Cecil Cooper (76) to take over for the struggling Dale Alexander (68). Dale was hitting a very respectable .286 in his 35 games, but wasn't doing much else. In Cooper's 16 games, he's slashing .318/.343/.576 with 8 doubles, 3 HR and 9 RBI, compared to Alesander's 11 doubles, 1 HR and 7 RBI in twice as many games. Cooper also has 4 steals to his name.

Ian Anderson is starting to turn things around. In his last 3 games, he is 2-0 with a .42 ERA and 22K in 21.1 IP. Josh Johnson's last 2 have seen him go 1-1 with a 1.29 ERA.

Mike Lieberthal is hitting .375 with 2 HR and 7 RBI in his most recent 8 games.

On the flipside, it might be time to drop Sam Dyson to the reserves. In 16 outings this year, he's 1-3 with a 9.18 ERA and nearly a 2.0 WHIP, with 8.1 BB/9. The club is actively seeking out a replacement reliever, however with only 470 PP, the pickings are slim right now.

[sethisthegoat]

It's been a heckuva summer for the Harpooners. They sit at 59-47, 5.5 games ahead in the division. They are 1 game shy of a promotion spot currently, and have 3,795 PP waiting to be spent. RF Adam Eaton could be on the way to the team shortly, but they've not added anyone since RP Greg Holland in April.

They have a 1,000 bid for Eaton that ends in 40 minutes...if they don't get him, then it's back to the auction house.

[sethisthegoat]

Well, Adam Eaton didn't work out. Instead, the Harpooners have now acquired Unsung Hero RF Shane Victorino (79) His hitting will hopefully offer a slight improvement, but his defense is why the team nabbed him. Victorino is a 105 in Right Field, which is a major upgrade from Chuck Klein's 42.

Klein is now moved to DH, thanks to his 73 Contact, 71 Gap Power and 82 HR power. Klein's hitting .285/.348/.582 on the season with 32 HR and 79 RBI so far. He's leading the entire league in HR.

LF Hank Sauer, who had been hitting DH, was dropped to the minors. He has hit just .229/.296/.386 on the season.

Westish has won 4 consecutive and is leading the division by 9 games. They are in the Promotion spot by a half game currently, though manager Henry Skrimshander is more focused on pushing toward the playoffs and finishing the season strongly than moving up to a Silver League this year.

Westish will find out toward the end of the month whether negotiations to bring 1951 SS Al Dark to the team will pay off. Current SS Troy Tulowitzki has great defense, but just isn't hitting the ball well at all. If Dark comes to the team, Tulowitzki will be kept for his D in late-game situations, while Derek Jeter will be dropped.

[sethisthegoat]

Someone outbid us on Al Dark (we'd committed up to 4,500 PP on a card that averages 3,000) so we've switched gears and have decided to upgrade the catcher position.

Good bye Ray Fosse (71), hello 1938 all-star Reds Catcher, Ernie Lombardi. A 75/62/66/40/90 hitter, and a 70 catcher, overall 87.

[sethisthegoat]

For the second consecutive season, the Westish Harpooners win a division and will be promoted a level.

Their prize? The 94-win Harpooners will take on the 101-win Dayton Dragons in the Divisional Round. The Dragons have the best pitching staff in the conference...

[sethisthegoat]

The Westish Harpooners lose in 5 games to Dayton, but look forward to next season.

They are adding a new arm to the rotation for next season in the Silver League: 1953 Rookie Sensation Left-handed SP Harvey Haddix (85) from the St. Louis Cardinals. He's taking Rookie Sensation Tom Seaver's place. This is the only upgrade planned prior to the start of the team's silver campaign.

[sethisthegoat]

The Harpooners are in Silver 281 this season. In addition to adding Harvey Haddix to the starting rotation, the club signed a new closer, and sent Alex Reyes to the minors.

Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Jose Alvarado will take over closing duties for Pedro Strop, who will slide into a setup role.

Starter Jose Quintana is now rated as an 80, making him a likely candidate to move at some point this year as the team looks to further retool.