Fixing the Pirates 1993-????

Trebro · 05-19-2014, 05:36 PM

I decided to try my hand at seeing if I could get the Pirates to 82 wins before 2013. Follow along as I try to do so. I'm set to "can't be fired" for this purpose, because I strongly suspect it might take a few years to do so. Trading is set to hard and while I have ratings on, overall player quality ratings are off.

Once I have more stats, I plan to start shutting off other ratings, too, but right now, there are too many guys with no stats to look at.

I gave myself full minors and allowed league evolution, so that the division changes and wild cards show up as per usual. If I end up getting to 2014, it means I failed, but at that point, I would turn evolution off.

I'm changing nothing else. Which means if the owner sucks, if the attendance sucks, if a good player gets a career-ender, well, that's how it goes.

No need to delay things beyond that! Let's start off by looking at the situation of my team:

Overall, this team is older than it should be for a rebuild. The historical Pirates let players such as Andy Van Slyke walk as free agents rather than aggressively trade the parts of a no-longer contender to build a new winner. Patching up bad teams was the Bonifay-Littlefield way, and it killed the Pirates' chances to win more than anything else.

So my first goal is going to be upping scouting and development, and removing managers who don't have the skills.

Second, I need to identify who can leave, no matter how talented. I'm perfectly okay with losing 100 games for while. The only hold on that is if the player is popular, I'm unlikely to trade them, just because I can't afford an attendance hit.

Looking at goal one, I see I need:

A new ML Bench Coach
A new AAA Pitching Coach
A new AA Manager
A new AA Pitching Coach
A new AA Hitting Coach
A new A Manager
A new A Pitching Coach
A new Short-A Pitching Coach

The rest were at least "decent" which I'd prefer to replace, but let's start here. I've immediately set up offers for all of these positions, paying a bit over asking price to try to get my first choice in each case.

Goal number two is trickier. I'd really like to send Van Slyke packing, but he's also the team's most popular player. Here's a rundown of who I am looking to trade:

SP Zane Smith, $1.7 Million and 32. Good player, but not going to help a team ranked 22nd by the computer.
LF Lonnie Smith, $1.6 Million and 37. This is going to be a pure salary dump, most likely.
C Don Slaught, $1.3 Million and 34. Like Smith, a guy who you want to have but not when you're rebuilding.
SP Bob Walk, 750K and 36. Could be a good fit for a team needing a 5th SP. Hate to send 12 year old me's favorite out.
OF Dave Clark, 700K and 30. Way overpaid for what he does.
C Tom Prince, 375K and 28. Can get a rookie to be the backup C.
RP John Candelaria 375K and 39. More dead weight.
IF Tom Foley, 300K and 34. Pirate team has too many of these crappy guys.

Zane Smith and Slaught should get something back. Walk and Prince might fetch a bit. The others are addition by subtraction. That money can be used to either take on some salary in the trades or handle the increase in the scouting and development budgets.

Next, a look at the 40-man after my projected moves. Trust me, it's not pretty.

Trebro · 05-20-2014, 01:28 PM

Now for a position run down based on the 40 man taking out those I'd like to trade. These are the folks who will make up the probably-gonna-be-awful 1993 Pirates:

Catchers:

Mike LaValliere will likely start. He should hit about .260 with a few HR and enough walks to get him to .350 OBP.
If he can't be traded, Tom Prince will backup LaValliere.

First Base:

Orlando Merced will get a chance here, but his .250 average and only about 10 HR won't get a long rope.
Kevin Young and Jeff King will back up first. Neither has much track record at this point.

Second Base:

Oh God, what a mess.
This has to be an area of focus for trading/drafting. No one here looks good. If I want to get this team to .500, I need a second baseman from outside the organization.

Carlos Garcia has done nothing (.205)in limited time.
King has slightly better stats, but is woeful at 2nd.
Claudio Rivera is 34.

Shortstop:

Jay Bell is only 27, and is on a reasonable deal at 1.3 Million. He needs a backup, because...
Tom Foley is overpriced and...
Tony Womack can't really play short.

Third Base:

Jeff King had 14 HR in 1992, giving him the edge here. We'll see how that goes.
John Wehner, the local kid, is the super-sub, with 3b his primary backup. His average is pitiful.

Outfield:

Al Martin will prowl left field. He has some pop in his bat, but sucks to be him to replace Barry Bonds. His defense is foul, so this is a short-term deal at best.
Andy Van Slyke will hold down center. If he can hit .280 and hit about 15 HR, I'll live with it. As I mentioned, his popularity is so high, it's hard to let him go.
Right field is open. Glenn Wilson, who is old enough at 34 that I'd like to move him, will probably start.
Midre Cummings and Scott Bullet, neither of whom have much going, will likely fight it out as backups.

Starting Pitching:

Not a great staff, once Smith is removed. Most are too young to have a proven track record. That could be good or bad. They're all cheap, so I'll give them time to see who should stay and who should go.

Steve Cooke is young and has potential. He did well in limited 1992 action. My scout likes him best.
Paul Wagner is a bit older, but is of similar stuff. Would make a decent #4, but will have to do higher duty for me.
Denny Neagle has 6 pitches, none of which are superior.
Tim Wakefield is a knuckleballer that could surprise, or could be terrible.
Randy Tomlin is the vet after my planned moves at 26. He is the very definition of 5th starter. Ironically, while not the most talented, he's the one I can count on.

Relief Pitching:

The top of the bullpen is lead by Stan Belinda and Blas Minor. Both have very good stuff. They might get moved in the right deal, just because who needs two good relievers on a team headed for a losing year?
From there, there's nothing. Hangers-on or players wih no experience. Not even worth listing them out.

Overall, this is a really bad team going nowhere fast. It's time to blow it up, because AAA has nothing in the offering. My only hope is that Slaught, Smith, Walk and company can get me some pieces that will help balance the scales.

Next up: My first trades!

Spud Eating Buccos · 05-20-2014, 02:06 PM

As a lifelong Pirates fan, who has suffered through those 20 years of losing, I'll be reading along. Hope you can right the ship quicker than IRL. Good luck! I have a feeling you'll need it!!

Trebro · 05-21-2014, 01:52 PM

Let's see what trades we can make before Spring Training starts:

C Don Slaught and CF Leroy Cox to the Mets for SP Bobby J Jones and MR Craig Warren.

This saves me $1.2 million right off the bat and gives me Jones, who can compete for a starting spot or be ready at AAA, where the talent is bare. Warren has potential, but given his age, he'll start in the minors and go from there. Builds my depth, which is part of the plan.

SP Zane Smith and SP Jeff Ballard to the Angels for 2B Damian Easley and 1B JT Snow

This saves me Smith's $1.7 million right off the bat, gets me a second baseman, and gives me a first baseman with pop, making Merced expendable. This is as close to a signature trade as I am going to get. I was extremely happy with this deal, because second was a black hole.

OF Lonnie Smith to Texas for 2B Don Joseph

Happy to get anything for Smith. Joseph is unlikely to be much, but has some pop in his bat and is only 18. Plus I get Smith's $$ back into my pool.

None of the others drew any interest. It won't kill me to keep them. The lack of offers shows me just how awful this team is, frankly. Prince will in fact be the backup catcher, I'll try to find something useful to do with Walk, and having some veterans sprinkled in won't be the worst thing in the world. Plus, I might be able to trade them later.

Philadelphia dangles OF Wes Chamberlin for SP Tim Wakefield. Tempting, but I opted to pass. I kinda wanna see how these mid-20s SP do for me before I start moving anyone out.

On to Spring Training!

Trebro · 05-22-2014, 01:02 PM

1993 Spring Training:

After getting a nice look at some players, the team shaped up well. It even had a winning record in Spring Training, not that that means much, at 17-11, tops of the NL East teams. I don't expect us to do that well, but I'm also feeling a lot less negative about this bunch than I was when I first looked at the roster. "That's why they play the game out," as the saying goes.

I cut a bunch of over-the-hill minor league guys, and put in strict personal rules of no one over 26 at AA, no one over 24 at A, and no one over 22 at Short-A. (There is no rookie ball level, and I'm not sure I'm going to add one. We'll see.) There are roster limits of 25 at AAA, 28 at AA, 30 at A, and unlimited at Short-A, which are league-wide.

On the injury front...

Al Martin makes the OF situation worse, getting injured for five weeks.
John Wehner hurts himself as well, meaning Lloyd McClendon gets to stay for now.

The standard Pirate line-up, rotation, and bullpen to start the season:

Bell hit well, so he gets to lead off. Jeff King batting second probably won't go well, but I don't have a lot of options. With Snow holding down first, Orlando Merced moves to right field, easing the outfield problems a bit. Simons was a spring surprise, and given that he plays better defense than Martin, will likely stay there even after he returns.

Bob Walk had a great spring, so he's in the rotation after all. Here's hoping he can hold it together for one final year. We need him.

The complete roster:

Long short short, if anyone gets hurt, our chances of hitting .500 this year are nil.

OOTP says the Bucs will lose 97 games and get the second pick in the draft. That would be okay by me.

Your first update will be May first, to see how things look and whether or not the team really is a total seller! (My bet is on yes.)

Trebro · 05-23-2014, 01:45 PM

May 1st Update:

A look at the standings:

A look at the Pirates:

With no real need for him, I shipped out 2b Carlos Garcia to Montreal for OF Rondell White, 21 and 3b Ordlando Mercado, 22. While Garcia is better than the returning John Wehner, his position flexibility is worth more to me given that Easley is likely to be my regular 2b. Plus, these two are an upgrade to the weak farm. I'm happy with this.

Wow. This team is seriously overachieving. I'm kinda glad I didn't send Van Slyke away. The trades I made have helped a ton, with JT Snow coming in and clobbering any pitching he sees. Snow got both NL Batter and Rookie of the Month for his efforts. Meanwhile, Steve Cooke garnered Pitcher of the Month for April.

My trades have done well for me so far. Snow's 10HR lead the league, and Bobby Jones has a 1.50 ERA, making the loss of Zane Smith barely noticable. Rondell White is hitting .318 in AAA and looking good. Easley's .230 isn't great, but his fielding has been off the charts good (no errors so far).

Just because I'm happy doesn't mean things are perfect. Jeff King is seriously underperforming at third base, so it's time to replace him with Kevin Young from AAA. If that doesn't work, I'll investigate a trade. With Denny Neagle ready at AAA to move up (2.40 ERA), I can move a starter to get a better 3B piece.

Speaking of starters, it's the end of the road for Bob Walk. He did well in Spring Training, but the short starts are killing us. Tomlin will take over in the #4 spot for the month of May, with Neagle waiting at the wings, either for performance or trade reasons.

Backups are a bit of a problem, with Wehner hitting .100, Tomberlin at .111, and Prince at .188, but I'm not inclined to hurt the develpment of someone like, say, White by moving him into a fourth outfielder role. If we stay into things later in the season, I may look to upgrade by dangling some Single A guys for a backup.

The main issue is that I see this team as not being able to make 82 wins, April notwithstanding. May will tell me a lot.

In terms of the farm system, I am pleased we've moved up to 15th from 21st when I took over.

A bit of good news for Mr. Van Slyke:

Andy Van Slyke hits for the Cycle on April 9th
"It's too bad I can't do that every day," Andy Van Slyke said with a smile to reporters after today's game. "It would do wonders for my batting average." Van Slyke had every right to be in a good mood after hitting for the cycle today against San Francisco at Three Rivers Stadium. The Pirates won the ballgame 9-7, he hit for the cycle, had a 4-for-6 game and boosted his batting average up a few points. The 32-year-old Pittsburgh center fielder chalked up 1 RBI and 3 runs scored for the game, too.

Who says you can't have it all?

He told the press that a triple is the tough hit to get in a cycle. "As soon as it left the bat, guys jumped off the bench and were rooting hard for me to have enough gas to get there," Van Slyke said. "It was hard to enjoy it. I was breathing too hard ... you got to really be in shape to run out a triple."

Andy Van Slyke doubled in the 2nd, grounded out in the 4th, hit a solo-shot off Dave Burba in the 6th, tripled in the 8th, flied out in the 9th and singled in the 12th.

Across the majors:

Andre Dawson hit his 400th HR.
John Smoltz is out for the year.
Jim Thome is out for the year.

The Pirates in Stats:

Trebro · 05-30-2014, 01:45 PM

June 1st Update:

THE STREAK IS OVER!

Cal Ripkin goes down for 2-3 weeks with a ligament injury for Baltimore. The thing everyone always held their breath about happens in this world. How will this change Ripkin's overall career and his Hall of Fame chances? We'll see...

A look at the standings:

A look at the Pirates:

I made another trade, as the Pirates send Randy Tomlin to Cincinnati while he still has value, grabbing young slugger Willie Greene, 21. Greene's average may end up being suspect, but he has some power. The Pirates also get RP John Roper in the deal. He's also 21 and has some good scouting comments.

Denny Neagle got his chance to shine. Let's see how he uses it. Greene goes into the lineup and bats 5th.

Van Slyke is out for 6-7 weeks, which means Rondell White gets to show us what he can do.

This is more the team I expected. Not horrible (they're 21st of 28 teams), but not a better than .500 team from the outset, either. Lots of players are crashing to Earth, and a few are headed straight out of the lineup. Snow has slowed considerably but is still good. Easley is in the .230 range, which is okay but not great. Greene has done well so far in limited duty, but White looks like he's not yet ready for the bigs. He'll likely go back down when Van Slyke returns.

The starting pitching is a mess. Neagle struggled in his first two starts. Wagner and Wakefield are giving up a ton of runs every start. Jones has been good, but otherwise, this is as bad as I feared. The bullpen is hit and miss.

No awards this month, no surprise.

May told me what I expected, now to see if June confirms my take, at which point, I'm going to look to move some parts, most likely the good members of the bullpen, one of the starters, and any potential free agent that isn't popular enough to kill me.

Around the Majors:

Bobby Bonilla re-upped with the mets for 2 years for a total of just over 5 million.
Tom Glavine is likely out for the season in Atlanta, making it two key pitchers gone.
Neon Deion Sanders is also out 2-3 months for the Braves.

The Pirates in Stats:

Trebro · 06-04-2014, 02:26 PM

July 1st Update:

A look at the standings:

A look at the Pirates:

A much better month, with the team just one game under .500 inching towards the All-Star Break. The adjustments seem to be working, and the starting pitching returned to being competent. Neagle has settled in, making the Tomlin trade a good call. Snow continues to anchor the lineup, which has improved as well, with the return of Van Slyke. There's now a pretty good set of hitters going 1-5, even if 6-8 is a wasteland.

And hey, Snow is the Rookie of the Month for the second time! Will he be Pittsburgh's first-ever rookie of the year?

This team won't compete for the division, but it's got a fighting chance at .500.

It won't be easy. Jay Bell went down, and we are very thin at shortstop behind him. In fact, most of the guys I wanted to call up were also hurt. I had to reach down to AA to grab someone, Mr. Lucio Garcia, a prime candidate for not returning to the Pirate organization in 1994.

It's time to look at some adjustments. RHP Paul Miller is coming up to replace Mark Dewey, whose 6.58 ERA is just too much to manage. We'll swap Dewey to AAA, because you can never have enough pitching. There is no LHP help at AAA, which is really full of also-rans. Sadly, there's no one who looks ready to move into a backup fielder role, either.

Bob Walk gets one more month of mop-up work, but honestly, I'm inclined to release him. The only thing holding me back is eating his remaining salary now. Same reason John Candelaria is sitting taking up room in AAA. Plus, it's not like I have a ton of folks killing it ready to take their place. So we'll see.

Around the Majors:

Lou Whitaker is out two months. Could that be the end for his run in Detroit?
Greg Swindell is out for the season for Houston.
Long-time Pirate Nemesis Kevin McReynolds, now playing for Kansas City, is out for a few months.
One-handed pitcher Jim Abbott is out for two months with the Yankees.
Bret Saberhagen is out for the season with the Mets.
Jose Canseco is out 6 weeks for Texas. He's taking some strange medicines to get better, if you ask me...
Kevin Brown signs for five years and 19 million with the Yankees.

The Pirates in Detail:

jtb · 06-04-2014, 03:07 PM

Great Stuff!

Trebro · 06-11-2014, 12:56 PM

A look at the standings:

A look at the Pirates:

Well, now the team is wilting a bit, with the starting pitching again being the main factor. Losing a lot of games by one run, too. I'm not overly worried about this, because if we aren't going to break .500, then where we finish is irrelevant to me, as long as fan interest doesn't fall to far. After all, finishing in the bottom ten means better access to picks.

In an unlikely bright spot, Steve Cooke and Jay Bell are All-Stars for the Pirates.

I investigated several trades, didn't find anything I like. A lot of spare parts trading, so I left it alone.

Because he is the most popular player, I did extend an offer to Van Slyke to keep him here at least to age 35. It's for a bit more than he makes right now, at about 3.6 to 3.8 million a year. It's overpaying, but they money will be made up by keeping butts in the seats, assuming he doesn't ask for more, which I won't give. At that point, he walks via FA.

My cost control right now is very low, anyway. I only have five folks I am extending arbitration to, and only Merced is projected to have a big jump. Two others are non-tenders and the rest of the active roster are all under three years. Many of them are still within three years for 1995 as well. I also look to have about 6 million to spend on free agents, so I can do some one-year deals or longer-term work for anyone that fits my age range, which is basically 25 or younger.

Catcher looks to be the #1 area of need, along with better backups all around, so that I don't stunt anyone's growth. I plan to give White a nice long look in September, but if not, I may try for LF as well. And of course, if there's any SP on the cheap when we get to spring training, I'll be looking. Bobby Jones is 0-6 with a 10+ ERA lately. Yikes.

Nothing really to comment on in terms of the team itself. My A-level teams are in first, my AAA and AA teams are underwater, which tells you a lot about help coming via the farm. There's a ton of purging I want to do at the end of the season. A lot of these folks are just not good enough and I'd like them out of the way.

Around the Majors:

Ryne Sandberg (Cubs) and Harold Baines (Orioles) get their 2000th hits. Both have a good shot at 3000.
Dennis Martinez reaches 200 wins for Montreal. At 38, he's unlikely to reach HOF level wins.
George Brett, the most notable Royal, adds 300 HR to go with the 3000 hits he reached in 1992. Definitely HOF. Still hitting well at age 40, and it will be interesting to see what happens with his career. A one-year deal somewhere other than Kansas City might not be out of the realm of possibility.
Eddie Murray moves from the Mets to the Phillies, in exchange for OF Milt Thompson.
Former Pirate Gary Redus moves from Texas to Boston in exchange for two players.
Tim Raines gets his 2000 hit. At 33, he's got a shot to make it to 3K and get into HOF talk.
Sympathy pains? Alan Trammell joins Whitaker in the "out for the year" club from Detroit.
Mark McGuire was traded from Oakland to the California Angels for SP Scott Sanderson and SS Fletcher Davis. Looks to be a dump off to me. Weird deal, as the Angels are actually even worse than the As.

The Pirates in Detail:

baseballonly · 06-11-2014, 01:26 PM

wow. I thought at one point this series could be very short-lived.

Trebro · 06-11-2014, 05:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by baseballonly

wow. I thought at one point this series could be very short-lived.

You and me both, but--not unlike the 2014 team currently playing in real life--I knew there were holes. When this team gets hurt or a key player slumps, it just can't keep it together.

I noticed this a lot when I play out games from time to time. One thing goes wrong, and the dominoes all topple.

My hope is that by not just signing players to sign them, but planning how and where I spend my money (and through trading anyone who doesn't fit the model), I can get them to .500 before the end of the decade.

Trebro · 06-17-2014, 01:52 PM

A Look at the Standings:

A Look at the Pirates:

Well, injuries pretty much killed this team. Snow, Wagner, and Easley all went out. I would have played some younger guys, but I have no one really able to play second that's about ready for the majors. I also didn't want to start the clock on a few of the younger AAA starters, so Walk gets a chance to make 100 wins after all.

With roster expansion, it's time to call some folks up:

Tom Foley is crap and out the door, but there's no reason not to bring him up to help out.
John Wehner can play anywhere, so might as well use him. But he wasn't even able to go above .230 in AAA.
Rondell White will get a nice long look in left field. See if he can do a bit better.
I brought up Brandon Marshall, an aging SP, just to see if he's of any filler use and to let Cooke rest.

No one else is really worth it or is still too young.

In contract news, Van Slyke wants 5.2 million a year. Won't go lower. Not going to happen. I'll take the hit. He's got no power. This was a strategic mistake on my part--next time, no matter the popularity of the player, if I expect he'll not take the deal I want, I'm gonna be ruthless about trading him away.

On the other hand, Stan Belinda liked the income certainty of a deal that fixes his costs through arbitration years at an average of $260K per year.

On to the final month then time to seriously rework the roster.

Around the Majors:

George Brett blew out his knee and will miss the rest of the season. At 40, that sure looks to be unofficially career-ending.
Doc Gooden signs a 17 Million dollar deal to stay with the Mets.
Rafael Palmiero is hurt for a month with Texas. He borrowed some healing pills from Canseco.
Don Baylor is fired as manager of the Colorado Rockies. Peter Overbeek will take over for now.
Joe Torre was fired by the Cardinals. Walter Menicossa takes his place at this time.
Tony Larussa was fired by Oakland. Mike Steen takes the helm.

The Pirates in Detail:

Andy · 06-17-2014, 02:23 PM

I just want to say I'm enjoying your dynasty. I was 10 years old in 93 so this is probably around the time I started really paying attention to MLB and gaining some knowledge about the game.

As a Reds fan I remember Willie Greene. After reading that you acquired him I had to look him up and was shocked to find that he was originally drafted in the 1st round by the Pirates, then traded to the Expos then finally the Reds where he made his MLB debut.

Good luck!

Edit: And Moises Alou was involved in that deal, too! Don't remember him ever being on the Pirates, but he did only have 5 ABs with them.

sflcat61 · 06-17-2014, 02:49 PM

Good luck with the Bucs...you'll need it!

Trebro · 06-19-2014, 02:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy

I just want to say I'm enjoying your dynasty. I was 10 years old in 93 so this is probably around the time I started really paying attention to MLB and gaining some knowledge about the game.

As a Reds fan I remember Willie Greene. After reading that you acquired him I had to look him up and was shocked to find that he was originally drafted in the 1st round by the Pirates, then traded to the Expos then finally the Reds where he made his MLB debut.

Good luck!

I actually forgot Greene was originally drafted by the Pirates. See, told you this was all about fixing mistakes from bad GMs.

That was Cam "Giveaway" Bonifay for you.

Glad folks are enjoying this. I'm having fun playing it.

Trebro · 06-19-2014, 02:27 PM

A look at the Standings:

With a another close loss to the Mets, the Pirates having a losing season for the first time since 1989. We finished 74-88, one game off the historical Pirates' pace, with a lot less payroll. I can live with that.

Bob Walk got a chance to close out his Pirate career (and possibly his MLB one) in style and did so, pitching a 5 hit shutout, as the Pirates win 3-0. Walk gets to 100 wins, which I admit makes the old fan in me happy. However, like dallying with Van Slyke, I should have let Walk, well, walk. This is the problem with historical--nostalgia leads to making non-baseball decisions. Regardless, I'm happy Whirlybird got to 100.

Kevin Young did well filling in for JT Snow, but he has no place on the team, being a first baseman only. Snow is a top tier guy. So Young becomes #1 trade bait.

Brendan Marshall held his own as a starter in September duty, going 2-1 with a 4.20 ERA. He'll be in the mix to be a swing man or holding out in AAA in case of injury.

Denny Neagle's 5.86 ERA and 1.61 whip are worrysome, but I'll give it another year.

Rondell White improved his batting average 30 points as a September call-up. Only hit .230 this year, but he's ready to start in left in 1994.

Willie Greene's 16 HR makes him a very attractive young player. Average isn't great, but I'll take the homers.

Given the lack of a solid infield backup this year, which hurt when Bell and Easley went down, I opted to make an offer to Tom Foley. He's got good, if not great, ratings at second, third, and short, and if he takes the 200K a year I offered him for two years, he'll make a cheap, usable 5th infielder. Foley signed the deal.

I took one final run at Van Slyke, offering him around 4.2 million a year. He wanted more. I just can't commit to that--it would mean placing my highest salary at a guy who is already 32. That goes against everything I beleive in a as a GM. Sorry, Andy, we'll talk if you don't get an offer higher than 4, I guess.

Overall, the team will need a new C and CF for sure. We also need a backup C, a backup OF, a backup IF, and perhaps a new SP. Cooke, Wagner, and Jones are 1-3, but Wakefield/Neagle are a shaky 4-5. We'll see how the free agents fly.

In the meantime, it's a long overdue roster purge at AAA/AA, both of which fared poorly while A and Short A had winning records.

Across the Majors:

Tony Gwynn gets his 2000th hit. RIP, big guy. You'll play on in countless games across baseball sims everywhere.

The Cubs are your World Series Champs for 1993, beating Toronto in 6.

Terry Mulholland signs for 5 years and 20 million in Philadelphia. Yikes.

A ton of managers are fired, as per usual in OOTP. Based on my past experiences, I'm only going to note the in-season firings, because they are rarer.

The Pirates in Detail at the end of 1993:

photo 1993PiratesFinalCatchers-Infield.png

Trebro · 06-22-2014, 02:24 PM

All of my hitting coaches in the minors hated me. Time to go shopping. I also made an offer to an outstanding MLB pitching coach. We'll see if he signs. (Yep!)

I have non-tendered RP Jorge Bustamante and Fred Toliver. The others got default offers, and we'll discuss maybe going long term.

I offered arbitration to free agents Van Slyke, Prince, and McClendon. I don't expect any of them to accept, but if they do, I'd be happy to get them back at an arbiter's price. LaValliere, Walk, and Glenn Wilson just aren't good enough, and I fear they'd TAKE the arbitration. All three of those that I offered arbitration to declined it, good news for me!

Ismael Valdez is my #1 pick, and he signs for a $950,000 bonus. He looks pretty darned close to MLB ready, but we'll start him at short-A because he's only 20. Let him prove he needs to move up. No need to start my budget clock when I don't expect to hit .500 until 1995 or 1996 at the earliest.

I met the demands of my first 5 picks, because my priority is on getting the minors revved up.

I won every single arbitration hearing, by being fair and not trying to lowball. Will use that strategy again.

Van Slyke ends up signing with the Dodgers for less than my final offer. Heh. Fans are not pleased, but I suspect he'll drop off significantly. And now I get a nice, fat pick from LA.

To replace Van Slyke, I signed Stan Javier away from the Angels. Javier hit .277 last year, and doesn't have much power, but he is speedy and will likely lead off. However, his OF defense is 72 in CF. Exactly what I want--a strong defender up the middle. He signed for 4 years and a little over 2 million a season. I've got him until he's 33.

Catcher is locked up for a long time, as I inked Benito Santiago for 13.6 million over five years.

In an either brilliant or stupid move, I signed John Smoltz at a bargain price, $20 million over seven years. He lost all of last year to injury, driving down his price. If it works, I just locked up a top-tier SP for 4th SP rates.

Basically, in exchange for Van Slyke, I got Smoltz and Javier. I'll do that any time.

Still got some issues at backup catcher on the MLB level, and my minors is a mess. Hoping I can sign some undrafted guys to minor league deals as we get closer to the beginning of the season.

Next up: Spring Training!

Trebro · 06-23-2014, 01:07 PM

So with John Smoltz in the field and some guys doing okay that will be at AAA, I felt comfortable trading away one of my SP. So off went Tim Wakefield to Montreal for 3b Cliff Floyd and OF Steven Peak. Not exactly blue chips, but they build up my minors, which still suck at the higher levels.

Nothing else of note, other than my two rule 5 guys shined in the spring and my lineup looks pretty good. I don't feel like we have the best depth or backup defense, but this is a team that can get us closer to .500, which is good because I'm going to need that budget to increase as these players age.

The computer must have malfunctioned, because they believe the Pirates not only will go over .500 this year, but be the tops of the newly created Central. I'd be happy with 78-80 wins, myself. This could be a short dynasty report!

On the other hand, our minor league system has dropped to 23rd. Not a good sign for the future of a team basing itself on scouting the draft well and developing folks. Yikes.

Nolan Ryan, Rich Gossage, Dave Winfield, and Carlton Fisk all decide to hang it up. Of that group, only Ryan is a slam-dunk Hall of Fame candidate. Winfield just missed 3000 hits, the usual bar for entry, an despite Fisk's good numbers vis a vis being a catcher, his 2300 hits aren't the usual Hall fare.

A look at the Pirates going into the start of the 1994 Season:

Trebro · 06-24-2014, 12:51 PM

A look at the standings:

*blinks*

Nope, not having dreams of OOTP in my sleep. That's the Pirates in first place.

Huh. 14-9 and leading the division by one game after one month. I didn't think we had this in us. The new guys have helped significantly. Santiago is hitting .314, which is 100 points above LaValliere's 1993 season, and his 8 HR lead the team. Javier is at .280, with numbers similar to Van Slyke but for several million dollars less. And Smoltz has returned to form, at least so far, with a 3-0 record and a 1.29 ERA.

White is hitting a respectable .256, Willie Greene .295. Snow and Easley are scuffling, and both will see their playing time reduced a bit in May to see what happens. Kevin Young and Jeff King will move into "play every third day" territory, and if they succeed, then we'll make a depth switch.

Jay Bell, on his last year in Pittsburgh (no way am I paying over a million a year to a non-power, medium defense SS), is doing poorly enough that I am considering trading him to free up salary and grabbing one of the players still waiting for a job, like Ozzie Guillen or even Ozzie Smith, cruelly cut free by St. Louis before he was ready to hang 'em up.

Steve Cooke goes down, which is why Brandon Marshall exists.

Starting Pitching is going to be the thing that may kill our shot at .500, though. Cooke is gone until late June at the earliest, and Jones and Neagle had rough Aprils. If neither improves in May, then I may send for one of the AAA guys doing well. We'll see.

Across the Majors:

Jack Morris gets win #250.
Kirby Puckett nets hit #2000.

The Pirates in Detail:

05-23-2014, 01:45 PM	#6
Trebro All Star Reserve Join Date: Mar 2013 Posts: 753 Blog Entries: 1	May 1st Update: A look at the standings: A look at the Pirates: With no real need for him, I shipped out 2b Carlos Garcia to Montreal for OF Rondell White, 21 and 3b Ordlando Mercado, 22. While Garcia is better than the returning John Wehner, his position flexibility is worth more to me given that Easley is likely to be my regular 2b. Plus, these two are an upgrade to the weak farm. I'm happy with this. Wow. This team is seriously overachieving. I'm kinda glad I didn't send Van Slyke away. The trades I made have helped a ton, with JT Snow coming in and clobbering any pitching he sees. Snow got both NL Batter and Rookie of the Month for his efforts. Meanwhile, Steve Cooke garnered Pitcher of the Month for April. My trades have done well for me so far. Snow's 10HR lead the league, and Bobby Jones has a 1.50 ERA, making the loss of Zane Smith barely noticable. Rondell White is hitting .318 in AAA and looking good. Easley's .230 isn't great, but his fielding has been off the charts good (no errors so far). Just because I'm happy doesn't mean things are perfect. Jeff King is seriously underperforming at third base, so it's time to replace him with Kevin Young from AAA. If that doesn't work, I'll investigate a trade. With Denny Neagle ready at AAA to move up (2.40 ERA), I can move a starter to get a better 3B piece. Speaking of starters, it's the end of the road for Bob Walk. He did well in Spring Training, but the short starts are killing us. Tomlin will take over in the #4 spot for the month of May, with Neagle waiting at the wings, either for performance or trade reasons. Backups are a bit of a problem, with Wehner hitting .100, Tomberlin at .111, and Prince at .188, but I'm not inclined to hurt the develpment of someone like, say, White by moving him into a fourth outfielder role. If we stay into things later in the season, I may look to upgrade by dangling some Single A guys for a backup. The main issue is that I see this team as not being able to make 82 wins, April notwithstanding. May will tell me a lot. In terms of the farm system, I am pleased we've moved up to 15th from 21st when I took over. A bit of good news for Mr. Van Slyke: Andy Van Slyke hits for the Cycle on April 9th "It's too bad I can't do that every day," Andy Van Slyke said with a smile to reporters after today's game. "It would do wonders for my batting average." Van Slyke had every right to be in a good mood after hitting for the cycle today against San Francisco at Three Rivers Stadium. The Pirates won the ballgame 9-7, he hit for the cycle, had a 4-for-6 game and boosted his batting average up a few points. The 32-year-old Pittsburgh center fielder chalked up 1 RBI and 3 runs scored for the game, too. Who says you can't have it all? He told the press that a triple is the tough hit to get in a cycle. "As soon as it left the bat, guys jumped off the bench and were rooting hard for me to have enough gas to get there," Van Slyke said. "It was hard to enjoy it. I was breathing too hard ... you got to really be in shape to run out a triple." Andy Van Slyke doubled in the 2nd, grounded out in the 4th, hit a solo-shot off Dave Burba in the 6th, tripled in the 8th, flied out in the 9th and singled in the 12th. Across the majors: Andre Dawson hit his 400th HR. John Smoltz is out for the year. Jim Thome is out for the year. The Pirates in Stats:

06-11-2014, 12:56 PM	#10
Trebro All Star Reserve Join Date: Mar 2013 Posts: 753 Blog Entries: 1	August 1 Update: A look at the standings: A look at the Pirates: Well, now the team is wilting a bit, with the starting pitching again being the main factor. Losing a lot of games by one run, too. I'm not overly worried about this, because if we aren't going to break .500, then where we finish is irrelevant to me, as long as fan interest doesn't fall to far. After all, finishing in the bottom ten means better access to picks. In an unlikely bright spot, Steve Cooke and Jay Bell are All-Stars for the Pirates. I investigated several trades, didn't find anything I like. A lot of spare parts trading, so I left it alone. Because he is the most popular player, I did extend an offer to Van Slyke to keep him here at least to age 35. It's for a bit more than he makes right now, at about 3.6 to 3.8 million a year. It's overpaying, but they money will be made up by keeping butts in the seats, assuming he doesn't ask for more, which I won't give. At that point, he walks via FA. My cost control right now is very low, anyway. I only have five folks I am extending arbitration to, and only Merced is projected to have a big jump. Two others are non-tenders and the rest of the active roster are all under three years. Many of them are still within three years for 1995 as well. I also look to have about 6 million to spend on free agents, so I can do some one-year deals or longer-term work for anyone that fits my age range, which is basically 25 or younger. Catcher looks to be the #1 area of need, along with better backups all around, so that I don't stunt anyone's growth. I plan to give White a nice long look in September, but if not, I may try for LF as well. And of course, if there's any SP on the cheap when we get to spring training, I'll be looking. Bobby Jones is 0-6 with a 10+ ERA lately. Yikes. Nothing really to comment on in terms of the team itself. My A-level teams are in first, my AAA and AA teams are underwater, which tells you a lot about help coming via the farm. There's a ton of purging I want to do at the end of the season. A lot of these folks are just not good enough and I'd like them out of the way. Around the Majors: Ryne Sandberg (Cubs) and Harold Baines (Orioles) get their 2000th hits. Both have a good shot at 3000. Dennis Martinez reaches 200 wins for Montreal. At 38, he's unlikely to reach HOF level wins. George Brett, the most notable Royal, adds 300 HR to go with the 3000 hits he reached in 1992. Definitely HOF. Still hitting well at age 40, and it will be interesting to see what happens with his career. A one-year deal somewhere other than Kansas City might not be out of the realm of possibility. Eddie Murray moves from the Mets to the Phillies, in exchange for OF Milt Thompson. Former Pirate Gary Redus moves from Texas to Boston in exchange for two players. Tim Raines gets his 2000 hit. At 33, he's got a shot to make it to 3K and get into HOF talk. Sympathy pains? Alan Trammell joins Whitaker in the "out for the year" club from Detroit. Mark McGuire was traded from Oakland to the California Angels for SP Scott Sanderson and SS Fletcher Davis. Looks to be a dump off to me. Weird deal, as the Angels are actually even worse than the As. The Pirates in Detail:

06-11-2014, 01:26 PM	#11
baseballonly All Star Reserve Join Date: Jan 2014 Posts: 806	wow. I thought at one point this series could be very short-lived. __________________ Former OOTP Leagues: CBL-Admirals (2016-17 Champs) MMB-Phillies

06-17-2014, 01:52 PM	#13
Trebro All Star Reserve Join Date: Mar 2013 Posts: 753 Blog Entries: 1	September 1st Update A Look at the Standings: A Look at the Pirates: Well, injuries pretty much killed this team. Snow, Wagner, and Easley all went out. I would have played some younger guys, but I have no one really able to play second that's about ready for the majors. I also didn't want to start the clock on a few of the younger AAA starters, so Walk gets a chance to make 100 wins after all. With roster expansion, it's time to call some folks up: Tom Foley is crap and out the door, but there's no reason not to bring him up to help out. John Wehner can play anywhere, so might as well use him. But he wasn't even able to go above .230 in AAA. Rondell White will get a nice long look in left field. See if he can do a bit better. I brought up Brandon Marshall, an aging SP, just to see if he's of any filler use and to let Cooke rest. No one else is really worth it or is still too young. In contract news, Van Slyke wants 5.2 million a year. Won't go lower. Not going to happen. I'll take the hit. He's got no power. This was a strategic mistake on my part--next time, no matter the popularity of the player, if I expect he'll not take the deal I want, I'm gonna be ruthless about trading him away. On the other hand, Stan Belinda liked the income certainty of a deal that fixes his costs through arbitration years at an average of $260K per year. On to the final month then time to seriously rework the roster. Around the Majors: George Brett blew out his knee and will miss the rest of the season. At 40, that sure looks to be unofficially career-ending. Doc Gooden signs a 17 Million dollar deal to stay with the Mets. Rafael Palmiero is hurt for a month with Texas. He borrowed some healing pills from Canseco. Don Baylor is fired as manager of the Colorado Rockies. Peter Overbeek will take over for now. Joe Torre was fired by the Cardinals. Walter Menicossa takes his place at this time. Tony Larussa was fired by Oakland. Mike Steen takes the helm. The Pirates in Detail:

06-17-2014, 02:23 PM	#14
Andy Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Dayton, OH Posts: 2,256	I just want to say I'm enjoying your dynasty. I was 10 years old in 93 so this is probably around the time I started really paying attention to MLB and gaining some knowledge about the game. As a Reds fan I remember Willie Greene. After reading that you acquired him I had to look him up and was shocked to find that he was originally drafted in the 1st round by the Pirates, then traded to the Expos then finally the Reds where he made his MLB debut. Good luck! Edit: And Moises Alou was involved in that deal, too! Don't remember him ever being on the Pirates, but he did only have 5 ABs with them. Last edited by Andy; 06-17-2014 at 02:25 PM.

05-19-2014, 05:36 PM	#1
Trebro All Star Reserve Join Date: Mar 2013 Posts: 753 Blog Entries: 1	Fixing the Pirates 1993-???? I decided to try my hand at seeing if I could get the Pirates to 82 wins before 2013. Follow along as I try to do so. I'm set to "can't be fired" for this purpose, because I strongly suspect it might take a few years to do so. Trading is set to hard and while I have ratings on, overall player quality ratings are off. Once I have more stats, I plan to start shutting off other ratings, too, but right now, there are too many guys with no stats to look at. I gave myself full minors and allowed league evolution, so that the division changes and wild cards show up as per usual. If I end up getting to 2014, it means I failed, but at that point, I would turn evolution off. I'm changing nothing else. Which means if the owner sucks, if the attendance sucks, if a good player gets a career-ender, well, that's how it goes. No need to delay things beyond that! Let's start off by looking at the situation of my team: Overall, this team is older than it should be for a rebuild. The historical Pirates let players such as Andy Van Slyke walk as free agents rather than aggressively trade the parts of a no-longer contender to build a new winner. Patching up bad teams was the Bonifay-Littlefield way, and it killed the Pirates' chances to win more than anything else. So my first goal is going to be upping scouting and development, and removing managers who don't have the skills. Second, I need to identify who can leave, no matter how talented. I'm perfectly okay with losing 100 games for while. The only hold on that is if the player is popular, I'm unlikely to trade them, just because I can't afford an attendance hit. Looking at goal one, I see I need: A new ML Bench Coach A new AAA Pitching Coach A new AA Manager A new AA Pitching Coach A new AA Hitting Coach A new A Manager A new A Pitching Coach A new Short-A Pitching Coach The rest were at least "decent" which I'd prefer to replace, but let's start here. I've immediately set up offers for all of these positions, paying a bit over asking price to try to get my first choice in each case. Goal number two is trickier. I'd really like to send Van Slyke packing, but he's also the team's most popular player. Here's a rundown of who I am looking to trade: SP Zane Smith, $1.7 Million and 32. Good player, but not going to help a team ranked 22nd by the computer. LF Lonnie Smith, $1.6 Million and 37. This is going to be a pure salary dump, most likely. C Don Slaught, $1.3 Million and 34. Like Smith, a guy who you want to have but not when you're rebuilding. SP Bob Walk, 750K and 36. Could be a good fit for a team needing a 5th SP. Hate to send 12 year old me's favorite out. OF Dave Clark, 700K and 30. Way overpaid for what he does. C Tom Prince, 375K and 28. Can get a rookie to be the backup C. RP John Candelaria 375K and 39. More dead weight. IF Tom Foley, 300K and 34. Pirate team has too many of these crappy guys. Zane Smith and Slaught should get something back. Walk and Prince might fetch a bit. The others are addition by subtraction. That money can be used to either take on some salary in the trades or handle the increase in the scouting and development budgets. Next, a look at the 40-man after my projected moves. Trust me, it's not pretty. Last edited by Trebro; 05-19-2014 at 05:37 PM. Reason: Added bullet points, looks prettier

05-20-2014, 01:28 PM	#2
Trebro All Star Reserve Join Date: Mar 2013 Posts: 753 Blog Entries: 1	Now for a position run down based on the 40 man taking out those I'd like to trade. These are the folks who will make up the probably-gonna-be-awful 1993 Pirates: Catchers: Mike LaValliere will likely start. He should hit about .260 with a few HR and enough walks to get him to .350 OBP. If he can't be traded, Tom Prince will backup LaValliere. First Base: Orlando Merced will get a chance here, but his .250 average and only about 10 HR won't get a long rope. Kevin Young and Jeff King will back up first. Neither has much track record at this point. Second Base: Oh God, what a mess. This has to be an area of focus for trading/drafting. No one here looks good. If I want to get this team to .500, I need a second baseman from outside the organization. Carlos Garcia has done nothing (.205)in limited time. King has slightly better stats, but is woeful at 2nd. Claudio Rivera is 34. Shortstop: Jay Bell is only 27, and is on a reasonable deal at 1.3 Million. He needs a backup, because... Tom Foley is overpriced and... Tony Womack can't really play short. Third Base: Jeff King had 14 HR in 1992, giving him the edge here. We'll see how that goes. John Wehner, the local kid, is the super-sub, with 3b his primary backup. His average is pitiful. Outfield: Al Martin will prowl left field. He has some pop in his bat, but sucks to be him to replace Barry Bonds. His defense is foul, so this is a short-term deal at best. Andy Van Slyke will hold down center. If he can hit .280 and hit about 15 HR, I'll live with it. As I mentioned, his popularity is so high, it's hard to let him go. Right field is open. Glenn Wilson, who is old enough at 34 that I'd like to move him, will probably start. Midre Cummings and Scott Bullet, neither of whom have much going, will likely fight it out as backups. Starting Pitching: Not a great staff, once Smith is removed. Most are too young to have a proven track record. That could be good or bad. They're all cheap, so I'll give them time to see who should stay and who should go. Steve Cooke is young and has potential. He did well in limited 1992 action. My scout likes him best. Paul Wagner is a bit older, but is of similar stuff. Would make a decent #4, but will have to do higher duty for me. Denny Neagle has 6 pitches, none of which are superior. Tim Wakefield is a knuckleballer that could surprise, or could be terrible. Randy Tomlin is the vet after my planned moves at 26. He is the very definition of 5th starter. Ironically, while not the most talented, he's the one I can count on. Relief Pitching: The top of the bullpen is lead by Stan Belinda and Blas Minor. Both have very good stuff. They might get moved in the right deal, just because who needs two good relievers on a team headed for a losing year? From there, there's nothing. Hangers-on or players wih no experience. Not even worth listing them out. Overall, this is a really bad team going nowhere fast. It's time to blow it up, because AAA has nothing in the offering. My only hope is that Slaught, Smith, Walk and company can get me some pieces that will help balance the scales. Next up: My first trades!

05-20-2014, 02:06 PM	#3
Spud Eating Buccos Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Denver Posts: 48	As a lifelong Pirates fan, who has suffered through those 20 years of losing, I'll be reading along. Hope you can right the ship quicker than IRL. Good luck! I have a feeling you'll need it!!

05-21-2014, 01:52 PM	#4
Trebro All Star Reserve Join Date: Mar 2013 Posts: 753 Blog Entries: 1	Let's see what trades we can make before Spring Training starts: C Don Slaught and CF Leroy Cox to the Mets for SP Bobby J Jones and MR Craig Warren. This saves me $1.2 million right off the bat and gives me Jones, who can compete for a starting spot or be ready at AAA, where the talent is bare. Warren has potential, but given his age, he'll start in the minors and go from there. Builds my depth, which is part of the plan. SP Zane Smith and SP Jeff Ballard to the Angels for 2B Damian Easley and 1B JT Snow This saves me Smith's $1.7 million right off the bat, gets me a second baseman, and gives me a first baseman with pop, making Merced expendable. This is as close to a signature trade as I am going to get. I was extremely happy with this deal, because second was a black hole. OF Lonnie Smith to Texas for 2B Don Joseph Happy to get anything for Smith. Joseph is unlikely to be much, but has some pop in his bat and is only 18. Plus I get Smith's $$ back into my pool. None of the others drew any interest. It won't kill me to keep them. The lack of offers shows me just how awful this team is, frankly. Prince will in fact be the backup catcher, I'll try to find something useful to do with Walk, and having some veterans sprinkled in won't be the worst thing in the world. Plus, I might be able to trade them later. Philadelphia dangles OF Wes Chamberlin for SP Tim Wakefield. Tempting, but I opted to pass. I kinda wanna see how these mid-20s SP do for me before I start moving anyone out. On to Spring Training!

05-22-2014, 01:02 PM	#5
Trebro All Star Reserve Join Date: Mar 2013 Posts: 753 Blog Entries: 1	1993 Spring Training: After getting a nice look at some players, the team shaped up well. It even had a winning record in Spring Training, not that that means much, at 17-11, tops of the NL East teams. I don't expect us to do that well, but I'm also feeling a lot less negative about this bunch than I was when I first looked at the roster. "That's why they play the game out," as the saying goes. I cut a bunch of over-the-hill minor league guys, and put in strict personal rules of no one over 26 at AA, no one over 24 at A, and no one over 22 at Short-A. (There is no rookie ball level, and I'm not sure I'm going to add one. We'll see.) There are roster limits of 25 at AAA, 28 at AA, 30 at A, and unlimited at Short-A, which are league-wide. On the injury front... Al Martin makes the OF situation worse, getting injured for five weeks. John Wehner hurts himself as well, meaning Lloyd McClendon gets to stay for now. The standard Pirate line-up, rotation, and bullpen to start the season: Bell hit well, so he gets to lead off. Jeff King batting second probably won't go well, but I don't have a lot of options. With Snow holding down first, Orlando Merced moves to right field, easing the outfield problems a bit. Simons was a spring surprise, and given that he plays better defense than Martin, will likely stay there even after he returns. Bob Walk had a great spring, so he's in the rotation after all. Here's hoping he can hold it together for one final year. We need him. The complete roster: Long short short, if anyone gets hurt, our chances of hitting .500 this year are nil. OOTP says the Bucs will lose 97 games and get the second pick in the draft. That would be okay by me. Your first update will be May first, to see how things look and whether or not the team really is a total seller! (My bet is on yes.)

05-30-2014, 01:45 PM	#7
Trebro All Star Reserve Join Date: Mar 2013 Posts: 753 Blog Entries: 1	June 1st Update: THE STREAK IS OVER! Cal Ripkin goes down for 2-3 weeks with a ligament injury for Baltimore. The thing everyone always held their breath about happens in this world. How will this change Ripkin's overall career and his Hall of Fame chances? We'll see... A look at the standings: A look at the Pirates: I made another trade, as the Pirates send Randy Tomlin to Cincinnati while he still has value, grabbing young slugger Willie Greene, 21. Greene's average may end up being suspect, but he has some power. The Pirates also get RP John Roper in the deal. He's also 21 and has some good scouting comments. Denny Neagle got his chance to shine. Let's see how he uses it. Greene goes into the lineup and bats 5th. Van Slyke is out for 6-7 weeks, which means Rondell White gets to show us what he can do. This is more the team I expected. Not horrible (they're 21st of 28 teams), but not a better than .500 team from the outset, either. Lots of players are crashing to Earth, and a few are headed straight out of the lineup. Snow has slowed considerably but is still good. Easley is in the .230 range, which is okay but not great. Greene has done well so far in limited duty, but White looks like he's not yet ready for the bigs. He'll likely go back down when Van Slyke returns. The starting pitching is a mess. Neagle struggled in his first two starts. Wagner and Wakefield are giving up a ton of runs every start. Jones has been good, but otherwise, this is as bad as I feared. The bullpen is hit and miss. No awards this month, no surprise. May told me what I expected, now to see if June confirms my take, at which point, I'm going to look to move some parts, most likely the good members of the bullpen, one of the starters, and any potential free agent that isn't popular enough to kill me. Around the Majors: Bobby Bonilla re-upped with the mets for 2 years for a total of just over 5 million. Tom Glavine is likely out for the season in Atlanta, making it two key pitchers gone. Neon Deion Sanders is also out 2-3 months for the Braves. The Pirates in Stats:

06-04-2014, 02:26 PM	#8
Trebro All Star Reserve Join Date: Mar 2013 Posts: 753 Blog Entries: 1	July 1st Update: A look at the standings: A look at the Pirates: A much better month, with the team just one game under .500 inching towards the All-Star Break. The adjustments seem to be working, and the starting pitching returned to being competent. Neagle has settled in, making the Tomlin trade a good call. Snow continues to anchor the lineup, which has improved as well, with the return of Van Slyke. There's now a pretty good set of hitters going 1-5, even if 6-8 is a wasteland. And hey, Snow is the Rookie of the Month for the second time! Will he be Pittsburgh's first-ever rookie of the year? This team won't compete for the division, but it's got a fighting chance at .500. It won't be easy. Jay Bell went down, and we are very thin at shortstop behind him. In fact, most of the guys I wanted to call up were also hurt. I had to reach down to AA to grab someone, Mr. Lucio Garcia, a prime candidate for not returning to the Pirate organization in 1994. It's time to look at some adjustments. RHP Paul Miller is coming up to replace Mark Dewey, whose 6.58 ERA is just too much to manage. We'll swap Dewey to AAA, because you can never have enough pitching. There is no LHP help at AAA, which is really full of also-rans. Sadly, there's no one who looks ready to move into a backup fielder role, either. Bob Walk gets one more month of mop-up work, but honestly, I'm inclined to release him. The only thing holding me back is eating his remaining salary now. Same reason John Candelaria is sitting taking up room in AAA. Plus, it's not like I have a ton of folks killing it ready to take their place. So we'll see. Around the Majors: Lou Whitaker is out two months. Could that be the end for his run in Detroit? Greg Swindell is out for the season for Houston. Long-time Pirate Nemesis Kevin McReynolds, now playing for Kansas City, is out for a few months. One-handed pitcher Jim Abbott is out for two months with the Yankees. Bret Saberhagen is out for the season with the Mets. Jose Canseco is out 6 weeks for Texas. He's taking some strange medicines to get better, if you ask me... Kevin Brown signs for five years and 19 million with the Yankees. The Pirates in Detail:

06-04-2014, 03:07 PM	#9
jtb All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2002 Posts: 596	Great Stuff!

06-17-2014, 02:49 PM	#15
sflcat61 Minors (Double A) Join Date: May 2008 Location: South Florida Posts: 117	Good luck with the Bucs...you'll need it!

06-19-2014, 02:27 PM	#17
Trebro All Star Reserve Join Date: Mar 2013 Posts: 753 Blog Entries: 1	1993 End of Season A look at the Standings: With a another close loss to the Mets, the Pirates having a losing season for the first time since 1989. We finished 74-88, one game off the historical Pirates' pace, with a lot less payroll. I can live with that. Bob Walk got a chance to close out his Pirate career (and possibly his MLB one) in style and did so, pitching a 5 hit shutout, as the Pirates win 3-0. Walk gets to 100 wins, which I admit makes the old fan in me happy. However, like dallying with Van Slyke, I should have let Walk, well, walk. This is the problem with historical--nostalgia leads to making non-baseball decisions. Regardless, I'm happy Whirlybird got to 100. Kevin Young did well filling in for JT Snow, but he has no place on the team, being a first baseman only. Snow is a top tier guy. So Young becomes #1 trade bait. Brendan Marshall held his own as a starter in September duty, going 2-1 with a 4.20 ERA. He'll be in the mix to be a swing man or holding out in AAA in case of injury. Denny Neagle's 5.86 ERA and 1.61 whip are worrysome, but I'll give it another year. Rondell White improved his batting average 30 points as a September call-up. Only hit .230 this year, but he's ready to start in left in 1994. Willie Greene's 16 HR makes him a very attractive young player. Average isn't great, but I'll take the homers. Given the lack of a solid infield backup this year, which hurt when Bell and Easley went down, I opted to make an offer to Tom Foley. He's got good, if not great, ratings at second, third, and short, and if he takes the 200K a year I offered him for two years, he'll make a cheap, usable 5th infielder. Foley signed the deal. I took one final run at Van Slyke, offering him around 4.2 million a year. He wanted more. I just can't commit to that--it would mean placing my highest salary at a guy who is already 32. That goes against everything I beleive in a as a GM. Sorry, Andy, we'll talk if you don't get an offer higher than 4, I guess. Overall, the team will need a new C and CF for sure. We also need a backup C, a backup OF, a backup IF, and perhaps a new SP. Cooke, Wagner, and Jones are 1-3, but Wakefield/Neagle are a shaky 4-5. We'll see how the free agents fly. In the meantime, it's a long overdue roster purge at AAA/AA, both of which fared poorly while A and Short A had winning records. Across the Majors: Tony Gwynn gets his 2000th hit. RIP, big guy. You'll play on in countless games across baseball sims everywhere. The Cubs are your World Series Champs for 1993, beating Toronto in 6. Terry Mulholland signs for 5 years and 20 million in Philadelphia. Yikes. A ton of managers are fired, as per usual in OOTP. Based on my past experiences, I'm only going to note the in-season firings, because they are rarer. The Pirates in Detail at the end of 1993:

06-22-2014, 02:24 PM	#18
Trebro All Star Reserve Join Date: Mar 2013 Posts: 753 Blog Entries: 1	1993/1994 Off-Season All of my hitting coaches in the minors hated me. Time to go shopping. I also made an offer to an outstanding MLB pitching coach. We'll see if he signs. (Yep!) I have non-tendered RP Jorge Bustamante and Fred Toliver. The others got default offers, and we'll discuss maybe going long term. I offered arbitration to free agents Van Slyke, Prince, and McClendon. I don't expect any of them to accept, but if they do, I'd be happy to get them back at an arbiter's price. LaValliere, Walk, and Glenn Wilson just aren't good enough, and I fear they'd TAKE the arbitration. All three of those that I offered arbitration to declined it, good news for me! Ismael Valdez is my #1 pick, and he signs for a $950,000 bonus. He looks pretty darned close to MLB ready, but we'll start him at short-A because he's only 20. Let him prove he needs to move up. No need to start my budget clock when I don't expect to hit .500 until 1995 or 1996 at the earliest. I met the demands of my first 5 picks, because my priority is on getting the minors revved up. I won every single arbitration hearing, by being fair and not trying to lowball. Will use that strategy again. Van Slyke ends up signing with the Dodgers for less than my final offer. Heh. Fans are not pleased, but I suspect he'll drop off significantly. And now I get a nice, fat pick from LA. To replace Van Slyke, I signed Stan Javier away from the Angels. Javier hit .277 last year, and doesn't have much power, but he is speedy and will likely lead off. However, his OF defense is 72 in CF. Exactly what I want--a strong defender up the middle. He signed for 4 years and a little over 2 million a season. I've got him until he's 33. Catcher is locked up for a long time, as I inked Benito Santiago for 13.6 million over five years. In an either brilliant or stupid move, I signed John Smoltz at a bargain price, $20 million over seven years. He lost all of last year to injury, driving down his price. If it works, I just locked up a top-tier SP for 4th SP rates. Basically, in exchange for Van Slyke, I got Smoltz and Javier. I'll do that any time. Still got some issues at backup catcher on the MLB level, and my minors is a mess. Hoping I can sign some undrafted guys to minor league deals as we get closer to the beginning of the season. Next up: Spring Training!

06-23-2014, 01:07 PM	#19
Trebro All Star Reserve Join Date: Mar 2013 Posts: 753 Blog Entries: 1	1994 Spring Training So with John Smoltz in the field and some guys doing okay that will be at AAA, I felt comfortable trading away one of my SP. So off went Tim Wakefield to Montreal for 3b Cliff Floyd and OF Steven Peak. Not exactly blue chips, but they build up my minors, which still suck at the higher levels. Nothing else of note, other than my two rule 5 guys shined in the spring and my lineup looks pretty good. I don't feel like we have the best depth or backup defense, but this is a team that can get us closer to .500, which is good because I'm going to need that budget to increase as these players age. The computer must have malfunctioned, because they believe the Pirates not only will go over .500 this year, but be the tops of the newly created Central. I'd be happy with 78-80 wins, myself. This could be a short dynasty report! On the other hand, our minor league system has dropped to 23rd. Not a good sign for the future of a team basing itself on scouting the draft well and developing folks. Yikes. Nolan Ryan, Rich Gossage, Dave Winfield, and Carlton Fisk all decide to hang it up. Of that group, only Ryan is a slam-dunk Hall of Fame candidate. Winfield just missed 3000 hits, the usual bar for entry, an despite Fisk's good numbers vis a vis being a catcher, his 2300 hits aren't the usual Hall fare. A look at the Pirates going into the start of the 1994 Season:

06-24-2014, 12:51 PM	#20
Trebro All Star Reserve Join Date: Mar 2013 Posts: 753 Blog Entries: 1	May 1st 1994 A look at the standings: blinks Nope, not having dreams of OOTP in my sleep. That's the Pirates in first place. Huh. 14-9 and leading the division by one game after one month. I didn't think we had this in us. The new guys have helped significantly. Santiago is hitting .314, which is 100 points above LaValliere's 1993 season, and his 8 HR lead the team. Javier is at .280, with numbers similar to Van Slyke but for several million dollars less. And Smoltz has returned to form, at least so far, with a 3-0 record and a 1.29 ERA. White is hitting a respectable .256, Willie Greene .295. Snow and Easley are scuffling, and both will see their playing time reduced a bit in May to see what happens. Kevin Young and Jeff King will move into "play every third day" territory, and if they succeed, then we'll make a depth switch. Jay Bell, on his last year in Pittsburgh (no way am I paying over a million a year to a non-power, medium defense SS), is doing poorly enough that I am considering trading him to free up salary and grabbing one of the players still waiting for a job, like Ozzie Guillen or even Ozzie Smith, cruelly cut free by St. Louis before he was ready to hang 'em up. Steve Cooke goes down, which is why Brandon Marshall exists. Starting Pitching is going to be the thing that may kill our shot at .500, though. Cooke is gone until late June at the earliest, and Jones and Neagle had rough Aprils. If neither improves in May, then I may send for one of the AAA guys doing well. We'll see. Across the Majors: Jack Morris gets win #250. Kirby Puckett nets hit #2000. The Pirates in Detail: