Worst2First: A Race between the Royals and Pirates (PIRATES Edition)

[Koprnkc]

So, with all the worst to first dynasties, I thought is might be nice to start one with a different twist. I decided to find the two most in-ept teams over the last 15 years and have a race to see which one I could bring a World Series trophy to first.

After alot of thought, I settled on my Kansas City Royals, who have not sniffed first place in 15 years. (Well, we did briefly in 2003), and the Pittsburgh Pirates, who have also been in-ept during that same period of time.

I have also set some ground rules for these 2 small market teams.

1) I can only trade players for prospects or older (34+vets)
2) I can only sign minor league free agents, free agents coming off injury, or free agents 34+.
3) I can only sign 1 "Big Money" free agent, and I still have to stay within the teams budget, and he cannot be traded until fullfilling at least 2 years on his contract and he must be in his 3rd year.
4) I can sign homegrown talent to long term deals, and they can be traded at anytime.
5) A players demand to be traded must be met.

The Dynasty ends in 2010, or sooner if either team wins a Championship.

Firing is off.

I will be posting the Pirates on a seperate thread to keep from having confusion between the 2 teams. A Royals edition and a Pirates Edition.

[Koprnkc]

So lets take a look at the 1995 Pirates we will be running.

Catchers
Mark Parent .263/.348/.742
Don Slaught .287/.381/.723

Alot of aging vets here, we will try and get through the season with Slaught as the starter, and pick up a young catcher we can groom for the future.

First Base
Orlando Merced .272/.343/.755

Merced gives us a solid bat at 1st base.

Second Base
Carlos Garcia .277/.309/.676
Nelson Liriano .255/.357/.753
John Wehner .250/.250/.750

Not alot of good options here. Liriano will start, and Garcia will back up. Wehner may get sent down.

Third Base
Jeff King .263/.316/.691

King has a decent stick and can give steady fielding for us.

Shortstop
Jay Bell .276/.353/.794

See King above.

Leftfield
Al Martin .286/.367/.824

Martin gives us a good young player in Left. Lacks power, but then most of the lineup does.

Centerfield
Jacob Brumfield ,311/.381/.906
Midre Cummings .244/.283/.608

Brumfield is the starter and has a nice bat. Cummings plays as the #4 outfielder, and give rest to Brumfield and Martin.

Rightfield
Dave Clark .296/.355/.844
Steve Pegues .300/.364/.664

Not really sold on Clark. Pegues is also questionable in ability. An area in need of an upgrade.

Starting Pitchers
Jon Lieber 6-7/3.73/1.30
Esteban Loaiza 0-0/0.00/0.00
Denny Neagle 9-10/5.12/1.34
Steve Parris 0-0/0.00/0.00
Paul Wagner 7-8/4.59/1.55

Neagle is the Ace. Lieber is #2. The other 3 are back of the rotation guy. Neagle is also one of our best trade chips, We will look to move Neagle, and pick up a young Rightfielder or Starting Pitcher by the All-Star break.

Relief Pitchers
Jason Christiansen 0-0/0.00/0.00
Mike Dyer 1-1/5.87/1.76
John Ericks 0-0/0.00/0.00
Jim Gott 5-3/5.95/1.82
Dan Plesac 2-3/4.61/1.35
Rick White 4-5/3.82/1.27

Not alot here. Plesac and White look like the best of the bunch, with Christiansen having alot of potential. Most immediate roster moves will be to shore up the bullpen.

Closer
Mike Maddux 2sv/5.11/1.32

Maddux is older, so this is a priority area.

[ry1220]

Sounds interesting.

To control both teams, you just simply need to either make two managers (and switch between them) or make one in a self-regulating commissioner mode. To make more than one manager, go to the OOTP menu > Add/edit human manger, then make Koprnkc v2, or whomever. To switch between them, go to the OOTP menu > Select human manger. Simple enough.

Good luck with the dynasty. I'll be following along.

[Terpripken]

Originally Posted by ry1220

Sounds interesting.

To control both teams, you just simply need to either make two managers (and switch between them) or make one in a self-regulating commissioner mode. To make more than one manager, go to the OOTP menu > Add/edit human manger, then make Koprnkc v2, or whomever. To switch between them, go to the OOTP menu > Select human manger. Simple enough.

Good luck with the dynasty. I'll be following along.

Good call. Hadn't thought of setting up 2 manager profiles.

[Koprnkc]

Yeah, I figured it out, thanks for the help guys.

I knew there was some way to do it.

[Koprnkc]

Versus RHP

1) Nelson Liriano 2B
2) Al Martin LF
3) Jeff King 3B
4) Jacob Brumfield CF
5) Orlando Merced 1B
6) Midre Cummings RF
7) Don Slaught C
8) Jay Bell SS
9) P

Versus LHP
1) Nelson Liriano 2B
2) Al Martin LF
3) Jeff King 3B
4) Jacob Brumfield CF
5) Orlando Merced 1B
6) Dave Clark RF
7) Don Slaught C
8) Jay Bell SS
9) P

Starting rotation
1) Denny Neagle
2) Esteban Loaiza
3) Paul Wagner
4) Jon Lieber
5) Steve Parris

*Note* Even though Lieber is probably the 2nd best pitcher on the staff, I feel having him at #4 gives us a chance to keep from having long losing streaks.

Middle Relief
1) Dan Plesac L
2) Jon Ericks R
3) Mike Dyer R
4) Rick White R

Set Up
1) Jim Gott R
2) Jason Christiansen L

Closer
1) Mike Maddux R

[Koprnkc]

We finish up spring training 16-8.

Rightfielder Steve Pegues suffers a Oblique Strain and misses most of spring training, landing on the 15 day DL.

The owner spoke with me at the end of spring training and informed me that he expects us to make the playoffs.

He must be high on Spring Training success.

[Koprnkc]

A look at the Pirates April Schedule.

[Koprnkc]

We finish the month of April 7-18, 6 games back of the front running Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros.

We are currently sporting a 7 game losing streak.

April's Spotlight Player: Esteban Loaiza 2-1 / 2.29 /0.97


We loss SP Paul Wagner for 8 weeks due to a shoulder strain, along with LF Al Martin for 2 months due to a broken hand.

Wagner was placed on the 15 day DL, and Dan Maceli was brought up. Martin was placed on the 60 day DL, and Kevin Young was brought up.

We are near the bottom thrid of the league in most pitching and batting categories.

Not a good start for the Pirates out of the chute.

[Koprnkc]

Pirates up coming May Schedule. With Chicago and Houston, we have a chance to make up some ground.

[Koprnkc]

Month of May is not kind to the us, as we go 10-18 for the month. We are now 17-36, 10.5 games behind division leading Chicago and Houston.

May's Spotlight Player: Mike Maddux 0-2 / 7Sv / 1.02 Era


Centerfielder Jacob Brumfield suffers a wrist sprain and misses 5 weeks. He then suffers a 2 week set back and is still currently sitting on the 15 day DL.

We also place 3 players on the trade block:
Don Slaught C
Denny Neagle SP
Dave Clark RF

No offers as of yet.

We head into June, with nothing to look forward to but the draft and the hopes that we can get healthy.

[Koprnkc]

Pirates up coming June Schedule.



Maybe .500 will find us this month.

[Koprnkc]

*TRADE ALERT*

We complete our first trade of the 1995 season, shipping of 36 year old catcher Don Slaught to the Texas Rangers for 27 year old Starting Pitcher Roger Pavlik and 22 year old SS Benji Gil.

Slaught was batting .227 / 1 HR / 17 RBI's, for us.

Pavlik was 1-7 / 7.65 ERA / 1.95 whip for Texas, and Gil was batting .197 down in AAA.

Though not really a prospect, Pavlik is a fringe Major Leaguer right now who we hope a change of scenery will do some good, and Gil is a decent prospect.

Pavlik is inserted as our number 5 starter, and Gil has been sent to AAA to work on his skills.

[Koprnkc]

June finds us playing better ball, going 14-15, 14 games behind first place Cincy. Not quite .500 ball, but the team is starting to come together.

June's Spotlight Player: Denny Neagle 5-0 / 0.99 / 1.31
Wins N.L. Pitcher of the Month for June.


Roster Moves:
We get Centerfield Jacob Brumfield back on the 12th, and send Reliever Dan Miceli down to AAA.

Centerfield Jacob Brumfield promptly gets hurt 2 weeks later, and we call up 3b John Wehner.

We got alot of very un-happy players, Pavlik one of them. Why, I have no idea, as the guy is 0-4 with a ERA over 9 since coming over in the trade.

[Koprnkc]

*Trade Alert*

The rats are starting to jump ship now. Catcher Mark Parent comes into my office, throws his mitt on my desk and demands that I trade him and his vast talents.

We grant his request and send out word he is available and St. Louis offers us Closer John Habyan. Habyan is 31, and as such, does not fit within the house rules of trading for aging vets or prospects. We inquire if prospect Alan Benes would be available, and inquire what it would take to complete the deal. They want 35 year old reliever Jim Gott thrown in.

We agree.

Mike Parent .216 / 3 Hr / 11 Rbi's
Jim Gott 1-1 / 2sv / 6.58 Era.

We send Alan Benes to AAA

[Koprnkc]

The June Amature draft rolls in and we have the #3 pick. We figure to land a few of the building blocks for the future.

1) Jermaine Dye RF
2) Amaury Telemaco SP
3) Rocky Coppinger SP
4) Keith Osik C
5) Elmer Dessens MR
6) Bill Selby 2B
7) Izzy Molina C

All 7 picks our sent to our AA squad for seasoning.

[Koprnkc]

The Pirates up coming schedule for July. Looks like we are in for a tough time.

[Koprnkc]

The 1995 All-Star rosters are announced.

We send closer Mike Maddux.

Mike Maddux 2-5 / 19 Svs / 2.22 Era

[68pirate]

If you've traded both Slaught and Parent, who are your catchers now?

[Koprnkc]

Originally Posted by 68pirate

If you've traded both Slaught and Parent, who are your catchers now?

Rookie Angelo Encarnacion is currently starting and Mackey Sasser is backing him up.

Angelo Encarnacion .263/ 5 Hrs / 20 RBI's
Mackey Sasser .667/ 0 Hrs / 0 RBI's

I believe Encarnacion played a season for Pitt in RL.

We also have Izzy Molina and Keith Osik in the minors, but I expect it will be at least 2 seasons before either one of them get called up.