Which MLB Team To Be?

[Klew1986]

I am going to start a 2014 MLB game, but can't decide who to be?

Options are:

1) Houston
2) Chicago Cubs
3) Miami
4) Seattle
5) Colorado

[haveband]

Originally Posted by Klew1986

I am going to start a 2014 MLB game, but can't decide who to be?

Options are:

1) Houston
2) Chicago Cubs
3) Miami
4) Seattle
5) Colorado

Take one of the top two... Much better prospects than the others to build around.

[Cryomaniac]

I always like to take over a weak team and see how well I can do with them.

[Cowboys3356]

Originally Posted by Klew1986

I am going to start a 2014 MLB game, but can't decide who to be?

Options are:

1) Houston
2) Chicago Cubs
3) Miami
4) Seattle
5) Colorado

So far I have seen Seattle and Colorado do pretty good so if you want an instant challenge I would not pick them. Houston has insane prospects so while they might be tough at first, they will quickly become a monster team. Chicago is Chicago so might be a good pick if you never want to win a WS. Miami is a good one, not the best financial situation so you always have to stay on your toes when your young players are start getting close to big contract time and be active looking for cheap vets that can fill your holes.

[HolyCow98]

For me I'd take Miami....going forward...you will have the challenge of not having extremely deep pockets. I'm also from Florida...and while I'm not a Marlins fan...it wouldn't be that hard for me to feel connected to them.

[24Rocks]

Originally Posted by Cowboys3356

So far I have seen Seattle and Colorado do pretty good so if you want an instant challenge I would not pick them. Houston has insane prospects so while they might be tough at first, they will quickly become a monster team. Chicago is Chicago so might be a good pick if you never want to win a WS. Miami is a good one, not the best financial situation so you always have to stay on your toes when your young players are start getting close to big contract time and be active looking for cheap vets that can fill your holes.

Miami Has a great group of pitchers and In my online league the owner dies on 420? but The cubs or Maimi, Astros have aot of specs will be good soon.

[The Wolf]

Houston. Rags to riches.

[24Rocks]

Originally Posted by The Wolf

Houston. Rags to riches.

I never knew you were in to hip hop I love that song

[gbwitheyes]

If you end up going with Houston please for the love of all things holy do not revive their hideous 'Rainbow Gut' jersey. Not even as a special vintage night promotion.

[gbwitheyes]

Almost forgot. My choice would be Miami. It would be an interesting challenge to see if you could build those shoestring budget competitive teams for which the Marlins are known.

[hfield007]

Challenge wise I think Miami offers the hardest long term situation.

[mgom27]

Just put Top Prospects on one team.

[Bobble]

I tried to figure out the best "worst" team to be in another post. Basically, I obtained a pre-season ranking of teams in several categories and sorted them by the product of all their rankings:

Team		Prospects	Record	Salary	Market	Sum	~Product
Philadelphia Phillies	25	25	28	11	89	10969
Milwaukee Brewers	29	17	15	30	91	10458
Atlanta Braves		24	14	17	17	72	5712
Arizona Diamondbacks	15	18	20	20	73	5400
Cincinnati Reds		16	14	19	28	77	5167
Detroit Tigers		27	9	26	13	75	4468
Cleveland Indians	20	21	5	22	68	4405
Colorado Rockies	10	23	14	25	72	4303
Chicago White Sox	21	23	11	5	60	3582
Miami Marlins		19	29	2	18	68	3306
Toronto Blue Jays	13	14	21	15	63	3230
Seattle Mariners	17	12	13	19	61	3206
Kansas City Royals	7	21	12	29	69	2742
Baltimore Orioles	12	18	16	7	53	2286
San Francisco Giants	22	7	24	9	62	2263
Texas Rangers		9	12	23	14	58	1938
San Diego Padres	11	10	10	23	54	1668
Oakland Athletics	28	8	6	9	51	1646
New York Yankees	23	10	29	1	63	1239
Washington Nationals	18	4	22	7	51	893
Los Angeles Angels	30	3	25	3	61	779
Houston Astros		5	30	1	16	52	600
New York Mets		8	25	9	1	43	600
Pittsburgh Pirates	3	18	4	27	52	561
St Louis Cardinals	6	4	18	24	52	499
Tampa Bay Rays		26	2	3	26	57	459
Chicago Cubs		2	27	8	5	42	342
Minnesota Twins		1	28	7	21	57	339
Boston Red Sox		4	4	27	12	47	288
Los Angeles Dodgers	14	1	30	3	48	133

If you're looking for a long-term challenge, it's the Phillies or Brewers.

[madJ]

Originally Posted by Bobble

I tried to figure out the best "worst" team to be in another post. Basically, I obtained a pre-season ranking of teams in several categories and sorted them by the product of all their rankings:

Team        Prospects    Record    Salary    Market    Sum    ~Product
Philadelphia Phillies    25    25    28    11    89    10969
Milwaukee Brewers    29    17    15    30    91    10458
Atlanta Braves        24    14    17    17    72    5712
Arizona Diamondbacks    15    18    20    20    73    5400
Cincinnati Reds        16    14    19    28    77    5167
Detroit Tigers        27    9    26    13    75    4468
Cleveland Indians    20    21    5    22    68    4405
Colorado Rockies    10    23    14    25    72    4303
Chicago White Sox    21    23    11    5    60    3582
Miami Marlins        19    29    2    18    68    3306
Toronto Blue Jays    13    14    21    15    63    3230
Seattle Mariners    17    12    13    19    61    3206
Kansas City Royals    7    21    12    29    69    2742
Baltimore Orioles    12    18    16    7    53    2286
San Francisco Giants    22    7    24    9    62    2263
Texas Rangers        9    12    23    14    58    1938
San Diego Padres    11    10    10    23    54    1668
Oakland Athletics    28    8    6    9    51    1646
New York Yankees    23    10    29    1    63    1239
Washington Nationals    18    4    22    7    51    893
Los Angeles Angels    30    3    25    3    61    779
Houston Astros        5    30    1    16    52    600
New York Mets        8    25    9    1    43    600
Pittsburgh Pirates    3    18    4    27    52    561
St Louis Cardinals    6    4    18    24    52    499
Tampa Bay Rays        26    2    3    26    57    459
Chicago Cubs        2    27    8    5    42    342
Minnesota Twins        1    28    7    21    57    339
Boston Red Sox        4    4    27    12    47    288
Los Angeles Dodgers    14    1    30    3    48    133

If you're looking for a long-term challenge, it's the Phillies or Brewers.

Saw that earlier in another post and took the Phillies. After 2 very dreadful seasons (one with 105 losses) and a lot of trading for prospects, the team finished .500 in season 3. First playoff appearance was in season 4.
So maybe the Phillies are not the most challanging after all since they have quite a big budget to play with. You can go and buy some decent free agents you can then use as trade chips at the deadline. FWIW I played with scouting set to normal with all the rest (trading difficulty, etc.) at default values. There was only one contract I couldn't move out of Philly which was Ryan Howard's.

[rstoomeyii]

Originally Posted by Bobble

I tried to figure out the best "worst" team to be in another post. Basically, I obtained a pre-season ranking of teams in several categories and sorted them by the product of all their rankings:

Team        Prospects    Record    Salary    Market    Sum    ~Product
Philadelphia Phillies    25    25    28    11    89    10969
Milwaukee Brewers    29    17    15    30    91    10458
Atlanta Braves        24    14    17    17    72    5712
Arizona Diamondbacks    15    18    20    20    73    5400
Cincinnati Reds        16    14    19    28    77    5167
Detroit Tigers        27    9    26    13    75    4468
Cleveland Indians    20    21    5    22    68    4405
Colorado Rockies    10    23    14    25    72    4303
Chicago White Sox    21    23    11    5    60    3582
Miami Marlins        19    29    2    18    68    3306
Toronto Blue Jays    13    14    21    15    63    3230
Seattle Mariners    17    12    13    19    61    3206
Kansas City Royals    7    21    12    29    69    2742
Baltimore Orioles    12    18    16    7    53    2286
San Francisco Giants    22    7    24    9    62    2263
Texas Rangers        9    12    23    14    58    1938
San Diego Padres    11    10    10    23    54    1668
Oakland Athletics    28    8    6    9    51    1646
New York Yankees    23    10    29    1    63    1239
Washington Nationals    18    4    22    7    51    893
Los Angeles Angels    30    3    25    3    61    779
Houston Astros        5    30    1    16    52    600
New York Mets        8    25    9    1    43    600
Pittsburgh Pirates    3    18    4    27    52    561
St Louis Cardinals    6    4    18    24    52    499
Tampa Bay Rays        26    2    3    26    57    459
Chicago Cubs        2    27    8    5    42    342
Minnesota Twins        1    28    7    21    57    339
Boston Red Sox        4    4    27    12    47    288
Los Angeles Dodgers    14    1    30    3    48    133

If you're looking for a long-term challenge, it's the Phillies or Brewers.

I really like this setting but the one beef I have is the salary rating. Having a large payroll should be offset by having a large budget, and a low payroll by a low budget. Yes it sucks that the Phillies have a huge payroll but, if you move guys then you have a lot of money to spend. The Marlins have a really low payroll but you know they aren't going to spend money. Is there anyway you could add a budget aspect to this table?

[deknegt]

I just want to add that with minor trading and some decent suckage you can easily turn the Astros into a .500 team quick.

Drafted Rodon in season 1, did some trades here and there (on hard/prospects) and I got #1 in the AL in the next season (was a pretty ****ty MLB season overall though).

Houston have some really really good prospects running around like Grossman, Altuve, Correa, Villar etc.
Since you got the #1 pick in the draft you can get Rodon and he is going to turn into a starter very quick giving you the franchise pitcher.

With Correa on the up you can also trade Villar for a nice baseman prospect to deepen the team even more.

[Bamilus]

Cubs, Seattle, Houston in that order.

[Bobble]

Originally Posted by rstoomeyii

I really like this setting but the one beef I have is the salary rating. Having a large payroll should be offset by having a large budget, and a low payroll by a low budget. Yes it sucks that the Phillies have a huge payroll but, if you move guys then you have a lot of money to spend. The Marlins have a really low payroll but you know they aren't going to spend money. Is there anyway you could add a budget aspect to this table?

I tried to model budget with market. Large payroll (30) times large market (1) = 30. Small payroll (1) times small market (30) = 30. That's one of the things that gets the Brewers up there. Middle of the road salary burden (15) but crappy market size (30) = 450.

That said, if you have any ideas on improving it, I'm open to changing it.

[wcb231]

Originally Posted by HolyCow98

For me I'd take Miami....going forward...you will have the challenge of not having extremely deep pockets. I'm also from Florida...and while I'm not a Marlins fan...it wouldn't be that hard for me to feel connected to them.

I had Miami in the 2014 playoffs my first go-round with them but good lord is it difficult to improve anything with the financial constraints.

[Honorable_Pawn]

Originally Posted by 24Rocks

I never knew you were in to hip hop I love that song

Fish! Pony! Hip, Hip Hop, Hip Hop anonymous? Damn you! You gave him the easy ones.