OOTP 7 Dynasty: Cubby Blue & Wrigley Field

[DawnBTVS]

June Draft results... outside of the 1st pick, I mostly targeted guys with solid pop and a decent enough eye. Basically a "typical" Saber kinda guy. Most if not all will start at AAA with a few in AA.

Remember to ignore the "names" for the most part... after all you're looking at a guy who made this fella: Dave Hansen a star on this club.
1.01: SP David Bush
2.01: 3B David Wright
3.01: C Joe Mauer
4.01: CF Grady Sizemore
5.01: RF Jorge Piedra
6.01: LF Terrmel Sledge
7.01: SS Russ Adams
8.01: 1B Bucky Jacobsen
9.01: 3B Justin Leone
10.01: C Chris Snyder
11.01: RF Victor Diaz
12.01: 2B Scott Hairston
13.01: 1B Casey Kotchman
14.01: CF Jose Bautista
15.01: 3B Glenn Dobbs
16.01: LF Doug DeVore
17.01: 3B Tim Olson
18.01: 2B Brendan Harris
19.01: RF Val Pascucci
20.01: LF Josh Kroeger

Also on 6/15 I demoted Jay Gibbons and put Kit Carson back on the 25 man roster after being healthy off the DL. He'll take over CF, replacing Bernie Williams to keep Jack Cust in the lineup.

On 6/23 Carlos Pena goes down for 2 weeks thanks to a strained groin muscle and I realize that Kit in CF is just a disastrous idea...

We had our worst month percent wise, going 9-15.

NL Central Standings
Cincinnati: 42-37
Milwaukee: 42-37
Pittsburgh: 33-46
St. Louis: 33-47
New Evil Empire: 32-47
Chicago: 32-47 (10.0 GB)

We only have 5 bright spots on offense...
Pedro Valdes: .247/.354/.429 with 12 HR and 41 RBI. 47 BB vs. 50 K.
Chase Utley: .268/.332/.425 with 7 HR and 43 RBI. 28 BB vs. 57 K.
Jack Cust: .271/.355/.405 with 8 HR and 37 RBI. 39 BB vs. 69 K.
Khalil Greene: .261/.344/.438 with 5 HR and 36 RBI. 29 BB vs. 56 K.
Brad Fullmer: .278/.349/.426 with 4 HR and 23 RBI. 17 BB vs. 29 K.

As you can see... our team is seriously lacking in the power department. In 173 AB Carlos Pena only has 4 HR...

Our pitching, yet again, is saving our butts though.
Mike Crudale, Jose Valverde, Aquilino Lopez, and Ryan Wagner all have ERAs of 2.25, 2.79, 3.19, and 3.54.

Jose Antonio Nunez continues to be a stud closer with a 2.63 ERA despite only 16 S.

Roy Oswalt is only 7-6 despite a 2.61 ERA which can largely be blamed on the offense doing jack. The 2-4 have been solid enough with Scott Karl, Bartolo Ortiz, and Gio Gonzalez combining for a 18-21 record.

Mike Wood has a 2-10 record with a 5.74 ERA and may be sent back down to AAA, getting replaced by David Bush.

Down at AAA, 3B David Wright already has 5 HR in only 64 AB and may get called up to replace the powerless duo of Kevin Orie and Mark Loretta who have combined for only 6 HR. Joe Mauer is hitting .383/.474/.638 with 2 HR and will get called up to replace Jorge Posada who is slugging .359 with only 3 HR.

I'll also call up CF Grady Sizemore who is more offensive ready but a slight defensive liability. I'll send Rocco Baldelli who's only 21 and hitting .195/.248/.260 with 2 HR on the year.

Next Post: July and trying to slide in the 3rd spot.

[DawnBTVS]

We close out July at 9-17 and this team sucks but that's more on me than anything else, of course.

Joe Mauer went down for 2 weeks on 7/9 and now to close out the month, David Wright will be out for 2-3 weeks as well with damaged meniscus in his knee.

I was looking at real life numbers and the ideal "per game" totals for good offensive teams seems to be 1.10+ in HR and around 4.00 in BB.

Right now in 105 games we're sitting at 0.82 HR/G and 3.80 BB/G. Kinda obvious which area needs the improvement.

NL Central Standings
Cincinnati: 62-44
Milwaukee: 58-48
St. Louis: 49-57
Pittsburgh: 47-58
New Evil Empire: 43-62
Chicago: 41-64 (20.5 GB)

The few bright spots offensively...
Chase Utley: .281/.343/.436 with 9 HR. 37 BB vs. 80 K. 6 SB in 7 SBA.
Pedro Valdes: .233/.336/.402 with 12 HR. 58 BB vs. 66 K.
Jack Cust: .273/.353/.399 with 10 HR. 50 BB vs. 89 K.
Khalil Greene: .266/.348/.439 with 8 HR. 41 BB vs. 71 K.
Brad Fullmer: .281/.349/.431 with 6 HR. 27 BB vs. 40 K.
David Wright: .252/.313/.427 with 5 HR. 6 BB vs. 20 K.
Joe Mauer: .317/.323/.556 with 3 HR. 1 BB vs. 8 K.

You know it's bad when the pitching is starting to dove tail as well...
The usual suspects in the bullpen are the only major names worth mentioning although here's how the #1-#4 starters are faring...

31-40 with an ERA of 4.46 but David Bush has been piss poor with a 2-4 record and an ERA of 8.28 as the #5 starter.

Unfortunately there are no openings for the few bright spots in the minors i.e. SS Russ Adams who has an OPS of 1.002 in 156 AB with 7 HR.

I'll likely call up LF Terrmel Sledge who has 7 HR in 154 AB to replace the vapid hole of power that is Kit Carson who while a great OBP (.346) has a horrible SLG at .350.

Although now I'm growing concerned at how my offense has only 2 right handed hitters with the two switch hitters being relegated to the bench at the moment.

Next Post: My eventual suicide... or at least the prep job. I doubt I'll offer any extensions but we'll see who will be hitting free agency.

[DawnBTVS]

I made several contract extensions during the middle of August...
Gio Gonzalez at $470K per 3 years.
Pedro Valdes at $3.25 Million per 3 years.
Roy Oswalt at $9.28 Million per 3 years. Easily worth it and a steal IMO.
Carlos Pena at $710K per 3 years.
Jose Antonio Nunez at $460K per 3 years.

We finished at 9-19 but the meltdown occurred on 8/25...

I put the following players on waivers and designated them for assignment: Bernie Williams, Mark Loretta, Jorge Posada, Colin Long to make room on the 40 man roster, and Andrew Bater to also make room on the 40 man roster.

I also optioned to AAA: Rocco Baldelli, Kit Carson, Jack Cust, Kevin Orie, and David Bush. Cust got sent down because he was only slugging .377 and I need better production out of a DH role.

I called up the following players throughout the month or before in July mainly for their power potential: RF Val Pascucci, RF Jorge Piedra, CF Grady Sizemore, SS Russ Adams, and 3B Justin Leone. I also re-called SP Mike Wood to take over the #5 spot again.

On August 29th, the Toronto Blue Jays claimed both Bernie Williams and Mark Loretta. Loretta had a .359 OBP and .317 SLG while Bernie had a .251 OBP and .287 SLG.

Here is how the call ups are faring...
Grady Sizemore: 8 HR and 22 BB (.279/.355/.458).
David Wright: 7 HR and 7 BB (.256/.308/.436)
Joe Mauer: 7 HR and 11 BB (.327/.369/.571)
Terrmel Sledge: 2 HR and 5 BB (.184/.217/.289)
Russ Adams: 0 HR and 2 BB (.130/.231/.174)
Jorge Piedra: 2 HR and 1 BB (.227/.261/.545)
Val Pascucci: Only 3 at bats.

Total: 26 HR in 655 AB with 48 BB.

The rest of the team had combined for 85 HR and this group of 6 players has already hit 31% of that total... with none having more than 200 AB as an individual!

Not much to talk about on the pitching side either although Mike Crudale has a 2.21 ERA heading into September and Jose Antonio Nunez has 23 S with a 3.11 ERA. Also Roy Oswalt is a respectable 11-12 with an ERA of 3.46, our only strong starting option at the moment.

In terms of lower minor league talent...
Howard Hancock (AA): .335/.416/.464 with 6 HR and 50 BB in 448 AB.
Jose Bautista (AA): .260/.372/.451 with 14 HR and 40 BB in 264 AB.
Scott Hairston (AA): .279/.345/.450 with 11 HR and 30 BB in 280 AB.
Pat Horn (AA): .361/.435/.455 with 7 HR and 70 BB in 552 AB.
Ed Thompson (AA): .281/.335/.468 with 10 HR and 11 BB in 263 AB.

Don't expect any call ups for September after my summer cleaning.

Our current record: 50-83 and 30.5 GB. I just want to win 63 games and avoid 100 losses but that's not looking too likely.

Next Post: Finishing the year out...

[bucketsndimes]

You've got some nice prospects. Maybe you'll want to pay some money eventually at least to secure the players you've brought up.

[DawnBTVS]

Originally Posted by bucketsndimes

You've got some nice prospects. Maybe you'll want to pay some money eventually at least to secure the players you've brought up.

Right now I'm getting away with letting the young players go through arbitration or get re-signed to minimum salary because I often call them up so early.

As in the case of signing Oswalt, Valdes, Nunez, Pena, etc. I'll at least have them signed through their age 27 (Nunez) or 28 seasons before they'll likely command a crap load more than I'm willing to offer them.

[DawnBTVS]

We closed out the year on a 12-17 run.

Final NL Central Standings
Cincinnati: 96-66
Milwaukee: 89-73
New Evil Empire: 76-86
St. Louis: 75-87
Pittsburgh: 67-95
Chicago: 62-100

We finished the year averaging 0.92 HR/G and 3.74 BB/G. At least we topped 600 walks as a team though. We also had the 2nd most errors fielding wise but the 3rd best range so I can let that pass.

We were also the only team to not have a shut out all season... ouch!

Final Batting Stats. Lines will feature only OBP and SLG. NL Average was .334 and .426.
Chase Utley (641): 53 doubles and 11 HR with 81 RBI. 52 BB and 10 SB in 13 SBA. Had a .332/.420 OBP and SLG.
Brad Fullmer (555) 45 doubles and 18 HR with 78 RBI. 43 BB and a .342/.461.
Khalil Greene (494): 37 double, 7 triples, and 10 HR with 60 RBI. 50 BB and .339/.425.
Pedro Valdes (491): 33 doubles and 15 HR with 58 RBI. 70 BB and .343/.413.
Jack Cust (478): 19 doubles and 10 HR with 57 RBI. 60 BB and .350/.377.
Carlos Pena (331): 14 doubles and 11 HR with 33 RBI. 45 BB and .322/.381.
Grady Sizemore (296): 17 doubles and 9 HR with 48 RBI. 35 BB and 4 SB in 6 SBA. Had a .349/.412 OBP and SLG.
David Wright (273): 8 doubles and 11 HR with 47 RBI. 12 BB and .288/.399.
Joe Mauer (233): 16 doubles and 13 HR with 49 RBI. 23 BB and .392/.584.
Terrmel Sledge (229): 11 doubles and 5 HR with 27 RBI. 17 BB and .297/.380.
Russ Adams (127): 6 doubles and 4 HR with 20 RBI. 12 BB and 8 SB in 8 SBA. Had a .331/.394 OBP and SLG.
Jorge Piedra (119): 5 doubles and 5 HR with 19 RBI. 7 BB and .341/.462.

Final Pitching Stats
Jose Antonio Nunez: 29 S with a 2.80 ERA in 54.2 IP. 54 K vs. 20 BB.
Mike Crudale: 2.84 ERA in 50.2 IP. 39 K vs. 28 BB.
Roy Oswalt: 14-14 with a 3.51 ERA in 248.2 IP. 148 K vs. 36 BB.
Jose Valverde: 6-2 with a 3.71 ERA in 89.2 IP. 124 K vs. 42 BB.
Aquilino Lopez: 2-4 with a 4.66 ERA in 75.1 IP. 76 K vs. 49 BB.
Ryan Wagner: 1-4 with a 5.17 ERA in 62.2 IP. 52 K vs. 26 BB.
Bartolo Ortiz: 10-12 with a 5.56 ERA in 171.2 IP. 179 K vs. 63 BB.
Gio Gonzalez: 11-16 with a 5.60 ERA in 181.2 IP. 70 K vs. 84 BB.
Scott Karl: 9-17 with a 5.93 ERA in 205.0 IP. 114 K vs. 49 BB.
Mike Wood: 2-13 with a 6.08 ERA in 140.2 IP. 136 K vs. 52 BB.
Brian Walker: 2-2 with a 7.65 ERA in 75.1 IP. 64 K vs. 33 BB.

What the hell with Mike Wood and Gio Gonzalez? Seriously... 2 and 13? Yet they win 11 games for a guy who walked 14 more hitters than he struck out!?!

2003 Playoff Teams
The Evil Empire (88-74) 1.56 HR & 3.41 BB vs. Texas Rangers (100-62) 1.62 HR & 4.16 BB
Seattle Mariners (88-74) 1.34 HR & 3.98 BB vs. Detroit Tigers (96-66) 1.01 HR & 3.46 BB
That WS Team (93-69) 1.12 HR & 3.25 BB vs. New York Mets (96-66) 1.01 HR & 2.74 BB
Montreal Expos (91-71) 1.22 HR & 3.07 BB vs. Cincinnati Reds (96-66) 1.44 HR & 2.93 BB

Next Post: 2003 WS Winner, Award Winners, and Free Agency Results

[DawnBTVS]

In the 2003 World Series, the Cincinnati Reds beat the Texas Rangers 4-3 thanks to a 9-4 win in Game 7. Mark Prior went 6-0 in the post season with a 2.22 ERA. He had 47 K vs. 4 BB and a 0.80 WHIP.

Award Winners
AL Silver Slugger: Ch'ang-chieh Yuan who hit .369/.484/.631 with 34 HR and 107 RBI. Also had 118 BB and 19 SB (63%).
NL Silver Slugger: Barry Bonds who hit .276/.436/.553 with 37 HR and 108 RBI. Also had 134 BB and 30 SB (70%).
AL Cy Young: Joaquin Benoit went 19-5 with a 3.20 ERA in 211 IP. He also had a 1.20 WHIP.
NL Cy Young: Mark Prior went 19-11 with a 2.73 ERA in 227.1 IP. He had 238 K and a 1.16 WHIP.
AL Rookie of the Year: Jorge Gonzalez who hit .292/.370/.556 with 36 HR and 105 RBI. Also had 62 BB.
NL Rookie of the Year: Javier Marrero went 7-2 with a 3.08 ERA in 87.2 IP. Had 74 K and a 1.16 WHIP.

Salary Arbitration
Mel Rosario will receive $640K for being a backup this year.
Kevin Orie will receive $327,240 for being in AAA.

Chicago free agents...
Jorge Posada
Brad Fullmer wanted to test free agency.
Gabe White was stuck in AAA for the year.
Scott Karl wanted to test free agency.

Free Agency
My first offer is a 1 year deal to 33 year old SP Bryce Florie who Red Sox fans will remember for taking that nasty liner off the face years ago. He's gone 20-20 with an ERA of 4.80 the past 2 years for the New Evil Empire.

My other offer is a 1 year deal at $520K to 36 year old Robin Ventura to back up at 1B. He had 18 HR in only 341 AB last year with 52 BB and a .323/.422 mark.

Robin doesn't like my offer much, the brat, so I offer a 1 year deal at $560K to 28 year old Richie Sexson instead. He's never done much although in 2001 he had 11 HR b/w Tampa Bay and Los Angeles in 320 AB.

Ventura ended up re-signing with the White Sox the next day for $660K.

On 12/10 Richie Sexson signs and he'll back up Carlos Pena at 1B.

On 12/15 we nab Bryce Florie and give up a 1st round pick to the New Evil Empire.

Chicago Cubs 2004 Squad!
Payroll: $21.79 Million. 29th of 30

Pitching
SP Roy Oswalt
SP Bryce Florie
SP Bartolo Ortiz
SP Gio Gonzalez
SP Mike Wood
MR Mike Crudale
MR Jose Valverde
MR Aquilino Lopez
MR Ryan Wagner
MR Brian Walker
CL Jose Antonio Nunez

Position Players & DH
C Joe Mauer
C Mel Rosario
1B Carlos Pena
1B Richie Sexson
2B Chase Utley
3B David Wright
3B Justin Leone
SS Khalil Greene
SS Russ Adams
LF Terrmel Sledge
CF Grady Sizemore
RF Pedro Valdes
RF Val Pascucci
DH Jorge Piedra

Next Post: Kicking off the year in style...

[DawnBTVS]

We close out the month at 11-13 and tied for 2nd place... nice to see.

NL Central Standings
Cincinnati: 12-12
Chicago: 11-13
Milwaukee: 11-13
St. Louis: 11-13
Pittsburgh: 9-15
New Evil Empire: 9-16

Good to see Houston stuck in dead last. I hate 'em... partly for their past success of course.

Overall the power has shot up making us able to win games! Imagine... power actually helps.

Chase Utley: .347/.431/.515 with 11 doubles and 2 HR. 12 BB vs. 15 K.
Grady Sizemore: .310/.358/.620 with 9 HR and 26 RBI. 6 BB vs. 20 K.
Russ Adams: .247/.300/.409 with 4 HR. 7 BB vs. 9 K and 3 SB/4 SBA.
Jorge Piedra: .280/.337/.484 with 5 HR and 20 RBI. 8 BB vs. 17 K.
Pedro Valdes: .165/.309/.308 with 7 doubles and 2 HR. 18 BB vs. 11 K.
David Wright: .275/.305/.582 with 7 doubles and 7 HR. 4 BB vs. 18 K.
Terrmel Sledge: .227/.269/.330 with 6 doubles. 4 BB vs. 18 K.
Carlos Pena: .241/.305/.437 with 5 doubles and 4 HR. 8 BB vs. 19 K.
Joe Mauer: .295/.378/.500 with 4 HR. 10 BB vs. 7 K.

As a team we're tied for 2nd in the NL with 40 HR and a .475 SLG average.

Pitching wise, we're doing equally well as always. I also tweaked pitch counts to help a bit on the bullpen overload.
Relievers
Jose Valverde: 1.56 ERA in 17.1 IP. 23 K vs. 7 BB.
Ryan Wagner: 2.13 ERA in 12.2 IP. 6 K vs. 7 BB.
Mike Crudale: 2.25 ERA in 8.0 IP. 5 K vs. 3 BB.
Aquilino Lopez: 2.38 ERA in 11.1 IP. 10 K vs. 5 BB.
Brian Walker: 5.08 ERA in 5.1 IP. 6 K vs. 1 BB.
Jose Antonio Nunez: 3 S with a 6.75 ERA in 5.1 IP. 6 K vs. 4 BB.

Starters
Bartolo Ortiz: 3-0 with a 3.11 ERA in 37.2 IP. 30 K vs. 10 BB.
Roy Oswalt: 4-1 with a 3.29 ERA in 41.0 IP. 24 K vs. 5 BB.
Bryce Florie: 2-3 with a 5.08 ERA in 28.1 IP. 22 K vs. 11 BB.
Gio Gonzalez: 1-4 with a 7.24 ERA in 27.1 IP. 19 K vs. 12 BB.
Mike Wood: 1-2 with a 10.54 ERA in 13.2 IP. 9 K vs. 11 BB.

Well, obviously the suck that is Mike Wood will be sent down to AAA for a better #5 SP option. I'll likely call up Billy Traber who has a 4-1 record with a 2.43 ERA in 40.2 IP with 41 K vs. 10 BB.

Minor League Spotlights...
SP David Bush: 4-1 with a 2.55 ERA in 42.1 IP. 29 K vs. 12 BB.
MR Jon Rauch: 2.79 ERA in 19.1 IP. 17 K vs. 5 BB.
LF Kit Carson: .374/.429/.465 with 6 doubles and 1 HR. 11 BB vs. 10 K.
RF Victor Diaz: .343/.492/.657 with 7 doubles and 8 HR. 22 BB vs. 15 K.
DH Esteban German: .360/.475/.491 with 7 doubles and 2 HR. 25 BB vs. 11 K.

Next Post: Heading into May and the flow into the summer winds.

[bucketsndimes]

Sizemore is great if he would draw a few more walks he'd be even greater.

[DawnBTVS]

On 5/26 Bartolo Ortiz went down for 7 weeks due to back spasms. He was 4-1 with a 3.20 ERA at the time.

I called up David Bush to take his place in the rotation.

We really improved, closing out May at 16-12.

NL Central Standings
Milwaukee: 27-24
Chicago: 27-25 (2 GB)
Cincinnati: 26-26
St. Louis: 24-29
New Evil Empire: 22-30
Pittsburgh: 22-31

On the batting side, we have several beasts right now... In order of OPS
Grady Sizemore: .306/.379/.632 with 10 doubles and 18 HR. 24 BB vs. 39 K. 6 SB (60%).
Joe Mauer: .312/.398/.524 with 7 doubles and 9 HR. 23 BB vs. 16 K.
Chase Utley: .330/.409/.500 with 19 doubles and 6 HR. 25 BB vs. 32 K.
David Wright: .254/.298/.492 with 11 doubles and 11 HR. 8 BB vs. 36 K.
Carlos Pena: .232/.330/.420 with 10 doubles and 8 HR. 26 BB vs. 36 K.
Russ Adams: .278/.349/.390 with 5 HR. 19 BB vs. 19 K and 12 SB (86%).
Terrmel Sledge: .251/.299/.428 with 13 doubles and 6 HR. 11 BB vs. 35 K.
Jorge Piedra: .248/.298/.414 with 10 doubles and 7 HR. 13 BB vs. 36 K.
Pedro Valdes: .216/.323/.327 with 13 doubles and 3 HR. 30 BB vs. 27 K.

We're 2nd in the NL with 77 HR and 4th in BB with 187. Wow... we're also first with 294 K.

Pitching wise...
Jose Valverde: 2.88 ERA in 34.1 IP. 49 K vs. 15 BB.
Roy Oswalt: 6-3 with a 3.14 ERA in 86.0 IP. 50 K vs. 12 BB.
Mike Crudale: 3.80 ERA in 23.2 IP. 17 K vs. 8 BB.
Ryan Wagner: 3.86 ERA in 21.0 IP. 18 K vs. 14 BB.
Bryce Florie: 4-5 with a 4.95 ERA in 63.2 IP. 52 K vs. 21 BB.
Jose Antonio Nunez: 10 S with a 5.14 ERA in 14.0 IP. 12 K vs. 7 BB.
Billy Traber: 2-0 with a 5.34 ERA in 30.1 IP. 26 K vs. 3 BB.
Brian Walker: 5.40 ERA in 15.0 IP. 15 K vs. 3 BB.
Aquilino Lopez: 5.40 ERA in 25.0 IP. 28 K vs. 16 BB.

In his only start so far David Bush went 3.1 IP with 3 K vs. 2 BB and 0 ER.

We lead the NL with 4 CG and also have the fewest IP... huh. We're also first in HRA and tied for first in BBA.

Minor League Spotlight... aka eye-popping stats...
MR Jon Rauch: 4-1 with 4 S and a 2.83 ERA in 35.0 IP.
C Chris Snyder: 16 doubles hitting .267/.352/.500 with 23 BB vs. 31 K.
SS Colin Long: 12 doubles hitting .352/.447/.422 with 33 BB vs. 10 K.
LF Kit Carson: 13 doubles and 4 HR hitting .371/.454/.515 with 33 BB vs. 23 K.
RF Victor Diaz: 16 doubles and 14 HR hitting .332/.471/.629 with 44 BB vs. 27 K.

I may call up Diaz shortly and send down Pascucci while letting VD fill in for Jorge Piedra at DH.

Next Month: 2004 MLB Draft.