1) Lincoln Riley This is our pipe dream, a guy I expect won't leave his current job no matter what we offer him. However, it's worth noting that he should still be our top target and we should at least try to court him. What makes Riley so appealing to me is that he has played to the strengths of the revolving door of QBs he's had the past 3 years and masked their weaknesses, making them all either Heisman winners or candidates. Most impressively, he made Jalen Hurts look like a star QB, even though there were reports of OU receivers planning a mini-mutany to get true Freshman Spencer Rattler on the field, since he could "throw a 5 yard out". His ability to scheme a successful offense around Jalen Hurts convinced me he could make any offense in the NFL successful. 2) Arthur Smith Arthur Smith deserves a ton of credit for Ryan Tannehill, Derrick Henry, and Jonnu Smith all flourishing. The offense he runs is balanced, adaptable, and I am in love with the play action game he has been working with. I think this offense suits Herbert's already strong play action and deep ball abilities while being sure to give plenty of opportunities for easy throws and YAC potential. I think the Titans have one of the better running schemes in the league with or without Henry. 3) Brian Daboll Daboll went from OC of the national champions Crimson Tide to OC of the Buffalo Bills in 2018, and I think the progression of this offense since he has taken the reigns shows serious promise. Most importantly, I think, is seeing how Daboll has helped develop Herbert's closest physical comparison, Josh Allen, into a near-MVP discussion caliber QB. Although Diggs has been a huge boost to this offense, I personally don't see the offense as being overly talented. I think Daboll has earned a ton of praise for his work with the Bills offense. 4) Joe Brady Joe Brady has rightfully earned his praise as a great offensive mind, but I do have some concerns. First, he is pretty green, so you run the risk of his inexperience being a huge drawback as a head coach. Secondly, and more importantly, however, I think his awesome offense might just not be the best fit for our talent. He relies on quick, precision throws on intermediate routes don't really accentuate a player's arm talent or mobility. Personally, I think he is built to make the most out of a QB like Joe Burrow, not Herbert. 5) Matt Eberflus This is my top defensive candidate, and I think that shows my preference for an offensive mind instead of a defensive one. Priority number one has to be developing Herbert in my eyes. However, Eberflus has demonstrated incredible worth to both the Cowboys and Colts defense. While the Cowboys defense has struggled schematically, the Colts have shown immediate improvement under Eberflus. He took a 30th ranked scoring unit to the top 10 in 2018, with the only real star player being a rookie in Darius Leonard. 7/11 starters from 2017 remained in 2018, which further demonstrates his worth to the defense. In 2020, the defense is playing lights out, with only 2 real star power names. That's far more impressive to me than a guy like Keith Butler, who has as much star power on a defense as you will ever find in the NFL. 6) Matt Campbell This hire would be an attempt to re-capture that Matt Rhule magic from last year's class. Campbell has had similar success in turning around a weak football program, showing he can instill the culture change necessary. I can't say I'm too high on him yet, but I found myself warming up more and more to Rhule as last year's coaching cycle progressed. 7) Robert Saleh I'm VERY low on Saleh compared to most on /nfl and even /Chargers. First, I think the fact that 49ers fans wanted him fired before the 2019 season shows a lot about his struggles as a coach. Although he has done great since then, he's also been doing it with a remarkably talented defense. Is it really impressive to be a DC of a SB losing team when you have Nick Bosa, Dee Ford, DeFo Buckner, Arik Armstead, Kwon Alexander, Fred Warner, and Richard Sherman on the unit? Even the depth on that team was remarkable, with guys like Greenlaw and Mosely stepping up big time. And then the death blow for his chances to be the Chargers HC, to me, is how that defense got assblasted by the Chiefs in the SuperBowl. If we want to win the AFC West, it's gonna be through beating the Chiefs. It would be a terrible idea to go for the guy who has already had his defense dismantled by our biggest threat. 8) Dave Toub I'm also quite low on going for a ST coach, even though it would have a huge immediate impact on our historically bad ST unit. I also recognize that guys like Joe Judge and John Harbaugh have demonstrated a path for ST HC to be successful, I just don't think there is a right candidate in this year's HCing class for us. We have an opportunity to revitalize our offense or defense with the right coaching hire, so I struggle with picking Toub here. No interest Eric Bieniemy - OC in name only, doesn't call plays, coaches for an offense that is massively successful no matter who is the OC. The recent OC's for Andy Reid in Doug Pederson and Matt Nagy have shown that not all of these guys are offensive geniuses, just Andy Reid is. He had a pretty poor track record as OC at Colorado in my opinion. Furthermore, I don't want a Head Coach that has the background issues he has. It's baggage we don't need. Josh McDaniels - Yes, his stint with the Broncos and Colts concerns me. Moreover, though, I just don't like the offense he runs. He gets way too cute with all the screen passes and they lose their effectiveness. The offense has also been a steaming pile of shit since Brady left, even though I admit the talent level is poor. Byron Leftwich - This offense just refuses to adapt to Brady's strengths. That alone convinces me he isn't ready to be our HC. Urban Meyer - No NFL experience, myriad of scandals, numerous health concerns. His offense at tOSU was so basic and plain, not at all like an NFL offense needs to be schematically. His best trait is recruiting, which does not translate to the NFL in any way. Jim Harbaugh - Both a massive asshole that people hated to work for and a massive failure at Michigan. I don't see the appeal. Todd Bowles - He's running a good defense right now, but it doesn't really suit our personnel and we would struggle to adapt quickly. His former coaching experience has also given plenty of concerns. I think he is a career DC. Brian Schottenheimer - While I like watching the Let Russ Cook show, we have only seen it for less than a year. Before this season, the Schotty did everything he could to hold Russ back. No thanks. EDIT: Not interested in Jim Caldwell, although I think he’s probably near the top of the list for any retread hires. I just have a super strong aversion to hiring guys that have failed before. I would rather put my bet on an unknown quantity. I excluded Brian Kelly from the list because I am still undecided on him. He might be a great hire, I just still have to think about it. Here are my thoughts I put in a comment below: I’m still super undecided about my feelings on Kelly. Partially because I think the Telesco-Kelly connection would be strong and I just don’t trust Telesco to be the GM for our team that builds a strong OL for Herbert. This would be interesting though as Kelly could take over there (potentially). Notre Dame in Kelly’s tenure has produced some of the best OL prospects we have seen, such as Nelson and McGlinchey. Whether that’s talent evaluation or development or both, Notre Dame is obviously doing something right. That could be what gets me to support a Kelly-Telesco tenure.
[Game Preview] Week 14 - Philadelphia Eagles(3-8-1) vs New Orleans Saints (10-2)
Philadelphia Eagles (3-8-1) vs New Orleans Saints (10-2)
After another abysmal performance by the offense the Eagles are making a change at QB throwing rookie Jalen Hurts into the fire against the New Orleans Saints who have the number 1 defense in the league. While a change at QB may limit the turnovers from Wentz trying to play hero ball, it won’t fix the fundamental problems in the offense which are related to scheme and play calling. Some of those issues may be resolved if Doug does what was stated in his press conference which is something he has failed to do this entire season which is establish the run early to help his quarterback. If playcalling improves Hurts may have a chance, but if it does not he will be put in the same difficult position Wentz was in all season with the only advantage is that Hurts legs may buy him some time and get him out of the pocket to avoid sacks. If the Saints play their game they will most likely win their 3rd straight win against the Eagles dropping Pederson to 0-3 against them. Here’s to another Sunday filled with beers and sorrow. Go Birds!
Calling the game on 94WIP and the Eagles Radio Network will be Merrill Reese, the NFL’s longest-tenured play-by-play announcer (44th season). Joining Reese in the radio booth will be former Eagles All-Pro wide receiver Mike Quick, while Howard Eskin will report from the sidelines.
Location
Station
Frequency
Philadelphia, PA
WIP-FM
94.1 FM and 610 AM
Allentown, PA
WCTO-FM
96.1 FM
Atlantic City/South Jersey
WENJ-FM
97.3 FM
Levittown, PA
WBCB-AM
1490 AM
Northumberland, PA
WEGH-FM
107.3 FM
Pottsville, PA
WPPA-AM
1360 AM
Reading, PA
WEEU-AM
830 AM
Salisbury/Ocean City, MD
WAFL-FM
97.7 FM
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, PA
WEJL-FM
96.1 FM
Salisbury/Ocean City, MD
WAFL-FM
97.7 FM
Salisbury/Ocean City, MD
WEJL-AM
630 AM
Salisbury/Ocean City, MD
WBAX-AM
1240 AM
Williamsport, PA
WBZD-FM
93.3 FM
Wilmington, DE
WDEL-FM/AM
101.7 FM
York/LancasteHarrisburg, PA
WSOX-FM
96.1 FM
Philadelphia Spanish Radio
Rickie Ricardo and Bill Kulik will handle the broadcast in Spanish on Mega 105.7 FM in Philadelphia and the Eagles Spanish Radio Network.
Location
Station
Frequency
Philadelphia, PA
LA MEGA
105.7 FM
Allentown, PA
WSAN
1470 AM
Atlantic City, NJ
WIBG
1020 AM; 101.3 FM
Saints Radio
WWL (870AM/105.3FM) is the flagship station of the Saints Radio Network. Former Saints offensive tackle Zach Strief handles the play-by-play duties, former Saints running back Deuce McAllister provides color commentary and Steve Geller is on the New Orleans sideline for all the contests.
National Radio
Compass Radio will carry the game nationally with Chris Carrino (play-by-play) and Brian Baldinger(analyst).
November 6, 1967 at Tulane Stadium, New Orleans, LA. New Orleans Saints 31 - Philadelphia Eagles 24
Points Leader
The Philadelphia Eagles lead the New Orleans Saints (719-680)
Coaches Record
Doug Pederson: 0-2 vs. the Saints
Sean Payton: 7-2 vs. the Eagles
Coaches Head to Head
Pederon vs Payton: Payton leads 2-0.
Quarterback Record
Jalen Hurts: Against Saints 0-0
Taysom Hill: Against Eagles: 0-0
Quarterbacks Head to Head
Jalen Hurts vs Taysom Hill: This will be the first matchup between the QBs
Records per Stadium
Record @ Lincoln Financial Field: Saints lead: 3-2
Record @ Mercedes Benz SuperDome: Saints leads series: 9-5
Rankings and Last Meeting Information
AP Pro 32 Ranking
Eagles No. 27 - Saints No. 3
2020 Record
Eagles: 3-9-1
Saints 10-2
Last Meeting
Sunday, January 13th, 2019
Saints 20 - Eagles 14
The Eagles traveled to New Orleans to face the Saints in a rematch of the Week 11 game which ended in a 48–7 rout in the Saints' favor. Despite jumping out to an early 14–0 first-quarter lead over the top-seeded Saints on touchdowns by Jordan Matthews and Nick Foles, the Eagles could not keep up the pace. New Orleans responded with 20 unanswered points over the final three quarters, including the eventual game-winning third-quarter touchdown pass from Drew Brees to Michael Thomas, to defeat the Eagles 20–14 and end Philadelphia's reign as Super Bowl Champions. The loss was just the second career postseason loss for Foles, the other being a 26–24 loss in the 2013 season, also to the Saints. New Orleans' victory over Philadelphia meant that, for the 14th straight season, a new Super Bowl champion would be crowned.
Saints HC Sean Payton worked as the QB Coach for the Eagles from 1997-1998 seasons.
Saints starting safety Malcom Jenkins played 6 seasons for the Eagles from 2014-2019 and won a Super Bowl with them in 2017.
Saints CB Patrick Robonsin played one season with the Eagles in 2017 and was a member of the Super Bowl Team.
Saints Senior Defensive Assistant Peter Giunta worked as the Eagles DB coach from 1991-1994.
Saints Assistant Special Teams coach Phil Gailano is originally from Philadelphia, PA and went to Norristown HS.
Eagles Personnel Consultant Darren Sproles played 3 seasons for the Saints from 2011-2013.
Eagles LB Coach Ken Fajole worked as the Saints DB coach in 2012.
2020 Pro Bowlers
Eagles
Saints
DT Fletcher Cox (Starter)
QB Drew Brees
OG Brandon Brooks (Starter)
RB Alvin Kamara (1st Alt)
TE Zach Ertz
Wr Michael Thomas(Starter)
C Jason Kelce (Starter)
Te Jared Cook(1st Alt)
LS Rick Lavato (Starter)
OT Terron Armstead
G Andrus Peat (2nd Alt)
G Larry Warford (3rd Alt)
DE Cameron Jordan (Starter)
CB Marshon Lattimore (Starter)
K Will Lutz (Starter)
RS Deonte Harris (Starter)
General
Referee: Jerome Boger
Brandon Graham will appear in his 156th career regular-season game, surpassing Trent Cole (155, 2005-14) for the most games played by a defensive lineman in franchise history. Graham leads the Eagles in both sacks (7.0) and TFLs (12) this season.
Miles Sanders ranks 2nd among NFL RBs in rushing average (5.4), behind Nick Chubb (6.0) (min. 100 attempts).
Dallas Goedert is one of only three NFL TEs with 200+ receiving yards (218) and 2+ TDs (2) since Week 11, joining Travis Kelce (345 yards, 2 TDs) and Darren Waller (311 yards, 3 TDs).
Fletcher Cox (53.5) is 1.0 sack shy of tying Hugh Douglas (54.5, 1998-2002, ‘04) for the 5th-most sacks in team history.
Javon Hargrave has recorded 15 tackles, 8 combined QB pres-sures and hits, 2 TFLs and 1.5 sacks dating back to Week 10.
In Week 13 at Green Bay, Jalen Reagor returned a punt 73 yards for a TD, marking the 3rd-longest punt return TD by an Eagles rookie, behind Damaris Johnson (98 yards, 12/2/12 at Dallas) and Ernie Steele (80 yards, lateral, 10/25/42 at Chicago).
Draft Picks
Eagles
Saints
WR Jalen Raegor
QB Jordan Love
QB Jalen Hurts
RB AJ Dillion
LB Davion Taylor
TE Josiah Deguara
S K’Von Wallace
LB Kamal Martin
OT Jack Driscoll
G Jon Runyan Jr.
WR John Hightower
C Jake Hanson
LB Shaun Bradley
G Simon Stepanick
WR Quez Watkins
FS Vernon Scott
OT Prince Tega Wanogho
DE Jonathan Garvin
LB/DE Casey Toohill
Notable Off-season Additions
Eagles
Saints
DT Javon Hargrave
S Malcom Jenkins
CB Nickell Robey-Coleman
WR Emmanuel Sanders
CB Darius Slay
FB Michael Burton
DB Deatrick Nichols
QB Jameis Winston
RB Ty Montgomery
T James Hurst
Notable Off-season Departures
Eagles
Saints
S Malcom Jenkins
LB Kiko Alonso
CB Ronald Darby
FB Zach Line
RB Jordan Howard
CB Eli Apple
WR Nelson Agholor
ILB Stephone Anthony
OL Halapoulivaati Vaitai
CB Vonn Bell
LB Kamu Grugler-Hill
QB Teddy Bridgewater
RB Darren Sproles
WR Tedd Ginn Jr.
DT Timmy Jernigan
LB AJ Klein
LB Nigel Bradham
LB Manti Te’o
Milestones
Eagles DT Fletcher Cox (53.5) needs 1 sacks to move up to 5th on the Eagles all-time sack list tying DE Hugh Douglas
Eagles DE Vinny Curry (29) needs 1 sacks to move up to 18th on the Eagles all-time sack list passing DT Jerome Brown
Food for Thought
The Torment of Prometheus
The culturally and historically vibrant cities of Philadelphia have more in common than first appearances might suggest. Yes, one has proud French roots, while the other is known as the “Birthplace of American Democracy” while sprouts of British colonialism can be seen in Greater Philadelphian towns like Lower Gwynedd, Narberth, and North Wales. The two cities have more in common than quintessential sandwiches, in the Po’ Boy and the Cheesesteak. Many might not realize it, but a famous Greek Myth links the two; that which represents the torment Eagles fans are now enduring. For those unaware or needing a refresher of the myth, the Titan Prometheus stole and gifted fire to Humans, a symbol of intellectualism and civilization. As punishment, Zeus ordered him bound and sentenced him to an eternity of having his liver pecked by an eagle. Eventually, Zeus had Hercules kill the Eagle and free Prometheus so that he could aid Hercules in his quest to complete his own penance, the 12 Labors. There’s much more to it than that, but for our purposes that’s the extent to which we’ll be discussing the myth itself. Just know that a famous painting depicting this, Prometheus Bound, has been sitting in the Philadelphia Museum of Art since 1950. Cut to: We Eagles fans are Prometheus, enduring relentless torment as some sort of divine penance. Could it be for our passion, our fire? Could it be to take our hubris, as it pertains to our stellar collective Football intelligence, down a peg? *Note from the author: you should periodically remind yourself that the 97.5 and 94.1 callers are NOT representative and are largely folks that cry themselves to sleep in the bathtub every gameweek, scraping for any and every ounce of hope and reason and in doing so only emphasize their trauma psychosis. Could we have collectively used up all our karma to get that SBLII title? We may never know. Here’s looking to Lurie, the man ultimately responsible for forcing us into this torment, to bring in some new blood to rescue us from this nightmare. Oh Lurie, god of thunder, end our misery and rescue us. Have we not been punished enough? In 1814, the USS Prometheus was commissioned by the United States Navy, mostly serving to transport diplomats and survey land over its short lifespan. 4 years later, the ship was considered unseaworthy and got decommissioned, and made its funeral procession down to New Orleans. There, it was auctioned off to the highest bidder. Here we are, the Saints doing us a courtesy in at least saving us the trip down I-59 to be sold for parts. Allez Saints!
Matchups to Watch
Jalen Hurts and the Eagles Passing Attack vs. Saints Pass Defense
Talk about being thrown into the fire. Jalen Hurts will make his first start Sunday after Pederson benched Wentz against one of the best defenses in the NFL. Per Football Outsiders, the Saints defense is second in the NFL by DVOA. They are an impressive, well-coached unit that is deep at all levels and multiple. This would be a difficult test for an average QB, let alone a rookie QB in their first start on a bad team. Wentz earned his benching weeks ago so this is a formality at this point. Regression doesn’t do enough to describe the utter collapse in this play this season. Hurts is a more athletic QB that is more capable of making plays with his legs that adds a dimension to this offense and they will need it. The Eagles still possess one of the worst receiving rooms in the NFL. The Saints have a deep defense. Janoris Jenkins has found new life in the NOLA and is playing at a high level. Marshon Lattimore is also another great corner. The Saints also have one of the best deep safeties in the NFL in Marcus Williams. Malcolm Jenkins (lol RIP) is a great compliment in their secondary as he is allowed to occupy the same role he had in Philly and is playing pretty well. At the trade deadline, the Saints acquired Kwon Alexander from the 49ers. Alexander has had issues staying healthy in the past but he is no longer expected to be an every down contributor – that’s how deep this Saints defense is. Last but not least, Demario Davis is a god. That’s all that needs to be said. Due to the talent at all 3 levels, the Eagles will need to be smart with their coaching and scheme to help a mediocre receiver room get open and make plays for Hurts. Hurts will do enough on his own to extend plays but they need to be able to hit passes through the air and get open quickly, especially first reads. Due to the nature of the Saints coverage scheme, there will be moments where Hurts can attack down the field. He’ll need to hit those opportunities when they present themselves with regularity.
Eagles Offensive Line vs Saints Pass Rush
The Eagles Offensive Line is bad and the Saints Pass Rush is not. Evergreen statement: the Saints pass rush is deep. This is a team that brings pressure in all kinds of ways but is also able to be disruptive with 4 pass rushers. The Eagles offensive line hasn’t been the hot trash that it likely should be given all of the injuries, but it is still really bad. The biggest problem area has been the guards, especially RG, which makes sense without Brandon Brooks and Isaac Seumalo’s injury earlier this season. Cameron Jordan is still an elite EDGE Rusher, Marcus Davenport is now a very good EDGE3, and Trey Hendrickson has developed into a great EDGE2. Sheldon Rankins, Malcom Brown, and David Onyemata make up a formidable Interior Defensive Front. I would expect this defensive front to bring all kinds of pain on Sunday against the run and really make Hurts run for his life through the air. The Eagles pass protection has to find a way to slow this pass rush down through a lot of disguised plays, play action, and moving the pocket for Hurts to be able to get passes off. Hurts can throw a pretty deep pass but he doesn’t have a live arm, which could make him susceptible to INTs. Confusing him in coverage with disguising rushers in the middle of the defense can also lead to picks as he often just doesn’t see the underneath pass defenders. But when they do rush the passer, the Eagles offensive line has to be able to execute more than they have the last two weeks. Lastly, and this is a point that isn’t talked about enough this season, the RBs need to be passable in pass protection. Notice how I said passable; I say that because they’ve been straight trash in that area this year.
Eagles Defensive Back 7 vs Saints Weapons
The most important indicator of success for the Eagles defense each Sunday is the effectiveness of their defensive line as it is the only unit on the defense capable of consistently making stops. I won’t discuss that here, even though that is still true. Sean Payton has long been one of the best Head Coaches and offensive minds in the league since being hired in New Orleans. They are 10-2 without Drew Brees and Michael Thomas for most of the season. The biggest reason for that? Sean Payton. That doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have great talent to work with, but he excels at maximizing his players' skill sets. Thomas has returned from injury his place among the elite at the WR position. The Saints signed Emmanuel Sanders in the offseason and unsurprisingly it has worked. Alvin Kamara is still a God. Jared Cook is pretty good. And Taysom Hill looks good in shorts. Sean Payton puts his players in positions to win and they use their talents to make opposing offenses pay. The Eagles defense is good on paper boasting a league-average DVOA but that is misleading given the numerous flaws discussed here ad infinitum. The linebackers are bad and can’t cover. McLeod is decent, but no one else can play in the run or pass game. Darius Slay had been good until the last two weeks (less bad against GB) but is the only capable guy that can cover in the CB room anyway. The backend of this defense is largely slow and can’t cover. They are made to get bent by the Saints offense. Furthermore, they traditionally struggle with mobile QBs. Taysom Hill says hi! For the Eagles to have a chance, the defense needs to play at a level it can’t and the coaching staff needs to play to the limited strengths of its players – which It also struggles to do.
Detroit Manager Jason Varitek wins Manager of the Year!
SP Casey Mize finishes 2nd in CYA voting.
SP Kumar Rocker receives CYA consideration.
RF Yaya Chentouf finished 5th in MVP voting.
2B Willi Castro and SP Casey Mize received MVP consideration.
SP Kumar Rocker represents the USA in the WBC.
RP Brett de Geus represents the USA in the WBC.
3B Jordan Diaz represents Columbia in the WBC.
CF Jairo Pomares represents Cuba in the WBC.
2B Willi Castro represents Puerto Rico in the WBC.
Offseason Transactions
Owner gave us a $14,000,000 budget increase, but we have huge arbitration estimates for Castro and Mize. League News:
RF Ramon Laureano signs with the Cubs for $130M/6.
C Francisco Mejia signs with the Brewers for $24M/7.
3B Yoan Moncada signs with the Cardinals for $136M/5.
RP Joe Jimenez signs with the Cardinals for $5.6M/2.
SP Chris Paddack signs with the Phillies for $103M/5.
SP Matthew Boyd signs with the Astros for $32M/3.
1B Josh Bell signs with the Twins for $13.4M/2.
SS Trevor Story signs with the Nationals for $116M/5.
SP Pablo Lopez signs with the Phillies for $113M/5.
SS Carlos Correa signs with the Rockies for $74M/5.
SP Tyler Mahle signs with the Red Sox for $82M/5.
SS Willy Adames stays with the Rays for $111M/6.
SP Dinelson Lamet signs with the Rangers for $92M/5.
SP C.C. Sabathia and OF Manny Ramirez make the HoF.
Detroit Departures:
RP Drew Carlton
SP/RP Sandy Alcantara
Detroit Trades: Trade #1 Detroit receives: SP Jackson Phipps, $3,500,000 Oakland receives: SP Franklin Perez, RP Hector Flores, RP Luis Araujo I've been meaning to deal Perez for awhile now due to his fragile status and after seeing that he couldn't cut it in the rotation for me, I decided to move him. Phipps looked great in the rotation and in the bullpen last year, whereas Perez looked elite in the pen but not in the rotation. I need the cheap, controlled contract in my rotation. Trade #2 Detroit receives: SP Luke Weaver (COL retains 60%), SS Aiverson Rodriguez Colorado receives: C Jake Rogers, 1B Brandon Smith Colorado has been trying to move Weaver all season and I finally decided to see what they wanted. I'm looking for a reliable fifth arm and I think Weaver gives me that. He's had four straight seasons of performance slightly better than league average, including the most recent in a horrible park for pitchers. He's been a bit unlucky according to his FIP vs ERA+, so I'm hopeful he'll be even better for us than he was for the Rockies, plus, it's a one-year rental and Colorado is paying for 60% of the bill. I'm pretty jazzed about Rodriguez too, he had a good enough year in A+ to head to AA next year and he has elite defensive abilities, which I could use in a future short stop. All in all it costs me a first base prospect who can't play the field at all and my backup catcher - which means I can clear the role for Romo to go ahead and come to the major league level. Trade #3 Detroit receives: RP Isaiah Magwood, 2B Cody Schrier, $3,000,000 Arizona receives: 2B Marcus Chiu, SP Beau Burrows Burrows has looked legit for me in AAA the last two seasons, both in relief and as a starter. Chiu is at a logjam at 2B in my prospect pipeline, with both being 28, I don't see them with a future on my team. Burrows may be a steal for the Diamondbacks, but I love the prospects I'm getting in return. Trade #4 Detroit receives: RP Connor Jones, $350,000 St. Louis receives: RF Yusniel Diaz I wanted Diaz to be more for me, but he never really got it done at the MLB level. He continued to be decent in AAA, but I think he's a AAAA guy. Maybe he'll flourish in St. Louis, but I like the chances of Jones being good for me for a bit in the pen. Trade #5 Detroit receives: RP Jorge Alcala (OAK retains 75%) Oakland receives: SP Michael Baumann Alcala was a 2.3 WAR reliever last year and I think he could be even better with Vazquez behind the dish. Baumann is coming off of a 6 month injury - so he could be good, but my scout is out on him and the injury scares me. Trade #6 Detroit receives: RP DL Hall, $1,000,000 Arizona receives: RP David McKay McKay is coming off of a 6 month injury that cost him all of last season and is denying going to AAA. Hall gives me some option years and a nice MLC that I can use as an extra starter or bullpen arm. Trade #7 Detroit receives: RP Andrew Dalquist, SS Layant Tapia Chicago receives: RP David Parkinson I don't have enough spots on my major league roster or my 40 man, so Parkinson is another casualty of this. I grab a couple of prospects to restock the pitching reserves and Tapia helps out some of my more barren levels in the minors right now. Plus it clears the spot on the 40-man and Parkinson hasn't been good in the majors. Trade #8 Detroit receives: RP Levi Kelly, SS Nicolas Perez, $4,000,000 Arizona receives: SP Tarik Skubal Arizona wants Skubal as a starter and I don't think he's going to crack the rotation this year, not with the money I decided to pay Weaver. I may regret that, but Skubal's personality profile leaves a lot to be desired despite his solid year in the rotation last year. Kelly gives me a more natural bullpen arm as his replacement at the major league level, which I like - he's also more cost controlled and younger. Perez has obvious upside - he's a future gold glover at short stop and I'll just pray the hit tool improves to go along with it. Detroit Additions: C Christian Vazquez - I had to give him $7,500,000 over 2 years, presumably due to the gold glove. I wasn't ready to risk moving his ability behind the plate. 2B Willi Castro - I may have jumped the gun here, but I decided to extend Castro. I'll pay him $118M over 5 years, which I believe will be much cheaper than if I'd let him continue through his last arbitration season. I didn't do this with Casey Mize and his initial demands are 40M+, so this is a reaction to that.
Spring Training
We have $11.9M available for the season, $12,000,000 for the draft and $5,500,000 for international amateurs. We're spending the maximum allowed on development.
Regular Season
First Half We're projected to win 94 games this season and finish 10 games back of the Indians. Damn them. That should make us the second best team in the AL, according to the predictions. Willi Castro is projected as a top hitter, while Mize and Manning are projected to be top pitchers. I'm hopeful that Rocker joins that as well. We open against the Astros and take a 4-3 win in extra innings. I hope that we are this tough all season. We start off strong, going 8-1 through our first three series' leading up to a matchup with our division foes in Cleveland, who are also 8-1. I expected a fight, but we punched them in the mouth right away and secured a series sweep. If we can play like this, it's going to be a phenomenal season. Our twelve game winning streak ends with a loss to the Athletics, but we sit at 13-2 following the run, which is better than expected. The Royals are off to a hot start as well and sit in 2nd in the division, but our first matchup with them results in a sweep for us and pushes them 5 games back and into a tie with the Indians. As April ends, we sit at 25-8, a comfortable 4 game lead on the Royals. The Indians are struggling at 16-17 and 9 games back. I expect they'll sort it out though, but we look really nice after April. Notably, Evan White leads the league with a .378 average, but Mike Moustakas is off to a hot start with 18 homeruns for the Twins, an 88 homerun pace. On May 8th we decide to move Jackson Phipps into the pen, who has been struggling, and give Genesis Cabrera a shot in the rotation again, where he hasn't featured heavily since 2022. We also optioned Kyle Dohy to AAA and brought up Jonathan Bowlan again. Into June though and we're sitting pretty at 43-18, 6 games up on the Royals and an astounding 13 games up on the struggling Indians. The team is 1st in runs scored and 1st in runs against, something I'd love to see continue. We also feature the best zone rating and fewest errors, and also have the top base running team. We seem to be doing well. 2025 Draft We're becoming accustomed to picking lower in the draft and this year we have the 26th pick. We select SP Zach Stephens in the first round, RP Mitch Naron in the 2nd, CF Drew Burress in the 3rd, CF Jim O'Connor in the 4th and CF Jerry Turner in the 5th. Second Half We continue rolling into June, but midway through the month we lose Isaac Paredes for two months with a bruised kneecap. He's put up 2.8 WAR and was on pace for 6.3, so that's a tough loss. Luckily we have Jordan Diaz and he's ready to go, so he'll slot in at third base. We bring up Addison Barger. We carry a 63-24 record into July, comfortably sitting in 1st place with a 10 game lead over the Royals. The Indians sit at 43-44 and seem completely out of it, 20 games back of the division. The Red Sox make a trade to acquire Tyler Glasnow to bolster their rotation. The White Sox ship Eloy Jimenez to the Toronto Blue Jays. Joey Gallo gets moved to the Angels for Luis Rengifo. The Diamondbacks ship SP Zac Gallen to the Brewers near the deadline. Gallen extends with the Brewers for 7 years and $134,000,000. We hold firm at the deadline and go into August at 79-36. Near the end of the month we lose RP Jackson Phipps for 8-9 weeks, which is one of the pitchers we can most afford to lose. We call up RP Michael Bienlien. On September 7th, we've officially clinched the division already - but there is still some alarming news in our division. Namely, that both wild card spots have already been clinched in the AL too - by the Kansas City Royals and the, you guessed it, Cleveland Indians. Both teams from my division. In fact, the team that was 43-44 and looked toast? They are finishing the season with a 97-65 record. An astounding turnaround. We should feel more comfortable heading into the playoffs, but I do not.
Playoffs
We're able to stay at home and watch the Wild Card, which, of course, goes as we feared it would. The Indians defeat the Royals 10-3. They're coming. That means that while the Rangers and Red Sox battle, we get to face the second best team in the AL for our first matchup. The team that sent us home last year and is the back-to-back defending champion. Division Series Here they are. The damn Indians. It's mostly the same scary core. Francisco Lindor - Jose Ramirez - Aristides Aquino - Triston Casas - the deadly middle of the order. Only now they've added Nolan Jones and Jake Bauers to the end of that, who both hit 40 homeruns. They led the league in homeruns as a team and were 2nd only to us in runs scored. How about runs against? They were 2nd only to us. This is powerhouse versus powerhouse. Game 1 - Indians def. Tigers, 3-0 Of course, we lose at home - to Shane Beiber, who we beat every time during the regular season. He shut us down here. We can't have this, not like this. Game 2 - Tigers def. Indians, 11-2 Alright, this is what we need out of the league's best offense. Riley Greene drove in three runs in the first and we never looked back - I love jumping on their starter early. We saw four bullpen arms, so let's hope that helps us as we go. Game 3 - Indians def. Tigers, 2-1 I mean.. this hurts. Rocker throws a gem and they get a run on Levi Kelly to win it. They threw a bullpen game against us and still won, due to Espino getting hurt. I cannot believe they silenced our bats with a full bullpen outing in back to back games. Now we are on the ropes and we should be the favorites. Game 4 - Tigers def. Indians, 3-0 Luke. Weaver. Offseason acquisition that I had hoped was better for us than he was in Coors. Well, he earned some of his paycheck in this one, going eight innings and only allowing 3 hits. No runs. What a performance. He helped us force a game 5, where it will all come down to Casey Mize versus Shane Beiber. Game 5 - Tigers def. Indians, 2-1 Huge sigh of relief! They scored in the first, and Riley Greene blasted a two-run shot in the bottom half of the inning to get us the lead. Thankfully, we never gave up that lead despite our offense being silenced. Mize and Beiber both went 7 innings and gave up 5 hits each. They both struck out 7. Our bullpen, de Geus and Kelly, shut it down. They didn't allow a hit. We survived. Barely. It should be easier from here on, but nothing is ever easy in the playoffs. But, for the first time under my leadership, we're heading to the League Championship Series! Willi Castro was named series MVP. League Championship Series We matchup with the Boston Red Sox who were middle of the pack in the AL, but won the AL East. They're led by Rafael Devers and Didi Gregorius on offense, with Andrew Heaney and Tyler Glasnow in the rotation. They're without Blake Snell, Tyler Mahle, Darwinzon Hernandez and Victor Arano, all pitchers. Game 1 - Tigers def. Red Sox, 5-3 Willi Castro and Riley Greene provide the run support and Manning gives us enough of a performance to hold onto our lead. The bullpen shuts it down, allowing only one hit. This is a nice win in the first game. The Red Sox starter, Tanner Houck , was injured. Game 2 - Tigers def. Red Sox, 4-1 Rocker was awesome, going six innings and giving up one run. He might be who I count on the most nowadays. It's him or Mize for sure. White and Castro added homeruns to help us out on offense. Our bullpen is once again lights out. Starting 2-0 is much nicer in this series. Game 3 - Red Sox def. Tigers, 6-2 Weaver just got left out there too long, giving up some early runs and then he gets beat up later in the game. We should've gone to the pen sooner. We also should've scored more runs, but Heaney shackled us a bit. We're okay, we'll bounce back. Game 4 - Tigers def. Red Sox, 9-5 We had our ace on the bump. They had Glasnow. There were 32 hits in this game. We had to go the pen early, after four and a third, but our bullpen is pretty fresh. In fact, they don't give up a run over the rest of the game. Boston gets five innings out of Glasnow, but they had some bumps in the pen, including when, after going into the 11th inning tied, we managed the four runs that would win us the game. Isaac Paredes had 6 hits, which sets an AL playoff extra-inning game record. Mountcastle tied the record with 5 strikeouts and Castro tied the record for doubles, with 3. We are one game away from the World Series! Game 5 - Red Sox def. Tigers, 4-0 We had 9 hits to their 6. We just couldn't string them together. Tanner Houck threw a complete game, saving their bullpen, and shutting us down. Matt Manning gave up the four that cost us the game, which we could afford to lose. We have Rocker on the mound next game and I'd like to close it out there and not go to Game 7. Game 6 - Tigers def. Red Sox, 4-3 Extra innings baby! We're going to the World Series! Rocker was great, as was Ward for the Red Sox. Our bullpen was decent, but it was Noah Syndergaard out of the pen for the Red Sox who gives up the final RBI to Willi Castro in the 10th. Yet, before that even happened - we trailed 3-0 heading into the bottom of the 9th. Castro walked and Chentouf doubled. Greene flew out and then an Evan White homerun tied the game to even give us the chance. What a game. What a series win. Willi Castro was Series MVP. World Series The San Diego Padres eliminated the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series. The Padres are great, maybe the best team in baseball. Our 108 wins and their 112 are the best offerings from each league. These are the teams that should be here. It feels right, even if I'm still surprised at our performance this year. The Padres finished 1st or 2nd in all hitting categories in the NL. They had the NL's best pitching staff. We share these accolades in the AL. It's an absolute showdown. They are led by C.J. Abrams and Fernando Tatis Jr. on offense. We are led by Willi Castro, Evan White and Yaya Chentouf. Our pitching staff is anchored by Mize, Rocker and Manning, while theirs is headlined by the even better Mackenzie Gore and Luis Patino. Gore featured a ridiculous 1.49 ERA this season. The next best mark in the league was a 2.62. Rocker's 2.87 led the AL. Gore is insane. He's scheduled for Games 3 and 7, while Patino is ready for Games 1 and 5. Our star power is more balanced, but theirs is higher. It's juggernaut versus juggernaut. It's the World Series! Game 1 - Tigers def. Padres, 5-0 What a start we have here, with Mize throwing a gem - giving up just four hits and no runs over 8 innings. Genesis Cabrera closed down the 9th for us. Patino was nearly as good, going six innings and only allowing one run on two hits - a solo homerun by Jordan Diaz in the 1st inning. We didn't know that would be enough at the time, but the offense added four more runs against the San Diego bullpen, highlighted by Chentouf's two-run dinger. We needed this win against Patino and Mize delivered. We have Manning versus Gore in game two, as both were moved up in the order due to getting enough rest, it should be a tough one for our offense. Game 2 - Padres def. Tigers, 2-0 Well, I knew it'd be tough - I was hopeful we'd get on the board, but we could only manage three hits. Gore went the distance, complete game shutout, striking out six and walking none. He's just too good. Manning only surrendered two, but that was enough. De Geus and Kelly were solid out of the pen. The extra day of rest means that Rocker is available for Game 3, which is good news for us. Game 3 - Padres def. Tigers, 7-1 Well, shit. We only managed one run, which was unearned, but the Padres got ahold of Rocker in the 6th, chasing him and then putting up three more runs on Zack Hess. We really needed this one, Rocker gave us the advantage and we just didn't have it on either side here. We've got Luke Weaver facing off with Dylan Cease next. Game 4 - Padres def. Tigers, 10-5 Weaver was decent, enough to keep us in it, but Levi Kelly got blasted for five runs. He's been good all year and in the postseason, so it hurts, but it happens. We put up five runs and couldn't get a win, the type of game we've won all year by relying on our bullpen. This one hurts - we're definitely on the ropes now and are win or go home the rest of the way. It's an uphill climb. Game 5 - Padres def. Tigers, 4-3 What can you do? Mize was decent, Patino was decent and we went into extras. We just gave up a run and then couldn't get one as an answer. We fought, taking it into the 11th, and came up short. Our best versus their best, they just came out on top. Fernando Tatis Jr. was named World Series MVP. Full Playoffs Detroit Achievements
RP Levi Kelly wins Rookie of the Month for April.
SP/RP Genesis Cabrera, SP Casey Mize, RP Levi Kelly, RP Brett de Geus, 2B Willi Castro, LF Evan White and RF Yaya Chentouf are named to the All-Star game.
SP Justin Powell, C Dale Burton and RF Ronnie Ruth are named to the All-Star Prospects game.
RP Levi Kelly wins Rookie of the Month for June.
SP Kumar Rocker wins Pitcher of the Month for June.
SP Casey Mize wins Pitcher of the Month for July.
SP Kumar Rocker led the AL in ERA, K/9 and H/9.
RF Yaya Chentouf led the AL in RBI.
2B Willi Castro led the AL in OBP.
SP Casey Mize led the AL in Wins.
RP Brett de Geus led the AL in Games and Holds.
Season Recap
We finally won the division. We were the best team in the American League. We made it out of the Division Series and all the way into the World Series. We ran into a buzzsaw. It happens. We were the 2nd best team in the entire league and we came in 2nd place to the best team in the league. I suppose you can't be too mad at that. It's frustrating for sure, but it's baseball - we'll find a way to get back.
Hitters
Starting Lineup 3B Isaac Paredes Paredes gave us 3.6 WAR, nearly matching his 4 WAR season from the year prior. Which, seems pretty good. When you factor in that he missed two months with injury and only played 92 games, it's pretty incredible. He was having an even better year and while his arbitration number will go up, I think he's probably good to stay around until he doesn't have arbitration years left. His personality traits aren't great, but he's only 26.5 and still playing solid. CF Kyle Isbel I give up on Isbel. Three seasons I've thought his ratings would make up for what I was seeing on the field. Well, now the ratings have slipped a bit, probably to a more accurate level - he just doesn't hit as well as I'd hoped, nothing like how he raked in the minors. I'll try to move him this offseason or non-tender him. My owner wants me to upgrade in center field and I want to also. 2B Willi Castro What more can I ask of Willi? He has literally gotten better every season that he's played for me. He's signed for the next five seasons and that might come back to bite me, but he's been the franchise's key piece ever since I took over and is crucial to our success. He gave us 8.4 WAR this season, right after a 7.4 WAR campaign last year. His bat was awesome this year and he played solid defense again, though I don't think he'll repeat as gold glove at second. RF Yaya Chentouf This will be a bit of a trend this season, but, Yaya improved on an already impressive year last year, bumping his WAR by 1 to 6.4 this year. His bat was almost exactly as effective and he improved in the field. He's one of my favorite finds for this team and though he's gotten off to a start at an older age, he's still on a minimum and could be around for a long time if the power holds on. DH Riley Greene Greene was a much better DH than Isbel was last year and isn't in need of replacement (like Isbel). He's also a more than capable fielder, playing 50+ games in left this year. His WAR wasn't as high as last year, but he was also in the field all of last year, so I'm not too surprised. He's young and has a cheap contract, while also playing well. No complaints here. 1B Ryan Mountcastle Remember that trend? Mountcastle had his best year yet! Nearly 5 WAR as a 1B is a pretty sweet deal. The bat was on fire this year and wasn't even that far off of his average BABIP, so it could be sustainable. He's gonna get a sizable contract bump in arbitration, but he had a career year, so I can't let him get away just yet. LF Evan White Evan White is back baby! He was helped out by a super high BABIP in the early years, which definitely came down, but damn if I don't love a 6 WAR Evan White. He was great in left and even above average in center field too. He continues to be a cheap and controlled contract, so he'll definitely be back. SS Ke'Bryan Hayes The trend! Hayes had his best year yet, finally getting some BABIP luck. Finally an above average hitter, he was also a much better fielder in his 2nd full year at shortstop. In fact, my owner wanted me to upgrade at shortstop... from Hayes. Hayes completed the goal - upgrading from himself. I'd say a 0.6 WAR to 4.1 WAR jump will do that for you. It's nice to have him back. C Christian Vazquez What can you say about Vazquez? He doesn't hit. He doesn't even field that well. But I look at my pitching staff and how I featured the least runs against, best rotation and best bullpen and I can't help but put a lot of the credit on Vazquez. He's got a cheaper team option for next year, which I'll likely be executing to bring him back. The defense hasn't fallen off and that's all he's here for. Bench/Replacements C Drew Romo He was terrible at the plate, great in the field and replaces most of what Vazquez does for the pitching staff. He'll continue to be my backup. 3B Jordan Diaz Diaz was less of a backup and more of a full-time starter - he played in about 20 more games than Paredes due to Isaac's injury. He was good in that time, a league average hitter and fielder at third. If I do decide to move on from Paredes, the drop to Diaz really isn't that bad. He's cheap and controlled for longer. RF Luis Matos Matos was a much better hitter this time around and I trusted his ratings even though he had been bad in AAA last year. He's still young, he's still cheap, but he's a solid outfielder and a good bat. I like having him around. 2B Addison Barger Barger got called up while Paredes was hurt and was serviceable. He's not the world's worst second baseman, but not someone I want out there every day. He's been tearing up AAA though, so he needs a shot somewhere. LF Sammy Siani Sammy was acquired at the beginning of my tenure and has tore it up at every level. He was great in AAA last year and I just didn't have a spot for him, but I brought him up when I had a roster space and he performed decent-ish in a tiny sample size. He needs more playing time, but I'm loaded in the outfield. He's fragile, so maybe I see if he has any value. DH Bryant Packard I got so tired of Isbel that I called up a 2nd DH. Packard was good enough that he might get the nod next year if I don't find something better. He was above average in 44 games, nearly a full WAR and if he can keep that up, he's valuable. He can't play in the field at all though.
Pitchers
Rotation SP Casey Mize Mize was one of the few players who wasn't "better" than the past season, but he was still a dang good pitcher. He gave us 5.4 WAR, led in wins and was one of the AL's best. He has insane contract demands and I don't think there is any way I can meet them, so he'll likely be gone, but should net me a pick. I hate to lose him, but I just can't bring him back. SP Kumar Rocker Rocker makes losing Mize hurt quite a bit less. He's on a minimum and in his sophomore campaign he quietly replicated his incredible rookie campaign, posting a 4.7 WAR and leading the AL in ERA, K/9 and H/9. I mean, yes? That's more than I can ask for. He's likely the team's ace next season. SP Matt Manning The Robin to Mize's Batman, Manning took a third seat this year to Rocker, but could be back in the sidekick role next year. He cranked out a 4.4 WAR season after missing much of last year to injury and while he'll command a high arbitration amount, I don't think I can lose him and Mize in the same offseason. SP Luke Weaver I expected Weaver to be better for us than he was for Colorado and I was right. The FIP came down a bunch and the luck went right with it to give him a 3.1 WAR season for us as a fourth starter. I'm happy with that. He was a rental though and won't be back next year. He might net me a pick. SP Jackson Phipps Phipps wasn't cutting it early on in the rotation, but he transitioned to the pen well. Then he got hurt, so he didn't get to finish out the season, but he gave us 1 WAR in 39 appearances. He was as good for us as he was in Oakland, so I still feel like he'll pan out and should get some more looks next season. Bullpen RP Jorge Alcala Alcala was basically just as good for me as he was for the Athletics, which is what I had hoped for. He was a bit unlucky on BABIP comparatively, jumping 30 points, but he was still a 1.4 WAR pitcher in relief. I'll take it, but I don't know if I want to pay him nearly 4M in arbitration. RP Genesis Cabrera Cabrera has had an interesting road with me. He was pulled up in 2022 and was a 33 game starter, posting a 3 WAR. Then he suddenly just couldn't cut it in the rotation and became a nearly full-time reliever. He wasn't great at that, but I gave him another shot and he performed well last season. He got off to a hot start this year and when Phipps struggled, I gave him another shot. His ERA was unlucky as a starter, but he pitched well all season as evidenced by his 81 FIP- and 4.04 FIP. It was his best season in the majors yet from that standpoint and he gave us 2.5 WAR with 24 starts and 16 relief appearances. The arbitration estimate is cheap and I probably need him to fill a slot in the rotation next year, especially as my only lefty right now. RP Kyle Dohy There is always at least one - a reliever who was solid and suddenly can't cut it anymore. This year, Dohy fits that bill. He was awful and I didn't give him much of a leash either. Then he wasn't good in AAA either. At 29, he may be on his way out. RP Zack Hess Hess was about the most unlucky guy in the league. He had a 6.04 ERA, but his FIP was a 4.00 and his FIP- was an 81. He was good. It just didn't fall right for him. He's cheap and still solid, I bet he bounces back. RP Connor Jones Jones didn't really perform like Alcala did as far as trade returns go. He certainly wasn't bad, in fact he was good - I just had hoped for more I suppose. He's a high movement pitcher who gave up a career high in homeruns. That's concerning. RP Levi Kelly Levi Kelly was pretty unlucky in a brief stint with Arizona last year, but seemed solid to me. Well, he wasn't unlucky for us and was even more dominant. A 2.67 FIP and 54 FIP- tell the tale. 2.9 WAR reinforces it. He was a stellar reliever, one of the league's best - getting an All-Star nod and was a two-time Rookie of the Month. RP Jack Little Jack wasn't that great in 22 appearances and got sent down. He didn't see the field much and is Fragile now. I don't think he's gonna be sticking around. RP Gerson Moreno Moreno was better this year than last, but, he also only saw 11 outings. That was a result of a loaded bullpen that saw him become a specialist only - a role he was good at, but wasn't needed as much. I'm not sure if that's worth keeping around or not, but he's a solid reliever nonetheless. RP Brett de Geus Brett gave us 2.2 WAR last year and I said we'd give him more opportunities - that usually goes bad for me. This time it didn't, he answered in kind and gave us 3.0 WAR in 78 appearances. He'll continue getting opportunities. RP Michael Bienlien Michael got called up late due to his AAA performance. He wasn't bad, but it's a small sample size. RP Jonathan Bowlan I should've learned last year. I'm done with Bowlan, I don't care how good he does in AAA. He's gone.
Prospect Watch
SP Justin Powell - Well, it was only R+, but he was solid finally. He's the #1 rated prospect in the MLB right now. He's Fragile. He has low work ethic. I don't know what to do with him. He looks like he should be incredible. Should be. A big if he develops into his ceiling. If he stays healthy. I don't want to flip him because he could be a superstar, but, there are so many red flags. RF Ronnie Ruth - Take a look at how Ronnie progressed this year. If he hits that hitting tool ceiling? Look the heck out. The personality information isn't great, but at least it's not work ethic or intelligence, but the hit tool looks otherworldly. He'll be in A+ for sure. BNN ranks him 11th. SP Zach Stephens - The new draftee performed in A- and will go to A right away. BNN says he's the 87th best prospect. 3B Alex Santa Cruz - An IFA signing in 2023, Cruz was in the DSL this year and played well. He'll jump stateside to a rookie league or perhaps R+, but BNN likes him inside the top 100 and the hit tool and run tool are awesome. Defense leaves a bit to be desired though. SP Doug Wade - Wade didn't pitch that well in A, but he'll go up to AA and we'll see what he has. He looks like he's got some major league pitches already and keeps the ball in the park. SP/RP Rolando Sirit - Rolando was thrown to the wolves in A+ and never stood a chance. I've remedied that issue, but he wasn't there again and instead dominated in AA. He's right on the line between starter and reliever, but he looks pretty solid right now and could feasibly be in the bullpen for the Tigers next year. SP Ryan Hagenow - Ryan had a down year in AA 2 years ago but was solid in AAA this year. Does he deserve a shot at the major league level? Perhaps. Will I need him up? Possibly. I think there is a good chance we take a chance on him for the Tigers in 2026. RF Ismael Mena - Mena was great in AAA after being good in AA too. He's progressed nicely and my scout thinks he's basically a league-average hitter and fielder while being a great baserunner. The trouble is finding a spot for him in the majors, but he might be ready to try. CF Petey Halpin - My 2nd round pick in 2020 has finally made his way to AAA and performed well. He carried a high BABIP, but, he was well above average so that should even out. Again, he's an outfielder and I have a plethora of them right now, so I don't know what to do about that or how to get him in the lineup, but I'd like to somehow. RP Mel Rodrigues - Mel has been starting, but he's really a reliever. He could be a great one. I just wish he'd stop throwing the changeup! He's almost ready right now, but he hasn't thrown above A-. I'll plug him into A+ next year and see how that goes. RP Isaiah Magwood - Magwood looks ready right now according to my scout. He was unlucky in AA, but was solid. He might find his way into the bullpen at the major league level, if not he'll try AAA. OF Mike Gode - Gode continued his good progression and will go to AA. He looks like a solid bat, but he's bad in the field, so that'll be an issue. LF/P Cole Wagner - I know that I should just convert Wagner to a full-time hitter, which he does seem better at, but he keeps pitching well at every level too, so I'll keep him going to AAA. I know he probably won't be a two-way player forever, but the dream is still alive!
Future Outlook
My payroll continues to trend upward. We're going to lose Mize and Weaver. We have some choices to make about some minor league players who look ready but may not have slots open. We went to the World Series on a budget and we still have one of the league's lowest, so we still have to pinch pennies.
Here are the moves I made as Colorado Rockies GM this offseason!
Hey there Rocks - I was the GM for your team in the 2021 Baseball Offseason Simulation and have come to get your feedback on how I did. For those unfamiliar with an Offseason Sim, 30 of us act as GMs of the different MLB teams and try to make moves that we think those teams would/should make. It’s like fantasy baseball but with more realism and less tangible results. I chose the Rockies because I thought it would be a low bar - my comparison points are Literally Jeff Bridich and last year’s Rockies GM, who traded away every prospect and gave Yasiel Puig a $60 million contract. As it turns out, even with the power of Skraxx-vangelism, I UNDERestimated the insanity of the deals that Jeff Bridich has given out. Why did Daniel Murphy’s team option need a $6 MILLION buyout? Why does Charlie Blackmon need to have TWO player options? Why Ian Desmond? I wanted to start by expressing sympathy that Bridich’s reign is continuing, and provide a hopeful reminder that sometimes baseball teams get sold very suddenly. My goal for this offseason was to hard rebuild. I don’t think the Rockies are as bad as they performed in 2019 and 2020, but I also think they’re firmly the third best NL West team in a year where everything goes right and am not inspired by the farm system. I tried to trade everybody with a guaranteed contract for young prospects with high ceilings and I mostly succeeded. I held on to Scott Oberg (didn’t want to sell so low), Charlie Blackmon (so that the first game with fans at Coors isn’t SO bleak), and Mychal Givens (unclear, but nobody wanted him). This has the added benefit of clearing up infield spots to see what you have with guys like McMahon/Rodgers/Hampson. If you don’t want to read the whole write-up, just click to the spreadsheet of my Rockies roster. NONTENDERS I nontendered Chi Chi Gonzalez and Elias Diaz. I didn’t nontender David Dahl, because why the fuck would anybody do that? I also made the agonizing decision to buy out Daniel Murphy for $6M instead of rostering him for $11M. TRADES justifications are quoted from the sim’s threads Trevor Story to NYM for Mark Vientos and Josh Wolf
Yeah, so Trevor Story was likely going to be the easiest "trade move" for a rebuilding team because, unlike every other Rockie veteran, he doesn't have a crazy contract or performance questions. Despite that, the market is somewhat limited by the lack of teams that would want to take on a $18.5M rental SS - work backwards through the playoff teams that would want to trade for a year of Trevor Story and you'll run out quickly. The Mets were one of the only natural fits and I'm happy with the deal we could make here. I targeted upside in this trade, and I can justifiably claim both of these guys were primed for big 2020 seasons. Vientos has top-shelf power potential and is still super young. Putting him in Coors is a victory for baseball. Josh Wolf seems to have a few good pitches and his velocity randomly had a huge spike in his senior year of high school, so nothing could possibly go wrong there. In any event, I have good chips to bet on off of one year of Trevor Story. The real Rockies are going to hold onto him and go 55-59 in the 2021 season, so this is a comparative win imo.
PJ Poulin to ARI for Keury Mella and cash Easy German Marquez and Tyler Kinley to LAA for Reid Detmers, Kyren Paris, Arol Vera, Trent Deveaux, and Gerardo Reyes
Logic behind trading Marquez: The team is bad, Marquez is good. He's been one of the best pitchers in baseball since he came up, but I felt confident trading him as part of my rebuilding plan because: Four years of affordable salaries can become four years of dead money really quickly, especially when we're talking about a pitcher in Colorado. Marquez has been durable and effective for his entire career. There's no reason to think he's going to be bad, except for that he's a pitcher, in Colorado. Selling him when he can get a lot of value is worth doing over holding onto him to maybe get more value later. This rebuilding plan is going to take longer than four years, and I don't buy Marquez as the sort of ace/franchise player who you keep through a rebuild. He quietly hasn't been as good as he was in 2018 and basically everything on Statcast sucked last year. I talked a lot of game about not needing to trade him, but I absolutely felt that I did. This signals a teamwide shift towards rebuilding - the Rockies had been semi-contending with a roster full of holes for several years. I have franchise icons with full NTCs who might need persuasion that the team sucks to be convinced to move. That brings me to why I accepted this package. I saw a Marquez trade as a good opportunity to build up a truly terrible Rockies system with a younger set of prospects that have the tools to be meaningful MLB building blocks. This package offered the best combination of upside and floor. I definitely got SOMETHING back and there's a few development scenarios where I can win the trade. Detmers is the oldest player at 21 and the best-regarded prospect. He killed shit at Louisville, consistently pitching well with a high K rate, and got drafted 10 overall this year. You can knock him for having the audacity to time his birth with a global pandemic, thus preventing his pro debut, but there's really nothing to knock on his profile yet. He's a lock to be a SP sometime, hopefully good. Vera and Paris are both sub-20 5-tool middle infield types (if you get creative about Paris's power). Deveaux is a CF who I've traded for before, who still has a lot of upside, and whose speed should play well in Coors. They all fit the profile of what I was looking to get back in a deal like this - I didn't want to acquire high-floor UTIL hitters because my roster is awash in those already and I'm literally the Colorado Rockies. These guys all have a good amount of "prospect helium" and I really just need one to pop off to feel like I won this. Kinley's statcast numbers are more impressive than Reyes and he managed to get playing time in 2020, but both of these dudes are the same guy - they're going to throw hard and walk way too many people to ever be effective. Reyes is two years younger and agreeing to the swap got the deal done. Afterthought IMO. I think this trade is win-win. Marquez is probably the best pitcher I could have seen the Angels acquiring given their team comp, but I like the package I got.
Daniel Bard to BOS for Brainer Bonaci
Brainer Bonaci is an okay prospect of the type I was looking for. I am thrilled by the Daniel Bard Comeback Show but let's not think too hard about this one - if you go back a year and tell everyone I'm getting a prospect back for Daniel Bard I'm getting every best GM vote (note: please tell them to also buy face masks and technology stocks)
Jeff Hoffman and Walking Cabrera to TEX for Jimmy Herget and Hever Bueno I didn’t provide much justification there, but I flipped Broken Jeff Hoffman for two guys that are probably actual MLB relievers. Of course, Hoffman then immediately got traded to the Reds, so I’m less confident that this deal will look good for me. Nolan Arenado to ATL for Austin Riley, Shea Langeliers, and Ender Inciarte
There are four options for the Rockies under the confines of this Arenado deal: contend, lose him for nothing after 2021, keep him as an albatross after 2021, or try to make a trade work. The real team tried and failed to contend in recent years. Once the choice gets made to rebuild, Nolan Arenado is GOING to leave the Rockies after this year, especially my hollowed out Rockies, UNLESS he has another disaster year and would give up $100 million + dollars. 90% of my Arenado takes this sim have been genuine rather than shtick - I actually think he's an elite player well-worth his contract to a contending team, but I had to find a way to trade him, because I am NOT THAT. I consulted with the mods early on about a select shortlist of teams that could provoke NTC waiver and I struck where I had a market. For what it's worth, I had pretty serious talks with three teams, so I don't buy that there's no market for the guy. I'm taking on Inciarte for salary purposes, but he's not useless as a good defender in a big OF. I think he probably sucks now, but he might not "40 wrC+ suck," and it's still a financial savings. Maybe I flip him at the deadline. Who cares. Why'd I start with him? Austin Riley might never figure it out, but Coors is a hell of a place to put him to see if he can. He seemed to take a step back in 2020, but his K rate went down and his exit velo went up, so maybe he got screwed by small sample size. He also had a higher wrC+ than Arenado in 2020 (I personally think this doesn't mean much, but hey!). Riley is not the type of asset I've looked for in my other rebuilding deals, but I could talk myself into it because a) Braves GM didn't want him, and b) getting back a young 3B who can crack a bunch of HRs can ease the pain for Rockies fans having a tough offseason. Shea Langeliers is a great fit on the Rockies. My catching situation is complete shit (Tyler Flowers signing notwithstanding) and Langeliers should be pushing Tony Wolters off the roster by mid-2021. There's no other catching prospects in the Rockies top 30 besides Drew Romo, a 2020 HS draftee. Again, not the type of prospect I went for in my other deals, but I don't look at this trade as an all-out value hunt. Glad to make an absolutely necessary trade while filling some organizational needs. With the package explained, the only elephant in the room is why Nolan would waive his NTC. I think there's profound push and pull factors here. Arenado signed his extension after a surprisingly competitive 2018, and since then the team sucked for two years, and then I took the dynamite to it. The dude wants to win in his prime. It isn't happening here. Meanwhile, the Braves were a razor-thin margin away from eliminating the World Series champions in the NLCS. Austin Riley went 4/28 with 10 strikeouts in that series - I don't think it's an exaggeration to say the 2020 Braves, who had bad injury luck, would have won the World Series with Nolan Arenado on their team. He joins a World Series contender with a cost-controlled core that ensures they can remain a winner in the long-term (Freddie Freeman is going to LAA anyways, sorry).
Alan Trejo to SD for Cole Bellinger I straight up forgot I made this trade until now, the Padres GM had personally scouted Alan Trejo. So I moved up like 40 spots in the draft. Jon Gray to CLE for Aaron Bracho
Jon Gray was the 2nd-most obvious Rockies trade candidate after T. Story and the fact that it took this long should tell you everything you need to know about the Jon Gray Market. Happy to get a young fellow with Bracho's upside. Jon Gray is going to win a Cy Young award in his one year in Cleveland.
Riley Pint to CHW for Luis Mieses
Mieses is probably nothing but is still young enough that he might figure it out. Every time Riley pint throws a pitch it’s a ball or his arm explodes. Presumably this offseason he’ll get taken in the Rule 5 and someone will teach him some basic technique that unlocks everything, but he isn’t ever going to be a viable Rockies pitcher I promise. His best tool is draft position.
Ian Desmond and $9 million ($8 million base and $1 million assignment bonus) to NYY for Glenn Otto
In my mind this is just cutting Ian Desmond, except I get to acquire a "prospect" in exchange for the $1M assignment bonus. Cutting Ian Desmond is still worthwhile because I have three outfielders (Dahl, Tapia, Hilliard) who need playing time and am already rostering Blackmon and Inciarte. Glenn Otto is probably not worth $1 million, so by "objective measures" I should not have made this trade.
SIGNINGS every signing I made was a one-year deal with the idea of trading the player at the deadline firmly in the background Tyler Flowers (C) for $3.75 million Damn these catchers suck and I should’ve also non-tendered Tony Wolters. Hopefully a quality receiver can help make the pitchers look better. If Langeliers isn't starting for this team by September that's a problem. A bunch of pitchers (Michael Wacha, Eric Jokisch, Tyler Chatwood, Felix Hernandez, Matt Harvey, Sean Doolittle) for $850k each I wanted to build up some pitching depth and acquire some guys who could be traded at the deadline, but then totally overdid it. Most of these guys were MiLB contract or league min types, but I shed such an astounding amount of payroll that I tossed them a nice $850k for wrecking their career numbers in Coors. If even one of these guys has a good 2021 this is worth it (and Wacha got $3M from the Rays, so you know he’s going to bounce back). 250 Rockies minor leaguers, living wage ($15/hr X 24 hours per day) I put about $33 million back on my payroll by agreeing to pay 250 minor leaguers $15 per hour. Because the work of a developing athlete never ends, they receive their hourly pay every hour. This bumped my payroll up to $120 million. CONCLUSION Team now much worse, farm now much better. I'd love to get feedback on this move from actual Rockies fans - it felt like I was ruining days for a lot of Denver-area children, but these also feel like the right direction and I did move every star to a different division.
Welcome back to season seven of the Pittsburgh Pirates rebuild! Here are the links to the previous entries if you want to catch up: 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025. We had another tough season last year, finishing last in the division with a 69-93 record. The owner is worried about my performance, so we really need to improve this season. We should see a lot of internal improvement with our young guys, but still need to make a few moves. As with the previous entries, I’ll list the moves I made, the rationale behind those moves, the season results, and the future outlook. Here are the salaries (part 1, part 2) heading into the offseason. Departures: Batters: Stephen Alemais Alemais is a versatile defender with good character attributes but he had -0.1 WAR over five seasons with the team. He entered free agency but didn’t sign with anyone. Mookie Betts I’m still not convinced Betts wasn’t sent to sabotage my team. I’ve never seen a player with his ratings perform so bad. He was on pace for a -5 WAR season before I released him. He signed a minor league deal with the Diamondbacks but didn’t reach the majors. Jackie Bradley Jr. Bradley was just about as bad as Betts but had the decency to retire after the season. Johan Camargo Looking through this list it’s starting to become apparent why we weren’t very good last year. You can only have but so many older fringe players and remain competitive. Camargo did not sign with a team this season. Reese McGuire McGuire thought he was worth $8.5m this season, but apparently no one else did. I would’ve considered him at a lower price, but it was probably just best to move in a younger direction. Cristian Pache See move #1 below. Josh Smith See move #1 below. Travis Swaggerty Swaggerty’s injury proneness and price scared me off. He signed with the Red Sox and did well though. Christian Vazquez Vazquez was terrible last season before I released him. He ended up retiring after the year. Pitchers: Miguel Castro Castro was solid last year but I couldn’t afford to bring him back. He signed a friendly deal with the twins and performed well. Chris Gerard See move #1 below. Steven Jennings Jennings was a disaster last season. He’s still with the organization but has been banished to the minors. Mauricio Llovera See move #1 below. Zach Maxwell See move #2 below. Felipe Mezquita See move #2 below. Jordan Montgomery Montgomery was solid the past two years, but I couldn’t afford to bring him back. He performed surprisingly well for the Yankees this year, but his ratings suggest he’s on the way out. Jeremy Walker I wanted Walker back, but on a minor league contract. The Nationals offered him 1/$1.26m, so I let them have him. Additions: Batters: Manny Duenas See move #2 below. Osvaldo Gavilan Minor league call-up. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. See move #1 below. Drew Romo Minor league call-up. Luis Tejada Minor league call-up. Manzo Yoshinaga Minor league call-up. Pitchers: Rio Britton Minor league call-up. Ben Hernandez Minor league call-up. Brennan Malone Minor league call-up. Move #1: Pirates Receive: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (65% retained) Blue Jays Receive: Cristian Pache (100% retained), Josh Smith (100% retained), Josh Hodge, Chris Gerard(100% retained), Mauricio Llovera (70% retained), $1.5m Cash We had to give up a king’s ransom, but Guerrero should provide a huge boost to our pitiful offense. He has five years remaining on his deal, of which we will pay $10m per season, with the Jays picking up the remaining 65%. The last two years are player options, so hopefully he plays well but not well enough to decline the options. As for what I’m giving up, Pache is elite, but an upcoming free agent that we won’t be able to re-sign; Smith was an all-star, but he’s primarily a DH, where I want to play Guerrero; Hodge has a lot of upside, but I have other pitchers I like better; Gerard is fragile, meaning he was on the way out anyways; and Llovera had a great season last year, but his ratings don’t suggest a repeat performance. I’m retaining a lot of salary, but none past this year. If we can find a way through this season we’ll be in a great financial situation for the next few years, especially if Guerrero picks up his options. Move #2: Pirates Receive: Manny Duenas Yankees Receive: Zach Maxwell, Felipe Mezquita (20% retained) With the departure of Pache we needed someone to man center field, and Duenas should be an excellent replacement. He has elite defensive ratings, high character, durable injury proneness, and the potential to be an above average hitter. We had to give up two good players in return, but I’m betting on Duenas being a star and the general injury proneness of pitchers. We have a lot of starting caliber pitchers in the system, and some of them needed to be moved anyways, so hopefully we kept the right guys. Final Financial Situation: We have almost no money heading into the season, so unless we make some moves, or see a surge in attendance, we won’t be able to pay any signing bonuses or sign an international amateur free agent. I have the third pick in the draft, so I’ll probably just roll that over to next season, when the retained money is off the books. Here are the salaries heading into the season. Move #3: Pirates Receive: $8.1m Cash White Sox Receive: Quinn Priester Heading into the draft we had -$300k in available funds, so I thought it best to get enough to at least sign my round 3-5 picks. I asked the rebuilding White Sox what they wanted for $5m cash and Priester was one of the options. After a bit of negotiating, we settled on $8.1m for him. Priester is alright, but he’s in his last option year and projects to be a middle of the road starter at best. I was able to sign my round 3-5 picks and an international amateur free agent with this money. This general strategy of selling prospects midseason for cash has worked out recently, but I probably shouldn’t make a habit of it. There are a lot of years I try this and the best I can get is $3m for a 60-potential player. Batters: Primary Lineup vs. RHP when Healthy(\DH enabled in both leagues)* We went with a slightly different lineup this year, keeping 13 position players instead of 12. I wanted to protect the younger guys with more platooning. RF – Mike Sanchez Sanchez was great during his limited stint last year, leading me to give him a full-time role at the top of the lineup, but unfortunately the magic didn’t extend to this season. He remained solid in the field, but his offense was below league average. There’s nothing in his ratings to suggest he won’t bounce back, so he’ll have a spot going forward. I’ll probably train him at first base during spring training to provide some more positional versatility. LF – Osvaldo Gavilan Gavilan was solid in the minors and insisted he was ready for the majors, so I decided to give him a shot. He didn’t provide the offense I’d hoped for but was a plus in the field. He’ll be in consideration for a spot next season. DH – Vladimir Guerrero Jr. The big offseason acquisition, Guerrero had a great season. He played in 161 games, winning platinum stick at DH and leading the league in batting average. He was also an all-star starter and finished fourth in MVP voting. If he continues at this pace he’ll probably opt-out after the 2028 season, but that’s not the worst thing that could happen. The players I traded him for had varying degrees of success (Pache, Smith, Hodge, Gerard, Llovera), but I’m happy with my end of the deal either way. CF – Manny Duenas The second offseason acquisition, Duenas was pretty underwhelming at the plate but exactly what I wanted in the field. He won his first Gold Glove, which I hope is the first of many to come. I’m still hopeful he’ll figure things out offensively, but it’s fine if he doesn’t. Maxwell looked great for the Yankees this year, but I still think we’ll come out better in the long run. SS – Marcelo Mayer Mayer missed a few weeks to injury but was great when on the field. He won his first gold glove while providing league average offense. He’s entering his first arbitration year, but his number is still low, and we shouldn’t have any issues retaining him. 2B – Michael Brooks Brooks missed a good chunk of games for the second year in a row but was good when playing, winning another gold glove while improving at the plate. It might be best to move on from him before he becomes fragile, but it depends who’s available as a replacement. 1B – Didi Gregorius Gregorius only started against righties but still managed to struggle. He didn’t fall off a cliff until later in the season, at which point it wasn’t practical to replace him. He sent me an email midway through the season saying he’s retiring. 3B – Willy Adames The end came fast for Adames. When I acquired him before last season, I never imagined he would be unplayable by the end of his deal, but it’s looking like his career might be over. He’s never been injured, and has great character, but his ratings have plummeted over the course of the year. Obviously, he will not be returning. C – Drew Romo Romo got off to a scorching start, posting an OPS+ of 140 through the first 20 games, but cooled off after missing three weeks to injury. He was called up to play defense though and that’s what he did. I see no reason for him not to return. Bench C – Jayden Melendez Melendez thinks he should start over Romo due to his superior offense and comparable defense, but if you dig deeper, he’s just beating up on lefties. I think he deserves an equal split of the games, but I can’t make him the full-time starter. OF – Christian Moore Moore primarily started against lefties and performed about the same as my other outfielders, but his ratings suggest he can be better next year. He should be back. Of particular interest is his pitching potential. I think I’m going to let him work as a long reliever due to his limited appearances in the field. I know he’ll never be a good pitcher, but it could help the rest of the bullpen if he soaks up some garbage time innings. OF – Jesus Salgado I really thought Salgado would be better, but I guess he wasn’t ready. He did improve his OPS+ from -39 to 47, so that’s encouraging. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with him going forward. IF – Isaias Dipre Dipre doesn’t provide much offensively but he’s an excellent defender at three positions. He’ll be in competition with Tejada for this role next year. Injury Replacements C – Manzo Yoshinaga Yoshinaga filled in for Romo earlier in the year and performed well. I doubt he’ll overtake Romo or Melendez for a full-time position, so he’ll start next season at AAA. IF – Luis Tejada Tejada filled the utility infield role when Dipre went down to injury. He performed better than Dipre and has the advantage heading into next season. Pitchers: Pitching Staff when Healthy SP – Travis MacGregor I don’t think MacGregor could’ve performed any better considering his limited ratings. He’s still under team control, so should be back. SP – Jacob Smith Smith was a pleasant surprise this year, winning pitcher of the month in September and finishing third in the Cy Young voting. I’m skeptical he can repeat his performance, but he’ll get the chance to prove me wrong. SP – Giuseppe Benedetti I had really high hopes for Benedetti a couple of years ago, but he’s been mostly underwhelming. Hopefully he can break out next season. SP – Rio Britton Britton struggled the first half of the season but seemed to figure things out by the end of the year. Barring injury, he should be a solid starter going forward. SP – Brennan Malone Another member of the middling starting pitcher club, Malone was decent this season. He missed a lot of games due to injury, so I’m skeptical of his ability to stay on the field. I’ll replace him if a better option is available. CL – Luke Jackson Jackson was good but not great. He’s an upcoming free agent I would like to bring back but don’t think I can afford his demands. Hopefully he’ll remain unsigned for a while and I can scoop him up later in the offseason. SU – Easton McMurray McMurray remains a solid option and should be back next year. He’s entering his first arbitration year, but his estimate is still modest. MR – Luis Faringthon Faringthon was dominant until tearing his labrum in June. Hopefully he’ll be back at full strength next year. MR – Jeremy Rivera Rivera performed well and should be back next year. MR – Gabriel Moya Moya slipped a bit this season but could return if better options don’t emerge. MR – Caden O’Brien O’Brien had a strong year but spent a good amount of time on the IL. I’ll keep a close eye on his health going forward. MR – Blake Cederlind Cederlind was excellent this season, earning his first all-star appearance, but will probably not return since he’s an upcoming free agent. His current demand is 3/$27m. MR – Josh Nifong A 33rd round pick in 2021, Nifong was outstanding in his first MLB season. I see no reason for him not to return. Injury Replacements SP – Ben Hernandez I had high hopes for Hernandez when drafted, but injuries have stalled out his career. He filled in a few games and performed moderately, but I don’t trust him for a full-time role. SP – Michael Burrows Burrows made one emergency start and was superb, throwing a one-hitter. I still haven’t forgotten his abysmal 2025 season though, so I sent him back down as soon as possible. He’ll probably start next year in AAA. MR – Miguel Toribio Toribio was called up when Faringthon went down and pitched 32 solid innings. Amazingly he walked zero batters in his 21 appearances MR – Brandon Williams The AAA reliever of the year, Williams was called up when the rosters expanded. He struggled in limited appearances, but his ratings suggest he should be fine going forward. Season Results: The division race was tight from start to finish, with the top four teams finishing five games apart. We finished second, with an 81-81 record. Even though we didn’t make the playoffs, I’m very happy with our performance. We easily could’ve had a few games break our way and win it. The starting pitching improved dramatically from last year, and the bullpen and defense continued to be excellent. We still struggled offensively but didn’t finish last in runs scored like last year. I think a big reason for our success was the roster stability as compared to last season. We didn’t make nearly as many offseason moves, had significantly fewer injuries, and didn’t have to constantly demote underperformers. Players were able to settle into their roles. The owner is good with my performance and extended my contract for one year, but I still feel the pressure to perform. I probably won’t make any win-now moves, but I’m going to try to stay competitive. Here are the playoff results. Top Prospects: A lot of the players from the past two year’s lists have either been promoted to the majors or traded away, but there is still serious talent in the system. We don’t have the same depth, but the top-end talent is better than ever and should be even better with the addition of the number four and sixteen picks in next year’s draft. 1.) Pietro Bonaccorsi Pietro is back at number one for the third straight year after an excellent minor league debut. He started the season red hot but cooled as the season progressed. I believe he was just getting bored with the competition, but I try not to promote 18-year-olds before playing a full season. His defensive ratings have improved slightly since last season, but I don’t think he’s ever going to have the glove to play a middle infield position. I’ll let him play second base again next year, but he’ll probably transition to first sooner than later. He’ll start next season at A+. 2.) Juan Espinoza Espinoza remains at number two after spending the year in the international complex. He will probably move to rookie ball next season. 3.) Hector Garza Garza debuts at number three on the list. He has Cy Young potential but is still a long way from reaching the majors. I’ll check his ratings at the beginning of the season to see if he’s ready for rookie ball, but more than likely he’ll remain in the international complex. 4.) Dave Castro Castro started off slow in A+ but went supernova the second half of the season. He moved to first base later in the year to learn another position for the majors and will probably start there next season at AA. I expect him to be an MLB starter by 2028. 5.) Brad Thoen Thoen’s ratings have progressed nicely since last season, and he continues a nice trajectory towards the majors. He’ll begin next season at AA and could make his MLB debut sooner than later. 6.) Bobby Dennis Dennis saw almost all of his ratings increase since last year, while posting a strong season in rookie ball. His talent, durability, and character make his eventual MLB debut inevitable. It’s just a matter of when. He will begin next season at A or A+. 7.) Mike Mueller Mueller moves up a spot on the list after a great season in rookie ball. He saw his ratings progress since last year and will begin next season at A or A+. More than likely, I will force start him at short stop or third. 8.) Sergio Pardo Pardo was promoted from the international complex at the start of the year but wasn’t given much thought as a serious prospect until after the season. I let the computer decide his position, so didn’t notice his outfield potential at first, but he has the ability to play any position. I’ll get him some corner outfield experience next season at A or A+, with an eye towards teaching him every position before he reaches the majors. He looks to be a super utility player at worst, but his character and durability could allow him to become a star. 9.) Frank Mesa Mesa was an established amateur free agent this past offseason that I signed to a minor league contract. It took a $500k signing bonus for him to agree but I thought his potential was worth the investment. He started the season at A+ because his ratings were mostly potential, but they’ve become actual over the course of the year and he looks to be an MLB contributor sooner than later. I don’t like promoting players before they spend time in AA or AAA, but I might make an exception for Mesa. 10.) Bobby Bosman Bosman moves down from number six last year due to another lackluster season in rookie ball and a lack of ratings progression, but I’m not ready to give up on him yet. We’ll re-evaluate after another season in rookie league. Honorable mentions: Josh Breeden Breeden was in strong consideration for the ten spot in place of Bosman. He has good character, durability, and the outline of a quality starting pitcher. My only reason for hesitation is a lack of a clear path to three quality pitches. He will probably start next season at A-. Chris Simpson Simpson appears to be the total package: good character, durability, catcher ability, and offense. He should move up the list with a strong season next year. Promoted to MLB: Rio Britton, Drew Romo Dropped from list: Alex Mendez I probably kept Mendez in rookie league one season too long, so maybe his potential comes back next year, but for now I’m not convinced he’s anything more than a replacement level player. Future Outlook: This team reminds me a lot of the teams we had the first few seasons. We have a bunch of good young players, but no real clear path to a championship. I took some risks and pushed a bit harder than I should have with those teams, so I’m going to play it more conservatively this time through. Hopefully we can make a real push in a few seasons, but in the meantime, we’ll try to maintain a winning record. We have a lot of super talented players in the system already, but I’m really excited about the prospect of selecting this guy in the upcoming draft. We have the fourth pick, so he might not be there, but I’ve seen better guys fall that far. End of season budget and salaries (part 1, part 2). 2022 Review: Starting this year, I’m going to review the moves and top prospects from five years ago. I’ll start with the moves: 2022 Move #1: Pirates Receive: Alex Wood (100% retained) (2022, 2026), Mauricio Llovera (2022, 2026), Christopher Sanchez (2022, 2026), Adam Haseley (2022, 2026), $9.5m Cash Phillies Receive: Seth Lugo (2022, 2026), Bryan Reynolds (2022, 2026) This will probably go down as one of the most lopsided trades ever. The Phillies received Lugo, who posted one mediocre season before leaving as a free agent; and Reynolds, who provided 9.6 WAR over a five-year period and cost $40m over that span. The Phillies also received a compensation pick for the loss of Lugo. In return I received Wood, who provided two excellent seasons in which the Phillies paid 100% of his salary; Llovera, who finished fifth in the Cy Young voting last year and was a major part of the Vladimir Guerrero Jr. deal; Sanchez, who was lights out before getting injured; and Haseley, who I flipped the next year for Aaron Nola. The departures of Wood and Nola both netted supplemental first round picks. We also received $9.5m cash and improved our budget room by $25m. Final Grade: A+ 2022 Move #2: Pirates Receive: Mike Minor (100% retained) (2022, 2026), $1m Cash Angels Receive: Kyle Wilkie (2022, 2026) The Phillies received a career minor leaguer in Wilkie while I got Mike Minor and $1m cash. Minor was very good for me in 2022 and netted a supplemental second round pick when he signed with Kansas City as a free agent. I think I was the clear winner of this deal. Final Grade: A 2022 Top Prospects: 1.) Dave Castro (2022, 2026) Castro is number four on the 2026 list and should make his MLB debut soon. In the 2022 write-up I stated concern for his defense, but he actually looks like he will be a plus there, and his offensive potential has increased. 2.) Luuk Ter-Beek (2022, 2026) Ter-Beek had the look of a back-end starter that could soak up a ton of innings due to his knuckleball, but a torn UCL in 2023 effectively ended his major league chances. 3.) Drew Romo (2022, 2026) Romo’s ratings are pretty much the exact same now as they were in 2022, but his production at the plate led me to believe he had more offensive upside. He made his major league debut this season but appears to be a non-factor at the plate. 4.) Jayden Melendez (2022, 2026) I thought Melendez had the potential to be a plus defender and batter, but he’s looking to be more of a defensive focused player. He made his major league debut this year. 5.) Sal Stewart (2022, 2026) In 2022 I said that Stewart had the potential to be an elite hitter, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. If he makes the majors it will be as a role player. 6.) Michael Brooks (2022, 2026) I predicted Brooks would be an elite defender that struggles at the plate and that’s exactly what he’s become. He just won his second gold glove while posting an OPS+ of 75. 7.) Cody Bolton (2022, 2026) I wasn’t very high on Bolton in 2022, just recognized he had major league talent. He started two seasons for me, providing near league average performance, but was traded away due to his poor character. He hasn’t done much for the Rays since they acquired him. 8.) Ben Hernandez (2022, 2026) Hernandez had the character and talent profile of a guy that would excel in my system but got injured in AAA and stalled out before he ever really got a shot. He made his major league debut this year but probably won’t be a factor going forward due to his fragile injury rating. 9.) Easton McMurray (2022, 2026) I got excited the second I saw McMurray and knew he would be a member of the bullpen sooner than later. He made his major league debut in 2024 and his been solid for us the past three years. 10.) Josh Dotson (2022, 2026) I was lukewarm on Dotson’s major league prospects and it turns out I was right to be concerned. He made it to AAA before stalling out, but could possibly see some bullpen action as an injury replacement next year. 2022 Minor League System Grade: C+ Six of the ten players on the list have made their major league debuts, with one more expected to debut soon. Only one player was a true bust, but that was mostly due to injury. There are a lot of major league players here, but not much top-end talent. Looking back, I should’ve known I didn’t have the prospect depth to start contending yet.
Rebuilding the Pirates - Year 8: Ahead of Schedule
Welcome back to season eight of the Pittsburgh Pirates rebuild! Here are the links to the previous entries if you want to catch up: 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026. We bounced back last year after a few tough seasons, finishing 2nd in the division with a record of 81-81. Even though we missed the playoffs, the team looks poised to make a run sooner than later. We’re flush with talented young players and the minor league system has never been better. The owner is good with my performance at the moment, but I’m on a one-year deal, so can’t get complacent. I won’t make any moves that sacrifice our future position, but hopefully a few moves around the edges can push us into the playoffs. As with the previous entries, I’ll list the moves I made, the rationale behind those moves, the season results, and the future outlook. Here are the salaries heading into the offseason (part 1, part 2). Departures: Batters: Willy Adames I still can’t believe Adames fell off so fast. He was trending down his last few years in Tampa, but I figured that was just at the plate and his defense would continue to be elite. He was unplayable by the end of last season and doesn’t have the ratings to get signed again. He should retire soon. Osvaldo Gavilan This was one of those “it’s not you, it’s me” type situations. Gavilan was passable his first season with the team, and probably would’ve been better this year, but I preferred the other available options. Gavilan spent the season in AAA and could get called up again if injuries arise. Didi Gregorius I still think Gregorius could’ve been good for us if I built the rest of the roster better. I’ve gotten solid production from players like him in the past, but those teams didn’t feature the league’s largest collection of over-the-hill stars. Gregorius gracefully retired once his contract expired. Jesus Salgado I brought Salgado up one year too early, and I’m now hoping I didn’t leave him in the minors one year too long. He would’ve gotten the call-up if someone got injured, but it never happened. There’s a very good chance he has a major league role next season. Pitchers: Michael Burrows Burrows had one excellent start last season, but I still haven’t forgotten what he did in 2025, so I did my best to keep him out of the majors. I know this is just a bunch of numbers on a screen, but I took his 2025 performance personally. He had season ending surgery in August. Good riddance. Blake Cederlind This is one of those situations where I wish there was more depth to contract negotiations. As is, it’s mostly just “this number is higher than that one, so I’m going there”, but there are so many other factors that could come in to play. Cederlind is a good but not great pitcher, but in my system he’s elite. His ERA+ hovered around 150 the past three seasons, then plummeted to 74 this year with the Brewers. I wish I could’ve told him, “Hey Blake, take a bit less to sign with us because you’re going to do great here, and there’s a good chance you don’t elsewhere. Is the unhappiness that comes with poor performance worth a couple extra million? You know it’s probably not,” but that wasn’t an option, so he took the money from Milwaukee. Ben Hernandez Hernandez was once a prized pitching prospect, but injuries have robbed him of most of his potential. He’s still in the system but spent the year in AAA. I might give him a look as a reliever but his days as a major league starter are probably over. Additions: Batters: Dave Castro Minor league call-up. Frank Mesa Minor league call-up. Will Shirah Minor league call-up. Josh VanMeter See move #5 below. Pitchers: Carlos Campos Minor league call-up. Lewys Guzman Minor league call-up. Christian MacLeod See move #3 below. JoJo Romero See move #2 below. Move #1: The first move doesn’t involve any players but it’s the one I’m most excited about. We replaced our old scoutwith a new one that’s rated Legendary in amateur and minor league scouting, and Great in international and major league scouting. This should really help with identifying future young stars. Move #2: Pirates Receive: Jojo Romero (100% retained) Cubs Receive: $1 That’s not a typo, the Cubs are giving me Romero in exchange for one dollar, and they’re paying 100% of his salary this season. The only way this is bad for us is if Romero murders another player. Anything short of that, I can just release him and be no worse off. He has a fragile injury rating, which is always a concern, but I’m willing to take a risk with his talent. I can see him posting a strong season in our system. Move #3: We’re a bit thin in the starting pitching department, so I decided to take a chance on Christian Macleod in the Rule 5 Draft. He’ll be one of the six spring training starters, with a chance of starting the regular season. Move #4: Luke Jackson wanted 3/$24m at the start of free agency, which was way out of my price range, but I waited him out and got the deal I wanted. He’s been great for me the past two years and hopefully will continue to perform well. If things go bad, I can release him after the year and only have to eat $4m. Move #5: Pirates Receive: Josh VanMeter (80% retained), $270k Cash Reds Receive: Alex Mendez, Austin Roberts, Alex Milazzo, Sam Bianco, Blake Dunn This is one of my go-to moves. Trade a dead-end prospect and a bunch of minor league cannon fodder for a one-year rental with salary retained by the other team. The asking price was higher at the beginning of the offseason but dropped to my liking by the beginning of the pre-season. Mendez might have an MLB future, but I’m willing to bet he’s nothing special. He looks like he could be a decent hitter, but his range will keep him from being anything more than an average defender. The rest of the players going their way look like career minor leaguers. In return I’m getting VanMeter and enough retained salary and cash to bring his cost this year to $4.25m. If things go right, I’ll get another serious bat to protect Guerrero in the lineup, and a compensation pick at years end. His defense is concerning, but we should have enough elsewhere to cover for him. Come playoffs we can move Guerrero to first, but I want to preserve him during the regular season by keeping him out of the field. Final Financial Situation: Heading into the season we have about $20m in available funds, which should allow us to sign our two first-round picks and an international amateur free agent. Here are the salaries to start the year. Batters: Primary Lineup vs. RHP when Healthy(\DH enabled in both leagues)* RF – Mike Sanchez Sanchez struggled last year but there was nothing in his ratings to suggest he wouldn’t bounce back, which is exactly what he did. He hit 44 homers and stole 36 bases, while providing plus defense at three positions. I should’ve tried to lock him up after his down year but didn’t feel I could afford to take any long-term risks. He will be back next season. LF – Will Shirah Shirah took over for Gavilan in left field and performed well. He’s nothing special but provided league average offense, plus defense, and his switch hitting makes for easier lineup construction. DH – Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Vlad didn’t have quite the year he did last season but was still a monster at the plate. He led the league in hits, finished fourth in MVP voting, was named an all-star starter, and was the top hitter for the month of July. He only has one guaranteed year remaining on his contract, so I’ll have a tough decision to make on whether to keep him. 1B – Josh VanMeter When I acquired VanMeter right before the season I had no idea he’d be this good. He started off scorching hot, winning batter of the month for May, and never really slowed down. He led the league in batting average, on base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, and WAR, and was named MVP at seasons end. He was also the top vote getter for the all-star team and won the platinum stick award at first base. He’s an upcoming free agent that wants 6/$210m, so he will be signing elsewhere, and I will be getting a compensation pick. Thank you for your service Josh VanMeter. SS – Marcelo Mayer Mayer had another great year, providing elite defense and league average offense from the short stop position. He missed two weeks in September but was back in time for the playoffs. His arbitration estimate is still low, so he will return. 2B – Michael Brooks Brooks won his third straight gold glove, while providing his typical below average offense. This was his first season without injury, so hopefully he can keep off the IL going forward. He should return next year. 3B – Frank Mesa Mesa had a pretty quick rise, going from unknown international free agent to MLB starter in one season. I imagine he would’ve won gold glove at third if not for spending a decent amount of time backing up second and short. His offense is nothing to get excited about, but I’ll take the tradeoff for his defense. He’ll return next season. C – Drew Romo Romo missed five weeks in June with a hamstring strain, making this his second season in a row missing significant time to injury. He was good when healthy, playing gold glove defense while not being a complete black hole on offense. CF – Manny Duenas Duenas was pretty pedestrian at the plate last year, leading me to put him in the 9 spot this season, but he ended up performing more like a number three hitter. He posted an OPS+ of 132 while winning his second straight gold glove, making him one of the most valuable players in the game. I debated moving him up in the lineup but decided “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.” I approached him about an extension early in the season and he asked for 8/$78m. I countered with 10/$120m with two team options, then he countered back a week later with 10/$190m, so I decided to table discussions until later. I don’t think he was particularly offended by my 10/$120m deal, I think I just caught him at the wrong time. He was surging at that point in the season and on pace for 9+ WAR. I might’ve missed my opportunity for a $10m AAV deal but might be able to get him for $14-15m AAV if I catch him at the right time next year. Bench C – Jayden Melendez Melendez is still upset about his role on the team and it’s starting to affect his performance. His defense remains excellent, but I know he can do better than an OPS+ of 47. Depending on his value, I might move him and promote Yoshinaga to the backup catcher role. IF – Luis Tejada Tejada started at third against lefties and backed up 2B, SS, and 3B against righties. I’m really not sure how he’s doing as well as he is at the plate, but hopefully it continues. As with all good bench players, he now thinks he should be a starter and is upset about his role. Too bad there’s not an “appreciate what you have, or I’ll option you to the minors for the next three years” option to get him to reconsider his position. OF – Christian Moore Moore seems to have finally figured out major league pitching and probably deserves a full-time starting role. With the probable departure of VanMeter and possible departure of Guerrero, there should be a spot for him next season. Injury Replacements IF – Isaias Dipre Dipre filled in for Mayer when he was out for two weeks in September, collecting 3 hits in 31 at bats. He was brought in to play defense though, and he did just fine there. He will probably remain as minor league depth next season. IF – Dave Castro One of the crown jewels of the minor league system, Castro was called up when rosters expanded to get a taste of major league action. He should be a starter next season but I’m not sure where yet. I feel comfortable starting him at first or third, but he might take the primary DH role due to the fielding ability of the rest of the roster. Either way, he’ll get some reps in the field to stay in practice. C – Manzo Yoshinaga Yoshinaga didn’t perform well at the plate in his limited appearances, but his ratings suggest he would be fine if given a backup role next year. Pitchers: Pitching Staff when Healthy SP – Jacob Smith Smith was a late bloomer but has established himself as one of the top pitchers in the game. He was named to his first all-star team and finished second in the Cy Young voting. The only question is, how long can I continue to afford him? SP – Rio Britton Britton continues to improve and should be even better next year, despite leading the league in WAR this season. He was named pitcher of month in June and finished fifth in the Cy Young voting. I would extend him, but it’s not worth the risk for a non-durable pitcher. He’ll continue to play on one-year deals until he becomes too expensive, reaches free agency, or his arm explodes. SP – Giuseppe Benedetti I keep hoping Benedetti figures things out but it’s probably time to face reality. He’s an average pitcher with below average movement and isn’t going to do well in my system. I probably could’ve gotten a lot for him in a deal a few years ago, but my only real option at this point is to just hope he gets better. He missed five weeks in June with an elbow sprain and another five weeks later in the year with shoulder bursitis, so he might not even be able to stay healthy long enough to figure things out. SP – Christian MacLeod I rolled the dice on MacLeod in the Rule 5 draft and after a strong spring training decided to give him a spot in the rotation. He performed well and will probably be back next season. SP – Brennan Malone Malone missed a lot of time to injury last year and was underwhelming when on the field. I wanted to replace him, but no affordable options emerged, and he got another shot this season. He proved his worth by posting a strong season and should be back next year. CL – Luke Jackson Jackson missed four weeks during spring training and then tore his UCL in April. He suffered an 8-month setback in September, meaning he won’t return until after the start of next season. He can’t be traded since he’s injured, so there’s really nothing to do but hope he comes back strong next year. SU – Easton McMurray McMurray was named the closer after Jackson’s injury and made the most of his opportunity. He was nearly unhittable the second half of the season and ending up winning Reliever of the Year. Unfortunately, this raised his arbitration estimate from ~ $2m to $5.8m, but this is a good problem to have. MR – Miguel Toribio Toribio doesn’t look like an MLB pitcher but finds a way to survive. He could be back if better options don’t emerge. MR – Caden O’Brien O’Brien missed another five weeks this year with an elbow strain but pitched well when healthy. He should return. MR – Gabriel Moya Moya is like The Little Engine that Could. He doesn’t have the most talent, but he keeps at it and finds a way to get the job done. He’s an upcoming free agent but I doubt he’ll have many suitors. MR – Jeremy Rivera Rivera had another solid year and should return, especially since lefties are scarce at the moment. MR – Josh Nifong Nifong struggled but his ratings suggest he’ll be fine going forward. MR – Brandon Williams Williams was bumped up to the set-up role when McMurray was promoted to closer and performed well, but not as good as his ratings suggest. I expect him to be better next season. LR – JoJo Romero Romero gave us 93 innings of sub 4 ERA pitching and was named an all-star. I’d say that’s well worth one dollar. Thanks Cubs. To make it even better he thinks he’s a starting pitcher now and wants a 6/$80m deal. I’m leaning towards extending the qualifying offer and possibly getting a compensation pick. LR – Christian Moore Our bullpen was overworked last year, and Moore was underworked in the field, so I decided to let him pitch some garbage time innings. He pitched 34 innings and gave up 40 runs, which is pretty much what I expected. I think the important part is that the rest of the bullpen pitched 34 less innings. He’ll probably be a full-time starter in the field next year and leave the bullpen. Injury Replacements MR – Lewys Guzman Guzman was brought up as an injury replacement in May but tore his meniscus not long after being called up. He spent the remainder of the season in AAA when he returned. I like his ratings, so might give him a shot next season. SP – Travis MacGregor MacGregor filled in when Benedetti went down early in the year and did really well. He was sent back down to AAA upon his return but came back multiple times as an emergency starter. He’ll probably start next season at AAA. MR – Carlos Campos Campos did well in the couple of innings he pitched and will be in consideration for a role next year. MR – Luis Faringthon Faringthon started the year on the IL and was sent for a rehab assignment upon his return. When returning to the majors he continued his hot streak from last season. Hopefully he can remain healthy. Season Results: As you can probably guess from the player profiles above, we had a really good season. We finished first in the division with a 99-63 record, which was also good enough for the best record in baseball. We probably could’ve won more games but let off the gas late to keep everyone fresh for the playoffs. In the divisional round we faced off against the Rockies, who had a record of 86-76 and finished second in their division. They took the first game, but we rallied back to take the series 3-1. Manny Duenas was named series MVP. The Atlanta Braves were our opponent in the NLCS. They had a record of 86-76 and finished first in their division. We jumped out to a 2-0 series lead, walloping them 17-3 in game two, but they fought back to win games three and five, before bowing out in game six. Manny Duenas was named series MVP once again. We faced Guerrero and Mayer’s former team, the Blue Jays, in the World Series. The Jays took a 3-2 lead after five games, with four games being decided by one run, but our guys rallied back to win two straight and take the World Series. Former Blue Jay Guerrero was named World Series MVP. Here are the playoff results. The formula for success was pretty simple with this team: two smashers in the middle of the lineup, elite defenders that hopefully do something at the plate, and a hoard of groundball pitchers. Our overall talent level still isn’t that high, but all of the pieces fit together. We have a lot of high character players that accept their roles. The owner is good with my performance and provided me with a 3-year extension after the season. We got a bump in fan interest from winning the World Series and our budget has increased to $128m. Also, I was named manager of the year. Top Prospects: We have a lot of elite talent at the top, but it was a struggle to fill out the list at the end. Our new scout has a different opinion on a lot of our guys, but I think most of the big-time ratings drops below are real. 1.) Pietro Bonaccorsi Bonaccorsi is number one on the list for the fourth straight year. He no longer looks to have greatest hitter of all time potential but still projects to be well above average. He moved to first this season, preparing him for his eventual MLB debut. He’ll start next season at AA but could get called up if injuries demand it. 2.) Brad Thoen Thoen continues to rise up the list, moving all the way from number five last season. He had a solid season in AA and claims he’s ready for the majors, but I hope to start him at AAA next year. If he does well, I’ll promote him midseason, or when rosters expand. His ratings have progressed nicely since last year, and as an added bonus his personality trait was revealed as Fan Favorite. 3.) Bobby Dennis Dennis moves up from number six last year and continues a nice trajectory toward the majors. He performed well in A+ and will start next year in AA, with an expected MLB debut in 2029. His ratings have progressed significantly since last season. 4.) Jeff Hatchell Hatchell was selected with the fourth pick in this year’s draft and has the potential to be a top of the rotation starter. He has good ratings across the board, durable injury proneness, and great character. He performed well in rookie ball and will begin next season at A+. I’m very happy with Hatchell but really wish this guy would’ve fell to me. Gray looks like a future Cy Young winner. 5.) Sergio Pardo Pardo moves up from number eight last year and looks to be on track towards becoming an MLB contributor. He picked up some experience at the two most demanding outfield positions and saw his offensive ratings increase across the board. His offensive production wasn’t what I would like, so he’ll begin next season at A+. He suffered an injury that cost him six weeks at the end of the year but kept his durable injury rating. Hopefully, it was a one-time thing. 6.) Juan Espinoza Espinoza made his minor league debut this year and saw his potential decrease from potential Cy Young winner to middle of the rotation starter. I’m not out on him completely, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him flame out in the next few years. He’ll repeat rookie ball next season. 7.) Mike Mueller Mueller remains at number seven this year. He saw his ratings increase across the board from last year but probably needs another year before promotion to AA. I’ll start him at A+ and keep a close eye on his performance early in the season. 8.) Josh Breeden Coming in at number eight, Breeden had a good year in A- and looks primed to continue his success next season in A+. I’m not completely sold on him as an MLB starter, but his durability should keep him healthy long enough for us to find out if he has what it takes. 9.) Chris Simpson There are a lot of things to like about Simpson but he’s not the same caliber player that we’ve had in years past on this list. His ratings have increased since last season, but he probably needs another season in rookie league. 10.) Vincent Guevara I really couldn’t find anyone I liked for this spot, so Guevara come in at number ten by default. He has the ratings profile of a solid starter but he’s still 17 and my scout doesn’t really know much about him. We’ll find out more when he makes his minor league debut next season. Promoted to MLB: Dave Castro, Frank Mesa Dropped from list: Hector Garza If you thought Espinoza’s ratings took a dive, check out Garza’s as compared to last year. He started racking up injuries immediately and looks like he’ll be out of baseball sooner than later. Bobby Bosman Bosman’s ratings didn’t drop as much as Garza’s, but that’s only due to them not having as far to fall. He posted a strong season in rookie ball but doesn’t have the ratings to continue at the higher levels. Future Outlook: We just won the World Series but we’re still not where I want to be as a franchise. We have the 29th lowest budget, fan interest is only 70, and fan loyalty is below average. If I get complacent, we’ll be right back where we were a few years ago. We need to continue to make moves with an eye towards the future. We have a really tough decision to make with Guerrero. He has one guaranteed year left on his deal and it’s looking like he’ll opt out after next season. We really need his bat, but also can’t afford to lose him for nothing. I could always chance it and hope he opts in, but I don’t think we can afford that kind of risk. I’m leaning towards moving him, but the importance of his offense can’t be understated. If we lose VanMeter and Guerrero this offseason, we’ll probably take a big step back next year. They provided a combined 88 homers and 232 RBIs, and I have no real path towards replacing that production. I like Castro’s potential, but I don’t see a rookie hitting 40 homers and driving in 100 runs. I could maybe get a comparable player in return for Guerrero but more than likely the best value will be to trade him for prospects. VanMeter is a free agent, so I’ll only get a compensation pick for his departure. I think the playoffs are possible next year, but we won’t be able to make a real push unless we get some surprise offensive performances. Here is the budget and salaries heading into the offseason. 2023 Review: \Players without a 2027 screenshot were deleted due to retiring before reaching the majors* 2023 Move #1: Pirates Receive: Gabriel Moya (2023, 2027), $1.4m Cash Tigers Receive: Aaron Shackelford Despite his limited ratings, Moya has provided us with 5 solid years out of the bullpen. Sure, he’s not a star, but he provides solid production at minimal cost. On the other hand, the Tigers got a player that never reached the majors and sent out an additional $1.4m cash. This deal might not have been a home run, but we were the clear winners. Final Grade: B+ 2023 Move #2: Pirates Receive: Aaron Nola (100% retained) (2023, 2027), $5m Cash Phillies Receive: Adam Haseley (2023, 2027) I was pretty disappointed with Nola during his lone season with the team. He wasn’t bad but his ratings suggested he should’ve been so much more. I was really expecting a 4-6 WAR season. He pitched well enough to get a big deal in free agency though, so I scored a compensation pick upon his signing. Haseley has been solid for the Phillies for multiple years and was relatively cheap through his arbitration years. I think this kind of corner outfield production is replaceable, but the real issue is he had significant trade value to a lot of teams. I should’ve gotten something better than Nola, a compensation pick, and some cash. Final Grade: C 2023 Move #3: Pirates Receive: Ryan Pressley (100% retained) (2023, 2027) Tigers Receive: Oneil Cruz (100% retained) (2023, 2027), Jake Wright, Ethan Paul Pressley spent a lot of time injured during his two years with the team, and when he wasn’t injured, he was complaining about his role. We didn’t give up anything useful in return, but the problem is the same as with the Haseley deal: we could’ve gotten something better for those players. Injuries happen, but I took an unnecessary risk on an older player. Final Grade: D 2023 Move #4: Pirates Receive: Archie Bradley (85% retained) (2023, 2027) Cardinals Receive: Jared Triolo (2023, 2027), Jake Snider Bradley was great for us in 2023 but missed most of 2024 to injury. I think the value he provided in 2023 was more than enough to justify his cost for both years (~ $3m), and we didn’t give up anything of value in return, so I’m happy with this deal. Final Grade: B 2023 Move #5: Signed FA Christian Vazquez (2023, 2027) to a one year $1.5m contract Vazquez provided gold glove defense and league average offense from the backup catcher position, which is definitely worth $1.5m. Great signing. Final Grade: A 2023 Top Prospects 1.) Dave Castro (2023, 2027) Castro finally made his MLB debut after six years in the system and looks to have fully realized his potential from five years ago. He doesn’t have the performance to back up the ratings yet, but I don’t anticipate him having any issues. 2.) Rio Britton (2023, 2027) Rio was selected at the end of the first round in 2023 and debuted at number two on this list. At the time I said that Britton was everything I could want in a starting pitcher, and it’s looking like he’s living up to my expectations. 3.) Alex Mendez (2023, 2027) Mendez was my second international amateur free agent signing and I thought he had a similar profile to Castro. He still might make the majors but has fizzled out a bit the last couple of seasons. 4.) Sal Stewart (2023, 2027) This was Stewart’s second season on the list and I still had high hopes for him as a batter. He appears to have stalled out in AA, but I could see him contributing as a role player at some point. 5.) Christian Moore (2023, 2027) I predicted Moore could become an above average corner outfielder with a well-rounded skillset and he appears to have become just that. He will more than likely have a full-time starting role next season. 6.) Ben Hernandez (2023, 2027) Hernandez finished 2023 with a strong performance in AA and looked primed to become an MLB starter sooner than later, but a torn rotator cuff late in 2024 robbed him of much of his potential. He’s spent most of the past few years in AAA or on the injured list. 7.) Easton McMurray (2023, 2027) McMurray didn’t have a great showing at AA in 2023 but his ratings seemed too good to keep him down. I went with my scout’s suggestion, calling him up in 2024, and was rewarded with a solid rookie campaign. He’s gradually improved to become one of the top relievers in the game. 8.) Luuk Ter-Beek (2023, 2027) I was skeptical about Ter-Beek’s ability to bounce back from a torn UCL but kept him on the list due to his tremendous upside. It turns out I was right to be worried. He’s steadily regressed and has stalled out as a AA depth piece. 9.) Drew Romo (2023, 2027) I was lukewarm on Romo in 2023 and it looks like he’s become exactly what I expected, an ace defensive catcher that struggles to bat his weight. 10.) Jayden Melendez (2023, 2027) I was undecided on Melendez in 2023 but he’s found his way to the majors due to his defense and character. Honorable mention: Felipe Mezquita (2023, 2027) Mezquita had the ratings profile on an MLB starter but a torn labrum made me skeptical of his future. He spent part of one season as a starter for us but was sent back down to AAA due to his poor performance. I shipped him to New York after the season, where he struggled his first year, but he seems to have figured things out this season. 2023 Minor League System Grade: C+ This year’s list was a real mixed bag. Castro, Britton, and McMurray all look like top contributors; Mezquita, Moore, Romo, and Melendez all look to be solid but not great; and Mendez, Stewart, Ter-Beek, and Hernandez are all just meh. This was my fourth year with the team, so it’s not a real surprise the minor league system was still average.
Most common bets for Champions League Betting 2020 predictions Outright winner. As is the case in most high-profile competitions, you can bet on the outright winner in the Champions League. Top goalscorer. A certain Cristiano Ronaldo has won the top goalscorer award several times in the Champions League, but it could well be someone else this year. Champions League - Winner Betting Odds. Get the best available Champions League odds from all online bookmakers with Oddschecker, the home of betting value. ... Valid on between 5/10/2018-30/06/2020. Min Bet Min Bet £/€/$10. Min odds 4/1.Free Bet credited upon bet settlement. Free Bet expire after 7 days. UEFA Champions League - Winner 2020/2021 Betting & Odds. Bet on UEFA Champions League - Winner 2020/2021 and choose among options like Bayern Munich, Man City, Liverpool, PSG, Barcelona and more. On Betfair Exchange, you can either back (bet for) or lay (bet against) any outcome. Bayern Munich won the 2019-20 Champions League, beating PSG 1-0 in Portugal on August 23, 2020. Kingsley Coman headed home the winner for Bayern in the 58th minute. The remaining dozen contains both perennial European champions and teams that have never made it to this stage of the competition before. There is plenty to get excited about, then, with a mini-tournament in Lisbon a uniquely exciting way to determine the next kings of European soccer. Champions League Winner 2020 Odds 2020-2021 Champions League Winner. Bookie's given me $100 free roll to be placed on Champions League future bet. Who do you fancy? I'm either gonna place it on Bayern Munich at +250, or take a stab at a team with longer odds like PSG +1000. Anyone got any good shouts for me? One of the world's leading online gambling companies. The most comprehensive In-Play service. Deposit Bonus for New Customers. Watch Live Sport. We stream over 100,000 events. Bet on Sportsbook and Casino. Champions League betting on the European football club championship. Get outright and match odds, plus tips, free bets, offers and money-back specials UEFA Champions League - Winner 2020/2021 Betting & Odds. Bet on UEFA Champions League - Winner 2020/2021 and choose among options like Bayern Munich, Man City, Liverpool, PSG, Juventus and more. On Betfair Exchange, you can either back (bet for) or lay (bet against) any outcome. Europa League holders Sevilla are up against Borussia Dortmund, with that pair quoted at 40/1 and 18/1 respectively. It is 17/10 there will be a new winner of the Champions League in Istanbul on May 29 and 2/5 for a former victor to prevail again, including European Cup holders since 1955.
Copyright Disclaimer under Section 107 of the copyright act 1976, allowance is made for fair use for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, sch... The Champions League 2019/20 is about to start again - the biggest stage of world’s football. Kick off’s Danya Barsalona and Ed McCambridge are back to give ... Bayern Munich have won every game in the Champions League this Season. They destroyed Barcelona, Chelsea and Tottenham in a big way. Lewandowski could break ... All UEFA Champions League Winners 1956 - 2020 UCL HistoryTrack: Lost Sky - Need You [NCS Release]Thanks For Watching. Do thumbs Up If You Liked This Video... Support the stream: https://streamlabs.com/hellplayz1 Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube. I DO NOT OWN THE RIGHTS TO THE CLIPS OR MUSIC. ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTFUL OWNERS. This video is not intended to violate any Condition of Use. Copy...
