[diop]

Alright, I am starting my first fictional league that I'm really going to write up and do everything for. I'm still pretty new to this game, I've barely had it for over a week. I've played older versions of this randomly over the past 10 years but never very seriously, I still don't know a lot about this game so hopefully I can figure it out.

I, Jim Smith, am the General Manager and Manager of the Portland Ducks in the SL1 (I can't think of a good league name) West Division. I let our team do the auto-draft because I feel like I still don't even know how a team should be set-up and I don't want to start with such a handicap to begin, where this way I'll probably be right on pace with the rest of the league. Our owner seems pretty good, a hands-off guy who wants to win with decent patience and average spending habits. He's given me two goals: Have a winning record this year, and make the playoffs in five.

I'm a bit abusive of the commissioner ability, but I'm hoping to keep the reigns on that. I did immediately edit our scout, Andy Steele, to be perfect and edited his contract to 9 years, which is obviously some cheating, but I tried to raise his salary up +1, 000, 000 to 1.4M a season to try and balance that out.

The rest of our personnel are Scott Hecker, Asst. GM, Team Trainer Juan Quezada, who have a good reputation in the league, and Craig Peterson and Casey Shoemaker are still unproven as our pitching and hitting coaches. We currently don't have a bench coach but a contract's been offered for 57 year-old Joel Healey. An easy-going conventional guy with a decent reputation, I'm hoping to land him, since there's only five bench coaches even available for hire and I worry that number will shrink as I lowball him on contract offers.

I'm going to manage all call-ups and send downs, and try to manage all the line-ups. I've never taken roster manager this seriously, so who knows if I'll get sick of it. In-game, which I will play each of, I'm going to leave it to the AI for all the play-calling, but I'll watch and write up each game. For all leagues? Maybe. Sounds like it'll take forever, but maybe I'll really enjoy it.

Our roster is as such, ordered mostly by their depth chart positioning and I'll probably write about each guy that I have something to say about. The only thing I leave up to the computer is for lineups will be the bullpen set-up, since I don't really know what makes a good long relief guy over setup, kind of stuff.

ML - Portland Ducks
SP - (25) Danny Skinner
Fantastic control and stamina, with good movement and three even pitches: Cutter, Curveball, and a Slider. His Changeup could use some work.

SP - (23) Craig Warholic (#11 Prospect)
The AI likes Warholic over Skinner, he has a fantastic fastball and change-up and a real good slider, but a pitiful curveball for the Majors. Good movement and control, too. He has a hard work ethic and great intelligence, so I'm sure he can develop well and become our ace. Also our only lefty on the Major League roster.

SP - (24) Pete Stafford
Fantastic fastball and cutter with an average splitter, good movement and okay control. We'll see how he does relying on mostly just two pitches.

SP - (25) Jeremy Ferguson
Jeremy Ferguson is our oldest starter by almost a full year, but still has a little room to grow. He has great stuff with a great fastball, and good cutter and changeup pitches. He also has a slider that might improve a little. His 45 stamina is a bit low, but we'll see how it goes.

SP - (24) Barry Meador (#27 Prospect)
Fifty in our line-up, I don't feel like we have huge drops from our pitchers. Meador is a fairly balanced pitcher. Nothing stands out from his stuff, movement, or control, but they're all solid and well-balanced. His changeup has lots of room to grow and give him some pretty good stuff.

RP - (28) Carlos Hosino
The best control on the team with some great movement to go with it. His sinker and slider are very solid. (Also, my RP's are ordered by my view of "talent" not their position. I think Hosino is my best RP, not a long relieved by listing him here)

RP - (25) Jordan Sanchez
A full 80/80 on his Stuff, Sanchez has the best and splitter on the team and a great fastball, rocketing the ball up to 99 MPH. His movement is a bit static and his control is fairly average, but the real power pitcher of our team.

RP - (27) Mario Rosado
A good well-rounded pitcher that can go pretty long with his stamina for a reliever. Everything can be summed up as good, has a fastball and slider for an arsenal.

RP - (26) Frank Munoz
An oppressive fastball with good movement on it and okay control, he also has a nice curveball to go with it.

CL - (25) Lance Brooks
Another 80/80 on Stuff, Brooks is like a better version of Sanchez. Both with amazing fastballs, and Brooks might have the best slider in the league and great movement on his pitches. He also has great stamina and can handle longer outings.

C - (26) J.P. Gould
Our catches through our entire roster is the weakest position, for sure. Offensively Gould is pretty average at eeverything but is definitely our best defensive catcher with a pretty good arm.

C - (24) Toshimitsu Kamei
One of our three catchers with some decent defensive capabilities. On the offensive he's a bit less impressive, but still has a chance to develop a lot of power in his swing. Apparently, he brings his lunchbox to work everyday.

1B - (34) Reynaldo Loaiza
Crushes the ball and could definitely lead the majors in homeruns this season with no one being too surprised about it. He's got good discipline at the plate and makes a lot of contact. His defensive capabilities are terrible, but that's what the DH spot is for.

1B - (29) Josh DiGiulio
Hits the ball hard and knows how to avoid getting struckout.

2B - (26) Rey Hard
Our first pick of the expansion draft, Hard will get lots of doubles and triples and can do everything good. Good contact, can hit it out of the park regularly, good discipline and avoiding strikeouts, runs the bases great, and can play 3B, SS, LF, or CF as well at high levels.

2B - (26) Alex Hernandez
Huge range infield and can run, a great defensive 2B with alright hitting abilities. Can make for a great pinch runner or defensive sub at 1B, SS, or LF.

3B - (27) Jeremy Burr
Castro and Burr will battle for the starting spot most likely. Burr has a great arm but is only average at everything else, and moves like a slug on the bases.

3B - (27) Daniel Castro
Casto is better defnsively with more flexibility, able to also play 2B or SS or even out at LF, and might get a few more doubles but also is a slow trotter and doesn't have the same eye as Burr.

SS - (25) Koos Dirven
SS was a bit of a weak position for us, but the Dutchman looks to be able to hold himself respectable at bat and is a fantastic shortstop and actually an even better 2B and very good third basemen too.

LF - (33) Mike Priest
Priest should be pretty good at bat, he has dangerous power with lots of discipline that'll work the pitchers a lot. While not amazing defensively he has a very good arm to keep baserunners honest. Can also play RF.

CF - (25) Matt Crandall
Crandall's another guy who can crush the ball, I feel like our team will be dominating the league in the homerun categories. Crandall can fly in the outfield, a great fielder that can play LF, RF, and 3B probably all better than our starters, with a rocket arm.

CF - (23) Joe Miller (#70 Prospect)
Another strong defensive outfielder with some good power. Still some decent upside on his power and battling the pitcher. Great runner.

CF - (22) Rich Huber (#99 Prospect)
While Crandall is better than our starters, Huber is better than Crandall in the outfield. He can play every position except catcher and is absolutely the fastest guy on our team. He is also expected to develop his gap power which could make him a real doubles or triples threat.

RF - (27) Joe Duggins
You're not gonna strike him out. His discipline is low, though, so I don't know how that will pair up with 75 "Avoid K's", but Duggins also has some real good power and knows how to run the bases. Solid outfielder.

RF - (24) Mark Gettingby
Our second Australian (I believe it was our Closer, Brooks, was the first that I didn't mention) Mark Gettingby is solid all around. He doesn't have some of the huge outliers like the rest of our outfield, but he's strong.

I was going to write up minor leagues, but I think that's too time consuming for now. Here's the lineups for every one, with the exception for RPs again where I just sorted it by "talent" over where they line up in the rotation.

I was tempted to keep a bird theme going for the names, but I kind of like the Whalers, Unicorns, and Sluggers name so as it's just a coincidence we have the Screaming Eagles and Robins on the team.

I plan on doing call-up/send-downs at the end of each month based strictly on statistics and move people fairly slowly

AAA - Atlanta Screaming Eagles
SP - (23) Victor Soto
SP - (27) Ryan Fryreare
SP - (24) Billy Hickman
SP - (23) Ben Montgomery
SP - (22) Colin Porter (#95 Prospect)
RP - (25) Mike Wilson
RP - (24) Jonathan Sanchez
RP - (27) Jonathan Diaz
RP - (24) Alberto Martinez (#53 Prospect)
RP - (33) Kevin Rhodes
RP - (20) T.J. Johnson
RP - (27) Pedro Hernandez
RP - (26) Brandon Whiteley
CL - (25) David Gazza

C - (20) Eddie Araujo
C - (28) Casey Leffel
1B - (25) Sean Grant
2B - (22) Terry Clark
2B - (24) Julio Gracia
3B - (22) Chris Bush
SS - (22) Pete Lehmberg (#28 Propect)
SS - (27) Ivan Salas
LF - (23) Nelson Henriquez (#64 Prospect)
CF - (26) Eduardo Hernandes
CF - (21) Jerry Perea (#90 Prospect)
RF - (18) Luis Guzman

AA - Barton Creek Robins
SP - (20) David Shepherd
SP - (22) Jerry Burtin
SP - (19) J.J. Deters
SP - (21) Ian Howell
SP - (20) Luis Lopez
RP - (19) Rafael Reyez
RP - (25) Moises Moreno
RP - (27) Chris Rupp
RP - (25) Alex Munchow
RP - (25) Brad Myers
RP - (24) Alex Garcia
RP - (22) Victor Martinez
RP - (21) Alex Rivera
RP - (19) Gabe Pantoja
CL - (28) Li Jervis

C - (19) Jared Jackson
C - (20) Bernie Bueno
C - (18) Matt Corrigan
1B - (19) Russell Patterson
2B - (19) Garrett Boswell
2B - (20) Masayuki Tsuda
3B - (23) Manny Vegas
3B - (21) Lance Wells
SS - (20) Shane Castaneda
SS - (25) Rob Velarde
SS - (22) Danny Brungard
LF - (20) Brian Peters
LF - (21) Chris Jordan
CF - (22) Luis Martinez
RF - (22) Jon McCreary


A - Wadesboro Whalers
SP - (20) Kelly Pascal
SP - (19) Bobby Summerlin
SP - (18) Ryan Monger
SP - (24) William Gomez
SP - (19) Mark Thon
RP - (22) Carlos Calle
RP - (21) Jason Anderson
RP - (21) Ben Mazzaro
RP - (19) Gordon Schenkel
RP - (24) Jose Cannavaro
RP - (22) Bob Marrero
RP - (21) David Crew
RP - (21) Steve Sigel
RP - (21) Joachim Kop
RP - (21) Gene Powell
CL - (18) Nick Lasek

C - (18) David Moore
C - (18) Scott Belkin
1B - (19) Cesar Trevino
2B - (20) Jaime Liranzo
2B - (19) Bobby Ramos
3B - (22) Ryan Randazzo
SS - (20) Willie Gonzalez
LF - (21) Jay Barry
CF - (18) Salvatore Benarrivo
CF - (20) Wilson Diaz
RF - (21) Jerry Melton


S A - Tampa Unicorns
SP - (21) Brad Seay
SP - (24) Billy Moore
SP - (22) Alejandro Cordero
SP - (21) Jose Cisneros
SP - (20) Roger Ordas
RP - (18) Matt Bright
RP - (18) Ryan Gardner
RP - (19) Orlando Laguna
RP - (18) Chris Baker
RP - (18) Ryan Jonas
RP - (23) Edgar Casado
RP - (22) Dave Franck
RP - (22) Josh Sherman
CL - (18) Xavier Robles

C - (18) Will Wilker
C - (18) Dave Honea
1B - (18) Aaron Clark
2B - (20) Brad Quertermous
3B - (19) Carlos Rios
SS - (20) Josue Chacon
LF - (18) Thadzieusz Kramarczyk
CF - (20) Carlos Vaquera
CF - (19) Billy Holm
RF - (20) Seth Campbell


R - Boise Sluggers
SP - (19) David Hernandez
SP - (22) Francisco Grijalva
SP - (21) Jaime Bogar
SP - (20) Joe Lunceford
SP - (21) Brian Harris
RP - (21) Brett Carmosino
RP - (20) Bobby Scanlon
RP - (19) Bobby Sandoval
RP - (18) Alex Canales
RP - (24) Jason Spencer
RP - (20) Isaiah Buchannon
RP - (22) Danny Palafox
RP - (18) Josh Keesee
RP - (18) Corie Wilson
RP - (23) Tom Jay
CL - (23) Carlos Leyba

C - (18) Nick Wile
C - (18) Walt Bloomingdale
1B - (18) Matt Levy
2B - (19) Oscar Romero
2B - (18) Joe Bower
3B - (18) Doug Imholte
SS - (20) Alexis Gonzalez
SS - (18) Jordan Pena
SS - (22) Devin Huntley
LF - (17) Bubba Cisneros
LF - (17) Domingo Estrella
CF - (18) Daniel Hernandez
CF - (19) Akihiro Kishimoto
RF - (19) Gautier Viadana


Outside of this, I can't really think of what else is there to say, so I might finally advance to January 2nd. If anyone wants to see something or thinks there's something I should be doing, let me know. I go to work soon, so maybe in 10-12 hours I'll start working through the off-season.