1870 Los Angeles Seraphs (Offseason recap)
Posted 09-30-2009 at 10:12 PM by darkcloud4579
Bottom line, this is the last shot ownership will give me to right the ship here. I considered resigning during the offseason, not sure if I could really get this team where it needed to be, knowing we couldn't really spend a lot of money to get ourselves where should be.
Playoffs? That doesn't worry me that much. It's more about whether we have the horses in the post-season to really get it done.
Because this is a fast-sim dynasty, I make NO moves after the off-season. Once I set the team, that's what we have all season long and through the post-season, because I've added the degree of difficulty of not allowing myself a chance to tinker with the roster between the regular season and post-season, which if I didn't, I probably would've won a title just because of being able to set my rotation from 5 to 4. But that's the price of playing this way...
So what moves did we make? Well, I thought you'd never ask. Here's what I did:
I acquired Chance Madole from Bantam for three players. (Here. They. Are.)
The logic? We needed to cut payroll and yet, we needed more pop and I think he's the sort of guy that could deliver that, even though it's the tail end of his career. And yes, he's an LA native and I love human interest stories. Sue me.
I traded one of our dependable ace types - Nelson Mares - in a straight up salary dump for Danny Wheeler. The deal here? We saved about $8.5 million by getting rid of Mares. He's getting old (38) and despite three straight 20 win seasons for us since coming over as a free agent from Colorado City (where he spent his whole career) I decided to sell high here. No doubt the absolute riskiest move of the offseason, but...Wheeler can play all four infield positions AND left field. We need that kind of depth come playoff time.
Speaking of, then feeling like the middle infield wasn't really where it needed to be, we called up the Bantam squad again to pick up Jeff Wilder for another stud kid pitcher in Tom Allen and a veteran infielder. Allen and some of the others we've dealt would've ensured this team was good for years beyond this one, but honestly, the financial constraints were such that we'd either have to kick up the kickstand on this season and try to compete in a few years or compile all of our assets and try to make some magic happen this season. That was the job I was tasked with and so, that's precisely what I did. We've still got a good number of solid prospects anyway. Plus Allen's control worried me.
Finally, I made a few more deals to pick up some veteran relievers in Brown, Higgs and Lee.
Bob Bradford was our only free agent signing this offseason, another bullpen guy.
In the past, we were riding with too many half-piece guys who I don't think were getting the job done with it mattered. I think we've fixed that problem now and as a result, we're in a pretty good place heading into this season.
You'd think it'd be easy to play Cashman, to be the guy who has to run the squad that isn't supposed to lose, that spends tons of money and goes out there and dominates, but...remaking a 117-win team is just not as easy a task as you'd think.
Payroll right now for the top 5 teams in the league ($75m cap) are:
Colorado City: $73,979,640
Boston: $73,708,500
Los Angeles: $73,437,000
New York: $73,052,000
Memphis: $67,818,500
Boston is just like Los Angeles, in that, it's an expansion team created in the demise of an established club (Brooklyn) going under. So they're in their 1st season. Memphis moved from Manchester, as the two England clubs relocated (Enderby went to Philadelphia) and so, we'll see some different cities this season.
This is my last season playing for a while, I'm going to sim into the 1900s after this season regardless of the outcome, so...it's important for us to finish strong, though naturally the playoffs always worry me because they're so flaky.
Anyway, here goes nothing.
Playoffs? That doesn't worry me that much. It's more about whether we have the horses in the post-season to really get it done.
Because this is a fast-sim dynasty, I make NO moves after the off-season. Once I set the team, that's what we have all season long and through the post-season, because I've added the degree of difficulty of not allowing myself a chance to tinker with the roster between the regular season and post-season, which if I didn't, I probably would've won a title just because of being able to set my rotation from 5 to 4. But that's the price of playing this way...
So what moves did we make? Well, I thought you'd never ask. Here's what I did:
I acquired Chance Madole from Bantam for three players. (Here. They. Are.)
The logic? We needed to cut payroll and yet, we needed more pop and I think he's the sort of guy that could deliver that, even though it's the tail end of his career. And yes, he's an LA native and I love human interest stories. Sue me.
I traded one of our dependable ace types - Nelson Mares - in a straight up salary dump for Danny Wheeler. The deal here? We saved about $8.5 million by getting rid of Mares. He's getting old (38) and despite three straight 20 win seasons for us since coming over as a free agent from Colorado City (where he spent his whole career) I decided to sell high here. No doubt the absolute riskiest move of the offseason, but...Wheeler can play all four infield positions AND left field. We need that kind of depth come playoff time.
Speaking of, then feeling like the middle infield wasn't really where it needed to be, we called up the Bantam squad again to pick up Jeff Wilder for another stud kid pitcher in Tom Allen and a veteran infielder. Allen and some of the others we've dealt would've ensured this team was good for years beyond this one, but honestly, the financial constraints were such that we'd either have to kick up the kickstand on this season and try to compete in a few years or compile all of our assets and try to make some magic happen this season. That was the job I was tasked with and so, that's precisely what I did. We've still got a good number of solid prospects anyway. Plus Allen's control worried me.
Finally, I made a few more deals to pick up some veteran relievers in Brown, Higgs and Lee.
Bob Bradford was our only free agent signing this offseason, another bullpen guy.
In the past, we were riding with too many half-piece guys who I don't think were getting the job done with it mattered. I think we've fixed that problem now and as a result, we're in a pretty good place heading into this season.
You'd think it'd be easy to play Cashman, to be the guy who has to run the squad that isn't supposed to lose, that spends tons of money and goes out there and dominates, but...remaking a 117-win team is just not as easy a task as you'd think.
Payroll right now for the top 5 teams in the league ($75m cap) are:
Colorado City: $73,979,640
Boston: $73,708,500
Los Angeles: $73,437,000
New York: $73,052,000
Memphis: $67,818,500
Boston is just like Los Angeles, in that, it's an expansion team created in the demise of an established club (Brooklyn) going under. So they're in their 1st season. Memphis moved from Manchester, as the two England clubs relocated (Enderby went to Philadelphia) and so, we'll see some different cities this season.
This is my last season playing for a while, I'm going to sim into the 1900s after this season regardless of the outcome, so...it's important for us to finish strong, though naturally the playoffs always worry me because they're so flaky.
Anyway, here goes nothing.
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