[ayaghmour2]

So the quickstart begins on March 27th, two days before opening day, so I have very little time to get the team ready for opening day.

As one would expect, there really isn't much talent on the major league roster. A trio of 3 star relievers headline the bullpen and the rotation is as abre as can be. The vastly underrated J.T. Realmuto sits as a 3* according to my scout with Justin Bour (3) and Starlin Castro (2.5) the only other viable sources of offense. Lewis Brinson has decent potential (3.5), but I find him to be underrated as well.

With a little over $10,000,000 to spend, I browsed the free agent pool for any hidden gems I could pick up. I decided to make offers on a pair of lefty relievers, Kevin Chapman (2.5) and Joe Thatcher (2.5). Chapman demanded a minor league contract with major league option of $1,500,000, Thatcher the same. I looked to Alex Cobb (1.5) and Brett Anderson (2) for the rotation. Cobb demanded a minor league contract with a major league option of $1,200,000, can't even imagine him settling for that little in real life, and he was without the compensation tag. Anderson wanted what Chapman and Thatcher demanded.

There were a few interesting minor league free agents. 19-year-old Venezuelan Tulio Garcia (0.5/3) who wanted a minor league deal with a $440,000 bonus, 24-year-old Jairo Labourt (1.5/3), a former Tigers pitcher with 6 innings of big league experience. Next was 24-year-old Lucas Benenati (0.5/2.5), a relief pitcher who was a 10th round selection of the Reds back in 2016. Tracy Hadley (0.5/2.5) was a former White Sox farmhand who can play 2B, 3B, SS, LF, CF, and RF (can easily be taught 1B) and is only 22. The last free agent to recieve an offer was 29-year-old Reid Redman. He's a former Marlins farmhand who was offered a conract to resign. Labourt, Benenati, Hadley, and Redman all demanded no bonus with their minor league contract.

With all the free agent deals offered, I shifted gears to the trade front. I went to the team needs section and added a few needs that hopefully make it easier to trade with the AI. The first, any 23 year old or younger with at least good potential. Next, an average starting pitcher making $2 million or less who is 28 or younger. I needed to make additions to the rotation no matter what, and I'd much rather add controllable assets then rental veterans who won't help when the Marlins should be good. Next was a minor league speedster. And finally, a minor league groundballer. I set both age maxes to 25, hoping that I can find a gem that my scout likes and the opponents team has no interest in. Although I know I'm going to get a bunch of garbage trade offers that I will gladly decline, and I am more then okay with that.

Now that I was acquainted with my staff, including my scout who's pretty solid, I was ready to begin the season. Although I'm not too sure the small, pathetic, 35 fan interest fan base is as ready and excited as I am.

March 28th: The Rangers GM asked me if I was interested in Julio Pablo Martinez, who I was, he was a solid 3 star potential center fielder, but I wasn't quite ready to make deals unless they were necessary.

The Angels and Tigers, however, didn't care, as the Angels sent 1B Jefry Marte to the Tigers for C Derek Norris. At first I thought the Norris was Daniel Norris, and thought the Tigers were crazy.

Sidenote: OOTP expanded the top prospects from 20 to 30 for the 19 edition. This made me very happy.

March 29th: Opening Day!!! I wasn't going to start games at this moment, but I reached the day we all know and love.

For some reason owner Bruce Sherman expects us to play .500 ball. I don't think that's a reasonable expectation, but oh well.

Reid Redman liked other minor league offers better, so I threw him $100. Beat that Cubs. Speaking of the Cubs, that's who we were forced against to start the year.

With the beginning of the MLB season, the list of top 100 prospects was published. The Marlins, with their nice 21st ranked system had three entries on the list. RF Lewis Brinson (#36, 2.5/4), CF Monte Harrison (#91, 0.5/3), and SP Trevor Rogers (#97 0.5/2). Ronald Acuna was #1 overall, and boy did he look amazing. Not excited to face him in Atlanta for years to come. The only other notable Marlin prospect was SP Braxton Garrett (#126, 0.5/2), but he will miss 4 months recovering from Tommy John surgery. 2B Isan Diaz, are 5th ranked prospect also looks pretty nice (0.5/3.5), but there really isn't much of anything to look foward to in the minors. Other then Diaz, OSA or my scout doesn't have anyone in the farm with a potential above 3 stars. Excellent.

The waiver wire was surprisingly empty, but I did offer 18 year old Luis Noguera a minor league contract with a $440,000 bonus. The Venezuelan starter was recently released by Coloardo, but looked nice in my scouts eyes (0.5/2.5).

The sorry opening day roster was as followed:
Position Name (Age, Overall/Potential)
SP Adam Conley (27, 2/2)
SP Odrisamer Despaigne (30, 0.5/0.5)
SP Dillon Peters (25, 2/2)
SP Dan Straily (29, 1.5/1.5)
SP Jose Urena (26, 2/2)
RP Kyle Barraclough (27, 3/3)
RP Brian Ellington (27, 2/2)
RP Jalrin Garcia (25, 1/1.5)
RP Junichi Tazawa (31, 2/2)
RP Nick Wittgren (26, 2/2.5)
RP Brad Ziegler (38, 3/3)
CL Drew Steckenridge (27, 3/3.5)
C Bryan Holaday (30, 0.5/0.5)
C J.T. Realmuto (27, 3/3)
1B Justin Bour (29, 3/3)
1B Garrett Cooper (27, 1.5/1.5)
2B Starlin Castro (28, 2.5/2.5)
2B Johnny Giavotella (30, 0.5/0.5)
3B Martin Prado (34, 1.5/1.5)
SS Miguel Rojas (29, 1.5/1.5)
LF Derek Dietrich (28, 2.5/2.5)
LF Rafael Ortega (26, 0.5/0.5)
CF Issac Galloway (28, 0.5/1)
CF Cameron Maybin (30, 1.5/1.5)
RF Lewis Brinson (23, 2.5/4)