OOTP Developments Forums - View Single Post - 2022 Cincinatti Reds

WarningTrakPower · 01-07-2022, 11:11 AM

First, let's talk about what happened on March 29th that caused a decent sized ripple affect to our lineup.

Michael Siani - After catching a line drive from Aaron Nola (top of 3rd), Siani had to be replaced after getting injured. It was later revealed that he had a "fractured foot" and will miss a minimum of 3 weeks plus rehab assignment.

Jesse Winker - After doubling off of Aaron Nola (bottom of 3rd), Winker had to be replaced with a pinch runner. After further testing it revealed a "severe hip strain" and he is expected to a miss a minimum of 4 months plus rehab assignment.

*It's all Aaron Nola's fault

Thankfully, we had signed three veteran MLB outfielders as AAA depth at the start of spring training.
Michael Taylor will now be our CF until Siani returns from injury.
Chris Owings will serve as a RH backup/platoon bat in RF/LF. He can also play average defense in the infield.

In losing Winker, our lineup was looking very thin. Joey Votto and Jonathan India were our only batters with a career MLB OPS over .750!

Initially, we had considered adding another OF bat, but the potential trade partners were asking for more than we were willing to give up.
One player we are keeping in mind as a mid season trade target is Anthony Santander.

Next, we decided to see if maybe there was any 3B trade candidates and we found a trade partner.
We have acquired Josh Donaldson from the Twins!

With 60% salary retention, we are paying Josh $8.4m for 2023. He does has a team option for $16m for 2024, but he will be 38 next year too.

The package of pitchers going back to Minny mostly all felt like org fillers type guys.
Sean Burke was a 4th round pick ($1.02m signing bonus too) and he may be a back end of rotation starter, his MiLB stats are underwhelming.
Miguel Obeso was a 10th round pick, but he is destined for relief role.
Juan Gonzalez is a possible wildcard. He's only 22, but been in MiLB for 5 years now. Low movement / high HR/9 stats are too risky for our liking.
Jacob Maton was a 14th round pick and is the opposite of Burke. His ratings aren't great, but he has back to back good MiLB seasons.
Ryan Hendrix is former 5th round pick (2016) that made his MLB debut last year. He owns a career professional pitching BB/9 of 4.4 and we were likely to demote him to AAA anyways.

Now, let's take a look at the rest of the hitters on our opening day roster.
These are their stats from last season.

Catchers - Christian Vazquez (75 catcher ability) had a nice hitting season last year.
Roberto Perez (75 catcher ability) will be better suited in backup duties and starting once every 4/5 days.
1B - Joey Votto took a sizable step back at the plate last year, but still had an OPS just below .800.
2B - Jonathan India needs to stay healthy for us. We may try to get him some reps at 1B to slide over from 2B potentially next season.
3B - Josh Donaldson also needs to stay healthy (he is "fragile"). Another .800+ OPS season would be excellent from our new 3B.
SS - Adalberto Mondesi (70 infield range) is a pending free agent and we hope has a really strong year so he gets paid this offseason.
He is electric on the basepaths (37 SB & 3 CS last year) and has a career batting average of .251.
LF - Nick Senzel is also now listed as "fragile". If we can get anything similar to his 2022 year, we were be more than pleased.
He may migrate to a platoon/bench role if we can add to our lineup.
CF - Michael Taylor (70 OF range) did not play at all in 2022 (unfortunately). We had considering signing him a few times, but Siani was getting his reps in AAA.
RF - Masahi Yokoyama is going to start the year as our RF. As mentioned before, his contact rating of 40 is scary.
If he struggles, we can move TJ Friedl in to a starting role.

Now let's take a look at our starting rotation.

Luis Castillo gets the ball on opening day (@ MIL up against Corbin Burnes).
Sonny Gray is back for likely his last year with us. He was able to keep the HR/9 respectable last year, but struggles keeping runners off base with a BB/9 of 3.7.
We would be lying if we said we haven't considered moving him before the season gets started.
Nick Lodolo moves up to our #3 starter after having a very nice rookie season.
His ability to limit walks will keep him on our team for many years to come.
Tyler Mahle slides down to our #4 starter. Overall he had a fine season last year, but he is a pending free agent this offseason.
For his career, his FIP is 4.65, which is not ideal. He may also be a trade candidate.
Vladmir Gutierrez had a very unexpected 2022. After a pretty poor 2021, we decided to send him to the AAA rotation, rather than carrying him in our bullpen.
He had 21 really strong starts to force his way back to MLB. He followed that up with 8 very good starts with us.
Control is going to be key for Vladmir also. Especially if his HR/9 starts to match his movement rating of 40.
Hunter Greene is the odd man out right now is our last cut from spring training. Hopefully he can replicate what we say from Gutierrez last year.

Now let's take a look at the relief pitchers.

Tony Santillan is going to start the year as our closer despite the poor end to his season last year. He had 15.5 K/9 in spring training.
Lucas Sims is likely next in line for closer duties, should we need to make a switch.
Wandy Peralta and Joel Kuhnel are going to start the year in the setup role.
Michael Byrne had an amazing spring training. He pitched 11.1 innings, gave up only 7 hits, one homer, one run allowed, walked no one and struck out 17 batters.
He "looks" like he should be more of a setup/closer, but we are going to ease him in to the season in middle relief / setup role.
Justin Bruihl, Tejay Antone & Joey Lucchesi are going to all be a middle relief type role and hopefully eat a bunch of innings in relief for us.

We are going to sim ahead until about 1/3 of the season and then we will check back in and see how the Reds are doing!

Thanks as always for reading and feedback is always appreciated!

01-07-2022, 11:11 AM	#16
WarningTrakPower All Star Reserve Join Date: Nov 2018 Posts: 595	2023 Opening Day! First, let's talk about what happened on March 29th that caused a decent sized ripple affect to our lineup. Michael Siani - After catching a line drive from Aaron Nola (top of 3rd), Siani had to be replaced after getting injured. It was later revealed that he had a "fractured foot" and will miss a minimum of 3 weeks plus rehab assignment. Jesse Winker - After doubling off of Aaron Nola (bottom of 3rd), Winker had to be replaced with a pinch runner. After further testing it revealed a "severe hip strain" and he is expected to a miss a minimum of 4 months plus rehab assignment. It's all Aaron Nola's fault Thankfully, we had signed three veteran MLB outfielders as AAA depth at the start of spring training. Michael Taylor* will now be our CF until Siani returns from injury. Chris Owings will serve as a RH backup/platoon bat in RF/LF. He can also play average defense in the infield. In losing Winker, our lineup was looking very thin. Joey Votto and Jonathan India were our only batters with a career MLB OPS over .750! Initially, we had considered adding another OF bat, but the potential trade partners were asking for more than we were willing to give up. One player we are keeping in mind as a mid season trade target is Anthony Santander. Next, we decided to see if maybe there was any 3B trade candidates and we found a trade partner. We have acquired Josh Donaldson from the Twins! With 60% salary retention, we are paying Josh $8.4m for 2023. He does has a team option for $16m for 2024, but he will be 38 next year too. The package of pitchers going back to Minny mostly all felt like org fillers type guys. Sean Burke was a 4th round pick ($1.02m signing bonus too) and he may be a back end of rotation starter, his MiLB stats are underwhelming. Miguel Obeso was a 10th round pick, but he is destined for relief role. Juan Gonzalez is a possible wildcard. He's only 22, but been in MiLB for 5 years now. Low movement / high HR/9 stats are too risky for our liking. Jacob Maton was a 14th round pick and is the opposite of Burke. His ratings aren't great, but he has back to back good MiLB seasons. Ryan Hendrix is former 5th round pick (2016) that made his MLB debut last year. He owns a career professional pitching BB/9 of 4.4 and we were likely to demote him to AAA anyways. Now, let's take a look at the rest of the hitters on our opening day roster. These are their stats from last season. Catchers - Christian Vazquez (75 catcher ability) had a nice hitting season last year. Roberto Perez (75 catcher ability) will be better suited in backup duties and starting once every 4/5 days. 1B - Joey Votto took a sizable step back at the plate last year, but still had an OPS just below .800. 2B - Jonathan India needs to stay healthy for us. We may try to get him some reps at 1B to slide over from 2B potentially next season. 3B - Josh Donaldson also needs to stay healthy (he is "fragile"). Another .800+ OPS season would be excellent from our new 3B. SS - Adalberto Mondesi (70 infield range) is a pending free agent and we hope has a really strong year so he gets paid this offseason. He is electric on the basepaths (37 SB & 3 CS last year) and has a career batting average of .251. LF - Nick Senzel is also now listed as "fragile". If we can get anything similar to his 2022 year, we were be more than pleased. He may migrate to a platoon/bench role if we can add to our lineup. CF - Michael Taylor (70 OF range) did not play at all in 2022 (unfortunately). We had considering signing him a few times, but Siani was getting his reps in AAA. RF - Masahi Yokoyama is going to start the year as our RF. As mentioned before, his contact rating of 40 is scary. If he struggles, we can move TJ Friedl in to a starting role. Now let's take a look at our starting rotation. Luis Castillo gets the ball on opening day (@ MIL up against Corbin Burnes). Sonny Gray is back for likely his last year with us. He was able to keep the HR/9 respectable last year, but struggles keeping runners off base with a BB/9 of 3.7. We would be lying if we said we haven't considered moving him before the season gets started. Nick Lodolo moves up to our #3 starter after having a very nice rookie season. His ability to limit walks will keep him on our team for many years to come. Tyler Mahle slides down to our #4 starter. Overall he had a fine season last year, but he is a pending free agent this offseason. For his career, his FIP is 4.65, which is not ideal. He may also be a trade candidate. Vladmir Gutierrez had a very unexpected 2022. After a pretty poor 2021, we decided to send him to the AAA rotation, rather than carrying him in our bullpen. He had 21 really strong starts to force his way back to MLB. He followed that up with 8 very good starts with us. Control is going to be key for Vladmir also. Especially if his HR/9 starts to match his movement rating of 40. Hunter Greene is the odd man out right now is our last cut from spring training. Hopefully he can replicate what we say from Gutierrez last year. Now let's take a look at the relief pitchers. Tony Santillan is going to start the year as our closer despite the poor end to his season last year. He had 15.5 K/9 in spring training. Lucas Sims is likely next in line for closer duties, should we need to make a switch. Wandy Peralta and Joel Kuhnel are going to start the year in the setup role. Michael Byrne had an amazing spring training. He pitched 11.1 innings, gave up only 7 hits, one homer, one run allowed, walked no one and struck out 17 batters. He "looks" like he should be more of a setup/closer, but we are going to ease him in to the season in middle relief / setup role. Justin Bruihl, Tejay Antone & Joey Lucchesi are going to all be a middle relief type role and hopefully eat a bunch of innings in relief for us. We are going to sim ahead until about 1/3 of the season and then we will check back in and see how the Reds are doing! Thanks as always for reading and feedback is always appreciated!