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Art Deco · 03-05-2023, 11:09 PM

I'll start with the notable retirements around baseball. Former Ray Blake Snell, Mookie Betts (Dodgers retired his #50), Trevor Story, Brandon Nimmo, Brandon Woodruff (who toiled in our minors last year with 35 stuff), and Devin Williams were among the bigger names hanging up the cleats.

Awards season:

Gold Glove: We actually had a winner, believe it or not - it was Francisco Morales at pitcher.

Silver Slugger: Three Rays winners - Arturo Gutierrez (2B), Wander Franco (SS) and Dong-hwan Kim (LF).

Reliever of the Year: OOTP's award voting often baffles me, and it did here:

Crochet never entered my mind as a candidate here (if any Ray was going to win I thought it'd be DeMarcus Evans and his 39 saves but he finished 6th). He only earned 0.1 WAR in his time with us and 1.3 overall and had only 5 saves. Go figure. The NL winner was more expected (and received my vote) as the Giants' Alex Ochoa had 36 saves, a 1.95 ERA and 2.1 WAR.

Rookie of the Year: These were no-brainers as each league had a candidate who was also an MVP candidate - the Yankees' Cuban defector Ernesto Rodriguez (.282-48-130) and the Dodgers' Alex Hicks out of an indy league (.319-35-115 and a Gold Glove). Our Nate Strickland finished 2nd in the AL.

Cy Young: As if there were any doubt...

When you win the pitching triple crown (W, ERA, Ks) it's kind of a fait accompli. Good to see Kevin D taking a deserved 2nd place. The NL winner was Memphis' Josh Johnson, 14-14, 3.02 but with 292 Ks in 259 workhorse innings, a 7.7 WAR season.

MVP: As hinted, the Yankees' Ernesto Rodriguez won in the AL as a rookie, and it was unanimous given his 8.5 WAR season. Our boys Arturo Gutierrez and Wander Franco finished 2-3. In the NL Atlanta's Ronald Acuna Jr. won for the second straight year and fifth time in his career, putting up a .327-48-108 season worth 8.3 WAR.

We traded for an outfielder:

Calderon's ratings and numbers are pretty good:

He had an impressive debut with Washington where he was behind their galaxy of hitters. He's a lefty with a significant platoon split but I'm penciling him in now as the LF vs RHP.

Also some big re-signing news:

OK so how did we manage this? I gotta admit it was a little cheesy. The sharp-eyed among you will notice that we re-signed starting pitcher Kelly Crumpton. I was on his profile page, and click on "Set to SP" to check out his pitching ratings, had left his page on that setting and then went back to check his contract demand again and it was significantly less than it was on his hitting page. So there's a bit of an OOTP loophole.

December 10: Perennial NL MVP Ronald Acuna Jr. has left Atlanta for New York, but thankfully it's the Mets and not the Yankees signing him for 4/140. The Yankees did sign 1B Andrew Vaughn to a 4/78 deal however.

December 13: A bunch of big signings. Fresh off adding Ronald Acuna Jr. the Mets signed Triston Casas to a 3/41 deal with the lefty slugger coming off a 53-homer season, Riley Greene is off to Arizona for 4/57 and 38-year-old Carlos Correa joins Milwaukee for 2/45.

December 20: And there he goes - Dong-hwan Kim signs a 3/64 pact with Milwaukee. Since he was given a QO we net a supplemental 1st round pick.

December 21: Added P David Morales, OF Jimmy Powell, 1B Joe Stack and SS Agustin Lopez to the 40-man roster.

All are good prospects, especially Morales and Powell, and needed to be protected in the Rule 5 draft. Turned out nine players were taken, none from us, although the Padres did take former Ray Kendall Williams from Toronto.

December 26: Signed this guy:

Shimizu came over from Japan this winter, and was willing to take a minor league deal despite apparent major league talent so I took him up on it. Looks like a .250, 35-HR guy who can play well above-average D in an OF corner and maybe even pass in CF. Seems a lot like Joshua Baez, who's served us well. A lefty hitter with a significant platoon split so he'll probably start the year at Durham instead of platooning with Alex Calderon.

December 28: Welcome to Tampa Bay, Billy Carlow!

Why one of the star players in the AL was willing to sign for 1/7.3 I don't know but I wasn't going to question it. Now the answer to who Alex Calderon's platoon partner might be Joshua Baez as Carlow will likely supplant Baez in RF. If only Carlow were a RH hitter, but at this price we couldn't turn him down; I can safely say though we're done signing lefty-hitting OFers.

Meanwhile John Swanda, in our bullpen last year, signed a 3/30 deal with the Yankees to start for them; Kyle Tucker returned to Houston after 7 years in Minnesota on a 3/42 deal at age 35; and 40-year old 3B Jose Ramirez, after resurrecting his career on a 1-year deal with Cincinnati, goes for 3/23 to St. Louis.

03-05-2023, 11:09 PM	#1046
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,072	2032-33 Offseason, Part 1 I'll start with the notable retirements around baseball. Former Ray Blake Snell, Mookie Betts (Dodgers retired his #50), Trevor Story, Brandon Nimmo, Brandon Woodruff (who toiled in our minors last year with 35 stuff), and Devin Williams were among the bigger names hanging up the cleats. Awards season: Gold Glove: We actually had a winner, believe it or not - it was Francisco Morales at pitcher. Silver Slugger: Three Rays winners - Arturo Gutierrez (2B), Wander Franco (SS) and Dong-hwan Kim (LF). Reliever of the Year: OOTP's award voting often baffles me, and it did here: Crochet never entered my mind as a candidate here (if any Ray was going to win I thought it'd be DeMarcus Evans and his 39 saves but he finished 6th). He only earned 0.1 WAR in his time with us and 1.3 overall and had only 5 saves. Go figure. The NL winner was more expected (and received my vote) as the Giants' Alex Ochoa had 36 saves, a 1.95 ERA and 2.1 WAR. Rookie of the Year: These were no-brainers as each league had a candidate who was also an MVP candidate - the Yankees' Cuban defector Ernesto Rodriguez (.282-48-130) and the Dodgers' Alex Hicks out of an indy league (.319-35-115 and a Gold Glove). Our Nate Strickland finished 2nd in the AL. Cy Young: As if there were any doubt... When you win the pitching triple crown (W, ERA, Ks) it's kind of a fait accompli. Good to see Kevin D taking a deserved 2nd place. The NL winner was Memphis' Josh Johnson, 14-14, 3.02 but with 292 Ks in 259 workhorse innings, a 7.7 WAR season. MVP: As hinted, the Yankees' Ernesto Rodriguez won in the AL as a rookie, and it was unanimous given his 8.5 WAR season. Our boys Arturo Gutierrez and Wander Franco finished 2-3. In the NL Atlanta's Ronald Acuna Jr. won for the second straight year and fifth time in his career, putting up a .327-48-108 season worth 8.3 WAR. We traded for an outfielder: Calderon's ratings and numbers are pretty good: He had an impressive debut with Washington where he was behind their galaxy of hitters. He's a lefty with a significant platoon split but I'm penciling him in now as the LF vs RHP. Also some big re-signing news: OK so how did we manage this? I gotta admit it was a little cheesy. The sharp-eyed among you will notice that we re-signed starting pitcher Kelly Crumpton. I was on his profile page, and click on "Set to SP" to check out his pitching ratings, had left his page on that setting and then went back to check his contract demand again and it was significantly less than it was on his hitting page. So there's a bit of an OOTP loophole. December 10: Perennial NL MVP Ronald Acuna Jr. has left Atlanta for New York, but thankfully it's the Mets and not the Yankees signing him for 4/140. The Yankees did sign 1B Andrew Vaughn to a 4/78 deal however. December 13: A bunch of big signings. Fresh off adding Ronald Acuna Jr. the Mets signed Triston Casas to a 3/41 deal with the lefty slugger coming off a 53-homer season, Riley Greene is off to Arizona for 4/57 and 38-year-old Carlos Correa joins Milwaukee for 2/45. December 20: And there he goes - Dong-hwan Kim signs a 3/64 pact with Milwaukee. Since he was given a QO we net a supplemental 1st round pick. December 21: Added P David Morales, OF Jimmy Powell, 1B Joe Stack and SS Agustin Lopez to the 40-man roster. All are good prospects, especially Morales and Powell, and needed to be protected in the Rule 5 draft. Turned out nine players were taken, none from us, although the Padres did take former Ray Kendall Williams from Toronto. December 26: Signed this guy: Shimizu came over from Japan this winter, and was willing to take a minor league deal despite apparent major league talent so I took him up on it. Looks like a .250, 35-HR guy who can play well above-average D in an OF corner and maybe even pass in CF. Seems a lot like Joshua Baez, who's served us well. A lefty hitter with a significant platoon split so he'll probably start the year at Durham instead of platooning with Alex Calderon. December 28: Welcome to Tampa Bay, Billy Carlow! Why one of the star players in the AL was willing to sign for 1/7.3 I don't know but I wasn't going to question it. Now the answer to who Alex Calderon's platoon partner might be Joshua Baez as Carlow will likely supplant Baez in RF. If only Carlow were a RH hitter, but at this price we couldn't turn him down; I can safely say though we're done signing lefty-hitting OFers. Meanwhile John Swanda, in our bullpen last year, signed a 3/30 deal with the Yankees to start for them; Kyle Tucker returned to Houston after 7 years in Minnesota on a 3/42 deal at age 35; and 40-year old 3B Jose Ramirez, after resurrecting his career on a 1-year deal with Cincinnati, goes for 3/23 to St. Louis.