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Art Deco · 03-21-2023, 04:32 PM

By the standards of recent years and most of this save, 2050 was a trying season which saw us fail to win 100 games, fail to win the division, and fail to advance beyond the wild card round. It was also a fairly unenjoyable brand of baseball we played with one of worst defensive clubs ever, meaning we had to constantly rely on our top offense to outscore the opposition.

So we have come to a turning point in the franchise as the perpetual-motion machine that cranked out 110+ win teams and regular World Series titles has finally sputtered and needs an overhaul. And owner Jorge Rios has forced my hand on that point as he's slashed payroll to $150M from the $180M we had last season. So not only does that mean there's no money to re-sign longtime staff ace Greg Bookhart (at least not yet), we're going to have to get rid of some high-salaried guys just to keep those who are due arbitration bumps.

Therefore we're going to have to "do more with less" and re-evaluate the team at several positions. First of all the priority is going to improve the defense. We don't need to acquire a slate of Gold Glovers but we have to at least get average guys in the field to replace the awful ones. The offense will take something of a hit, but that's the price we have to pay. A position-by-position look:

C: Nelson Bocardo dropped off last year to 2 WAR, is going into his final year of team control and is going to cost $22M. In other words, bye-bye. We have David Morales at Durham who can hit .300 in his sleep, just without any power (not that Bocardo was a slugger, more of a 10-15 HR guy aided by Publix Park). Morales is a 65-rated catcher so no issues there. I've tried shopping Bocardo but nobody wants him at that salary so as heretical as it may sound regarding an all-star catcher I may just non-tender him.

1B: We have a lot of guys who can play this position, most notably Juan Viatoro, who won the batting title and earned 5+ WAR. He's due for a raise to $6M in arbitration and Ruben Ramirez, who is insanely productive off the bench and against lefties, is due for a raise to $4M. Do I want to pay $10M for both? Maybe. These two aren't breaking the bank so they may both stay.

2B: Juan Davila can flat-out rake. And he also plays defense like he's using a rake instead of a glove. Despite an atrocious -14.7 ZR he still earned nearly 4 WAR. His best position is 1B or DH and we already have 1B taken care of. And he's due $20M in arbitration. I haven't shopped him yet but I will.

SS: Our big black hole as Yuji Morioka aged out of the position and rental defensive whiz Henry Murillo got hurt, pressing Ismael Morales (a decent backup IF) into the role. Morales hit over .300 with little power but also was a sieve defensively (-12.5 ZR). He makes the minimum so he could stay as a backup but we have to find a full-time SS who can play the position.

3B: Luis Barela's going to make another $35M this year but I have zero complaints: he had another MVP season and he had a slightly positive ZR making him the defensive wizard of our IF.

LF: Mario Saro was once a promising defensive CF who bulked out of the position and now can't even play a competent LF even though he has an elite bat. He put a -10.7 ZR in the least demanding OF position so that will give you some idea of how bad a fielder he is. Combine that with him being due for a little under $20M in his final year of team control and trade bait he is as well.

CF: Beau Bonczek had a great season with the bat but struggled in the field, where have you heard that before? We signed Beau on a make-good $1.1M one-year deal last season and he made good with 32 HR and 4.3 WAR despite a -12.0 ZR (I think our defensive zones this past season were a 3-foot radius around each player). He's arb-eligible at around $6.3M so I'd like to keep the bat and move him to LF where he should be decent. Of course that means I need to find a CF.

RF: Jon Morales dropped off from his amazing MVP/Rookie of the Year 2049 but was still pretty good at 4 WAR. And he can actually play RF with a +2.3 ZR while still making the minimum so nothing to change here.

DH: Alex Duran platooned with Ruben Ramirez here and Duran raked to the tune of 318/366/590 and I can't very well complain about defense. The only issue is that he's going to make $10-11M next year in arbitration and if I keep Davila I need the DH spot for him.

Bench: Chris Kidd can play a competent CF but I'm not sold on him being an everyday starter given that the bat is light and he's a lefty who really can't hit lefties. It may finally be Jon McGovern's time to shine as the rookie can hit a little better than Kidd and is his defensive equal. Ismael Morales could be the backup MI since he can hit .300 and steal bases and hopefully won't have to play much SS. Alvaro Alejandre is a decent backup C and can back up David Morales (man we have a lot of Moraleses) instead of Bocardo next year. And then there's CJ Yamaguchi, who only hit 383/435/652 in 141 AB filling in for Duran while he was hurt. He's a DH-only which makes it tough to keep him on the roster unless he's the full-time DH. Maybe I trade Duran but then there's Davila and Ramirez.

Rotation: As much as I want to bring Greg Bookhart back I doubt I can afford him given how much he'll command and our reduced payroll. So I'm going to assume here he's gone which leaves with a rotation makeover on our hands. Alec McInerney, Nicola Grieco and Melvin Delgado are free agents, leaving only Dave Rose and Rex Bransington as returnees and leaving three openings. Lefties Steve Morris and Brad Mabe can start and may have to, and there's Bill Ruiz who pitched decently in relief. Probably going to need to net a starter if I trade Saro, Davila and/or Duran.

Bullpen: The good and the bad is that most everyone's back. Steve Talbott was a terrible disappointment as the closer, and it wasn't all on the defense as he showed a surprising penchant to give up homers. He's owed $15M for another season so he gets another shot. Setup guys like Navarro, Mejia and Leonard had good years despite it all. Chris Hetzel was up-and-down but a lot of that was D-related as he has good ratings and stuff, and maybe Joe Roberts can regain the closer form he had in Texas. An improved D should make this a capable pen.

Prospects: We have some really good defensive shortstops in the pipeline (Tony Loera, Juan de Oca), a top-50 OF prospect in Jesus Avalos who was good at AA but probably will have to play a corner and those spots are full, and the #35 overall prospect in pitcher Randy Mastropietro who just needs to get his control under control to join the rotation. I mentioned McGovern earlier as a CF option. We also have 1B Nesty de la Rosa, who hit over .300 at AA and could be Juan Viatoro 2.0 but Viatoro 1.0 has the job now.

So the tl;dr version of the above is this:

1. Slash payroll $30-40M
2. Make over the team defensively
3. Find a couple of starting pitchers

#1 is going to make 2 & 3 the most challenging offseason in many years for this save.

03-21-2023, 04:32 PM	#2374
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,670	2050-51 Offseason: State of the Team By the standards of recent years and most of this save, 2050 was a trying season which saw us fail to win 100 games, fail to win the division, and fail to advance beyond the wild card round. It was also a fairly unenjoyable brand of baseball we played with one of worst defensive clubs ever, meaning we had to constantly rely on our top offense to outscore the opposition. So we have come to a turning point in the franchise as the perpetual-motion machine that cranked out 110+ win teams and regular World Series titles has finally sputtered and needs an overhaul. And owner Jorge Rios has forced my hand on that point as he's slashed payroll to $150M from the $180M we had last season. So not only does that mean there's no money to re-sign longtime staff ace Greg Bookhart (at least not yet), we're going to have to get rid of some high-salaried guys just to keep those who are due arbitration bumps. Therefore we're going to have to "do more with less" and re-evaluate the team at several positions. First of all the priority is going to improve the defense. We don't need to acquire a slate of Gold Glovers but we have to at least get average guys in the field to replace the awful ones. The offense will take something of a hit, but that's the price we have to pay. A position-by-position look: C: Nelson Bocardo dropped off last year to 2 WAR, is going into his final year of team control and is going to cost $22M. In other words, bye-bye. We have David Morales at Durham who can hit .300 in his sleep, just without any power (not that Bocardo was a slugger, more of a 10-15 HR guy aided by Publix Park). Morales is a 65-rated catcher so no issues there. I've tried shopping Bocardo but nobody wants him at that salary so as heretical as it may sound regarding an all-star catcher I may just non-tender him. 1B: We have a lot of guys who can play this position, most notably Juan Viatoro, who won the batting title and earned 5+ WAR. He's due for a raise to $6M in arbitration and Ruben Ramirez, who is insanely productive off the bench and against lefties, is due for a raise to $4M. Do I want to pay $10M for both? Maybe. These two aren't breaking the bank so they may both stay. 2B: Juan Davila can flat-out rake. And he also plays defense like he's using a rake instead of a glove. Despite an atrocious -14.7 ZR he still earned nearly 4 WAR. His best position is 1B or DH and we already have 1B taken care of. And he's due $20M in arbitration. I haven't shopped him yet but I will. SS: Our big black hole as Yuji Morioka aged out of the position and rental defensive whiz Henry Murillo got hurt, pressing Ismael Morales (a decent backup IF) into the role. Morales hit over .300 with little power but also was a sieve defensively (-12.5 ZR). He makes the minimum so he could stay as a backup but we have to find a full-time SS who can play the position. 3B: Luis Barela's going to make another $35M this year but I have zero complaints: he had another MVP season and he had a slightly positive ZR making him the defensive wizard of our IF. LF: Mario Saro was once a promising defensive CF who bulked out of the position and now can't even play a competent LF even though he has an elite bat. He put a -10.7 ZR in the least demanding OF position so that will give you some idea of how bad a fielder he is. Combine that with him being due for a little under $20M in his final year of team control and trade bait he is as well. CF: Beau Bonczek had a great season with the bat but struggled in the field, where have you heard that before? We signed Beau on a make-good $1.1M one-year deal last season and he made good with 32 HR and 4.3 WAR despite a -12.0 ZR (I think our defensive zones this past season were a 3-foot radius around each player). He's arb-eligible at around $6.3M so I'd like to keep the bat and move him to LF where he should be decent. Of course that means I need to find a CF. RF: Jon Morales dropped off from his amazing MVP/Rookie of the Year 2049 but was still pretty good at 4 WAR. And he can actually play RF with a +2.3 ZR while still making the minimum so nothing to change here. DH: Alex Duran platooned with Ruben Ramirez here and Duran raked to the tune of 318/366/590 and I can't very well complain about defense. The only issue is that he's going to make $10-11M next year in arbitration and if I keep Davila I need the DH spot for him. Bench: Chris Kidd can play a competent CF but I'm not sold on him being an everyday starter given that the bat is light and he's a lefty who really can't hit lefties. It may finally be Jon McGovern's time to shine as the rookie can hit a little better than Kidd and is his defensive equal. Ismael Morales could be the backup MI since he can hit .300 and steal bases and hopefully won't have to play much SS. Alvaro Alejandre is a decent backup C and can back up David Morales (man we have a lot of Moraleses) instead of Bocardo next year. And then there's CJ Yamaguchi, who only hit 383/435/652 in 141 AB filling in for Duran while he was hurt. He's a DH-only which makes it tough to keep him on the roster unless he's the full-time DH. Maybe I trade Duran but then there's Davila and Ramirez. Rotation: As much as I want to bring Greg Bookhart back I doubt I can afford him given how much he'll command and our reduced payroll. So I'm going to assume here he's gone which leaves with a rotation makeover on our hands. Alec McInerney, Nicola Grieco and Melvin Delgado are free agents, leaving only Dave Rose and Rex Bransington as returnees and leaving three openings. Lefties Steve Morris and Brad Mabe can start and may have to, and there's Bill Ruiz who pitched decently in relief. Probably going to need to net a starter if I trade Saro, Davila and/or Duran. Bullpen: The good and the bad is that most everyone's back. Steve Talbott was a terrible disappointment as the closer, and it wasn't all on the defense as he showed a surprising penchant to give up homers. He's owed $15M for another season so he gets another shot. Setup guys like Navarro, Mejia and Leonard had good years despite it all. Chris Hetzel was up-and-down but a lot of that was D-related as he has good ratings and stuff, and maybe Joe Roberts can regain the closer form he had in Texas. An improved D should make this a capable pen. Prospects: We have some really good defensive shortstops in the pipeline (Tony Loera, Juan de Oca), a top-50 OF prospect in Jesus Avalos who was good at AA but probably will have to play a corner and those spots are full, and the #35 overall prospect in pitcher Randy Mastropietro who just needs to get his control under control to join the rotation. I mentioned McGovern earlier as a CF option. We also have 1B Nesty de la Rosa, who hit over .300 at AA and could be Juan Viatoro 2.0 but Viatoro 1.0 has the job now. So the tl;dr version of the above is this: 1. Slash payroll $30-40M 2. Make over the team defensively 3. Find a couple of starting pitchers #1 is going to make 2 & 3 the most challenging offseason in many years for this save.