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ayaghmour2 · 03-11-2026, 04:23 PM

So against all odds, the New York Imperials just crushed everyone in the playoffs. I'm not even kidding. 3-1 against the Kings and 4-1 against the Suns. Doesn't matter that half the team is injured. Al Reece isn't. And a guy I could have traded for, Mike Counts, got healthy at the last second and went 4-for-4 with 2 walks and the walk-off in extras. I guess I feel better about being bad this year? The awful September is in the rear view mirror and Tom Lorang is three weeks away from being healthy.

And now we can start making trades! If we can find a partner, of course...

Anyways, offseason should start on Friday, which means a fresh set of top prospects! Long gone are the days of 40+ Top-500 guys, as with 24 teams you'd only expect an average of 20 per team, so a system twice as good as expected would be tough to put together. 30 seems to be the ceiling or around it, but if the offseason goes long I may do even more! Right now the guys in the 30s are still somewhat interesting, but on the top prospects post the only one's listed will be the top 500. Right now we have 22, but the official one will have some changes.

We are still a year off of free agency, so there's no need to worry about players leaving. What there is a worry of is retirements, as even if they are under contract, Pug White or Jim Norris could call it quits. Losing both would hurt, but we have a clear front three and they aren't a part of that. Even losing just one would put us in the market for a starting pitcher, but both would make it the priority. Hal Adams isn't great, but there would be worse things then him returning to the rotation, but I'm not trying to give starts to Bob McKinney or Leroy Williams unless I absolutely have to. Initially I thought there would be a surplus of sellers, but the Imps surprise pennant run probably inspired a few to buy instead of sell.

Elsewhere, we need bats, and we need them quickly, but nothing would be better then Tom Lorang and Andy Babel hitting like they did. Lorang had at worst a 140 WRC+ for fourteen consecutive seasons and Babel had six in a row over 130. The latter's drop was worse, as he was a replacement player compared to a previous career low 3.2 WAR in 1968. It was the only season of his career below 4, as unlike Lorang, the glove disappeared. He's not going to be replaced, but we need another bat to throw into the outfield mix. Sam Morrison and Fuzzy Cronin can all rotate with Babel and a fourth, but if we can get an impact bat they can all take a back seat. Baab and hopefully Lorang will need support in the lineup, and aside from September our pitching is too good to waste with empty at bats.

03-11-2026, 04:23 PM	#1706
ayaghmour2 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Mar 2018 Posts: 3,125	End of Season! So against all odds, the New York Imperials just crushed everyone in the playoffs. I'm not even kidding. 3-1 against the Kings and 4-1 against the Suns. Doesn't matter that half the team is injured. Al Reece isn't. And a guy I could have traded for, Mike Counts, got healthy at the last second and went 4-for-4 with 2 walks and the walk-off in extras. I guess I feel better about being bad this year? The awful September is in the rear view mirror and Tom Lorang is three weeks away from being healthy. And now we can start making trades! If we can find a partner, of course... Anyways, offseason should start on Friday, which means a fresh set of top prospects! Long gone are the days of 40+ Top-500 guys, as with 24 teams you'd only expect an average of 20 per team, so a system twice as good as expected would be tough to put together. 30 seems to be the ceiling or around it, but if the offseason goes long I may do even more! Right now the guys in the 30s are still somewhat interesting, but on the top prospects post the only one's listed will be the top 500. Right now we have 22, but the official one will have some changes. We are still a year off of free agency, so there's no need to worry about players leaving. What there is a worry of is retirements, as even if they are under contract, Pug White or Jim Norris could call it quits. Losing both would hurt, but we have a clear front three and they aren't a part of that. Even losing just one would put us in the market for a starting pitcher, but both would make it the priority. Hal Adams isn't great, but there would be worse things then him returning to the rotation, but I'm not trying to give starts to Bob McKinney or Leroy Williams unless I absolutely have to. Initially I thought there would be a surplus of sellers, but the Imps surprise pennant run probably inspired a few to buy instead of sell. Elsewhere, we need bats, and we need them quickly, but nothing would be better then Tom Lorang and Andy Babel hitting like they did. Lorang had at worst a 140 WRC+ for fourteen consecutive seasons and Babel had six in a row over 130. The latter's drop was worse, as he was a replacement player compared to a previous career low 3.2 WAR in 1968. It was the only season of his career below 4, as unlike Lorang, the glove disappeared. He's not going to be replaced, but we need another bat to throw into the outfield mix. Sam Morrison and Fuzzy Cronin can all rotate with Babel and a fourth, but if we can get an impact bat they can all take a back seat. Baab and hopefully Lorang will need support in the lineup, and aside from September our pitching is too good to waste with empty at bats.