Could There Be An America's Team? Let's try

[Brad K]

Off Season Events

CF Willie Mays voided his last contract year. At age 37 he's still 4.0 stars with a CF def rating of 14. He was due to make $400k. For 69-72 he wants $432k/392/392/360 last year player option.

I have Curt Flood rated 3.0 and 14 in CF at $290 for 1969 plus AAA CF Al Oliver rated 3.5 with 10 def in CF. Neither is Mays, of course, but they might make a nice platoon.

Owner did not cut budget. Same as last year, $6.4m

Following players signed contacts:

SP Mike Cuellar age 31 3.0 $1.3m/6 years $166k/$198k/$244kx4. His numbers. I thought they were reasonable and didn't argue with him. Fans like it.

C Jim Pagliaroni age 30 2.5 $320/2 years, second is team option, both at $160k.

SS Gene Alley age 28 4.0 $510k/3 years. All are at $170k. Fans like it.

Fan interest is 99 with a +19 modifier. Base had been 100 for a while. A bit worrying.

More signings:

RP Clay Carroll age 27 2.5 3 years $70k/$80k/$90k. He played AAA for us last year and has no options left.

SP Steve Carlton age 23 4.0 $1.8m/6 years starts $180k last two are $400k $312k AAV. Fans like it.

LF/RF Lou Johnson age 34 2.0 $45k one year.

Multiple minor leagues mostly not notable except for Lou Pinella

LF/RF Lou Pinella age 25 2.5/3.0 minor league contract. I expect to lose him in the expansion draft. I don't see a scenario where I can protect him. We'll see.

Roberto Clemente won his fourth Gold Glove.

1B/2B/3B/LF Danny Cater age 28 2.5 signed 3 x $140k, last is players option. I'm not sure I can protect him in the draft.

Danny Murtaugh NL Manager of the Year. I wonder why. The team was supposed to finish third with 90 wins. We were in tenth in June before recovering to second with 86 wins.

Free Agent Losses

RP Claude Raymond age 31 1.5
2B Robert Klein age 32 2.0 AAA
CF Willie Mays Age 37 4.0 (voided last year of contract)
SS Jerry Adair age 31 2.0
1B Donn Clendenon age 33 2.5


Expansion draft coming up.

[Brad K]

Here's the story on the expansion draft. OOTP doesn't duplicate real life draft. In the real life draft an existing team could lose only one player per round and for each player lost it could protect three additional players. OOTP has neither feature. Also the auto protect three years protects four years in OOTP 23 (don't know about 24).

My save has free agency. This affects the draft pool by lowering the talent available to be drafted. Expansion teams can't draft free agents so functionally free agents are protected without being on any teams' protection list.

Anyway I ran three sims of 1961 through 1968 and evaluated the talent available. Based on that I decided on two year auto protect (which is actually three) and 15 protected players per existing team.

Draft availability

3.5 stars 1
3.0 stars 20
2.5 stars 199
2.0 stars 440
1.5 down 979
Total 1639

Free Agents
3.5 stars up 6
3.0 stars 19
2.5 stars 64
2.0 stars 138
1.5 down 1730
Total 1957

[Brad K]

Expansion Draft Losses

RP Woodie Fryman age 28 3.0 Round 1 Pick 3
C Jim Pagliaroni age 30 2.5 Round 3 Pick 2
LF Lou Pinella age 25 2.5 no MLB experience Round 5 Pick 3
LF Matty Alou age 29 3.0 Round 7 Pick 1
RP Grant Jackson age 26 3.0 Round 7 Pick 2
1B Danny Cater age 28 2.5 Round 7 Pick 3.

The fans griped about losing Fryman, Pagliaroni, and Jackson. Interst was 99 with a +19 modifier. After player losses it dropped to +16. I expect a big hit when Mays signs elsewhere. I might mkae him an offer if he's still a FA in February.

Danny Cater list as 1B above could play 2B a bit and brought a bat. With him gone I need a middle IF bat. Right now the expected starters are Patek at 2B and ALey at SS. Patek isn't a hitter and I'm skeptical of Alley's 4 star rating. There are some FA possibilities. Prospect Dave Cash is way down in A ball with a 1.5 rating.

Al Oliver is ready for prime time as is Bob Robertson. Robertson's only position is 1B and I have three multi-position players whose best spot is 1B: Dick Allen, Willie Stargell, and Al Oliver (He's in AAA and should make MLB this year).

SPs are good with Bob Gibson age 32 4.0, Steve Carlton age 23 3.5, Bob Moose age 21 3.5, and Mike Cuellar age 31 3.0. Gary Bell or maybe Steve Blass for the fifth starter. I need a leftie in the bullpen. Camilo Pascual is the bullpen ace age 34 3.0. I left him unprotected in the draft hoping his age and salary (he's being paid like a good SP, $292k) would keep anyone from taking him.

RF Roberto Clemente age 34 5.0 signed extension for 70-75 4 x $500k 2 x $400k

CF Willie Mays 4.0 signed with White Sox $378k x 2 vesting option for $336k. I didn't expect him to come down so much on the contract length.

Signed FA play everywhere but planned for 2B Cesar Tovar age 28 3.0 3 x $310k. He was listed as CF and I though he'd get more stars than this a 2B.

Signed FA SP Bobby Conner age 28 2.5. He wouldn't sign for more than a year. Has no RL MLB experience. First time I've signed a FA like this although I think I promoted one from the farm.

Signed FA LH RP David Livezey age 28 3.5 3 x $218k. No RL MLB experience. Good LH RPs are hard to find. I got outbid on a couple before signing Livezey. I figure he's established himself as a MLB pitcher in this OOTP world.

With no more suitable FAs I've listed team needs for trade as any hitter good and and any hitter superstar at least 24 yo making over 60k.

[Brad K]

Spring Training

Traded RF LF 1B C Carl Taylor 2.5 age 25 AAA, 1B Bob Robertson age 22 would have been rookie starting 1B for us this year, and CF Richie Zisk age 2.0/4.0 AA for RF Tony Oliva age 30 4.5. Plan is for Oliva to play LF and Stargell to move to 1B. Fan interest modifier went up 5 points with the trade to 21. Base interest still 99.

Whoops. Dick Allen's defensive rating at 3B is now 2. Maybe I can bump it a bit in spring training.

Gene Alley dropped from 4.0 to 2.5. I suspected he was over rated. Both my scout and OSA had him at 4.0.

Traded RP Fred Newman age 27 2.5 who had no options and refused demotion for RP Steve Hargan age 26 2.5 who could be demoted and real life Pirate Bruce Dal Canton age 27 in AA who hasn't appeared in MLB in this save. I looked at the deal as getting RPs I could demote. Detroit looked at this as a way to cut payroll. Hargan making $127k and Newman making $22k.

Traded RP and 6th starter Gary Bell age 32 2.5 as RP for SS 2B 3B Larry Brown age 29 2.5.

[Brad K]

April 8 1969

Here goes. Season ticket sales down 5.6% with no price increase over last year. This is a near must win year.

[Pelican]

Are you still in Forbes Field? This should be the last year before Three Rivers, right? If so, no wonder ticket sales are down. But there should be a big bump with the new stadium.

I’m a big Tony Oliva fan, but I think Zisk and Robertson was too much to pay. They will be starters long after Oliva has gone to DH and then retirement. Definitely a win-now mode for you.

I’m afraid that Larry Brown is one of those guys (like Gene Alley) who was all but washed up at age 30, after a good early career. Not sure why. Tovar is a good pickup, though. Potential leadoff hitter for you. And your pitching staff is potentially dominant.

[Brad K]

Yes last year at Forbes. I noticed in the tests sims for the draft the Pirates get Three Rivers from the beginning of 70. Historically it was June 1. I remember some versions of OOTP sticking with Forbes through 1970.

Robertson and Zisk well, you know, win now, and hope to be able to spend enough to win later too! Its an adjustment for me and I hope I have it figured out.

No DHers here. Those guys can take their fielding rating of 1 to AAA and hit all the HRs they want!

[Brad K]

,,,

[Brad K]

May 2 1969

Manny Sanguillen injured, out for season. Called up Marty Martinez 2.0 and made offer to FA Earl Battey 2.5.


May 4 1969

Battey signed. Martinez back to AAA. Didn't get into a game.


Marty Martinez, Earl Battey

[Brad K]

....

[Brad K]

I'm rotating Alley, Patek, and Brown at SS hoping to find out who is in a slump and who has an as yet unreported drop in ratings.

[Brad K]

August 16 1969

Pitching continues to improve but offense has fallen back to sixth in runs scored. Among the premier hitters, Clemente, Oliva, Allen, and Stargell, Clemente has the least power. I set him as lead off. Murtaugh moved Flood to second which is in line with my thinking.

Al Oliver is rated 19 contact but I think that's too high. Besides, he doesn't have the defense to play LF or RF instead of Oliva or Clemente or the power to push Stargell out of 1B. Kind of the problem Matty Alou had with us. Alou has a high enough BA to be leading the AL but falls in and out of having enough plate appearances. I don't know why Seattle is doing this.

[Brad K]

September 1 1969

We have an incredible 18 game lead and our magic number is 11. I expected to be competitive but nothing like this. Same with the BBN experts who predicted first by 3 games.

We're leading MLB in attendance although not in gate revenue. But we're number one in selling jerseys and caps!

[Brad K]

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[Brad K]

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[Brad K]

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[Brad K]

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[Brad K]

Real life

The projected path of Hurricane Idalia has moved to the north so I am no longer in the cone of uncertainty for a direct hit. However I'm still in the hurricane effect zone and on the bad side of the hurricane.

Based on my experiences with Ian and Irma its possible I will be without electricity for 3 to 5 days. So if posting stops for a while that's what happened.

[Brad K]

Oct 20 1969

Thoughts About Next Year

So we won 107 games, made it to the last game of the season, are number one in attendance, and fan interest is only 99 with a plus 17 modifier. It has been much higher. I dont get it. However we're back on track to be America's team.

Based on the attendance chart OOTP is giving me Three Rivers Stadium from the beginning of the season. I wonder if there's an attendance boost for having a new ball park. I've kept ticket prices steady for the last few years but have put in a 5 cent increase for 1970.

Perhaps surprisingly there are weaknesses on this 107 win team. Short stops Larry Brown and Gene Alley had negative WAR and short stop Freddie Patek had 0.0 WAR. Dick Allen provides good offense but his fielding rating at 3B is 2 (20 scale). When I traded for him I didn't think his fielding would drop off so much. He should be playing 1B or LF but there's a line of players at both positions.

Curt Flood is eligible for free agency but he's still rated 14 in CF and 14 on contact so I'm going to try to sign him. If that doesn't work Tony Oliva or Cesar Tovar could play CF but if it's Tovar I then have a hole at 2B. Al Oliver is in the wings waiting for an OF position or 1B to open up. He's barely an average CF but good in the corners.

Anyway I need to upgrade SS. If Tovar goes to CF Dave Cash, currently in AAA, would be OK at 2B but not great. He's currently 2.5/2.5 with 11 contact and 11 defense at 2B.

RP Camilo Pascual is being paid like a SP. I have a team option for 1970. Hopefully I can buy out the option and then sign him for a lot less.

SPs are good but I lack injury replacements. Pascual, if I can sign him, is 2.5 as a SP. I don't have any SPs in AAA over 2.0. Bobby Conner is also 2.5 as a SP but he's 29 and wants four years at $154k. Don't know yet what I'm doing with him.

I would like another 3.5 or better RH RP to go with lefty David Levezey but that will probably be hard to obtain.

Payroll is 2nd in MLB at $4.3m. I have $1.7m for FAs and $1.4m for extensions.

[Brad K]

Off Season Activity

Awards

LF Tony Oliva and RF Roberto Clemente won Gold Gloves.

Danny Murtaugh NL Manager of the Year.

SP Bob Gibson won Cy Young award. 16-8 2.43 ERA. Received all 24 first place votes.

LF Tony Oliva won MVP. Hit .347 with 23 HRs.



Transactions

Claimed LH RP Mike Brown age 21 3.0 off waivers. One option left.

Traded 3B Dick Allen age 27 3.5 and SS Larry Brown age 29 2.5 for SP Juan Marichal age 32 3.5 and 3B Loyd Christopher age 24 2.5. Fan didn't like Allen leaving but liked Marachal arriving more. Interest modifier increased 4 points now 99 + 21

Traded MiL SP Phil Knuckles age 23 1.0/2.0 for SS Joe Foy 3.0. This was a salary dump by Minnesota. He makes $210k this year and $320 next two years but Minnesota is paying 40%. However my portion of $126 for this year is OK but the next two at $192k is much higher than I'd like. Sometimes you make the best deal you can.



Signings including FAs

RP Camilo Pascual age 35 3.0 signed $220k/3 years. A lot better than the $292k he made in 1969.

RP Steve Blass age 27 3.0 signed $210/3 years.

RP Bobby Conner age 29 2.5 signed $100k x 3 last year is team option.

C Earl Battey age 34 2.5 signed 1 year $50k. He seems like cheap insurance if McCarver or Sanguillen get hurt in spring training. If they don't get hurt hopefully Battey will accept a demotion to AAA. He has one option left.

RP Vincente Romo age 26 2.5 who has yet to appear in a MLB game signed for $49,800/2 years. He wouldn't accept a minor league contract but he's not going to be in the bigs this year unless there are some injuries.

Signed FA LH RP Wilbur Wood age 28 3.0 $620/4 years.

Signed FA 3B Bob Bailey age 27 3.5 stars 5 x $250k


Comments

I have protected several young players who are not ready for prime time from Rule 5 and now have 37 players on 40 man. I've also over signed at SS, C, and P. 37 is a bit higher than I'd like to be in December.

Getting Joe Foy and Wilbur Wood increased the fan interest modifier to 30. Base still at 99.


Dick Allen, Juan Marichal, Wilbur Wood