The 2021 (and only 2021) Tampa Bay Rays - Page 31

Art Deco · 04-25-2022, 04:39 PM

Wanted to play this game out first because it would have been anti-climatic if the Rays lose their Game 5. Plus BNN said it was scheduled for the afternoon while the Rays-Sox are in prime time so it should come first.

And the Tigers return to the ALCS after famously blowing a 3-0 series lead and a 5-0 lead in Game 4 before losing in 7 to the Rays last year. Will they get a rematch or will Boston shock baseball and beat James Hays and the Rays? Stay tuned.

Art Deco · 04-25-2022, 05:15 PM

Movin' on...

On a day when James Hays proved to be human, the Rays offense - especially Alex Kirilloff - was superhuman as they overcame 4 runs against Hays by clobbering the ball in the middle innings to take an 11-5 win and advance to the ALCS against Detroit. As they did in Game 1, Boston scored in the first off Hays but it was unearned thanks to a Kelly Crumpton error. And when the Rays stormed back for 3 in the 5th off old friend Tyler Glasnow, with a Kirilloff 2-run single the key hit, it looked like business as usual. But Hays put two men on in the 6th and then Ben Rortvedt shocked the Trop by blasting a 3-run homer off Hays to give the Red Sox a 4-3 lead. Undeterred, the Rays offense answered right back with 3 more to restore the lead as Willy Adames hit Glasnow for a 2-run double on his way to being named Series MVP. Then a 5-run 7th put it away, highlighted by Kirilloff's bases-clearing double to cap a 4-hit, 6-RBI day for the right fielder.

So now the Rays advance to an ALCS rematch with Detroit after last year's famous comeback from 0-3 down, but the advantage might be with the Tigers thanks to two things. First, unless the series goes 7 games Hays will only pitch once in Game 3 due to the ALDS going 5, and also the Rays will be without Joe Ryan, so either Tylor Megill goes back to the rotation or someone like Slade Cecconi or Wennington Romero starts Game 4. But at least they still have the opportunity to have problems to worry about instead of planning for 2028.

Art Deco · 04-25-2022, 05:32 PM

Keibert Ruiz, MVP of the Braves' NLDS, got a headstart on being MVP of the NLCS by hitting a walk-off homer to give Atlanta a 1-0 lead.

Art Deco · 04-25-2022, 08:58 PM

Starting off like last year....

The Rays gave Dustin May a 4-0 lead after an inning but he couldn't hold it as his poor 2027 postseason continued, and the bats only managed 3 hits after that first inning as Detroit came back for a 7-4 win to get a leg up in the ALCS. They did put two on in the 9th to bring the tying run to the plate but Detroit closer Josh Swales' 80 stuff is hard to hit, and he struck out Heston Kjerstad and Alex Kirilloff to end the game. JT Ginn will try to shake off his miserable ALDS outing to get the Rays even tomorrow, as what the Rays did last year to Detroit in the ALCS isn't really replicable.

Meanwhile it's all Atlanta in the NLCS:

Art Deco · 04-25-2022, 09:18 PM

No need to come back from 0-3 this year...

The Rays took advantage of sloppy baseball from Detroit, which committed 4 errors and issued 7 walks, to rout the Tigers 11-1 and even the ALCS at a game apiece. JT Ginn was excellent, a far cry from his disastrous start in Boston in the ALDS, and will need to be again in a Game 6 unless one of these teams wins three straight from here. It was a balanced offensive attack, and unlike last night they kept scoring after putting up a big first inning. James Hays will try to give them the advantage in two days' time at Comerica.

Art Deco · 04-25-2022, 09:22 PM

Diamondbacks hold serve:

Art Deco · 04-26-2022, 08:58 AM

Oops..

The eyes of the baseball world were upon likely 2027 AL Cy Young winner James Hays, but 2025 AL Cy Young winner Francis Martes said "not so fast" as he out-dueled Hays, holding the Rays to 1 hit over 8 innings in a 2-0 Tigers win to put them up 2-1 in the ALCS. Luis Castro's 2nd inning single was the only hit Tampa Bay managed on the night, and as a result they wasted a good, not great performance by Hays who was owned today by Detroit slugging superstar Spencer Torkelson, who homered and hit an RBI double off him for the two Tiger runs. With the Rays now losing the Hays start, they're in a tough spot down in the series and with fill-in starter Tylor Megill going in Game 4.

Meanwhile in the NLCS Atlanta has one foot in the World Series:

Art Deco · 04-26-2022, 09:28 AM

Not this year...

The Rays find themselves in a 1-3 hole in the ALCS after getting waxed by Detroit 8-1 at Comerica Park in Game 4. Our biggest worry coming in turned out to be not a problem at all as Tylor Megill was excellent and left the game at 1-1 after 5. A.J. Puk had pitched very well for us but in retrospect we maybe should have gone to Tanner Scott a little earlier than normal given Puk did not get it done, giving up 4 runs although it would have been one if not for a key Ed Howard error. Either way it didn't matter much as the offense was the offender again, improving on yesterday's 1 hit by getting a whopping 4 and a lone run but still wholly inadequate. Dustin May will try to keep us alive tomorrow and bring us back to St. Pete for a Game 6 instead of a locker-clearing.

Meanwhile congratulations to Atlanta, World Series-bound:

Jasson Dominguez was named MVP. Still can't believe the Yankees AI GM traded the then-top prospect to Atlanta for 36-year-old middle reliever Chris Martin back in 2023. But good for us I guess as we haven't had to face him in our division.

Art Deco · 04-26-2022, 09:58 AM

Wait until next year...

It's all over as the Rays batters combined for 3 runs and 10 hits over the final 3 games in Detroit and the Tigers got redemption for last year's collapse by taking the ALCS from the Rays in 5 games with today's 5-2 win. Tampa Bay actually took a brief 2-0 lead in the 3rd thanks to a couple of guys who have had miserable postseasons as Ed Howard led the inning off with a homer and Adley Rutschman, in what will be his final game as a Ray, doubled in a run. But like in Game 1 Dustin May couldn't hold the lead, and although he only gave up 2 runs in 4 innings he was highly inefficient as it took him 99 pitches to get through the 4th in what should be his final outing with the Rays. So this time I went to Tanner Scott and taking him to a second inning was a mistake as he was tagged for three runs and that was that. Going out in 5 in the CS is a disappointment for a team which won 107 games and was playing at an even better pace for the final 2/3 of the season, but that's what can happen in the playoffs. So now Detroit will face the other 107-win team in MLB, the Atlanta Braves, in the World Series.

Art Deco · 04-26-2022, 10:52 AM

No idea why OOTP stuck a WPA graphic from the 2023 World Series in there.

Art Deco · 04-26-2022, 10:55 AM

Art Deco · 04-26-2022, 11:00 AM

Detroit may have lost more than the game - its star SS Marcelo Mayer left with an abdominal strain, it's listed as "moderate".

Art Deco · 04-26-2022, 11:02 AM

Atlanta is doing what we couldn't do - win in Detroit:

Art Deco · 04-26-2022, 11:34 AM

Tork keeps the Tigers alive with a 2-run homer to give them the lead and an insurance RBI double:

Art Deco · 04-26-2022, 11:58 AM

The cynics might say Atlanta dropped Game 5 so they could win it all at home. Either way, congrats to Atlanta!

Art Deco · 04-27-2022, 09:55 AM

Going to be an interesting offseason as we have some rebuilding to do. We're going to lose the following free agents: Adley Rutschman, Dustin May, DL Hall, Diego Castillo, Tanner Scott, Yoelqui Cespedes, A.J. Puk, Marcus Semien, Willy Adames.

We have Diego Cartaya ready to step in to Rutschman's place where he'll share time with Corey Collins. It will be a step down but not a huge step as Cartaya's glove is almost as good and while he'll hit with less power than Rutschman, he'll likely hit for a higher average.

Losing May will be a bit more problematic as he's a legit #2 starter and they don't grow on trees. Everyone thinks prospect Dave Cedeno can eventually be that guy and he'll have the inside track on a rotation spot but we'll see.

The bullpen will have to be rebuilt with the losses of Castillo, Hall and Scott, with the first two truly outstanding in their time with us. Landon Knack will take on a more prominent role, and I'm sure we'll be trading for or signing an arm or two.

Stu Sternberg is giving me a payroll of $150M. If we keep everyone we still have we're looking at a $115M payroll so there's room to play. Here's a list of everyone due more than the minimum this season:

Some interesting choices here. Uehara is pricey for a short reliever at $8.5M but given all our other losses in the pen we'll likely keep him (unless we can deal him for something almost as good and much cheaper). Luis Castro is ticketed elsewhere as despite his good ratings he's the latest ̶S̶p̶i̶n̶a̶l̶ ̶T̶a̶p̶ ̶d̶r̶u̶m̶m̶e̶r̶ first baseman to fail for us, and with the Dominic Scavone acquisition we'll slide Kelly Crumpton and his 40 3B glove over to 1B and play Scavone at 3B. That will shave almost $7M off the total, so while I never spend to my limit (I like to leave about $20M to play with to start the year) that still gives us around $20M to add in salary. Also it would be nice if Victor Robles bounced back to justify his $20M salary - he's gone from 6.0 WAR in 2025 with the Giants which inspired us to sign him, to an acceptable-but-pricey 3.2 WAR in 2026 to a lousy 1.9 WAR last year. The fact that he's still a net positive with the glove is the only thing keeping me from trying to dump him as he we don't have a legit CF alternative.

OK, we pulled the trigger on a Castro deal:

The two minor leaguers we threw in are nobody who was likely to make the team in the future. Panzini is the key, he can start as well as relieve:

Impressive numbers in the (old) PCL last year as a starter, he also has 70 stuff as a reliever. Right now I'm penciling him as the 5th starter behind Hays, Ryan, Ginn, and Cedeno. Williams meanwhile is a reliever with 70 stuff, 55 movement and 50 control and can start if needed but is probably better suited to the pen.

Awards season:

We didn't win any Gold Gloves, no surprise there.

But we did take this one:

By the way Diego wants $12M/year to extend, I inquired. My vote went to DL Hall, who finished second, but that should give you an idea of how good the back of our bullpen was this past season.

We took one Silver Slugger Award, for Adley Rutschman at catcher.

The awards keep coming:

Congrats to Kelly! Memphis OF Kevin Alcantara won the NL award.

It's about to become James Hays award season around here, but first this remarkable stat about him which just popped up in my inbox:

Wow. Mathewson, The Big Train, Pedro - and Hays.

Speaking of Hays, here's the outcome of the least-suspenseful Cy Young voting ever:

A.J. Puk fourth? In this economy? Joe Ryan was a solid 2nd, and those two will form a return 1-2 punch this season as Ryan enters his last year of team control.

Matt Semon of El Paso took the NL Cy Young. He has to be first ever single-digit winner who wasn't a closer to win the award as he went 9-4, 2.36 on the year. He made 32 starts which meant he had a whopping 19 no-decisions but led the NL in strikeouts (200) and WHIP (0.87) in his 190.1 IP.

MVP time:

Hays becomes the first pitcher to win MVP and Cy Young since Justin Verlander in 2011. He was nearly 4 WAR ahead of the nearest player in the league but still only got 20 of the 32 first-place votes, showing the inherent anti-pitcher bias in the voting. Andrew Greckel got some down-ballot votes and finished 14th.

Over in the NL Ronald Acuna Jr. won his second consecutive (and third overall) MVP after a .334-37-135-8.6 WAR season. He was a unanimous selection.

Art Deco · 04-27-2022, 12:16 PM

Forgot to mention this in the first offseason post, but in a belated catchup to reality the NL will be using the DH in 2028.

November 27: First of the big-name free agents signs as CF Luis Robert lands in Washington on a 7/189 deal.

November 28: Willi Castro, a key piece of the AL champion Detroit Tigers, goes for 4/48 to the Phillies.

November 29: Hall of Fame voting today. Here is my ballot:

I expect first-timers Cabrera and Verlander to get in but not as sure about first-time Greinke, Cano was about 71% last year and Ichiro had solid support.

November 30: The Cubs broke out the checkbook today and added a massive amount of power to their lineup, signing both Spencer Torkelson (7/231) and Yordan Alvarez (5/103). Still not sure why Detroit bought out the last year of Tork's contract for $6M instead of keeping him for another season but the Cubs were happy they didn't. Alvarez though could be a problem for Chicago as his status is "wrecked" so I don't see them getting full seasons or their money's worth out of him.

December 3: The Cubs are officially insane. After splurging on Tork and Yordan Alvarez, they now go 7/108 on Jarred Kelenic, which actually looks to be a bit of a bargain. Kelenic did fall off to .249-25-87 last year but is one year removed from a .339-45-143 MVP season in 2026 and is only 28.

December 4: The Angels go 6/132 for former Diamondback C Daulton Varsho.

December 5: Well there goes Adley Rutschman. And only for 4/55 to the Mets, which is shockingly low. Had I know that would be all as for term and $, I would have gotten in on that. We do get a compensatory pick since we made him the QO. Meanwhile San Antonio goes 4/89 for Carlos Correa.

December 15: Former Ray Aaron Fletcher, who saved 49 games for Washington last season, inked a 2/18 pact with Houston.

December 16: And there goes Diego Castillo. The reigning Reliever of the Year heads to the rival Yankees on a 2/20 deal.

December 18: Added Ps Dave Cedeno, Vinny Bianchi and Kevin DiCostanzo, 1B Costanzo Ricciardi, 2B Brennon McNair, 3B Daniel Corona and OF Brayden Jobert to the 40-man roster.

Rule 5 time and we had a lot of open 40-man spots with all the guys leaving via free agency. Among this batch McNair is a big-time power-hitting infield prospect but will be out until July, Corona is a good defensive 3B prospect with some pop, but not the hitter Scavone or Crumpton is, and Jobert had a big year with Durham last season.

December 19: And nobody was picked in the Rule 5 Draft.

December 20: Another key free agent of ours goes to a division rival as Dustin May has followed Tyler Glasnow to Boston on a 6/126 deal as we pocket another compensatory pick. Meanwhile the Mets traded 35-year-old Noah Syndergaard to Arizona for a couple of prospects. Syndergaard is a 4th starter at best these days.

December 22: After being claimed on waivers by us in 2026 and pitching well and then going to Atlanta and pitching very well, Jonathan Loaisiga is back with the Yankees on a 3/32 deal.

December 23: And another one bites the dust. DL Hall signs with Washington on a massive 5/90.9 deal, way more than we could pay (or wanted to pay) him. They plan to use him as a starter.

December 24: There goes Tanner Scott, off to St. Louis for 2/17.6. Meanwhile George Springer, who had to settle for a 1-year deal with the Cubs in spring training last year, went to Minnesota for 3/36.

December 27: Longtime star 3B Nolan Arenado, after spending the last 6 years in Washington, caught the politics bug and is retiring from baseball to try to run for US Senator. Good luck!

December 30: We won't be facing Alex Verdugo much anymore as the longtime Boston OF went to Milwaukee for 2/28.2.

Art Deco · 04-28-2022, 10:42 AM

January 9: Sixto Sanchez got quatro years from Seattle for a total of $67.6M as they look to boost their rotation and return to the playoffs.

January 12: The Hall of Fame voting results are in:

Congrats to Miggy and Verlander, who were no-doubters. Robinson Cano remains agonizingly close, and Zack Greinke nearly made it on the first try. Ichiro and Joe Mauer seem to have plateaued and the deserving Todd Helton falls off the ballot.

January 20: Alex Lange, who picked a great time to have a 15-4, 2.24 season for Washington in his contract year, went to Arizona on a 4/50 deal.

January 22: 38-year-old veteran reliever Raisiel Iglesias went for 2/6.4 to Boston. I kicked the tires on him, but opted not to make an offer. Meanwhile Guillermo Zuniga, who was in our pen for a few seasons before we banished him to the minors last year, signed a minor league deal with Memphis.

January 30: The last of our big-name free agents found a new home as A.J. Puk went for 2/33 to San Francisco, where he'll be a starter again like he was in Detroit before they inexplicably waived him last season. Also Max Fried, who had struggled with injuries and diminished effectiveness the last two years with the Dodgers, signed a 1/3.8 deal with Seattle.

February 1: Interleague play is back! After going for the last 6 seasons with the garbage generic OOTP schedule after we expanded to Memphis and San Antonio in 2022 (which didn't include interleague play), I finally got the gumption to seek out a legit interleague schedule in the schedules forum, and now we have one. Also now the ASB will be the 2nd week in July, not in June anymore.

February 19: A couple of former Rays are on the move today. Lewin Diaz, who never got untracked with us, had a good year with Memphis and parlayed that into a 5/74.7 deal with Houston to be their 1B. And Blake Snell, after spending 8 years with the Padres, was dealt to Kansas City. He's a reliever these days.

February 26: Traded 25-year old LF Jhon Diaz to the Houston Astros, getting 28-year old C Juan Mendez in return.

A classic surplus-for-need deal as we had too many outfielders and Jhon Diaz was going to give way to excellent prospect Jose Aguilar this year as Aguilar is out of options. We were also thinner than an anorexic at catcher with Collins and Cartaya the only legit major leaguers in our system so we add Mendez, who is a pretty decent backup type and who has options.

February 28: After an ill-fated season with us, the Reds have decided to kick the tires on what's left of Clayton Kershaw, signing him to a minor league deal. Also on the first day of preseason games, Byron Buxton tears a hamstring and is out 6 weeks - the realism in this game is uncanny.

February 29 (2028 is a leap year): Speaking of pitchers were signed last year who were failures, Nick Lodolo inked a minor league pact with Boston. Despite pitching poorly, Lodolo actually worked out for us last year as we turned him into Yoelqui Cespedes, who was incredible for us in a 4th OF role.

March 8: All is not well for Dustin May in his new home of Boston as the longtime Rays righty tore his triceps and will miss 3 months.

March 13: It was signing day around MLB with several vets taking one year deals:

March 19: Signed SS J.P. Crawford to a minor league deal.

We needed a backup middle infielder better than Jelfry Marte. I was considering bringing back Willy Adames again but he signed a minor league deal with San Antonio, so enter Crawford who still has a plus glove at SS and even better at 2B. He'll make $2.2M when recalled; he has to serve a 5-game suspension but he might be able to serve it in the minors.

Art Deco · 04-28-2022, 02:17 PM

We made it through spring training unscathed from injuries, so that's always the best result. Dominic Scavone had a big spring, hitting 6 homers and I'm hoping for big things from his this year.

As he was out of options and we needed to make a cut from the staff, we dealt Levi Kelly to the Rockies for OF Yanqui Fernandez. He's 25 and coming off a monster year at high-A, where admittedly he was old for the level, and he did struggle at AA. But he has serious power and could be a bit of a lottery ticket:

He'll start the year at Montgomery. That leaves us with this Opening Day roster:

C-Cartaya, Collins
1B-Crumpton
2B-Howard
SS-W.Franco
3B-Scavone
IF-Hoese, Marte
OF-Kjerstad, Robles, Kirilloff, Aguilar
DH-Greckel

SP-Hays, Ryan, Ginn, Panzini, Cedeno
LR-Cecconi, W.Romero
MR-Gutierrez, Knack, K.Williams, Chamberlain
SU-Megill, R.Oritz
CL-Uehara

Marte will be only on the roster while J.P. Crawford serves his 5-game suspension.

As usual, the preseason picks don't think much of us:

Art Deco · 04-28-2022, 03:54 PM

April 3: Signed free agent LHP A.J. Minter to a 1-year, $1.5M deal; placed Minter on the 60-day IL.

Minter's been one of the best lefty relievers over the years, but he's coming off a UCL tear and will be out the first half of the season. If his stuff's relatively intact, he'll be a bargain for the second half.

Opening Day could have not gone any better, and here's the box score to prove it:

James Hays picked up where he left off last season with another utterly dominant performance and the bats went wild. The only down note was that Alex Kirilloff tweaked his hamstring, and while the injury is "minimal" it's for 3 weeks and I'm just not going to fool around with a hamstring injury, so he'll go to the IL. Rookies Dominic Scavone and Diego Cartaya were impressive in their MLB debuts, and new boy Jose Aguilar, who had cup of coffee last year and will be playing everyday with Kirilloff out, blasted his first MLB longball.

April 4: Placed OF Alex Kirilloff on the 10-day IL with a strained hamstring, recalled OF Brayden Jobert from AAA Durham.

Jobert was one of the players we acquired from Colorado for Heliot Ramos a couple years ago and he had a big year at Durham, hitting 310/385/516 with 19 HR and 85 RBI, which earned him a spot on this year's 40-man roster.

Game 2: Joe Ryan struggled in his return from a torn labrum late last season and put the Rays in a hole they couldn't quite climb out of as they fell just short to the Royals 5-4. Ryan (0-1) was 3.2 8 5 5 1 7 with a homer allowed; at least the 7 whiffs were encouraging. Wennington Romero held the fort with 3 1/3 scoreless and they nearly came all the way back thanks to Home Run Howard as Ed homered for the second straight day, a 3-run blast in the 8th, and then had an RBI double with 2 out in the 9th to cut it to one but Wander Franco flied out to end the game.

Game 3: It was quite the thriller at the Trop as the Rays found themselves down 8-5 with 2 out in the bottom of the 9th despite banging out 17 hits. But hit #18 was a bases-clearing triple by Ed Howard, who now has a ridiculous 11 RBI through 3 games, and hit #19 came in the bottom of the 11th when Kelly Crumpton drilled his 2nd homer of the year to give the Rays a 9-8 walk-off win. Crumpton's dinger made a winner of Yasunari Uehara, who threw 2 scoreless innings in his season debut. The Rays got another rough start, this time from JT Ginn who went 4 6 5 5 3 6 with a homer allowed, and three relievers gave up runs. But the bats carried them on the day, with Crumpton capping a 4-hit, 2-RBI day with the homer and rookies Jose Aguilar and Dominic Scavone each banged out 3 hits.

Team record: 2-1. Next up: 4 more at the Trop vs Toronto.

04-25-2022, 04:39 PM	#601
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,578	October 6, 2027: ALDS Game 5 (Detroit-Seattle) Wanted to play this game out first because it would have been anti-climatic if the Rays lose their Game 5. Plus BNN said it was scheduled for the afternoon while the Rays-Sox are in prime time so it should come first. And the Tigers return to the ALCS after famously blowing a 3-0 series lead and a 5-0 lead in Game 4 before losing in 7 to the Rays last year. Will they get a rematch or will Boston shock baseball and beat James Hays and the Rays? Stay tuned.

04-25-2022, 05:15 PM	#602
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,578	October 6, 2027: ALDS Game 5 (Tampa Bay-Boston) Movin' on... On a day when James Hays proved to be human, the Rays offense - especially Alex Kirilloff - was superhuman as they overcame 4 runs against Hays by clobbering the ball in the middle innings to take an 11-5 win and advance to the ALCS against Detroit. As they did in Game 1, Boston scored in the first off Hays but it was unearned thanks to a Kelly Crumpton error. And when the Rays stormed back for 3 in the 5th off old friend Tyler Glasnow, with a Kirilloff 2-run single the key hit, it looked like business as usual. But Hays put two men on in the 6th and then Ben Rortvedt shocked the Trop by blasting a 3-run homer off Hays to give the Red Sox a 4-3 lead. Undeterred, the Rays offense answered right back with 3 more to restore the lead as Willy Adames hit Glasnow for a 2-run double on his way to being named Series MVP. Then a 5-run 7th put it away, highlighted by Kirilloff's bases-clearing double to cap a 4-hit, 6-RBI day for the right fielder. So now the Rays advance to an ALCS rematch with Detroit after last year's famous comeback from 0-3 down, but the advantage might be with the Tigers thanks to two things. First, unless the series goes 7 games Hays will only pitch once in Game 3 due to the ALDS going 5, and also the Rays will be without Joe Ryan, so either Tylor Megill goes back to the rotation or someone like Slade Cecconi or Wennington Romero starts Game 4. But at least they still have the opportunity to have problems to worry about instead of planning for 2028.

04-25-2022, 05:32 PM	#603
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,578	October 7, 2027: NLCS Game 1 Keibert Ruiz, MVP of the Braves' NLDS, got a headstart on being MVP of the NLCS by hitting a walk-off homer to give Atlanta a 1-0 lead.

04-25-2022, 08:58 PM	#604
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,578	October 8, 2027: ALCS Game 1 & NLCS Game 2 Starting off like last year.... The Rays gave Dustin May a 4-0 lead after an inning but he couldn't hold it as his poor 2027 postseason continued, and the bats only managed 3 hits after that first inning as Detroit came back for a 7-4 win to get a leg up in the ALCS. They did put two on in the 9th to bring the tying run to the plate but Detroit closer Josh Swales' 80 stuff is hard to hit, and he struck out Heston Kjerstad and Alex Kirilloff to end the game. JT Ginn will try to shake off his miserable ALDS outing to get the Rays even tomorrow, as what the Rays did last year to Detroit in the ALCS isn't really replicable. Meanwhile it's all Atlanta in the NLCS:

04-25-2022, 09:18 PM	#605
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,578	October 9, 2027: ALCS Game 2 No need to come back from 0-3 this year... The Rays took advantage of sloppy baseball from Detroit, which committed 4 errors and issued 7 walks, to rout the Tigers 11-1 and even the ALCS at a game apiece. JT Ginn was excellent, a far cry from his disastrous start in Boston in the ALDS, and will need to be again in a Game 6 unless one of these teams wins three straight from here. It was a balanced offensive attack, and unlike last night they kept scoring after putting up a big first inning. James Hays will try to give them the advantage in two days' time at Comerica.

04-25-2022, 09:22 PM	#606
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,578	October 10, 2027: NLCS Game 3 Diamondbacks hold serve:

04-26-2022, 08:58 AM	#607
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,578	October 11, 2027: ALCS Game 3 & NLCS Game 4 Oops.. The eyes of the baseball world were upon likely 2027 AL Cy Young winner James Hays, but 2025 AL Cy Young winner Francis Martes said "not so fast" as he out-dueled Hays, holding the Rays to 1 hit over 8 innings in a 2-0 Tigers win to put them up 2-1 in the ALCS. Luis Castro's 2nd inning single was the only hit Tampa Bay managed on the night, and as a result they wasted a good, not great performance by Hays who was owned today by Detroit slugging superstar Spencer Torkelson, who homered and hit an RBI double off him for the two Tiger runs. With the Rays now losing the Hays start, they're in a tough spot down in the series and with fill-in starter Tylor Megill going in Game 4. Meanwhile in the NLCS Atlanta has one foot in the World Series:

04-26-2022, 09:28 AM	#608
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,578	October 12, 2027: ALCS Game 4 & NLCS Game 5 Not this year... The Rays find themselves in a 1-3 hole in the ALCS after getting waxed by Detroit 8-1 at Comerica Park in Game 4. Our biggest worry coming in turned out to be not a problem at all as Tylor Megill was excellent and left the game at 1-1 after 5. A.J. Puk had pitched very well for us but in retrospect we maybe should have gone to Tanner Scott a little earlier than normal given Puk did not get it done, giving up 4 runs although it would have been one if not for a key Ed Howard error. Either way it didn't matter much as the offense was the offender again, improving on yesterday's 1 hit by getting a whopping 4 and a lone run but still wholly inadequate. Dustin May will try to keep us alive tomorrow and bring us back to St. Pete for a Game 6 instead of a locker-clearing. Meanwhile congratulations to Atlanta, World Series-bound: Jasson Dominguez was named MVP. Still can't believe the Yankees AI GM traded the then-top prospect to Atlanta for 36-year-old middle reliever Chris Martin back in 2023. But good for us I guess as we haven't had to face him in our division. Last edited by Art Deco; 04-26-2022 at 09:30 AM.

04-26-2022, 09:58 AM	#609
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,578	October 13, 2027: ALCS Game 5 Wait until next year... It's all over as the Rays batters combined for 3 runs and 10 hits over the final 3 games in Detroit and the Tigers got redemption for last year's collapse by taking the ALCS from the Rays in 5 games with today's 5-2 win. Tampa Bay actually took a brief 2-0 lead in the 3rd thanks to a couple of guys who have had miserable postseasons as Ed Howard led the inning off with a homer and Adley Rutschman, in what will be his final game as a Ray, doubled in a run. But like in Game 1 Dustin May couldn't hold the lead, and although he only gave up 2 runs in 4 innings he was highly inefficient as it took him 99 pitches to get through the 4th in what should be his final outing with the Rays. So this time I went to Tanner Scott and taking him to a second inning was a mistake as he was tagged for three runs and that was that. Going out in 5 in the CS is a disappointment for a team which won 107 games and was playing at an even better pace for the final 2/3 of the season, but that's what can happen in the playoffs. So now Detroit will face the other 107-win team in MLB, the Atlanta Braves, in the World Series.

04-26-2022, 10:52 AM	#610
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,578	October 18, 2027: World Series Game 1 No idea why OOTP stuck a WPA graphic from the 2023 World Series in there.

04-26-2022, 10:55 AM	#611
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,578	October 19, 2027: World Series Game 2

04-26-2022, 11:00 AM	#612
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,578	October 21, 2027: World Series Game 3 Detroit may have lost more than the game - its star SS Marcelo Mayer left with an abdominal strain, it's listed as "moderate".

04-26-2022, 11:02 AM	#613
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,578	October 22, 2027: World Series Game 4 Atlanta is doing what we couldn't do - win in Detroit:

04-26-2022, 11:34 AM	#614
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,578	October 23, 2027: World Series Game 5 Tork keeps the Tigers alive with a 2-run homer to give them the lead and an insurance RBI double:

04-26-2022, 11:58 AM	#615
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,578	October 25, 2027: World Series Game 6 The cynics might say Atlanta dropped Game 5 so they could win it all at home. Either way, congrats to Atlanta!

04-27-2022, 09:55 AM	#616
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,578	2027-28 Offseason, Part 1 Going to be an interesting offseason as we have some rebuilding to do. We're going to lose the following free agents: Adley Rutschman, Dustin May, DL Hall, Diego Castillo, Tanner Scott, Yoelqui Cespedes, A.J. Puk, Marcus Semien, Willy Adames. We have Diego Cartaya ready to step in to Rutschman's place where he'll share time with Corey Collins. It will be a step down but not a huge step as Cartaya's glove is almost as good and while he'll hit with less power than Rutschman, he'll likely hit for a higher average. Losing May will be a bit more problematic as he's a legit #2 starter and they don't grow on trees. Everyone thinks prospect Dave Cedeno can eventually be that guy and he'll have the inside track on a rotation spot but we'll see. The bullpen will have to be rebuilt with the losses of Castillo, Hall and Scott, with the first two truly outstanding in their time with us. Landon Knack will take on a more prominent role, and I'm sure we'll be trading for or signing an arm or two. Stu Sternberg is giving me a payroll of $150M. If we keep everyone we still have we're looking at a $115M payroll so there's room to play. Here's a list of everyone due more than the minimum this season: Some interesting choices here. Uehara is pricey for a short reliever at $8.5M but given all our other losses in the pen we'll likely keep him (unless we can deal him for something almost as good and much cheaper). Luis Castro is ticketed elsewhere as despite his good ratings he's the latest ̶S̶p̶i̶n̶a̶l̶ ̶T̶a̶p̶ ̶d̶r̶u̶m̶m̶e̶r̶ first baseman to fail for us, and with the Dominic Scavone acquisition we'll slide Kelly Crumpton and his 40 3B glove over to 1B and play Scavone at 3B. That will shave almost $7M off the total, so while I never spend to my limit (I like to leave about $20M to play with to start the year) that still gives us around $20M to add in salary. Also it would be nice if Victor Robles bounced back to justify his $20M salary - he's gone from 6.0 WAR in 2025 with the Giants which inspired us to sign him, to an acceptable-but-pricey 3.2 WAR in 2026 to a lousy 1.9 WAR last year. The fact that he's still a net positive with the glove is the only thing keeping me from trying to dump him as he we don't have a legit CF alternative. OK, we pulled the trigger on a Castro deal: The two minor leaguers we threw in are nobody who was likely to make the team in the future. Panzini is the key, he can start as well as relieve: Impressive numbers in the (old) PCL last year as a starter, he also has 70 stuff as a reliever. Right now I'm penciling him as the 5th starter behind Hays, Ryan, Ginn, and Cedeno. Williams meanwhile is a reliever with 70 stuff, 55 movement and 50 control and can start if needed but is probably better suited to the pen. Awards season: We didn't win any Gold Gloves, no surprise there. But we did take this one: By the way Diego wants $12M/year to extend, I inquired. My vote went to DL Hall, who finished second, but that should give you an idea of how good the back of our bullpen was this past season. We took one Silver Slugger Award, for Adley Rutschman at catcher. The awards keep coming: Congrats to Kelly! Memphis OF Kevin Alcantara won the NL award. It's about to become James Hays award season around here, but first this remarkable stat about him which just popped up in my inbox: Wow. Mathewson, The Big Train, Pedro - and Hays. Speaking of Hays, here's the outcome of the least-suspenseful Cy Young voting ever: A.J. Puk fourth? In this economy? Joe Ryan was a solid 2nd, and those two will form a return 1-2 punch this season as Ryan enters his last year of team control. Matt Semon of El Paso took the NL Cy Young. He has to be first ever single-digit winner who wasn't a closer to win the award as he went 9-4, 2.36 on the year. He made 32 starts which meant he had a whopping 19 no-decisions but led the NL in strikeouts (200) and WHIP (0.87) in his 190.1 IP. MVP time: Hays becomes the first pitcher to win MVP and Cy Young since Justin Verlander in 2011. He was nearly 4 WAR ahead of the nearest player in the league but still only got 20 of the 32 first-place votes, showing the inherent anti-pitcher bias in the voting. Andrew Greckel got some down-ballot votes and finished 14th. Over in the NL Ronald Acuna Jr. won his second consecutive (and third overall) MVP after a .334-37-135-8.6 WAR season. He was a unanimous selection.

04-27-2022, 12:16 PM	#617
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,578	2027-28 Offseason, Part 2 Forgot to mention this in the first offseason post, but in a belated catchup to reality the NL will be using the DH in 2028. November 27: First of the big-name free agents signs as CF Luis Robert lands in Washington on a 7/189 deal. November 28: Willi Castro, a key piece of the AL champion Detroit Tigers, goes for 4/48 to the Phillies. November 29: Hall of Fame voting today. Here is my ballot: I expect first-timers Cabrera and Verlander to get in but not as sure about first-time Greinke, Cano was about 71% last year and Ichiro had solid support. November 30: The Cubs broke out the checkbook today and added a massive amount of power to their lineup, signing both Spencer Torkelson (7/231) and Yordan Alvarez (5/103). Still not sure why Detroit bought out the last year of Tork's contract for $6M instead of keeping him for another season but the Cubs were happy they didn't. Alvarez though could be a problem for Chicago as his status is "wrecked" so I don't see them getting full seasons or their money's worth out of him. December 3: The Cubs are officially insane. After splurging on Tork and Yordan Alvarez, they now go 7/108 on Jarred Kelenic, which actually looks to be a bit of a bargain. Kelenic did fall off to .249-25-87 last year but is one year removed from a .339-45-143 MVP season in 2026 and is only 28. December 4: The Angels go 6/132 for former Diamondback C Daulton Varsho. December 5: Well there goes Adley Rutschman. And only for 4/55 to the Mets, which is shockingly low. Had I know that would be all as for term and $, I would have gotten in on that. We do get a compensatory pick since we made him the QO. Meanwhile San Antonio goes 4/89 for Carlos Correa. December 15: Former Ray Aaron Fletcher, who saved 49 games for Washington last season, inked a 2/18 pact with Houston. December 16: And there goes Diego Castillo. The reigning Reliever of the Year heads to the rival Yankees on a 2/20 deal. December 18: Added Ps Dave Cedeno, Vinny Bianchi and Kevin DiCostanzo, 1B Costanzo Ricciardi, 2B Brennon McNair, 3B Daniel Corona and OF Brayden Jobert to the 40-man roster. Rule 5 time and we had a lot of open 40-man spots with all the guys leaving via free agency. Among this batch McNair is a big-time power-hitting infield prospect but will be out until July, Corona is a good defensive 3B prospect with some pop, but not the hitter Scavone or Crumpton is, and Jobert had a big year with Durham last season. December 19: And nobody was picked in the Rule 5 Draft. December 20: Another key free agent of ours goes to a division rival as Dustin May has followed Tyler Glasnow to Boston on a 6/126 deal as we pocket another compensatory pick. Meanwhile the Mets traded 35-year-old Noah Syndergaard to Arizona for a couple of prospects. Syndergaard is a 4th starter at best these days. December 22: After being claimed on waivers by us in 2026 and pitching well and then going to Atlanta and pitching very well, Jonathan Loaisiga is back with the Yankees on a 3/32 deal. December 23: And another one bites the dust. DL Hall signs with Washington on a massive 5/90.9 deal, way more than we could pay (or wanted to pay) him. They plan to use him as a starter. December 24: There goes Tanner Scott, off to St. Louis for 2/17.6. Meanwhile George Springer, who had to settle for a 1-year deal with the Cubs in spring training last year, went to Minnesota for 3/36. December 27: Longtime star 3B Nolan Arenado, after spending the last 6 years in Washington, caught the politics bug and is retiring from baseball to try to run for US Senator. Good luck! December 30: We won't be facing Alex Verdugo much anymore as the longtime Boston OF went to Milwaukee for 2/28.2. Last edited by Art Deco; 04-27-2022 at 01:22 PM.

04-28-2022, 10:42 AM	#618
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,578	2027-28 Offseason, Part 3 January 9: Sixto Sanchez got quatro years from Seattle for a total of $67.6M as they look to boost their rotation and return to the playoffs. January 12: The Hall of Fame voting results are in: Congrats to Miggy and Verlander, who were no-doubters. Robinson Cano remains agonizingly close, and Zack Greinke nearly made it on the first try. Ichiro and Joe Mauer seem to have plateaued and the deserving Todd Helton falls off the ballot. January 20: Alex Lange, who picked a great time to have a 15-4, 2.24 season for Washington in his contract year, went to Arizona on a 4/50 deal. January 22: 38-year-old veteran reliever Raisiel Iglesias went for 2/6.4 to Boston. I kicked the tires on him, but opted not to make an offer. Meanwhile Guillermo Zuniga, who was in our pen for a few seasons before we banished him to the minors last year, signed a minor league deal with Memphis. January 30: The last of our big-name free agents found a new home as A.J. Puk went for 2/33 to San Francisco, where he'll be a starter again like he was in Detroit before they inexplicably waived him last season. Also Max Fried, who had struggled with injuries and diminished effectiveness the last two years with the Dodgers, signed a 1/3.8 deal with Seattle. February 1: Interleague play is back! After going for the last 6 seasons with the garbage generic OOTP schedule after we expanded to Memphis and San Antonio in 2022 (which didn't include interleague play), I finally got the gumption to seek out a legit interleague schedule in the schedules forum, and now we have one. Also now the ASB will be the 2nd week in July, not in June anymore. February 19: A couple of former Rays are on the move today. Lewin Diaz, who never got untracked with us, had a good year with Memphis and parlayed that into a 5/74.7 deal with Houston to be their 1B. And Blake Snell, after spending 8 years with the Padres, was dealt to Kansas City. He's a reliever these days. February 26: Traded 25-year old LF Jhon Diaz to the Houston Astros, getting 28-year old C Juan Mendez in return. A classic surplus-for-need deal as we had too many outfielders and Jhon Diaz was going to give way to excellent prospect Jose Aguilar this year as Aguilar is out of options. We were also thinner than an anorexic at catcher with Collins and Cartaya the only legit major leaguers in our system so we add Mendez, who is a pretty decent backup type and who has options. February 28: After an ill-fated season with us, the Reds have decided to kick the tires on what's left of Clayton Kershaw, signing him to a minor league deal. Also on the first day of preseason games, Byron Buxton tears a hamstring and is out 6 weeks - the realism in this game is uncanny. February 29 (2028 is a leap year): Speaking of pitchers were signed last year who were failures, Nick Lodolo inked a minor league pact with Boston. Despite pitching poorly, Lodolo actually worked out for us last year as we turned him into Yoelqui Cespedes, who was incredible for us in a 4th OF role. March 8: All is not well for Dustin May in his new home of Boston as the longtime Rays righty tore his triceps and will miss 3 months. March 13: It was signing day around MLB with several vets taking one year deals: March 19: Signed SS J.P. Crawford to a minor league deal. We needed a backup middle infielder better than Jelfry Marte. I was considering bringing back Willy Adames again but he signed a minor league deal with San Antonio, so enter Crawford who still has a plus glove at SS and even better at 2B. He'll make $2.2M when recalled; he has to serve a 5-game suspension but he might be able to serve it in the minors. Last edited by Art Deco; 04-28-2022 at 11:01 AM.

04-28-2022, 02:17 PM	#619
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,578	2028 Opening Day Roster & Preseason Predictions We made it through spring training unscathed from injuries, so that's always the best result. Dominic Scavone had a big spring, hitting 6 homers and I'm hoping for big things from his this year. As he was out of options and we needed to make a cut from the staff, we dealt Levi Kelly to the Rockies for OF Yanqui Fernandez. He's 25 and coming off a monster year at high-A, where admittedly he was old for the level, and he did struggle at AA. But he has serious power and could be a bit of a lottery ticket: He'll start the year at Montgomery. That leaves us with this Opening Day roster: C-Cartaya, Collins 1B-Crumpton 2B-Howard SS-W.Franco 3B-Scavone IF-Hoese, Marte OF-Kjerstad, Robles, Kirilloff, Aguilar DH-Greckel SP-Hays, Ryan, Ginn, Panzini, Cedeno LR-Cecconi, W.Romero MR-Gutierrez, Knack, K.Williams, Chamberlain SU-Megill, R.Oritz CL-Uehara Marte will be only on the roster while J.P. Crawford serves his 5-game suspension. As usual, the preseason picks don't think much of us:

04-28-2022, 03:54 PM	#620
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,578	April 3-5, 2028: vs Kansas City (3) April 3: Signed free agent LHP A.J. Minter to a 1-year, $1.5M deal; placed Minter on the 60-day IL. Minter's been one of the best lefty relievers over the years, but he's coming off a UCL tear and will be out the first half of the season. If his stuff's relatively intact, he'll be a bargain for the second half. Opening Day could have not gone any better, and here's the box score to prove it: James Hays picked up where he left off last season with another utterly dominant performance and the bats went wild. The only down note was that Alex Kirilloff tweaked his hamstring, and while the injury is "minimal" it's for 3 weeks and I'm just not going to fool around with a hamstring injury, so he'll go to the IL. Rookies Dominic Scavone and Diego Cartaya were impressive in their MLB debuts, and new boy Jose Aguilar, who had cup of coffee last year and will be playing everyday with Kirilloff out, blasted his first MLB longball. April 4: Placed OF Alex Kirilloff on the 10-day IL with a strained hamstring, recalled OF Brayden Jobert from AAA Durham. Jobert was one of the players we acquired from Colorado for Heliot Ramos a couple years ago and he had a big year at Durham, hitting 310/385/516 with 19 HR and 85 RBI, which earned him a spot on this year's 40-man roster. Game 2: Joe Ryan struggled in his return from a torn labrum late last season and put the Rays in a hole they couldn't quite climb out of as they fell just short to the Royals 5-4. Ryan (0-1) was 3.2 8 5 5 1 7 with a homer allowed; at least the 7 whiffs were encouraging. Wennington Romero held the fort with 3 1/3 scoreless and they nearly came all the way back thanks to Home Run Howard as Ed homered for the second straight day, a 3-run blast in the 8th, and then had an RBI double with 2 out in the 9th to cut it to one but Wander Franco flied out to end the game. Game 3: It was quite the thriller at the Trop as the Rays found themselves down 8-5 with 2 out in the bottom of the 9th despite banging out 17 hits. But hit #18 was a bases-clearing triple by Ed Howard, who now has a ridiculous 11 RBI through 3 games, and hit #19 came in the bottom of the 11th when Kelly Crumpton drilled his 2nd homer of the year to give the Rays a 9-8 walk-off win. Crumpton's dinger made a winner of Yasunari Uehara, who threw 2 scoreless innings in his season debut. The Rays got another rough start, this time from JT Ginn who went 4 6 5 5 3 6 with a homer allowed, and three relievers gave up runs. But the bats carried them on the day, with Crumpton capping a 4-hit, 2-RBI day with the homer and rookies Jose Aguilar and Dominic Scavone each banged out 3 hits. Team record: 2-1. Next up: 4 more at the Trop vs Toronto.