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Subject: R2- Season 4 Posted by: Dev - [78351010] Sun, Sep 10, 11:44 Well talk is certainly dying but the competition isn't. Jaysude, Milo and Toral have left our division but the mighty Dodgers roll on. This season should be interesting. Here is my team by team run down and then Predictions. Dodgers- They start off the season 4-0. The Mets felt the full power of this all star lineup. The Dodgers scored 31 runs in four games. They did give up 10 runs in the first to games before settling down. Although they lost a few excellent players they are still extremely talented, looking at the roster you would think they gained a few all stars. Giants- Giants are the third best team in the NL West. They also happen to be the third best in the NL. Unfortunate that they have to contend with the Dodgers and Padres. Anything can happen in a 64 game season though. Don't be to surprised if they are in the playoffs. Playing them is hardly getting off easy. The Giants did start off 4-0 though. Giants have done a great job going from bad to good. Used to only be able to beat my 'Stros (perennial basement favorites) now they can play with the big boys. Padres- Padres are a very good team. Arguably Second best in R2 in fact. They might be able to win WS if they could make the playoffs. If they can hang with the Dodgers until late in the season they might be able to pull something off. Astros- My 'Stros were by far the worst team talent wise when we started. The Astros are now one of the better teams in R2. Lineup is solid but won't kill you. Pitching is decent all the way through. Could play spoiler near the end. A trade or two could put them in contention. The Astros do have an excellent farm system. Probably best in R2 although I haven't looked to hard. 10 star pitchers are shut off the Top Prospects list and some very good young hitters A-AAA. NL West recap: Very competitive divsion. Teams in this divsion will haave the hardest schedules. All teams have good hitting so pitching will be the deciding factor. Predictions: Dodgers 48-16 Padres 45-19 Giants 40-24 Astros 39-25 I will do the other divisions soon, maybe later today. If someone in one of the other divsions wants to do there divsion I am sure they will know it better. Good Luck this year. | ||||||
| 1 | Big Poo Generator ID: 57844423 Sun, Sep 10, 22:49 |
Good predictions there. I think my Padres will have to get pretty lucky to make it to 45 wins. But our division is clearly the strongest. The Dodgers are still going to be the favorites for the next 2-3 seasons. Looks like the White Sox ended up with most of the northern leaguers this time. There were a lot of great prospects. They must have gone for a lot, because I bid over 2 million for a couple of them. The White Sox also spent a ton on free agents - he must have been hoarding money for a few years. | |||||
| 2 | 30something deac ID: 44447319 Sun, Sep 10, 23:20 |
Dev, I think your predictions are good as well. I do differ with one assessment of the West in that I believe my Giants are due to finish in the basement of the West this season. Partly because my pitching is a bit suspect and I just lost Monahan, who has been a stellar performer, to a knee injury suffered during the Padre series for the next eight games. Big Poo, speaking of the Padre series, how about game number 2. What an epic!! I guess the 15th inning was just too much pressure for new AAA callup Espinal. The White Sox did spend a lot on those Northern Leaguers. I bid several million on Javier ($2.5M) and Zosky ($4M). Hopefully the NL West will continue to be R2's version of the Black and Blue division. Though the AL East is pretty tough as well. | |||||
| 3 | Big Poo Generator ID: 57844423 Mon, Sep 11, 15:43 |
That was a great game. I was "watching" it and I was sure you would win when I kept failing to score. Levan, my worst reliever, hung in there for 5 shutout innings. My only hope to stay with the Dodgers is to keep getting lucky in the close games. Looking at the farm systems, I think that our division will be dominant for several years. Every team in our division has a good farm. I really underestimated how much those northern leaguers would go for in blind bidding. My top bid was 2.25 million for a couple of guys, and I thought that was on the high side for a 24 year old who may or may not reach his potential by age 30. | |||||
| 4 | Dev ID: 78431116 Mon, Sep 11, 16:46 |
Check out the Free Agents the White Sox got also. They got like 7 of the top FAs. Most are signed to 1 year contracts. They are definitely looking to win it this year. I lost 3 of 4 to the Dodgers. I have lots of extra pitching. If someone needs a SP or RP let me know, I am willing to give them up cheap. | |||||
| 5 | Big Poo Generator ID: 57844423 Mon, Sep 11, 23:35 | I just had an amazing sweep of the Braves. Won game 1 5-4 after trailing 4-3 in the 8th; won game 2 7-6 after trailing 6-5 in the 12th; won game 3 with a run in the 9th. Still, I'm only tied with the Dodgers at 10-2. | |||||
| 6 | Dev ID: 518261420 Thu, Sep 14, 20:57 | I am working on the team rundowns but I don't have as much time and it's going slow. Is it worth it to do them? If you like them I will keep working if not I will ditch it. I am doing the AL West now, maybe someone else could either do a rundown for a certain division or give season updates for a certain division. Since we have lots of gurupies in the NL West I will take another division. If JKaye/Pschyo Joe post maybe they could do their divisions if not then I will. | |||||
| 7 | Big Poo Generator ID: 57844423 Thu, Sep 14, 23:44 |
I'll do the most depressing rundown: the NL East. This division has become really really awful. (Sorry if this sounds harsh, but it's true.) Cardinals: The Cards are clearly the class of the division right now. They have a solid lineup, and some pretty good pitchers. Caraccioli is a very good closer. But I don't think they have the pitching depth to win it all. I also wonder if they will have enough run-scoring ability when the new sim starts this weekend, as they really only have one player with a high HR rating (Kent, who he apparently wants to trade). They have a some good prospects but their farm system is not very deep. If I were them, I'd be trying to win this year. Braves: They appear to be in trouble. They are doing the right thing by trying to trade their big hitters for prospects; if they make the right moves they could be OK in a few seasons. Currently their farm system is totally barren. Mets: I don't know what's going on with them. They have some hitters with good HR ratings that could do great with the new sim. They also have some pretty good pitchers. With some luck they could make it to .500 this year. Yet the manager seems determined to run the team into the ground. Pedro Martinez used to be one of the best pitchers in the league. For some reason he got sent down to the minors; now he's sitting on the bench and his ratings have plummetted. Their roster is full of players who don't belong in the majors. And they have no farm system. (Side note on the Mets. I tried a number of times to trade for Bluma last year, offering 2 good ML players and prospects, but no dice. Instead, they let him go for nothing as a free agent. They've essentially lost 2 great pitchers, Bluma and Martinez, for no reason. And as you may remember, they sent out an email begging someone to trade for Bluma AFTER the trade deadline had passed! This is a franchise in trouble!) Cubs: No good players on the roster. The new sim may make a few of their players more valuable, but not by much. They have lots of so-so prospects in the minors; if they get lucky, a few of them may pan out. They have nothing to offer in trade, so they will have to improve through the draft and free agency. Anyway, no offense to anyone, and for the sake of our league I hope things turn around for the NL East. | |||||
| 8 | 30something deac ID: 44447319 Fri, Sep 15, 13:03 |
Nice work BPG. It seems the biggest reason for the NL East misery, aside from the Cardinals, in that division and also for a couple of teams in the AL has been inconsistent ownership. The Mets, Cubs and Braves (since Twarpy departed) have gone through a few different owners. I know that when we first got our league started our division, not including the Dodgers, was very weak. Fortunately we (you, Dev and I) gutted out the lean times for our teams...made some cuts where we needed to, had decent or above average drafts, traded valuable stud veteran players (and those not necessarily at the retirement age) for prospects, and finally made a free agent acquisition or two along the way. And I really don't believe we spent all day at our PC's doing this. Now our division is closer in terms of talent and its a blast. Every series within our division is pretty close. The thing I wish our entire league had was more of this "stick with it" attitude, instead of this fly-by-night ownership. The competition would be better and it would make for a great season from an enjoyment standpoint for all 16 teams. Just my .02 | |||||
| 9 | Dev ID: 28831519 Fri, Sep 15, 19:03 |
The Padres are starting to run away. Now five games ahead of the Dodgers. I always said they were great, every year I am surprised the race isn't closer. All teams are over .500 after my sweep of the Cubs. I play them next series which could be trouble for me. As for how bad our divsion was in the beggining it was sad. My team had no farm system and not 1 guy that belonged in the majors other than Petrick, later I traded for Tal Light who has been great. The only way I won was because I put my best pitchers against the other teams worst every series and I would occasionally steal a game or two. Personlly I think it's a lot of fun going from nothing and trying to fight back. I think I have built a pretty good team and I have a very strong farm system. BTW, Does anyone else think it's anoyying that a few teams keep switching owners so you can't trade with those teams. The Red Sox have a great team but the owner doesn't do anything so I guess the good guys aren't being played. I made a few offers for some of those guys but haven't gotten a response. | |||||
| 10 | Dev ID: 59881521 Fri, Sep 15, 21:09 | If anyone needs a 2nd Basemen or Shortstop I would be willing to trade. It doesn't really matter what postion if they are a prospect or MLB as long as they are good. If they are MLB I would want hitters unless they are really good and I doubt anyone is giving up great pitching right now. | |||||
| 11 | Big Poo Generator ID: 57844423 Fri, Sep 15, 23:53 |
Our division has definitely improved, although I actually started out with a good team. I had ARod, Durham, Osborne and some other good players when we started. I also had some good prospects. My stars underperformed the first season, then I lost Durham and Arod and lost a lot of ground to the Dodgers. Now I'm finally getting some payback! The race should get closer eventually; I just finished beating up on the lowly Cubs and Mets, which accounts for my big lead. It would be nice if some of the teams would get stable ownership. I've been trying to make some trades too, and not getting any responses. Hopefully at some point those teams will get owners who will start figuring things out. When we first started it took me a while to figure out which players were worth having. The new owners are still in that stage, but most of them are don't seem interested enough to learn. | |||||
| 12 | Dev ID: 35861818 Mon, Sep 18, 18:06 |
Wow I swept the Padres. They were four great games though. That brings the division a lot closer. Four teams within four games. We are playing the NL West today so I bet everyone will come out at least even. Probably a sweep or two though. 3 more series of league games so there is still time for movement in the standings. It's much easier to gain/lose ground in the divsion games. The installment of the new sim was pushed back to Tuesday so last nights games were with the old sim. | |||||
| 13 | Big Poo Generator ID: 57844423 Mon, Sep 18, 23:22 | I can't believe you swept me. My closer was injured and his replacement blew two saves. The division is really close now - Astros have won 12 in a row! | |||||
| 14 | Eustacio ID: 1485810 Tue, Sep 19, 17:09 |
Just to let you guys know that I just signed up for another team and I got the Red Sox here in R2. As soon as I can respond to trade offers and such, I'll get back to all of those who have done so. I'm looking forward to the competition. Eustacio | |||||
| 15 | 30something deac ID: 44447319 Tue, Sep 19, 19:46 |
Welcome aboard! Good to have you in the league. If you had joined the league about a week ago you would have had a team in the Red Sox with great veterans. Unfortunately, the previous owner(s) bankrupted the team and a lot of those guys just got sold off. | |||||
| 16 | Dev ID: 32851920 Tue, Sep 19, 20:05 |
Great to have another manager that will stay around. Hopefully you can liven up the talk. The other R2 gurupies have bailed on our thread. I took 3 of 4 from the Red Sox ending my streak at 13 games. The new sim didn't seem to do much. The Red Sox scored 18 runs in the first three games before I blanked them. I had 30 for the series. That's more than 7 runs per game! The Red Sox staff is not as good as before because of bankruptcy but my staff is good and 6 runs per game is a lot. | |||||
| 17 | Eustacio ID: 51729258 Tue, Sep 19, 20:23 |
I saw the Waiver Wire action with this team. When I saw the financial statement when I first picked up this team today before the sim, I saw I had a -520+ million balance that had been fixed with the selling of players. I'm still waiting for control of the team, but I've got a few plans for it; mainly moving towards a youth movement. Thus, players like Clemens will be up for trade. Oh, and I stopped the Astros' win streak at 13 games before they won the final 2 from me. | |||||
| 18 | Dev ID: 32851920 Tue, Sep 19, 20:44 | Eustacio- the new sim was non-existant in our series. Pitchers were worse not better. | |||||
| 19 | Eustacio ID: 51729258 Tue, Sep 19, 20:51 | Ahh. Strange, because I know it was in effect for a few of my leagues tonight (4 HR for one of my teams tonight). | |||||
| 20 | Big Poo Generator ID: 57844423 Tue, Sep 19, 22:57 |
I didn't notice any difference with the new sim either. Very few HR in my series and my ace pitchers didn't do very well. Glad to see someone is taking control of the Red Sox! What happened there? When I logged in a couple of days ago, every single player on that team was on waivers. Then yesterday, all the new players that got called up to replace the guys on waivers were themselves put on waivers. Then today those players were put back, along with some of the players originally waived (such as Clemens). Is this what happens when a team goes bankrupt? I thought that the highest-paid players were auctioned off first. | |||||
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