rawlsian

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    rawlsian got a reaction from Chris in Philadelphia Phillies Dynasty   
    BETTER BULLPEN? PHILLIES PURSUING DOTEL, FELICIANO BEFORE SEASON OPENER

    ESPN’s Buster Olney reported on Twitter that the Phillies are nearing a deal with free agent relievers Octavio Dotel and Pedro Feliciano. In 2013, the pair combined to throw 15 major league innings as they each struggled to come back from injury. Prior to their injuries however, both Dotel and Feliciano were serviceable bullpen arms—if not elite—and should drastically improve a hurting Phillies’ bullpen if they can return to their career norms.

    However, I suspect that this deal is not about improving Philadelphia’s chances at contending in 2014. Instead, I suspect that the Phillies want to give Dotel and Feliciano each a chance to show that they are both good relief pitchers and may be able to offer something to a contending team during the hunt in August and September. In other words, it seems to me as if they are being brought in to be flipped for prospects near the non-waiver trade deadline at the end of July. If so, what can the Phillies expect to get in return for Dotel and Feliciano?

    Back in 2010, the Pittsburgh Pirates traded Octavio Dotel to the Los Angeles Dodgers for two players: SP James McDonald and OF/1B Andrew Lambo. James McDonald became one of Pittsburgh’s more respectable starters that year, as he mustered up a 2.84 FIP in 64 innings for Pennsylvania’s other baseball team. In other words, he showed a lot of promise until injuries derailed the starter’s career. Is it realistic to expect the Phillies to receive the next James McDonald for Octavio Dotel at the deadline? No—but MLB teams have a history of overpaying in prospects for relief help at the trade deadline. Assuming that this trend holds in 2014, then the Phillies should be able to pick up valuable pieces for both Feliciano and Dotel, which will definitely help this franchise reinvigorate its failing farm system.

    Yet, this all seems too far away; as you are aware, the trade deadline is another four months away. A lot can go wrong—players can get injured or not perform—and even the best plan on paper can go up in flames. Thus, it seems best to focus more on the impact that this trade has on the Phillies now than what it may do for the team four months from now. That is, who will Dotel and Feliciano replace on the 25 man roster, and do they represent significant upgrades over either of those player?

    To answer the first part, it is expected that the Phillies will send RHP Brad Lincoln and LHP Cesar Jimenez down to make room for Dotel and Feliciano respectively. Lincoln, acquired during the off-season from Toronto, is 28-years-old and has two option years remaining. While his arsenal features a plus changeup, his other offerings are just average, so he has not had much success as either a starter or a reliever. Like Lincoln, Cesar Jimenez has not had much success throughout his major league career. Unlike Lincoln though, Jimenez does not have a plus pitch to turn to get himself out of a jam. This made it likely that Jimenez would have found himself in the mop-up role in 2014. Are these descriptions of Lincoln and Jimenez exciting you? No? I thought so. That’s why signing both Dotel and Feliciano is so important—worst case scenario with them is still better than best case scenario Lincoln and Jimenez.
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    rawlsian got a reaction from Chris in Philadelphia Phillies Dynasty   
    QUICK TO ACT: NEW GM CLEANS HOUSE, HIRES OWN MAN


     
    Nicholas Hoff wasted no time in making his presence felt around the Phillies front office, as he announced the firing of Director of Scouting Marti Wolever. The casual fan may not know much about Wolever, but the learned fan is very familiar with the Scouting Director’s work as he is the man responsible for drafting Cole Hamels, Ryan Howard, and Kyle Kendrick, along with several other established big league players in other organizations.
     
    “It’s a major blow to the organization,” said an anonymous source. “Marti was a great guy, liked by everyone, and real good at his job too.” When asked why Hoff thought it necessary to fire someone well regarded by most in the Phillies organization and across Major League Baseball, Hoff declined to comment. Instead, he chose to announce that Wolever’s replacement had already signed a contract and that nothing would slip through the cracks during the transition from one Director of Scouting to the next.
     
    Replacing Wolever is former Orioles’ General Manager Andy MacPhail. MacPhail, 60, is up there in age but many still consider him one of the wiser minds in the game. While the Orioles never achieved much under his watch, many of Baltimore’s core players acquired under MacPhail’s leadership, including Chris Davis and Adam Jones. “He’s a good choice,” said an anonymous AL executive that previously worked with MacPhail. “When he came into Baltimore, he said, “Okay, we need to stop patching this roster. Let’s start developing our own guys.” It took time, but Baltimore’s now reaping the rewards of his labor.”
     
    That same executive remarked that the Orioles, when they first hired MacPhail, were in a similar position to the one the Phillies are now. In fact, he said, bringing in MacPhail is about his player evaluation skills as much as it is about experience. “You cannot dig the Phillies out of their hole overnight, so to get someone on your side that’s done it before is a big plus.”
     
    How does MacPhail stack up compared to Wolever? First, they have different philosophies when it comes to selecting players. Wolever prefers 'toolsy' players, like Cole Hamels, whereas MacPhail prefers players with lower ceilings but higher floors. In other words, MacPhail would rather take a sure Major Leaguer than the guy who may wake up one day hitting like Mike Schmidt or never wake up at all. Moreover, MacPhail is better at evaluating present-day big league talent and players in the minors than Wolever is according to the sources I interviewed.
     
    In summary, while the Phillies fired one of their most-beloved executives, they replaced him with someone that brings just as much, if not more, to the table. Not only that but the hiring of MacPhail also shows that the front office is embracing a new philosophy. What that philosophy is, and how successful it will be, we do not know. But we should be patient. In Hoff We Trust.
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    rawlsian got a reaction from Chris in Philadelphia Phillies Dynasty   
    To The Reader

    At best, I am a casual observer of Major League Baseball. I follow one team, and I really do not care about the rest. However, the Philadelphia Phillies have always interested me. Back in 2008, the talent that the Phillies had developed and accumulated during their World Series run impressed me. With names like Cole Hamels, Chase Utley, Shane Victorino, Jimmy Rollins, and Ryan Howard, it seemed like the sky was the limit for Philadelphia and they were on the precipice of becoming one of baseball's storied dynasties.

    Unfortunately, the Phillies never lived up to what I thought was there potential. Like I said though, I really only follow one team -- not the Phillies -- so I am not quite sure what went wrong. However, I do know that Ruben Amaro Jr. is not the best General Manager in baseball. From what I can gather, it is as-if he brought too deeply into the "playoff window theory," and mortgaged his team's future in order to improve their chances at making, and winning, the World Series. In some ways, it seems as though the Philadelphia Phillies and the Boston Red Sox took the same path -- feeding what Theo Epstein called the "Monster" -- and both turned up empty-handed.

    Ben Cherington’s tenure at the helm of the Boston Red Sox, particularly after the famous Dodgers trade involving Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett, and Nick Punto, has focused primarily on redeveloping Boston’s prospect pipeline that historically brought them much success. It is not hard to imagine 2007 and 2013 never happening if the Red Sox had not developed the likes of Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, and Jon Lester. In many ways, I hope that fictional GM Nicholas (Nick) Hoff can do for the Phillies what Ben Cherington did for the Red Sox.

    That’s enough about the direction that I plan to take dynasty for now. It’s time to write about how I plan on doing updates, etc. I will be covering the team as a journalist named John Rawls (of no relation to the philosopher of the same name). Periodically, I will do sit-down interviews with Nicholas Hoff where he will give his thoughts on the team. Otherwise, everything written will be from Rawls’ perspective. Since I find it difficult to multi-task and follow more than one team, Rawls’ writing will focus exclusively on the Phillies. If you want to know about another team in the league, then ask about them. I will be more than happy to oblige your request. Otherwise, the standings and/or league leaders will hardly receive attention.

    Moreover, I also plan to take advantage of OOTP 15’s game sound and experimental text-to-speech feature so I can watch (and listen) to every game as it unfolds. While I will set the team’s lineup and strategy, I will never take control of the team or attempt to manipulate a game’s results by abusing the take pitch function, etc. My hope is that doing this will immerse me in the league to the to the point where I feel like a fan (or beat-writer) of an individual team.

    I think that covers everything that I wanted to cover. Game settings, for the most part, remain unchanged. I did enable a posting fee for the Korean and Cuban international leagues as well as disable the generation of established international free agents. Other than that, I cannot think of any noteworthy changes that impact gameplay. Anyways, let this be the beginning of a wonderful dynasty and good fortune for the OOTP 15 Philadelphia Phillies!
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    rawlsian got a reaction from Chris in Howdy [rawlsian]   
    My username is Rawlsian, and I am an OOTP player. I just started a dynasty on the Phillies here at GMGames. This is my first time ever doing a dynasty, so I would appreciate it if some of you more seasoned dynasty writers and readers could give me some helpful tips as I progress.