OOTP: May brings DFA of Ramirez, Sale struggles and draft class revealed

April showers bring May flowers, but what do May flowers bring? Pilgrims.  Thank you! Thank you! I’ll be here all night!

Now that I’ve got the joke out of the way, May is a rather down time in baseball. As far as trades and player movement goes, not much happens. Players generally know their role, the closer carousel figures itself out and the surprises of the season become the norm at this point.

It wasn’t surprising when the team started the month off 3-2. That moved us to 14-20 on the year. Still not ideal but a step in the right direction. I’m thoroughly impressed with David Price and Craig Kimbrel so far this season. Price sports a 4-3 at this point of the season and has pitched 46.2 innings in seven games with a 2.51 ERA. Batters are hitting .172 against him and he has a 0.75 WHIP. Kimbrel has seven saves to this point and has been lights out. In 11.2 innings, he has a 0.77 ERA (one earned run) and opponents are hitting .081 against him. The combo has been lights out and I’m loving it because I’m actually a huge David Price fan. When Price is going, he’s the key to the team winning the World Series. And with Chris Sale 1-4 with a 6.03 ERA, that’s the reason why the team is six games under .500.

When Tyler Thornburg came back on May 5, I designated Brian Johnson for assignment. Johnson just wasn’t doing it. He had a 6.20 ERA and a negative WAR. While the easiest option would have been to send Bobby Poyner back to Pawtucket, Poyner actually has a 2.57 ERA in seven innings with opponents batting .222 against him. He’s a better fit for the bullpen and it allows Steven Wright to move back to the rotation.

In case you were wondering, this was the top players in the draft class.

I’m not a huge believer in the top player projections. I go for more of the potential star ratings when drafting. I usually match the players that the game projects to reach five stars and my scout projects to reach five stars and draft those players. But the list is always handy to have by one’s side.

On May 7, I made one of the hardest decisions I had to make so far in my tenure. Dustin Pedroia came back from the disabled list. Fitting him onto my roster was kind of hard. I didn’t want to get rid of Brock Holt because of his positional flexibility and because he was hitting .284 with a positive WAR. I didn’t want to get rid of a guy like Blake Swihart or release a player with multiple years left on their contract (Mitch Moreland, Eduardo Nunez, etc.). So I released DFA’d Hanley Ramirez, who was hitting .154 in 14 games. Taking on another dead contract wasn’t ideal, but without positional flexibility and without giving any productivity, Ramirez had to go.

Halfway through the month, my team is 18-25 and 7-7 in the month of May. Good enough for fourth place in the American League East in front of the New York Yankees. I can pinpoint the exact reasons why the team is under achieving. Reason one is Chris Sale. He is 1-5 with a 6.23 ERA at this point. Hitters are hitting .322 against him with a 1.7 HR/9 rate. What’s interesting is his fielding independent pitching is 3.76, meaning he’s actually pitching great outside the defense around him. Secondly is Rick Porcel-blow, I mean Porcello. He’s 2-5 with a 6.39 ERA with opponents hitting .322 against him. His FIP is 6.76, meaning, his fielders are actually make him better, which seems hard to do because of how bad he currently is pitching. When combining two top tier and top paid pitchers performing badly with a team that is 13^th in the American League in runs scored and 14^th in home runs, that will cause a sub .500 team right there. No excuses, we just have to do better. Unfortunately, this is a computer game so I can’t give the players a pep talk or call a meeting.

On a small note, on May 16 after our 6-0 win against the Oakland A’s Joe Kelly went on the DL with a dead arm. I called up Roenis Elias again. In that game, Sale actually went six innings and gave up zero runs in the win. Make me eat my words Sale! Make me!

On May 28, I received an email from the league about Andrew McCutchen, who will miss an “indefinite amount of time” for “personal issues.” Quite the shame for the Giants because McCutchen had hit 12 home runs up until that point with 39 RBIs and a .298 batting average.

As for us, we ended the month on a three game losing streak. Our record is 26-31. Not good. On to June.

OOTP series: April 2018

Getting all literary, the start of the baseball season symbolizes rebirth, right? A new baseball season metaphorically represents life and death. It is an infant born in April, grows through the summer and eventually fades away in October. Well, according to Out of the Park Baseball, not so much.

On day one of the new job, I received an email from Major League Baseball. It’s the commissioner.

We are sad to inform the other teams of Major League Baseball that Jerry Reinsdorf, Owner of the Chicago White Sox has passed away. Reinsdorf will be missed throughout baseball. HIs son will take over the team.

Wow. Way to hit a new General Manager right in the heart on day one...

I mentioned this when beginning this endeavor. The game will sometimes simulate owners passing away. It makes for a realist experience, but I did think it weird that a death occurs right on the first day. The OOTP actually did something to fix this flaw.

New OOTP 19 Update Available (Version 19.5.49)!

- Added Import/Export functions to both the draft pool
- Tweaked down owner death rate & owner selling team rate
- Fixed independent league teams signing MLB-quality players
- And much more...

Full info @https://t.co/ALicMCqKat pic.twitter.com/7cjb8Bdtih

— Out of the Park Baseball (@ootpbaseball) April 25, 2018

The 2018 season actually started off on a good note for the team. The Red Sox won 4-1. Chris Sale pitched seven innings of one run baseball, striking out 11 and earning the win. Craig Kimbrel earned the save and Mookie Betts hit a double and had three RBIs in the win. 1-0 Red Sox.

The team left Tampa with a 1-3 record. To me, that record is a borderline fire-able offense for Alex Cora. Realistically, the Rays are one of the worst teams in the league and the new guy finds it acceptable to go 1-3 in the first series of the season? We want championships, not this garbage. Who does he think he is? Cora you’re...nevermind. The team heads to Miami and Roenis Elias is scheduled to start the first game. Ballsy move. Even more ballsy is the way Elias pitches. He throws 6 ⅓ innings, allowing six hits, one run, one walk, strikes out four and the team wins 6-2. Rafael Devers goes 2-for-4 with one home run and three RBIs. Bravo Cora...Bravo…

Bravo Manager Cora

I also get this message in my inbox:

Honestly, I’m impressed that Ichiro continues to defy logic and is playing baseball at 44 years old. I’m even more impressed that at his old age, Ichiro can hit .464 and even knock a ball out of the park. As the kids say, that's lit. I also get InMail of the MLB power rankings. The team ranked 21st. Basically ninth worst in baseball (checked the math twice. I'm a writer not a mather). When I first saw this, I thought, Who the eff do these people think they are? I understand my team is 3-6 to start the year, but four of my starters currently have a .300 or better batting average in the first 11 games. Sale has a 2.77 ERA, Price 1.38 ERA and Elias 1.42 ERA. Numbers don't lie people!

Eleven games in, I also picked up that Cora has been starting Brock Holt at second base, Mitch Moreland at first base and J.D. Martinez at DH. That means Hanley Ramirez and Eduardo Nunez are delegated to the bench. I find that an interesting move solely because of how well the two have played so far in real life. But I went through the stats and rationalized that Ramirez is a two star player and Nunez 2 ½ starts. In OOTP terms, if a player has three starts, they are generally good enough for a starting role on a Major league roster. Four stars means a player is above average. Five stars and that player is generally an all-star. Ramirez also started the year 0-14 at the plate and Nunez has played in only one game, so that backs up Cora's decision a little.

When Eduardo Rodriguez and Drew Pomeranz come back from the disabled list, I actually sent Hector Velazquez and Brandon Workman to Pawtucket. Both had not met my standards. Workman had a 5.40 ERA and Velazquez lost his only start and sported a negative Wins Above Replacement (WAR). With Elias pitching as well as he had, I fell I had to keep him, giving me a rotation of four lefties. I liked that, but it didn’t last long.

Three innings, six hits and five runs doesn't cut it for the Red Sox. That, and with Brian Johnson returning from the DL, I elected to send Elias back to Pawtucket. Elias is also a ½ star player, compared to Johnson’s two starts, so I went with the stars over everything..

Half-way through the month, I’m honestly pretty furious with the way my team has played to this point of the season. The team is 6-9 and basically last in every category.

I mean, I guess you can say sixth isn’t bad, but a wise man once told me if you’re not first, you’re last. If I’m not making every other team look like they're playing little league around these joints, I’m not happy. I actually thought about trying to trade for a pitcher because I don’t like the bottom half of my rotation, but I elected to not get too rash. I’m a GM, not a scratch ticket gambler.

Four days later and the game makes me eat my words. Rodriguez goes down with a torn rotator cuff, sidelining him for 11 months. I have Steven Wright five days away from returning from the DL, so instead of trying to trade for someone, I decided to call up Elias again and wait out for Wright. I’m also 9-14 and in last place in the American League East at this moment and honestly, I’m pretty frustrated with my team already, especially my pitching. It’s not like they’re bad, they’re top 10 in ERA, runs against and fifth in bullpen ERA. we’re just not winning games. I hate losing.

I finish the month with a 4-2 loss to the Kansas City Royals. Porcello goes six innings of four hit baseball, allowing three runs and striking out five. Our bats just can’t get anything together. Not a single starter is hitting over .280. The team is 11-18 and in last in the AL East. Surprisingly, the Toronto Blue Jays are in first place in the East with a 22-8 record. The Rays are in second with a 20-8 record.
Honestly, April didn’t go the way I wanted it to. Sale ended the month 1-3 with a 6.14 ERA. That blows. Kimbrel is sporting a 0.93 ERA though, which I love. But overall, not a good month. I can hear sports radio now. “This kid blows! Go pound sand Lewis! He’s too young, he’s bound to make these kinds of mistakes!” To that I say:

We’re on to May.