If you'd like to catch up on previous installments, you can do so here: Initial Setup, 2020 Season Report, 2021 Season Report, 2022 Season Report, 2023 Season Report
Let's take a look at the award winners from 2023 to wrap that year up and then get into the moves made and the season recap for 2024!

2023 Offseason News

League News:

Scott Oberg wins the AL Reliever of the Year award, Detroit's Drew Carlton received votes. In the NL, Miami's Thomas Burrows wins the award.
1B Diego Maicon powers his way to the AL Rookie of the Year with 43 homeruns while SS Nasim Nunez's 30 stolen bases helps him take the NL trophy.
Detroit's Casey Mize takes home the AL Cy Young Award, receiving all 32 first place votes. San Diego's Luis Patino was the NL's best offering and wins the award.
Houston's Kyle Tucker unseats Mike Trout as the AL MVP with a stellar season for the Astros. In the NL, Cody Bellinger wins his third straight MVP and 4th in the last 5 years.

Detroit Achievements:

Ke'Bryan Hayes wins his first Gold Glove at 2B.
SP Casey Mize wins the AL Cy Young Award!

Offseason Transactions

Owner gave us a $4,000,000 budget increase, but we have some solid players coming off of minimums, so our scouting and development budgets will be going down from their max.
League News:

1B Matt Olson signs with the San Francisco Giants for $212,600,000 over 7 years.
Reliever of the Year Scott Oberg, along with SP Carmen Mlodzinksi and $2,000,000 in cash are dealt to the Rockies for CF Garret Mitchell.
The Chicago Cubs and White Sox complete a cross-town deal with RF Nomar Mazara going to the Cubs and SP Will Mercer and 2B Ryan Bliss going to the White Sox.
Chicago Cubs sign SP Jose Quintana for $72,000,000 over 4 years.
SP Luke Weaver is sent to the Rockies for a package of 3 prospects.
Chicago Cubs sign SP Kyle Hendricks for $82,000,000 over 5 years.
NPB star SS Hayato Sakamoto signs with the Texas Rangers for 4 years, $52,400,000.
SP Noah Syndergaard is sent to the Cincinnati Reds for a package of 3 prospects.
SP Blake Snell nets $18,800,000 a year for the next 5 seasons with the Boston Red Sox.
1B Max Muncy gets $82,000,000 over 4 years to head cross-town to the Angels.
3B Miguel Andujar signs with the Marlins for $10,000,000 a year for 4 years.
The Giants pay SP Carlos Martinez $16,500,000 a year for the next 4 seasons.
Kyle Schwarber nets $19,142,857 a year for the next 7 years with the Houston Astros.
Cleveland Indians sign SP Dinelson Lamet to a 2 year deal worth $53,400,000.
Max Kepler is signed by the Washington Nationals for 5 years at $92,900,000.
No one is elected to the Hall of Fame. Gary Sheffield (40.1%/10th year) is removed from the ballot.

Detroit Departures:

RP Bryan Garcia
CF Albert Almora Jr.

Detroit Trades:
Trade #1 Detroit receives: 2B Marcus Chiu, RP Jack Little Los Angeles receives: RP Junior Fernandez, RP Brendan White
Fernandez didn't seem like he was going to make it back to the majors and was available as an auto-renew for 1M+, so I moved him for another reliever that I can take a chance on and a 2B prospect that looks ready for AAA and gives me some infield depth.
Trade #2 Detroit receives: RF Ismael Mena, 2B Jordy Barley, $750,000 San Diego receives: SS Vidal Brujan
Brujan wasn't very good for us last year and was super pissed about not being an everyday starter. I can't offer him that, but the Padres were willing to part with a decent middle infielder who will play in AAA and a RF prospect that I'm really excited to be adding to the team in Mena, with great personality traits.
Trade #3 Detroit receives: 3B Jordan Diaz Oakland receives: RP Blake Taylor
Taylor wasn't going to stick with the team after a down season and some regression, but Diaz looks like a solid piece for the future. He's 23, cost-controlled and already has a nice hitting profile. He'll start in AAA likely.
Detroit Additions:
OF Jairo Pomares - He was on the waiver wire to end the season and looks like a more than capable hitter. He's young and on a minimum, so I figured I'd take a flier on him.

Spring Training

We have $17,600,000 available for free agents/trades for the season, $12,000,000 set aside for the draft and $5,400,000 set aside for international amateurs. We're spending the maximum allowed on development again this year.
We used the spring to have Castro play 2B and Gold Glover Ke'Bryan Hayes play SS.
Detroits News:

SP Matt Manning tore a back muscle and will miss four months.
RP David McKay tears his rotator cuff and will miss 6 months.

Regular Season

First Half
We take an Opening Day win behind a nice outing from Casey Mize and hope to continue that momentum. We're projected to win 99 games and have three top pitchers, but I have my doubts - especially with Manning missing significant time. I normally don't note much about the second game, but it was Kumar Rocker's first start and he was stellar - 8 and a third innings, 1 run and 7 strikeouts - a good look for the rookie.
As we roll into May we sit at 18-14, five games back of the unstoppable Cleveland Indians. We started 5-0, but we've had some down stops as well. At 32-28 on June 1st, the team is now seven games back of the Indians and three games back of the wild card. We need some help. Sandy Alcantara goes back into the rotation, replacing a struggling Justin Dunn, while bullpen roles get shifted as well. Ke'Bryan Hayes has been incredibly unlucky at the plate with a .222 BABIP, resulting in a .187 batting average. We'll give him another month to sort it out, but we move Evan White to CF and bring Riley Greene into the starting lineup to spell a struggling Parker Meadows. We bring up Jonathan Bowlan and David Parkinson, sending down Alex Lange and Drew Carlton to AAA.
2024 Draft
Another low pick for us, this year we spend the 27th on SP Doug Wade in the 1st round. We double-down on pitching in the 2nd with Kevin Abbs. We grab a SS that looks like a future gold glover in the third in Jeff Allemand. Left fielder Mike Gode is next on the merit of his bat. In the fifth it's center fielder Jim Longchamps with a stellar combo of speed and defense. We like the next picks of SS Ben Barilla, CF Mike Voytko and CF Kevin Devaney as well.
We limped into the All-Star break with a record of 38-37. Matt Manning returns from injury though, and hopefully it's a much-needed shot in the arm. It seems to work as the team goes on a winning streak to finish June, landing 1st in the Wild Card at 46-40 (yet still 9 back of the surging Indians).
July would prove to be a turning point for us as we secured series wins against the Mariners, Rays (swept), White Sox (swept), Rangers, Blue Jays (swept) and Angels en route to a showdown with the Indians to close the month. That showing put us 3 games up on the wild card, but still 7 back of Cleveland. We take one from them, but they prove to be too much, winning two to end the month.
Second Half
August is a new month though, and we kick it off with series wins against the Athletics and Twins, but then get swept by the Yankees. We sweep the Royals and win a series against the Steelhounds to sandwich a series loss to the Orioles and head into roster expansion. We send down David Parkinson and bring up RP Ethan DeCaster, CF Jairo Pomares and 1B Bryant Packard.
We roll into September, securing wins against a number of top teams. On September 14th we lose RP Jack Little for four months, but also clinch a playoff spot. We sit three games back of Cleveland with a chance at a division title and a series against them. We take game one handily, but draw their ace in game two against our back-half and fall by one. Mize carries us to a 2-1 win in game three though to win the series and put us just two games back three games left, giving us an outside shot. We take a game against the Athletics and the Indians drop one to the Angels to move us one game back. Another huge win against the Athletics, coupled with a Cleveland loss and we sit tied heading into game 162. We control our destiny and can force a tiebreaker!
Unfortunately, there are no last game heroics - the Athletics steal one from us and the Indians prevail, we'll take the top wild card spot.

Playoffs

We've secured a wild card berth one again, this time against the Athletics - who put us there with a win in Game 162. We have Casey Mize on the mound and it's a game we should win - we were probably the third best team in the AL, but the Indians control our division.
Wild Card - Game 1 - Tigers defeat Athletics, 9-5 We've finally advanced past the wild card round in my tenure! Mize gets hit later in the game, but we pretty much control this one wire to wire and now must face the Rays, a team we were 8-4 against during the regular season.
Division Series - Game 1 - Rays defeat Tigers, 7-6 We jump to a 6-0 lead and then crumble the rest of the way. The bullpen really didn't do too bad, just couldn't get another run on offense. If we score six, we should be winning.
Division Series - Game 2 - Tigers defeat Rays, 6-5 So I guess we're having only close games. This time it's us that had to battle back throughout the game to score, but we did it. We need better outings from the rotation.
Division Series - Game 3 - Rays defeat Tigers, 7-4 Well, we aren't getting good outings from our good pitching staff, which is irritating. The Rays blast us for 7 runs in the first three innings and we can't recover. We're on the ropes now, let's see what we're made of.
Division Series - Game 4 - Tigers defeat Rays, 4-1 Finally we get an elite performance. Mize showed up, holding them to one run over nearly 8 innings and the bullpen shut the door for us. We've got Rocker on the mound in Game 5 against Glasnow, their ace, so it'll be a high pressure situation for the rookie.
Division Series - Game 5 - Tigers defeat Rays, 6-4 We pulled it off! Rocker gave us 6 innings of quality work, only allowing 2 runs. Zach Hess got rocked in relief, but De Geus and Short shut it down after that. We got on Glasnow early and chased him before he could complete 5 innings and maintained he lead all the way! Willy Adames of the Rays was named series MVP.
The bad news for us is that the Indians swept the Angels in their series and they'll be our opponent in the League Championship Series. We were 5-7 against them during the season. Their lineup is strong, particularly the Lindor-Ramirez-Aquino-Casas gauntlet that sits from #2-#5 in the order. Their pitching is even better though, with the league's lowest FIP and best bullpen ERA, which helped them to the second fewest runs against. Shane Bieber had a down year, but he's still Shane Bieber - but Daniel Espino and Dinelson Lamet give them a fearsome three-headed monster. This will be tough to unseat the defending champs.
League Championship Series - Game 1 - Tigers defeat Indians, 3-2 A HUGE road win against Bieber off of Castro's two-run dinger in the 8th inning. Bieber was stellar, but we happened to get ahold of Edwin Diaz, which is also surprising. Manning was decent and our bullpen was stellar. I'm pumped to steal one in Cleveland.
League Championship Series - Game 2 - Indians defeat Tigers, 6-5 This was about as close as it can get throughout - we kept answering each other at the plate until we finally failed to do so. It's a shame to chase Espino so early and still lose with Mize on the mound, but I'm still glad to have one win already.
League Championship Series - Game 3 - Indians defeat Tigers, 4-1 Yeah, Lamet held us in check and their bullpen was stellar. Skubal was unfortunate, giving up three runs with only one of them being earned. It particularly hurts because the error was by Ke'Bryan Hayes, last season's gold glove winner. We need to bounce back in Game 4.
League Championship Series - Game 4 - Indians defeat Tigers, 7-6 (13) Well, that hurts. We got a serviceable outing from Rocker and got on Plesac early - we got some runs on Edwin Diaz again too, but the rest of their bullpen was untouchable. Ours, on the other hand, all gave up runs except for Zach Hess. Tough. We battled, but this road is now an incredibly uphill one.
League Championship Series - Game 5 - Indians defeat Tigers, 4-2 Manning got blown up and Bieber continues having a strong postseason - he seems to have caught fire at the right time for them. We have a lot to take from this series and feel good about going forward, but I'm starting to really dislike Cleveland. Their reign needs to end.
World Series Well, the Giants draw the appearance for the National League and get off to a 3-0 start. But Cleveland, they aren't killable are they? No, no they are not. They came back. They won the dang thing. The Cleveland Indians repeat as MLB Champions.
Detroit Achievements

SP Casey Mize is named an All-Star
2B Willi Castro is named an All-Star starter
3B Isaac Paredes is named an All-Star
RF Yaya Chentouf is named an All-Star
SP Justin Powell, C Dale Burton and SS Trevor Haskins are named to the All-Prospects Game - Haskins wins MVP.

Season Recap

My division nemesis wins the World Series after sending us home. I dislike this. We had a great season though with our best win total of my tenure and had he most cost efficient team per wins, runs scored and WAR in the league. We became a top 10 team in attendance and our player's popularity is growing. Our owner wants us to upgrade at short stop - so I guess he doesn't like the Castro/Hayes swap - so we make take a look at that once again. Spoiler alert - we got a budget increase, so maybe we'll spend it. Who knows.

Hitters

Starting Lineup
CF Parker Meadows
Meadows ended up going to the bench instead of an everyday starter as his bat just wasn't there like it was last year. He's a quality fielder and baserunner and makes the minimum, so he'll be back - but he may not have a clear role on the team in the future.
DH Kyle Isbel
Isbel ended up much lower in the order during the season and his bat just wasn't good enough for a DH role. My scout thinks he should be better than he is, but I have two seasons of data that say he isn't. He's also listed as fragile, which I'm not sure if I just missed that before or if it's new, but I may try to move him this offseason.
2B Willi Castro
Willi just keeps getting better. He was a 2.5 WAR player as a rookie, gave me two seasons of 5 WAR and now nearly 8 this season - the move to 2B seems to have worked well for him and he was a plus defender. He led the league in runs, had his best season yet at the plate and was a 20/20 player. His arbitration estimate is $15,000,000 - which is a lot, but I don't see how I can let him walk while I have contract control. He's given me four full seasons without any injury issues, is a fan favorite and one of my best players. I'd love to sign him longer term if it's reasonable.
RF Yaya Chentouf
Yaya made his first all-star team, led the league in walks and was a dominant hitter for us this season. He's come a long way since he was a struggling reliever in my minors, now giving us nearly 6 WAR in RF. He's on a minimum deal and was incredible, he's obviously returning. His jump from 25 to 51 homeruns helped us accomplish our goal of improving on our homerun total that our owner set as well. Yaya has also become extremely popular at a national level - he's quickly become one of my favorites.
1B Ryan Mountcastle
Mountcastle continues to be a steady performer for me - he's not an all-star and he's not going to win any awards, but he's reliable and dependable. He bounced back from his 1.4 WAR season to give us nearly 3 this year, hit well and played good defense. His arbitration estimate is cheap, so he'll return.
LF Evan White
White was a bit disappointing again. He was the hottest player on the team two years ago and gave us 5 WAR, now he's struggling to hit 2. The bat has cooled off considerably, though, much like Isbel, my scout thinks he should be better than he has been. He doesn't appear to be having any bad BABIP luck either, so maybe he's just not as good as I had hoped, but still serviceable. He's still locked up long-term with Seattle footing 40% of the bill, so that's good. Defensively, I prefer him in left than center, but center field continues to elude me. It might be worth considering if I need both him and Mountcastle, or if I should move White to 1B or move him out.
3B Isaac Paredes
Well now, here is a pleasant surprise. Paredes wasn't someone who had a big BABIP jump, but his bat was much improved this year - going from below league average to one of the best in the league. He gave us 4.3 WAR despite missing a few weeks with injury as well, so a solid season all-around. His arbitration estimate isn't too bad, so I'll definitely be keeping him around. His personality concerns me, but if he keeps up the performance from this season he'll be hard to move on from.
SS Ke'Bryan Hayes
I had hopes that swapping Hayes and Castro would empower them both to have better seasons defensively and thus provide more value. While Hayes was a plus defender at short, it wasn't by much and I've seen four seasons of his bat not being that good. Yes, he was unlucky this season, but I'm not sure he's going to give me much even if he wasn't. If I can find a better defensive option, I may just do that.
C Christian Vazquez
My catcher position has never been one worth going crazy about. Vazquez continues to be a bad hitter for me, despite that one great season, but his defensive value is so hard to gauge. Our pitching staff was the league's best and it's tough to not credit Christian with a lot of that. I'm going to let him hit free agency and try to get him cheaper there.
Bench/Replacements
C Jake Rogers
Rogers was a better backup this year than last year, despite less appearances. I'll probably bring him back, but I might give more time to Drew Romo next year and see what he brings. Rogers looks like a solid backup with no real intentions of being a starter.
3B Jordan Diaz
Diaz was brought in to maybe replace Paredes if he struggled and I think he pushed Isaac to a career year. Diaz was decent enough as a bench player and he'll either be back with us or in AAA next year to see if he fills out some more.
RF Riley Greene
Greene pretty quickly became the everyday starter in left field, forcing my hand with his play as a fourth outfielder. Well, he was pretty dang good as a rookie, giving us 3.4 WAR in 118 starts. He was a great hitter and brought some extra pop to the lineup as well. My scout thinks his discipline will come along as well, and I hope it does because he'll be deadly if so.
OF Jairo Pomares
Pomares was tearing it up in AAA, came up at the end of the year and had a decent, albeit brief, appearance. He may be a full-time fourth outfielder next year.

Pitchers

Rotation
SP Casey Mize
Mize casually came out and improved upon his Cy Young campaign from last season, giving us a league leading 6.2 WAR and a 61 FIP-. He was pretty solid I'd say, obviously. All of that was despite a higher BABIP against him, so I like what Mize gave us. Will he repeat as Cy Young? I'm not sure, but he should be in contention.
SP Kumar Rocker
What can you expect from a rookie starting pitcher? Well, how about 4.2 WAR, a 130 ERA+ and a 73 FIP-? I will take that every single day of the week. Wow. Rocker was outstanding and my scout says this guy might get better - that is exciting. He struck out a lot of players, kept walks reasonable and overall was deserving of the #2 role in my rotation with Manning out.
SP Franklin Perez
"Fragile" Franklin finally gets his shot - and, well, he was... okay? He had four different injuries, big surprise, and was kind of rough as a starter. However, when I moved him to the bullpen, he was pretty good when healthy. I may try to capitalize on some team thinking he can be a full-time starter and move him out, but I've been saying that for awhile.
SP Justin Dunn
Dunn was worse in the rotation this year then he was last year, so he ended up being sent back to AAA to clear room for other arms. Similar to Perez, maybe I should try to move him - he has yet to perform in the majors.
SP Tarik Skubal
Tarik surprised me. He was decent enough the last two seasons, but was demoted to the pen last year. I didn't think he'd be in the rotation, but injuries said otherwise and his performance said it was a good call. He gave us 2.5 WAR as our fifth starter, which I'll definitely take. His arbitration estimate is 3M, which is probably doable.
Bullpen
SP Matt Manning
Matt missed four months with injury, which is alarming - but he came back strong and gave us 1.4 WAR in 19 starts. I suppose it was his worst stretch since his rookie year, but he was still an above average arm. The arbitration estimate is just over five million, so he'll likely be back.
RP Brett De Geus
My bullpen has yet to have a consistent leader. This year it was Brett de Geus, who gave us 2.1 WAR in 81 IP in his 63 appearances. He was downright dominant with a 58 FIP-, striking out 32% of the opposition. He'll be back on a minimum.
RP Gerson Moreno
Moreno was another new face who was surprisingly solid for us. He gave us almost 1 WAR over his league-leading 71 games and 24 holds. He was pretty solid and will be back on a minimum.
RP Zack Hess
Hess was as productive as Moreno in half as many appearances, so he was pretty great for us. He'll get more opportunities next year in the pen.
RP Kyle Dohy
Dohy was another 1 WAR reliever who was better than league average. He's also on a minimum and will be back - the high stuff, no control guys do well with Vazquez. He struck out nearly 40% of the opposition.
RP Jack Little
Little was decent enough before he got injured and missed the playoffs. He logged a lot of innings for us and gave us a solid 1 WAR. However, I think we have better arms and he won't be as relied upon next year.
RP Genesis Cabrera
Genesis was far better in the bullpen role this year than he was last year - giving us 1 WAR and a solid 149 ERA+ and 79 FIP-. He filled in for a recovering Alcantara at the end of the year too in the rotation. His estimate is less than a million, so he should return.
RP Drew Carlton
Here is the reason I was complaining about bullpen volatility - Carlton gave us 2 WAR last year and was so bad this year that I sent him down after 19 games and never looked back. I will not be picking up his arbitration.
RP Sandy Alcantara
Sandy was better than I expected despite his ratings falling a bit. He was mostly used in the pen, filled in as a starter later on, and was good at both. However, he wants eight million dollars to extend soooo good luck elsewhere!
RP Jonathan Bowlan
Jonathan got called up a couple of times, was serviceable when he was up, but will be back in AAA or gone next season.
RP Alex Lange
Keeping it short - Lange wasn't good when he was up and got sent down, where he'll stay.
RP David Parkinson
Even shorter - he was awful.

Prospect Watch

SP Justin Powell - Powell wasn't even listed last year because he struggled in rookie ball. I let him repeat, which I normally don't do, because he had just been drafted. Well, he had quite the development tour this year and is now ranked as not only my top prospect, but as the 2nd best prospect in baseball. The bad news is that he wasn't good in rookie ball again, but he'll go to A-.
SP Doug Wade - Wade was our top pick this year and was good enough in A- to go to A, where I hope he'll improve.
SS Trevor Haskins - Haskins was solid in A and will go to AA. I like his defensive profile and he's a solid baserunner. The bat tool needs some work still but I have high hopes.
C Dale Burton - Burton is, of course, still fragile, which isn't great. He was fine enough in A- to go to A though, but I don't know if he's a long-term option.
CF Petey Halpin - Petey will go to AAA next year. Maybe he's the future CF option, I don't know. Maybe he's just a fourth outfielder.
RF Ismael Mena - Mena was great in AA and will go to AAA. If he fills out the hitting tool, he doesn't have a weakness. He's a phenomenal runner and solid in the outfield. Hopefully he keeps progressing.
C Drew Romo - Romo's hitting never developed, not like it looked like it would way back in 2020. But, the defense is there and he might be the Vazquez replacement due to that alone. It's not like Vazquez has hit either.

Future Outlook

Arbitration is going to hit hard for some folks this year. Willi Castro and Casey Mize in particular. We're going to have to be more financially selective moving forward as we start to lose the cheap and controlled deals we've been accustomed to.

Better Know the Ballot #4: Dan Haren

Hey Baseball buddies! Hope everyone had a relaxing Thanksgiving weekend...and following week. I'm back now, and it's time to get balls deep on the rest of this list.
This year’s Hall of Fame ballot includes 11 first time players. None of them are first ballot locks and some of them are guaranteed to fall off the ballot after one year of eligibility. So once again, we’re taking a look at all the ballot rookies, starting from the bottom. We've previously covered Nick Swisher, Michael Cuddyer and AJ Burnett, so it’s time for…
Dan Haren
Bill James Hall of Fame Monitor: 30
Career bWAR (13 years): 35.1
Stats: 153-131, 3.75 ERA, 2013 K, 2419.2 IP, 1.181 WHIP, 109 ERA+
Awards: All-Star x3 (AL 2007, NL 2008, ‘09)
League Leading Stats: Starts x3 (34, 2006; 34, 2007; 34, 2011), WHIP (1.003, 2009), K/BB x3 (5.15, 2008; 5.87, 2009; 5.82, 2011)
Teams Played For: Cardinals (2003-04), A’s (2005-07), D-backs (2008-2010), Angels (2010-2012), Nationals (2013), Dodgers (2014), Marlins (2015), Cubs (2015)
Throughout the ‘90s, David Cone picked up a reputation as kind of a gun for hire. Twice the Blue Jays brought him in mid-season for playoff pushes. The Yankees signed him longer term to solidify a rotation that won four rings, and Boston brought him in at the end of his career to try and stoke their own championship fires. He was a six-time all-star, a Cy Young winner and a fringe HoF candidate who was always happy with the “hired merc” persona.
Dan Haren was kind of like that, only more mediocre.
Daniel Boone* Haren first gained the attention of scouts while he was pitching at Pepperdine, along with teammate Noah Lowery. In their junior years, Haren put up a 2.22 ERA and was named WCC Player of the year, while Lowery posted a 1.71 ERA en route to being named WCC Pitcher of the year. Both players skipped their senior season and declared for the MLB draft; a draft in which the Giants would take Lowery in the first round, with the Cardinals drafting Haren in the second.
Lowery seemed to be on his way to a good-to-above-average career in SF until the Giants medical staff decided that he needed to be sacrificed upon the alter of Dave Dravecky and completely mis-managed a circulatory issue into a career ending forearm injury that cost Lowery a rib in the process. Meanwhile, Haren was completely fine, he was just in St Louis. He appeared in 28 games over two seasons, making 19 starts and throwing 4.2 shutout innings in the 2004 World Series, but the Cards wound up sending Haren to Oakland, along with Kiko Calero and future Mexican Baseball League gold glover Daric Barton, in a trade that netted them Mark Mulder.
In response Haren, clearly happy about being relieved of the burden of pretending that St Louis has the best fans in baseball, entered the prime portion of his career.
From 2005 to 2010, Haren’s age 24 to 29 seasons, ol’ Dirty Dan was a legit dealer. 85-64, 3.55 in 1343 innings, with 1176 K, to the tune of a 3.61 FIP, 1.173 WHIP and 123 ERA+. Over that span, he would make all three of his all-star appearances and be good for 27.1 bWAR, including back to back 6+ bWAR seasons in 2008 and 2009.
In the middle of that stretch, the A’s traded Haren to Arizona in exchange for a massive haul of prospects that included Carlos Gonzalez, Brett Anderson, Greg Smith, Dana Eveland and Chris Carter. Three of those guys would go on to have notable big league careers, but only one would make any noise in an A’s uniform because Billy Beane was always playing a game of keep away with himself.
The back half of Haren’s career, 2011-2015 was less successful. Haren kept on doing exactly the same things he’d always done, just with ever diminishing returns. Two full seasons in LAA, including his last really good effort in 2011. A season in DC. Back to LA proper for a season in Dodger blue. Then 21 games for Miami in 2015 before the Cubs traded for him to try and get them over the hump a year before they were really ready for prime time. (This was three years after a deal to trade Haren straight up for Carlos Marmol fell through. A deal which, while not being on quite the same level as Lou Brock for Ernie Broglio, would have been hilariously lopsided, nonetheless. Haren was still good for 500 innings of league average ball over his last three seasons; Marmol once finished third in the league in hit batters, despite only throwing 74 innings. A stat we celebrated by making him our closer. And sure, he gave us one pretty solid season, but then he started blowing saves like he was a drunken college student in Seattle during Fleet Week and you know what? I’m getting off track.)
Unlike Cone, Haren was never a guy who embraced the “missing piece” role. When the Angles let him walk after the 2012 season, Haren told the LA Times “I’m sick of changing teams.” And, since baseball is a petty bitch with a weird sense of humor, Haren would naturally be forced to change uniforms four times over the next three seasons.
A large part of the reason for Haren’s decline can be attributed to his change in velocity. Haren was never exactly a fireballer, but in the early portion of his career his fastball could routinely end up in the lower-end-of-the-lower-end of the 90’s and he could dial it up into the 93-94 range when he needed. By the time the Angels declined his option in 2012, however, his fastball was down to the high 80’s (a fact he’s kind of leaned into and embraced: his Twitter handle is @ithrow88). His last season in the bigs, Haren’s 86 MPH average was the second slowest non-knuckleballer in the majors.
Haren was able to remain effective because he’d always had impeccable control. At no point in his career did he ever walk more than 55 batters in a season and there were just three full seasons in his career when his BB/9 ratio got above 2. But he wasn’t ever known as a Maddux-type pitcher who lived life on the black. Instead, Haren liked to use his ability to throw any pitch at any time as a means of coming right at guys and challenging them where they live. When it worked, it worked: Haren struck out over 200 batters three times and was the active leader in K/9 ratio when he retired. But all that reward came with an ever increasing amount of risk as well: Haren coughed up 305 homers in his career, 54th all time. Back in 2016, Haren directly addressed his lack of both velocity and fear in an amazing, now sadly deleted, tweet: “Sometimes when the count was 3-1, I would just throw it down the middle and hope for the best. People pop up in batting practice, right?” (The quarantine has slowed him down a bit, but Haren has historically been a highly entertaining Twitter follow)
Dan Haren spent 13 seasons in the major leagues, dividing nine of those years more or less evenly betwixt the A’s, Dbacks and Angels. He made the most starts in Oakland and professed to be happiest in Anaheim, but he goes into the Hypothetical Hall with the Diamondbacks, as a nod to his two all-star appearances with the team and the two best overall seasons of his career. He’s also fifth all time in franchise history for bWAR for pitchers (13.1), sixth in ERA (3.56) and fourth in WHIP (1.132).
Chances of making the Hall: Worse than his chances of making an MLB comeback, better than his chances of winning the fastest pitch competition at your local ballpark.
Chances of leaving the ballot this year: 100%
*not his actual middle name, but fuck. It should be, right?

Alabama Slammers Franchise Report - Year 7: Win or Go Home

Welcome back to year seven of the Alabama Slammers Franchise Report! Here are the links to the previous versions if you want to catch up (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026).
We had a disappointing season last year, going 80-82 and finishing third in the division. The owner isn’t happywith my performance and I’m in the last year of my contract, so I need to win now. The problem is my budgethas been cut by $32m and I need to part with some of my best players. Hopefully, I can work some magic and retool our team enough to save my job while not completely sacrificing our future.
As with the previous versions, I’ll list the moves I made, the rationale behind those moves, the season results, and the future outlook.
Here are the salaries heading into the offseason.
\Unless stated otherwise, all players were re-signed to their one-year arbitration estimate*
Departures (non-trades):
Brandon Komar
Komar was going to be our best pitcher this year but suffered a 12-month setback during his torn labrum recovery. He was eligible to return during the playoffs but sent back to the minors. I wouldn’t be surprised if he never plays in the majors again.
Here are his ratings at the end of last season.
Ben Bowden
Bowden was good for us last season but wanted too much to re-sign. He signed a 2/$3.2m deal with the Rangers and ruptured his UCL in April. He looks like he’s done as a major league pitcher.
Ludwin Jimenez
Jimenez is a solid player but got pushed out due to better options. He has a good chance of being back in the majors next year.
Joey Lucchesi
I didn’t bring back Lucchesi because he thought he was a starting pitcher, even though he’s not. The giants paid him like a starter, and he performed like a reliever forced into a starting role.
Jack Walker
Walker got roughed up last year so was sent back down to AA. He performed moderately there and will probably remain in the minors next season.
Freddy Galvis
Galvis’s ratings have slipped below MLB standards so I decided to let him leave as a free agent. He didn’t sign with a team this season.
Jeison Guzman
I wanted to keep Guzman as a minor league depth piece, but he was out of options. The Giants claimed him on waivers, released him two days later, then he signed a minor league deal with the Marlins, was eventually placed on waivers again, and then claimed by the Mets. His journey around the league didn’t do him any favors and he looks done as a major league player.
Ke’Bryan Hayes
Hayes had a couple of good seasons for us, but I decided to go with other options. He signed a minor league deal with the Bandits and was decent.
Move #1:
Slammers Receive: Josh Sheppard, $300k Cash
Braves Receive: Jack Flaherty, Bruce Ledezma
So, I need to win this season to save my job, and the first thing I do is trade my best player to a division rival for a player that might help us in three years. If I get fired this will probably be the reason why, but I really need to clear some budget room and this is by far the best offer available. We lost $29m last year and the owner isn’t going to be happy if we do that again. Hopefully, Flaherty tears his rotator cuff in spring training.
Move #2:
Signed Christian Vazquez to a 2/$4m extension. The second year is a team option with a $500k buyout.
Vazquez doesn’t really do anything on offense but he’s elite defensively. Maybe I’ll keep him around until he’s 40.
Move #3:
Slammers Receive: Connor Jones (40% retained), Robby Teeter, Sam Lauderdale
Angels Receive: Jose Paulino
Paulino was great last season but I’m betting on him falling off sooner than later. Also, if he has another good year, his arbitration estimate will get too high for my liking.
Jones is a dominant reliever and he’ll only cost me $3m a year for the next three seasons. I know his age makes him a risk for injury and regression, but his high character should get him through the rest of his contract.
Lauderdale is willing to accept a bullpen role and should be good as a long reliever. He can also make spot starts.
Teeter has some of the best batting potential I’ve ever seen. He looks like he could put up 8 WAR with just his bat. He’s also got great character and has performed well in the low minors. His defense and baserunning are awful, but I think I can work around those. He’ll make for an excellent replacement for Ohtani if I can’t re-sign him.
Move #4:
Slammers Receive: Ryan Castellani (5% retained)
Rockies Receive: Jesus Atencio
I’m once again in desperate need of starting pitching, so I’m taking a chance on Castellani. Hopefully he can be a league average pitcher outside of Coors.
Atencio is a career minor leaguer.
Move #5 (part 1, part 2, part 3):
Slammers Receive: $13.1m Cash
Slammers Lose: J.D. Brock, Scott Kobos, Nelson Gomez
I’m probably going to need cash for draft picks and an international amateur, so I went ahead and started selling prospects. Some of these guys are useful minor leaguers but they’re probably not going to play in the majors.
Move #6:
Slammers Receive: A.J. Puk (75% retained)
Dodgers Receive: Jesse Lepore
Puk is pretty old but still looks like he could be really good. Hopefully my defense will allow him to excel. He’ll cost us about $1m per year for the next two seasons.
Move #7:
Signed free agent Blake Taylor to a 3/$9m deal. The third year is a team option with a $500k buyout.
The last time Taylor played for us he was an all-star and one of the top relievers in the game. I’m hoping he gets back to form after spending two years in the Coors pitcher torture chamber.
Move #8:
Slammers Receive: Taylor Walls (60% retained)
Pirates Receive: Rio Britton, Andy Clayton, Sam Thompson
I needed another infielder after Hayes left in free agency and Walls was available on the trading block. He’s been pretty good the last couple of years and will cost a little under $4m a year for the next two seasons. Clayton is the only player I didn’t want to part with, but I think his odds of reaching the majors are slim.
Move #9:
Signed free agent Hee-Joon Bang to a 3/$22.5m contract.
This signing is directly tied to the next move. I’ll try to justify it below.
Move #10:
Slammers Receive: Clayton Andrews (10% retained), Hunter Mink
Mariners Receive: Jordan Alvarez
Alvarez is really good but he’s probably going to be really expensive his last two arbitration years. He’ll make $5m this season, $6.5m next season, then probably $10m+ the two years after that. I decided I’d rather lock in Bang at $7.5m for the next three years than play the arbitration game with Alvarez. Also, Bang is durable and better fits my system.
Andrews is a really good lefty reliever that will fill the middle relief spot vacated by Lucchesi and Fink will get a shot at the starting rotation. This seems like a great deal in the aggregate.
Final Financial Situation:
The owner dropped our budget another $2m at the start of the preseason, so we only have about $11m in available funds heading into the season. If I need a pitcher, I’ll spend the money on one of those over signing draft picks since we need to win now.
Here are the salaries heading into the season.
Move #11:
Slammers Receive: $1m Cash
Royals Receive: Luis Araujo
Here’s our annual “prospect for cash” trade. I don’t think I’ve given up anything of value in one of these yet.
Season Outlook:
I’d say we have about a 60% chance of making the playoffs. I probably could’ve done more to win now but would’ve had to give up too much. Even if I have a winning record this year, I’m probably not going to do enough to get a multi-year extension, so I need to plan for winning next season too.
The pitching is mediocre, the bullpen should be dominant, the offense should be better with a full season of Bernal, and the defense should be elite. We have a good amount of pitching depth in the minors, and a moderate amount of position player depth. Hopefully, we stay healthy and win more games than we lose.
Batters:
Primary Lineup vs. RHP when Healthy (\DH enabled in both leagues)*
3B – Nick Gordon
I moved Gordon back to the leadoff spot after a strong 2026 campaign, but he struggled and ended the year on the bench. He’s an upcoming free agent and probably won’t return.
LF – Jeisson Rosario
Rosario had a monster season. He had an OPS+ of 124 and won his first gold glove. I doubt he can keep up his .387 BABIP but he should be an above average player going forward.
He sent me a message in May saying he wanted an extension, so I asked and couldn’t believe how low his demands were. He wanted 3/$5.7m but I decided he deserved more and offered 3/$6m. He accepted and now I have one of the best value contracts in the game.
1B – Ernesto Bernal
I had high expectations for Bernal after his great rookie season, but he was pretty underwhelming. It looks like he had some bad luck with his .261 BABIP, so hopefully he bounces back next year. I need him to be good.
DH – Shohei Ohtani
Ohtani was amazing this year. He was the hitter of the month for May and June, was named an all-star starter, won the platinum stick award at DH, and was named MVP. He also made a really strong run at the triple crown.
He’s been our best player since the day he arrived and is the undisputed face of the franchise. I want to bring him back, but I don’t think I can afford his 7/$245m demand. I’m hoping I can get him for around 4/$120 in free agency, but I honestly have no clue how the AI teams will value him with his pitching ratings.
RF – Will Shirah
Shirah had another solid year but missed the last month of the season to injury. He’ll probably be back.
2B – Taylor Walls
Walls was a great acquisition. He ended up replacing Gordon in the leadoff spot and won his first gold glove at second base. He has one year remaining on his contract that I’ll have to pay about $4m of.
C – Christian Vazquez
It seems like whoever I name the starting catcher is bound to have a bad season and be replaced by the backup. Vazquez was really bad the first half of the year, missed four weeks to injury, was moved to the bench when he returned, then played better after that. I’ll bring him back as the number two catcher next season.
SS – Willie Vega
Vega continues to be excellent in the field. He had a zone rating of 28.4 and won his second straight gold glove. He’s improved offensively and I’m hoping he can be a league average hitter next year. I might look to lock him up long term so I’m not paying market value for a 7 WAR short stop in a few seasons.
CF – Franyel Baez
Baez has been a steady presence for us the last four seasons, providing excellent center field defense and competent offense. I should have a couple of in-house replacements ready by the time he hits free agency.
Bench
C – Drew Romo
Romo is the best defensive catcher in the game and had his best offensive season yet. He’ll be the starter next year.
IF – Marcelo Mayer
Mayer had one good year in 2025 but hasn’t done much since. He started off the season in the majors so I could keep my top prospect in AAA and then was sent down to AAA himself halfway through the year. An injury to Walls forced him back up the next day but he was sent back down when Walls returned and finished the year in AAA.
OF – Matt Hogan
Hogan had an amazing 2025 season, but I think that was a mirage. He’s been bad the last two seasons and probably won’t be back for a third. I’ll give one of my minor leaguers a shot at the fourth outfielder position.
Replacements
IF – Josh Epps
Epps was number one on my top prospects list last season and was ready to start the season in the majors, but I kept him in the minors to get another year of control. He was called up halfway through the season to replace Mayer as the utility infielder but was forced into a starting role when Walls went down to injury the next day. Epps played so well I had to leave him in the starting lineup when Walls returned, and he looks like he’ll be a top performer for many years to come.
C – Roberto Alvarez
Alvarez was called up for a few weeks when Vazquez was injured and was pretty bad. He’s out of options years so won’t return if someone picks him up on waivers.
OF – Christian Moore
Moore was forced up again this season due to injuries and was actually pretty good after a rough first few games. He was the starter the last couple weeks of the season and will be in consideration for a role next season.
OF – Tim Mehler
Mehler was called up when Hogan and Shirah were both injured, and my AA and AAA replacements were also injured. He’ll start next season at AA and hopefully improves his contact before getting called up again.
Pitchers:
Pitching Staff when Healthy
SP – Justin Steele
Steele wasn’t very good and couldn’t stay on the field due to injuries, so I shipped him off in June.
Move #12:
Slammers Receive: Mike Ruhs
Indians Receive: Justin Steele (100% retained)
This isn’t a great value trade, but it was better than the alternative of releasing Steele or letting him continue to play poorly. Ruhs should be a member of the bullpen sooner than later.
SP – Rawley Hector
Hector looks like he should be better but he’s just kind of average. The only problem I can find is he has a poor relationship with the bench coach. Hopefully, he’s better next season.
SP – Cooper Benson
Benson is a perfectly average starter and should be back next season.
SP – Ryan Castellani
Castellani was below average but healthy. I have him signed for one more year cheap, so he will return if better options don’t emerge.
SP – A.J. Puk
Puk was decent and should return. Maybe he’ll have a breakout season next year and get me a compensation pick.
CL – Hee-Joon Bang
Bang did about what I expected. He was an all-star, won pitcher of the month in July, and was voted the reliever of the year. He’ll be back next season.
SU – Connor Jones
Jones was dominant. He had an FIP of 2.52 and finished second in the reliever of the year voting. I have him under contract for two more seasons, so he will return.
MR – Curtis Taylor
Taylor was really good and should be back. He has a few more years of team control.
MR – Andres Nunez
Nunez has been solid for five seasons with us and will be back for his last arbitration season.
MR – Blake Taylor
I was hoping Taylor would bounce back after getting away from Coors field and he did. He’ll be back for two more seasons at $3m per year.
MR – Clayton Andrews
Andrews struggled to start the year but came on strong late. He’ll be back for his last arbitration season.
MR – Corbin Clouse
Clouse has been a steady presence for six years but is about to enter free agency. I might bring him back if I can’t find a suitable lefty replacement.
LR – Sam Lauderdale
Lauderdale filled his role perfectly. He provided league average performance during garbage time innings. He’ll be back next season.
LR – Argenis Angulo
Angulo has improved significantly since last season. I wish he would have done this before his last arbitration season, but he didn’t, so I’m probably going to lose him as a free agent.
Replacements
SP – Hunter Mink
Mink filled in for Steele during his multiple IL stints early in the year, then replaced him full time when he was traded. He was my best pitcher the first half of the season, winning pitcher of the month in June and making the all-star team but fell off later in the year. He’ll be back next season.
SP – Seth Halvorsen
Halvorsen had to make a couple of emergency starts and got roughed up. He might return as a long reliever next season.
MR – Willie Rosas
Rosas had an interesting journey to the majors. He went from potential ace in 2022 to complete bust in 2023and has now become a top bullpen option. He was called up when rosters expanded and pitched really well. He’ll have a spot next season.
My only concern is he might expect to be a starter sooner than later and I don’t want him starting with that movement.
SP – Pat Dibartolo
Dibartolo was called up in early August as an injury replacement, sent back down at the end of the month, then called back up again when rosters expanded. He was part of the six-man rotation the last month of the season and pitched really well. I really needed a prankster, so he will definitely return.
Season Results:
We avoided the slow start from last season and played well the first half of the year, going 44-37 and remaining within three games of the division leading Marlins. The starting pitching was shaky, but the bullpen was lights out and Ohtani was playing like a golden god. He had an OPS+ over 200 and was on pace for 10.6 WAR at the halfway point.
We continued to play well the third quarter of the year but so did the Braves and Marlins. We were 68-54 and third in the division, 2 ½ games behind the leader. The Marlins slipped a bit late and the race came down to us and the Braves. We were one game back with 20 games remaining but couldn’t make up any ground and remained one back with seven games left. Our last two series of the year were against the Braves and Cardinals. We took three of four against the Braves to take the division lead for the first time all year, then swept the Cardinals to lock up the division. Considering what was on the line this season, this was a huge accomplishment.
We had some difficult decisions heading into the playoffs. Shirah was injured for two more days and not allowed on the playoff roster, and Mehler was called up too late to be eligible. I debated transferring Shirah to the 60-day IL to allow Mehler to play but decided to try my luck without a fourth outfielder so Shirah could come back the next round.
I had six solid starters heading into the playoffs and went with Mink, Dibartolo, Puk, and Benson for the rotation and moved Hector and Castellani to the bullpen. It was tough to leave out Hector, but it doesn’t really make sense to keep a five man rotation.
Our first-round opponent was the 90-72 Phillies, led by Eloy Jimenez. We started off the series great with a 7-0 victory and got seven shutout innings from Mink. Then they bounced back to win game two 9-3, then game three 5-0. Our offense was struggling but came to life in the last three games as we won those 13-6, 14-5, and 9-0. Vega was named series MVP and Shirah is now eligible to return for the next round.
Next up was the 102-60 Brewers, led by Luke Leto and Christian Yelich. They were loaded with talent and had the best record in the NL. We lost a tight one 3-4 in game one but evened the series with a 4-2 game two victory. Romo had four RBIs and Dibartolo gave us eight innings of two-run ball. We then took a 3-1 series lead behind two great pitching performances in games three and four. Mink gave us nine shutout innings in a 1-0 game three victory and Puk pitched six scorless in a 3-0 game four win. The Brewers weren’t ready to go home yet and won games five and six. They knocked out Benson and Dibartolo early in each game, winning them 5-2 and 7-1. Our postseason ace Mink started game seven and gave us six innings of three run work, which was enough for an 8-3 victory. Romo was named series MVP.
I wasn’t too surprised by the first-round victory but couldn’t believe we beat the Brewers. They were by far the superior team on paper. We’re playing with house money at this point and anything else is a bonus.
Our next opponent was the 105-57 Mariners. They had the best offense and defense in the league and a star-studded roster. The rotation was led by Jose Corniell, the lineup by Cody Bellinger, and the bullpen had five all-world relievers with Jordan Alvarez, Edwin Diaz, Josh Hader, Andres Munoz, and Gerardo Cuevas. This is the classic David vs. Goliath matchup.
We had a tough start the series. Corniell pitched nine innings and gave up one run in a 5-1 game one loss, Benson was roughed up early in a 7-0 game two defeat, then we were shutout again in a 2-0 game three loss. I had a feeling we’d have trouble scoring against them and we did. We avoided the sweep with a 6-2 game four victory, then won game five after an eighth inning rally and blown save by Cuevas. We were heading back to Seattle for game six and had momentum on our side. We knocked out McCullers in the first inning and took an easy victory, tying the series 3-3. Benson gave up 1 run over 7.2 innings.
So here we are, a team with a manager on the hotseat and just hoping to have a winning record, and we’re one game away from winning the World Series.
The pitching matchup for the final game was the rookie Dibartolo vs. Evan Taylor. We started off great with solo shots in the first and third from Rosario and Baez and a 2-0 lead, but they rallied back with a 3-run fourth to go up 3-2. Dibartolo settled down and pitched another 1.2 innings before Nunez took over in the sixth inning. Moore reached base on a two-out single in the top of the seventh, then advanced to second on an error on a pick-off attempt. Baez drove him in on a single, tying the game 3-3. There were a few close calls, but the score remained 3-3 at the end of nine. Angulo pitched 3 scoreless relief innings, with 2.2 of those coming in extra innings, and struck out five. He kept us alive until Taylor took over with one out in the twelfth and ended the inning. Their bullpen was thin due to knocking out their starters early in games five and six, so McCullers started the thirteenth despite getting rocked just the day before. Walls hit a one out solo shot, then Rosario and Bernal singled before they intentionally walked Ohtani to load the bases. It looked like we were about to blow it wide open, but Epps struck out and Romo flew out to retire the side. Taylor started the thirteenth and the Mariners had Dalbec, Walton, and Raleigh due up. Dalbec flew out to right, Walton struck out swinging, and Raleigh did the same. We closed out the inning, the game, and the World Series! Walls was named series MVP.
In just the seventh year of the franchise’s existence, we’ve won our first World Series! I tried to assemble a solid team at the beginning of the season but had no clue we’d be able to pull this off. We had to fight just to make the playoffs and then win six elimination games in the final two rounds. Hopefully, this is the first championship of many to come!
The playoff revenue was huge for our bottom line. We ended the regular season with a $9m deficit but were $19m in the green after winning the World Series. We also got a huge boost in fan interest, going from 66 to 98 by the end of the year.
The owner is good with my performance and gave me a three-year extension at the start of the offseason.
Here are the rest of the playoff results and MLB standings.
Top Prospects:
1.) John Edlich
I left Edlich off the list last year because I’ve been fooled too many times with international amateurs, but after a year in rookie ball I think he’s the real deal. He could be a 10 WAR pitcher if he reaches his full potential. It’s very tempting to see if he can reach that potential in my system, but there are some serious red flags. He suffered a torn rotator cuff at the end of the season, and he has low intelligence. The safe money is to trade him for something lower risk, but I might roll the dice since he has more potential than any pitcher in the game.
2.) Robby Teeter
Teeter makes my decision with Ohtani even more difficult. He’s an in-house replacement that looks like he can step into the majors and be a top-ten hitter from day one. His batting potential is so good it almost seems too good to be true. He can’t play in the field, but I don’t play Ohtani in the field either. The only thing Ohtani provides that Teeter doesn’t is good baserunning.
If I decide to bring Ohtani back I’ll have to trade Teeter. I can’t start two DHs, and it just doesn’t make sense to keep a talent like Teeter in the minors. I really have no clue what I’m going to do.
3.) Chad Arnold
I have pitching prospects with more potential, but Arnold is the safest bet to make the majors. His ratings are more actual than potential, he has high character, durable injury proneness, and has performed well at every level he’s played at. I’ll start him in AA next year.
4.) Josh Sheppard
Sheppard was the return in the Jack Flaherty trade, so he really needs to pan out. He didn’t do as well as I wanted this year, but I think a lot of that was bad luck. He had a BABIP of .365. He’s probably going to repeat A+, but I could move him up to AA if his control improves before next season.
5.) Sean Whiteman
Whiteman has filled out a bit since last year, but I was hoping for more progress. I’m also hoping his movement improves in the next year or two or he might not cut it in the majors. He’ll start next season at AA.
6.) Joey Hudson
Hudson doesn’t have the same potential as last season, but he could still be a very useful player. He didn’t perform as well as I wanted at A- but his ratings suggest he’s ready for A, so I’ll start him there next year.
7.) Andrew McGee
I think McGee has better offensive ratings than some of the guys on my major league roster. I’m not a fan of promoting teenagers out of the low minors but McGee has no business down there. He’ll begin next season at A.
8.) Chris West
I have a hoard of above average pitching prospects, so hopefully a few of them pan out and I have a good major league rotation in a few years. I’ll probably start West at A- next season due to his low control.
9.) Josh Langdon
Langdon has improved across the board since last season and should find himself in the majors in a few seasons if he stays healthy. He’ll repeat A- next year.
10.) Chris Ryan
Ryan has realized a lot of his potential since last season and looks just about ready for the majors. He’ll start the year at AA and could get called up as an injury replacement.
Honorable mentions:
Josh Berkner
Berkner had a great year in A+ and saw his ratings increase since last season. He got some nice experience at short stop this year and I’ll try to get him some time at left and right field next season. He looks like he’ll be an awesome utility player in a year or two.
Jesus Medina
I love relievers with this profile. He’s pretty much a top starter without the stamina. He pitched well in limited appearances but will probably repeat rookie ball.
Oscar Trevino
Trevino’s ratings are about the same as last year, but I still think he can be a useful utility player. I kind of forgot about the whole “left handers can’t play 2B, SS, or 3B”, so I force started him at third base and he did awful in the field. I’ll start him at A+ next year.
Joe McKinney
McKinney has improved tremendously since last season and looks like he’s only a year or two from the majors. He’ll start next season in A.
Josh Snellgrove
Snellgrove’s ratings have improved since last season and he finally broke through in rookie ball. He’ll start next season at A and I’m still hopeful his catcher ability improves some.
Promoted to MLB:
Josh Epps, Pat Dibartolo, Tim Mehler
Dropped from list:
Dan Gay
I had high hopes for Gay, but his ratings appear to have flamed out since last year. Low control seems to be the quickest way for a prospect to not make it. He’ll start next season at A+.
Mike Marrone
Marrone still looks like he’ll be a good hitter but not good enough to keep on the list. He’ll spend one more season in rookie ball.
Here are his ratings from last year.
Esteban Gutierrez
Gutierrez is the annual winner of the “international amateur free agent that loses all of his potential in two years” award. Here’s his 2026 ratings that I can look at like in the wolverine meme.
Future Outlook:
It’s hard not to be excited about a team that just won the World Series. We won it all and have the ability to bring back almost everyone. I have a really tough decision with Ohtani/Teeter but I think we’ll be fine no matter which way I decide.
The budget will be the same next season but should be significantly improved the year after that due to the increased fan interest. Here are the salaries heading into the offseason: (part 1, part 2).

Better Know the Ballot #5: Shane Victorino

We're moving right along, Baseball Buddies! This year's Hall of Fame ballot contains 11 first time members. None of them are locks for first year induction, but there are several who are going to fall off the ballot for not meeting the 5% threshold. So before they're gone, we're taking a look at all of them. We've already covered Nick Swisher, Michael Cuddyer, AJ Burnett and Dan Haren, which brings us to...
Shane Victorino
Bill James Hall of Fame Monitor: 32
Career bWAR (12 years): 31.5
Stats: .275/.340/.425, 102 OPS+, 108 HR, 231 2B, 70 3B, 231 SB, 731 R
Awards: All Star x2 (NL, 2009; NL, 2011) Gold Glove x4 (NL, OF, 2008; NL, OF, 2009; NL, OF, 2010; AL, OF, 2013) World Champion x2 (Philly, 2008; Boston, 2013)
League Leading Stats: Triples x2 (13, 2009; 16, 2011), HBP (18, 2013)
Teams Played For: Padres (2003), Phillies (2005-2012), Dodgers (2012), Red Sox (2013-2015), Angels (2015)
Humble brag time: thanks to a lucky combination of good friends and being a professional freelancer—thus setting my own schedule—I have been fortunate enough to attend at least one round of every World Baseball Classic. So in 2009, I’m up in Toronto, watching the Pool C games at Rogers Centre. My friend and I are up in the outfield second deck, getting ready to watch what would become Team USA’s 6-5 victory over Team Canada in the opening game. There’s this Yankees fan about three rows ahead of us and he’s spending the first few innings heckling everyone on Team USA who’s not a Yankee which is, like, the MOST “Yankees fan” thing ever.
So, like, as the rosters are being announced and they get to Jimmy Rollins, who was wearing jersey number one for the WBC, and Yankees Dude yells out “Hey Rollins! You might be number one, but you’ll never be Number Two!” Then he looks around kind of smug to make sure that everyone gets his Jeter joke and we’re all like “dude, they’re on the same team.”
Anyway, the reason that story is relevant is because in the third inning when Shane Victorino comes to bat, the best Yankees Dude can come up with is “Victorino? More like ‘Victory? NOOOOOOO!’,” which is some weak-ass sauce.
So what else can I say about the Flyin’ Hawaiian? Well, for starters, there have been 46 major league players born in the great state of Hawaii—including 11 who were born there before Hawaii was even a state—and, measuring just by bWAR, Victorino is the third most successful behind Sid “The Squid” Fernandez (32.75 bWAR) and Charlie “First Marlins Opening Day Starter” Hough (38.42). (Fun side note, the World Series winning 1986 Mets team featured two starters from Hawaii, as Ron Darling was a rotation mate with Fernandez.)
A three sport star in high school, Victorino passed up scholarships in football and baseball at the University of Hawaii after the Dodgers called his name in the 1999 MLB draft. After spending a couple of seasons in their farm system, advancing as high as AA in 2002, before being selected by the Padres in the ’02 Rule 5 draft. Because he was clearly a talented youngster and because the ’03 Pads were led in WAR by fuckin Mark Loretta, it felt like a pretty safe time to gamble on a 22-year-old speedster with upside. Unfortunately for Victorino, it was a case of too fast, too soon and he struggled against big league pitching, slashing .151/.232/.178 in 83 PAs for the Dads, striking out in 23% of his at bats. After just under two months with the club, the Padres waived him. Victorino cleared waivers and, per the Rule 5 guidelines, he was offered back to LA, who sent him back to the farm.
After two more seasons of minor league toil, Victorino was once again selected in the Rule 5 Draft, this time by Philadelphia. He performed better in a smaller sample size, slashing .294/.263/.647 over 19 PAs, but the Phillies weren’t impressed enough to keep him on the roster so he was once again offered back to LA. THIS time, however, the Dodgers said “Nah son” and declined. Thus, having cleared waivers, the Phillies were able to send Victorino down to Scranton. This proved to be a lucky stroke for Philly, as the Flyin’ Hawaiian was about ready to take off.
2006, Victorino’s age 25 season, became his first full taste of the majors and he did not fuck around with it. He would slash .287/.346/.414 that season and immediately jumpstart a six year stretch that saw him combine for a .282/.348/.443, 164 double, 58 triple, 155 stolen base, 531 run scored stat line, amounting to a 106 OPS+ and 21.9 bWAR, including a high of 5.5 in 2011. That same run would see him lead the whole major leagues in triples twice, nab three Gold Glove awards, get named to two all-star teams and pick up a World Series ring in 2008, after hitting a combined .270 in the playoffs with three doubles, a triple, two homers and 13 RBI. Oh, and in 2007 he ended “Shane Victorino Day” with a walk-off homer to beat the Giants.
In 2012, with the Phillies milling around the middle of the NL pack, Victorino was shipped to Los Angeles just before the trade deadline, in exchange for 26 innings of Josh Lindblom, a 64 ERA+ from Ethan Martin and Stefan “Player to be Named Later” Jarrin, who promptly retired the next season and is now an inside sales rep for the Dodgers.
Now, I know that it might not sound like the Phillies got a lot in exchange for Victorino. This was, after all, a Rubin Amaro joint so nobody expected it to be great. But don’t let first impressions fool you! Because if you go down the rabbit hole, you see that the Phillies then flipped Lindblom to the Rangers that offseason in exchange for Michal Young’s desiccated corpse, who they then sent to the Dodgers for Rob Rasmusson, who was sent to the Blue Jays for Bran Lincoln, who pitched 2.1 innings for the Phillies in 2014 before being released. NOW how does the trade look?
But if it’s any consolation, it wasn’t super successful for LA either, as Victorino never looked particularly comfortable in Dodger blue, hitting .245 with an 85 OPS+ in 53 games down the stretch. He was allowed to wade into free agency that offseason, and signed three year, $39 million deal with the Red Sox. He thanked the club by giving them one last brilliant season of baseball.
Victorino started the 2013 season off with an injury in May but came back at the beginning of June and went off to the tune of a career high .294 batting average. His .351 OBP missed his career high by .001, and he finished the slash line with a .451 SLG, the second highest of his career. He stole 21 bags, scored 82 runs, combined for 53 XBH and posted a 118 OPS+ and career high 6 bWAR. He didn’t exactly carry those good feelings over to October, hitting .196 across the playoffs, but it was good enough to help the Red Sox to a World Series win, Victorino’s second career ring.
Then, like the Bluesmobile at the end of that chase though downtown Chicago, Victorino’s body collapsed in a heap and he was done as a useful player. He managed just 30 games the next season, batting exclusively from just one side of the plate for the first time in his career thanks to the pain, before going under the knife in the offseason to have a piece of his fucking back removed.
He came back in 2015 and played like a guy who had gotten a piece of his fucking back removed, before being traded to the Angels and managing to play even worse. In the offseason he signed a minor league deal with the Cubs and I looked forward to watching him play at Iowa in 2016. But he was only on the roster for nine games before being released and, as we all know, nothing else good happened for the Cubs that year.
There was nobody knocking on his door and Victorino seemed to be pretty at peace with the fact that his career was over. So at peace in fact, that it was not until two years later—on July 3, 2018—that Victorino looked up from his newspaper with one of those “oh shit” epiphany moments, picked up his phone and tweeted out the fact that, oh yeah, he was retired now. The Phillies signed him to a one-day contract so they could claim dibs.
Shane Victorino played for 12 seasons in the major leagues, almost all of it in Philly. He had his best single season in Boston, but it would be utterly laughable to think of him going into the Hypothetical Hall as anything other than a Phillie. He was a perennially beloved fan favorite; a heartwarming, charismatic contrast to bygone Phillies like Lenny Dykstra and Curt Schilling. The only category he ranks among the franchise leaders in is stolen base percentage (fourth, 82.11%), but come on. It’s the Phillies. You’ve got to be very good for a very long time to crack the leaderboards of a team where Sliding Billy Hamilton was sealing 102 bases in 1890.
Chances of making the Hall: Worse than Santa’s chances of getting a standing O in Philly
Chances of leaving the ballot this year: 100%

A Toast to the 2020 Colorado Rockies!

Heading out of 2019 and into 2020, the Rockies had no expectations. Heading out of 2020 and into 2021… we still have no expectations.
But this isn’t a post about hating the Colorado Rockies and what they’ve done poorly or not done! After all, the literal title of this post is “A toast to the 2020 Colorado Rockies”. So instead of hating on Jeff Bridich like we always do as Rockies fans, let’s bring up some highs, some lows, and overall, let’s have a fun time reminiscing about a truly unique Rockies season, even outside covid.

MILE HIGHS

Comeback Player of the Year… after 7 years off
Prior to this season, the last MLB season Daniel Bard pitched in was in 2013, where he only pitched 1 inning, giving up two walks and an earned run. His 9.00 ERA in 2013 and the 6.22 ERA the year prior led to him being designated for assignment by the Red Sox, which was disappointing for Bard after posting great numbers for the 2009-2011 Sox teams. It appeared as if the yips had ended his career, retiring in 2017 after being stuck in minor league purgatory for several years. Yet, seven years later, with tape on his back, he pitches himself back into the big leagues with an excellent spring training showing. He not only is able to throw his first major league pitch since Barack Obama was in office, he’s still got his vintage stuff on a 99 mph pitch. Truly, a comeback story for the ages.
Nolan Is Still Nolan
Nolan Arenado had injured his shoulder within the first few games in Oakland. He’s clearly not himself offensively this year, with a triple slash of .253/.303/.434, and a wRC+ of 76. He hasn’t had one season under 100 wRC+ since his rookie year, so why do I still say “Nolan Is Still Nolan”? Despite that shoulder injury, he’s still the best defensive player in baseball. If you don’t like FanGraphs, here’s Baseball Savant ranking him among the top fielders in baseball, too. Here’s baseball-reference having Nolan lead in defensive WAR as well!. Not a stats guy? Here’s an amazing play by Nolan to pass the eye test. No matter how you slice it, Nolan was still Nolan defensively, and he did all of that through injury.
The Re-Emergence of K-Free and Senzei
Both Kyle Freeland and Antonio Senzatela debuted in 2017. In 2018, they both improved to lead the Rockies oh-so-close to upsetting the Dodgers for the NL West title. Then 2019 came, and both pitchers suffered major setbacks. Kyle Freeland? Went from an unheard of 2.85 ERA despite playing in Coors to a 90’s era Rockies-esque 6.73 ERA. And, Senzatela? Not much better, falling from a respectable 4.38 to a horrendous 6.71 ERA. It looked like the Rockies had a starting pitching problem again, but in 2020 the two made improvements. Senzatela would start to mix his pitches better, and it got him a 3.44 ERA, best of his career, as he led the Rockies in rWAR and ranked second in fWAR. Freeland had a 4.33 ERA, which looks even better if you take out his last start in a meaningless game, bringing it down to 3.69. These guys proved that 2019 struggles were just a fluke and oddly made the rotation a Rockies strength. Hats off to these two underrated comebacks, alongside Daniel Bard.
A Fantastic Start to the Season
Of all of the stories, the high that Rockies fans remember best is their hot start to the season. Starting 11-3, the Rockies looked absolutely dominant in a shortened 60-game season. Not a single Rockies fan, or even any fan, was expecting this greatness. Sure, the offense wasn’t sustainable and the bullpen had signs of distress, but it didn’t matter. The Rockies were #1 in the NL, baby.

ROCKY LOWS

The Rockies Forget How to Win
The higher you climb, the farther you fall, they say. After the Rockies went 11-4 through the first 15 games of the season, they only needed to play .500 ball for the rest of the season to make the expanded playoffs. The Rockies would go 15-30 the next 45 games. In all honesty, let’s not talk about this anymore.
A Bullpen only Sunnier than in Philadelphia
The Phillies had a historically bad bullpen, with an ERA of 7.06. Right behind them, however, were the 6.77 ERA Colorado Rockies. Daniel Bard & Yency Almonte were pretty much the only good relievers in the Rockies bullpen. Carlos Estevez posted a 7.50 ERA after a 3.75 ERA the year prior. Jairo posted a 7.65 ERA mark himself after setting himself up to be a promising closer last season. Hoffman continued to be a bust, with a whopping 9.28 ERA. Pazos provided no support as a lefty with a 16.88 ERA. Then, of course, Bridich-overpayment Wade Davis had an amazing 20.77 ERA. Please come back healthy Scott Oberg. We miss you.
Please Fire Jeff Bridich
Last year, u/Underbubble made this exact point here too: Jeff Bridich needs to be fired. Since then, he’s somehow gotten worse. I’ve already mentioned how bad Wade Davis had been this season, but what did Bridich do to try and improve on his mediocre 2019 team, and supposedly make these 2020 Rockies the 94-win team Rockies owner Dick Monfort famously projected them to be?
Nothing - literally nothing. He signed minor leaguers, released some bad players, and that’s it. Oh, and he pissed off Nolan Arenado. While most fans want a World Series win or even a playoff appearance from their squad every year, every Rockies fan wants Jeff Bridich fired instead, as there’s no reaching those two goals with him as our GM. Rockies fans are to Jeff Bridich as Mets fans were to the Wilpons. Bridich is still our GM though, so it looks to be a rough offseason for us.

GOODBYES, AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS OF AN OLD FRIEND

I want to start by giving a quick shoutout to DJ LeMahieu! After Jeff Bridich foolishly believed that Daniel Murphy was a better investment than DJ LeMahieu, he would go on to become an MVP candidate for the Yankees, in both 2019 and 2020. A triple slash of .364/.421/.590 is just absurd, even in a 60 game season. Beautiful. Let’s say move onto goodbyes though before this becomes a rant.
Matt Kemp: The only team to beat the Dodgers this whole season in a series? The Colorado Rockies. Who hit the home run to put the Rockies in the lead for one of those crucial games. Matt Kemp. You’re probably not a Rockie with the DH rule being removed once again, but you truly made your time here memorable. Thanks.
Chris Owings: Other than the fact we didn’t see you for like, half the season after you got injured… You did quite well for us here. You were an underrated part of our original 11-4 run. I don’t think you’re a Rockie next year either, but you were also memorable.
Wade Davis: Uh. Thanks for September 2018. That wasn’t bad!
Daniel Murphy: Thanks for bringing meme material to 2020.
Drew Butera: We know you’re going to be back again, who are we kidding.
Last year’s toast said good riddance to the 2019 Rockies. Well, 2020 was unique. It’s not gonna be easy to forget. Though still, one last toast to the 2020 Rockies, and good riddance, once again.

ColoradoRockies Top 5 Shitposts by Karma:

I feel silly
RoxsHub (NSFW?)
After doing nothing in the offseason
What a monster.
Wade Davis has me like

Motor City Management - Detroit Tigers Report 2020 - Exceeding Expectations

Motor City Management - Detroit Tigers Franchise - OOTP21
If you're just tuning in, you can catch up here: 2020 (Opening Day)
The 2020 Detroit Tigers now feature the best minor league system in baseball and perhaps the ugliest Opening Day lineup in baseball as well. The league projects them to win only 19 of their 60 games. Going into the season I agreed with them, but, let's take a look at what we're working with and how things panned out.

2020 Tigers Recap

We knew it would be ugly, but it wasn't as bad as expected. The team exceeded expectations and managed 23 wins to their 37 losses. Certainly a down year, but the .383 winning percentage was an improvement over the 2019 final of .292%. The team's hitting was abysmal, finished 13th in runs scored, 15th in OBP/WAOPS/Home Runs. However, as a lone bright spot on offense, we were 1st in the league in baserunning at a +11.2. We'll take any win we can get.
The pitching staff was actually not bad! Finishing 7th in runs against, 6th in starter ERA and 10th in bullpen ERA. I was proud of the arms for holding it down a bit and helping us to the 23 wins without much offense behind them. We ranked 6th in FIP and 5th in pitching WAR. Defensively? We ranked 14th in efficiency and 8th in zone rating, so I'd like to see that improve along with the hitting.
Unsurprisingly, we didn't bring home any hardware in 2020.

Around the League

The Atlanta Braves were your 2020 MLB Champions! The playoffs were a bit wild, with the Angels making a surprise trip to the World Series, where they pushed Atlanta to seven games. The Braves also did the unthinkable in the NLCS, pulling off a reverse sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Clayton Kershaw notched his 2,500th strikeout, but not many notable milestones happened in 2020.
In the AL, Oakland had a phenomenal season for awards, with Matt Olson bringing home the league MVP and Jesus Luzardo securing both the Rookie of the Year award and a Cy Young! Taylor Rogers grabbed a Reliever of the Year for the Twins.
In the NL, Christian Yelich brought home a 2nd MVP trophy. Cardinals' youngster Jack Flaherty won the Cy Young in a stellar year, while Sixto Sanchez won Rookie of the Year for the Marlins and Edwin Diaz grabbed another Reliever of the Year award!
You can take a look at the Batting Leaders and Pitching Leaders as well. Grienke managed 9 wins in the short season, deGrom had 11 Quality Starts, Yolando Alvarez paced the league with 22 dingers and Daniel Murphy hit about .100 higher than in 2019 to lead the league with a .361. Mondesi was a menace on the basepaths and Vlad Guerrero Jr. was good as always.

Transactions

Trade #1
Tigers receive: RP Kyle Dohy, $1,200,000 cash Phillies receive: C Josh Phegley
I will now always look for waiver guys I can flip later (Phegley was a waiver guy). Dohy has a ton of stuff and not much else, hoping he magically works on it and becomes a great reliever.
Trade #2
Tigers receive: RP Bryan Hudson, CL Wyatt Short, CF D.J. Wilson, $125,000 cash Cubs receive: RF Cameron Maybin, RP Luke Sommerfeld
I'm not sad about 33 YO Maybin leaving - I should've dealt him earlier when he had some more value. Hudson and Short give me more bullpen arms in the system, Wilson probably never pans out.
Trade #3
Tigers receive: CF Gage Canning, $25,000 cash Nationals receive: C Austin Romine
Austin wasn't playing much for me at the deadline and he hit well for the Nats in 9 games. Clearing Romine's money let me sign one more draftee that I didn't have the money for previously.
Trade #4
Tigers receive: CF Rusney Castillo Red Sox receive: 1B Miguel Cabrera (DET retains 60%), 1B Frank Schwindel, C Jon Rosoff
The fans weren't pleased about this one. Miggy was slashing .214/.291/.300. He was making 30M and set to do so for about 5 more years. Castillo was a contract I could get out from under, so I made this move to clear the future books. He hit even worse for Boston the rest of the way. It turns out though, that it wouldn't matter for me or Boston. Miggy retired at the end of the year and I released Castillo - we both clear cap.

Batters - 2020

Starting Lineup
C - Francisco Pena Pena did about what I expected, if not moreso. He's been a AAAA guy for a long time, so I'm surprised that he hit as well as he did in a "full" season. I assume that his defensive acumen is part of the reason for my staff's relative success compared to their talent. Pena played himself into a 2 year extension for $3,000,000 total. 1B - Will Craig Craig was 25 coming into the season with some potential to grow into a slightly above average hitter, having been pretty good in AAA in 2019. Given that I had Cabrera at 1B, I decided to see what Craig had. It was a bit disappointing and my scout thinks he took a step back, but he's on a minimum and I don't believe I'm going to suddenly be good, so he'll get more reps next year. 2B - Hernan Perez Hernan was a super utility guy for the Tigers that I threw into a starting role due to moving Schoop - unsurprisingly, he didn't play well and was awful at the plate. I released him after the season and he went to play in Australia. 3B - Dawel Lugo I had no expectations of Lugo performing that well, but he ended up being a league average hitter with 1 WAR. He'll be back on the team next year, though he may just be keeping the spot warm for future talents. SS - Jordy Mercer Mercer was thrust into the starting job due to lack of bodies and, well, it went about like you'd expect. He was horrible at the plate and was let go after the season. He remains unsigned on January 1st. LF - Myles Straw Straw started the season in LF and played 34 games there, but also spent time at 2B, SS, CF and RF. Basically, he became what Perez had been, but he's a better fielder. His bat was pretty bad, I expected him to hit closer to .300 and he managed .254. He'll be on the team next year for another shot, as he's only 26. CF - Derek Hill It was a lot to expect Hill to make the jump from AA, but at 24 I thought I'd give it a go. He was the team's 22nd ranked prospect and I believe that'll go down after this showing - hit hitting was poor, which seems to be a theme for the team. He will return however, we'll see if he gets more starting duties. RF - Victor Reyes Reyes was almost league average at the plate! That's a win for your 2020 Detroit Tigers. He gave us almost one WAR and hit over .300. He's pretty solid in RF, so I'm excited to see if he can up his discipline at the plate and become a better hitter to go with it. DH - Miguel Cabrera I mean, Miggy was horrible, but we all knew that was coming. The Tigers were proud to retire his #24 after the season though to honor his tenure with the team and I imagine he'll have a decent shot at a Hall of Fame plaque in a few years!
Bench C - Austin Romine Romine was bad, but I never wanted him to hang around much anyway. The bat was unplayable and the defense wasn't needed with Pena being a better defender. He played well in a short duration for Washington after being dealt though. He's unsigned as of January 1st. LF - Christin "Twilight" Stewart Twilight, a nickname he earned by being named Christin Stewart, played 44 games for us including 33 starts. A dozen of his appearances were in left field, but he primarily was the team's DH after the departure of Cabrera. He hit almost league average, which is a plus on this roster, and will be back with us next season. I'm hoping his combination of power and discipline will lead to better things at the plate. He's also a captain on the team and was critical to keeping our morale stable in a bad year. LF - Travis Demeritte Travis also spent most of his time in LF, playing 25 games for us and hitting slightly below average. As is spoiled by his player card, he won't be with the team next season.
Replacements/Call-Ups C - Jake Rogers Rogers was kind of a pleasant surprise. He got a limited run after Romine was dealt, coming up for a cup of coffee at the end of the season. He has a similar situation in 2019, in which he was horrible, but it went much better in 2020! He only had 30 plate appearances, but carried a .556 slugging percentage and a 116 OPS+. He'll likely be on the major league roster next year.

Pitchers - 2020

Rotation SP - Casey Mize Mize was right around league average, which I will certainly take for a 23 year old that got thrust into an Opening Day role and the unit's ace. He finished the season with 3 of his strongest performances in a row and stayed durable the whole season - I'm hoping that those trends continue into 2021. SP - Spencer Turnbull Turnbull led the league in losses and also in fewest homeruns given up. His ERA+ and FIP tell the story - he went 0-7 on a horrible team and is living proof that wins and losses aren't good evaluators. He was an above average pitcher and will likely be relied on heavily in the rotation again next season. SP - Daniel Norris Norris was also right around league average, perhaps a bit of BABIP luck on his side this year, but he's got a balanced profile and was healthy all season. He has four pitches that are above average and no glaring weakness, he'll be back in the rotation again as well. SP - Matt Manning Despite carrying a high .340 BABIP, Manning was pretty good for us, slightly above average on the mound. He's the 2nd best prospect in our system (behind Mize) and I'm counting on these two anchoring the rotation for awhile - Manning got a younger start and has more room to grow, he might end up being the better of the two, who knows. He'll definitely be back. SP - Ivan Nova Nova certainly could've been worse. He was right below average, which was manageable since he was a bottom of the rotation starter. As is spoiled by his card, he won't be back next season, but I did extend him for 2 seasons at 1M per year, so he's a cheap arm.
Bullpen LR - Jordan Zimmermann Jordan was bad and surprisingly no one wanted his 25M contract. He tore his UCL and spent most of the season on the IR before being let go after the year. He'll be out until June and hasn't been signed, I imagine his career is probably done. MR - Rony Garcia Rony was a Rule 5 guy that the Tigers grabbed from the Yankees (before I took over) and while I was worried about his capabilities, he pitched pretty damn well. In 14 games (22 IP) he had a 2.42 ERA, 201 ERA+ and struck out nearly 9 per 9. Now, it does seem like he probably was pretty lucky all things considered, with a 4.43 FIP, but, sometimes its better to be lucky than to be good. MR - Luiz Gohara Gohara was brought in as a possible rotation arm, but ended up pitching well in the pen. He put up a 2.25 ERA in 12 IP, helped out by a probably unsustainable .214 BABIP. Short seasons are weird for evaluating bullpen guys, but Gohara has 3 great pitches, 2 of them being really nasty. He has a history of not keeping the ball in the park, but did well this year in limited opportunities. If he can keep it in, he'll be good. He'll have another go at it next year. His personality scares me though.
MR - Bryan Garcia Bryan was one of my Bryan pair that dominated. Sure, it's limited appearances at only 11 IP, but he never allowed an earned run across those innings, so I'll take it. He also refused to walk anyone which I'm a big fan of. I'm excited to see what he can do across a full season. MR - Buck Farmer Let's talk about the unluckiest hurler in the game, Buck Farmer. A quick glance at his 7.00 ERA and 69 (nice) ERA+ across 27 IP and you're running away from him, but... he had a 3.02 FIP and 62 FIP- with a .362 BABIP. I think he was a bit unlucky and he'll have another shot next season more than likely. MR - Drew Carlton On the other hand from Farmer, Carlton looks like he was a bit lucky. Carlton is supposed to possess great control and he walked 16% of the batters he faced, so that's alarming. We'll see if he makes the cut next year, but he's on a minimum deal and has minor league options if needed. MR - Blake Taylor Feels like I had so many similar arms in the bullpen and a lot of these guys are interchangeable. Taylor was okay - I'm concerned about him if the BABIP stabilizes, but he'll have a shot at it next year again. MR - David McKay McKay was below average in 24 IP, but had a .446 BABIP. That feels unlucky. He has an absolutely nasty slider and I'm hoping he can bounce back, but if not he has minor league options. SU - Bryan Abreu The other dominating Bryan. He refused to allow an earned run also and also decided to strike out nearly 40% of the opposition. The good news is that his BABIP wasn't super lucky, so I'm hoping he can keep it up next year. He has two elite pitches, another on it's way and a fourth that is above average. He has some stamina, but I think his control would concern me in long doses, but we'll see. He'll be on the staff in some way, shape or form. SU - Hunter Harvey Harvey logged a lot of innings for me given the short season, 36 of them, and in them he was pretty dang good. He's got a nasty curveball and fastball has some life, so I'm hoping he can continue to be a reliable setup man next year. CL - Joe Jimenez Ignore Joe's 4.00 ERA and pay attention instead to his 122 ERA+, 2.65 FIP and 54 FIP-. Joe was good for me, striking out 30% of the batter's he faced with his slidefastball combo. If he brings the changeup up a bit too that's even better. Holding onto a closer during a rebuild may be silly, but Joe was young enough that I wanted to ride it out instead of shipping him out and I hope it'll be worth it. I hope he can be better than 80% on saves though.

Updates from the Farm

I was so pumped about my minor league system. Lots of prospects, I manually set every organization's rosters, lineups and staffs, handling demotions and promotions myself for the first time ever. I was so excited about it that I totally forgot that there was no A/AA/AAA for 2020... what a letdown. So, the stats won't tell me much of a story this year, but I'll still share what my prospects look like and what I expect going forward, as well as where they'll be suiting up to start 2021.
Top 200:
1 (7) - SP Casey Mize For Mize, see above. Given the short season he's still considered a prospect, but this guy is in the rotation and figures to be for awhile. He's rated as the 7th best prospect in baseball by BNN and is my top prospect.
2 (11) - SP Matt Manning Same for Manning, who is discussed above as well - he's moved up a couple of spots after last season.
3 (27) - SP Tarik Skubal Tarik is another top 30 prospect league-wide, another arm in the farm. He has a plus fastball and changeup combo, with a curve and slider that look to be above league average. He projects with above average stuff, league average control and slightly lower than average movement. I have my concerns about Tarik, namely the extreme flyball profile and his poor personality profile, but he's a leader and could be a live arm. I was really hoping to see how he did in AAA last year, so we'll settle for this season and see if he's almost ready. He was great in AA in 2019.
4 (54) - OF Riley Greene Green looks like he may swing an above average bat for me and has the potential to draw a lot of walks. I like that he doesn't have any glaring weaknesses, looks like a good baserunner and is reliable in the field. I wish his arm was a bit stronger and of course he needs to fill out the potential, but he'll be in high A ball in 2021 to see if he can keep progressing nicely.
6 (65) - IF Ke'Bryan Hayes Hayes is a good third baseman that I had plans of teaching 2B this season when I thought there would be games. I think he'll give me some infield versatility, playing solid defense, and I like his personality. He's already got the discipline and doesn't strike out a ton, with some room to improve there. If the contact comes along he'll have a nice profile. I wish we hadn't lost the year because I wanted to teach him a couple of positions, but he might be ready after one more season.
7 (72) - 1B Ryan Mountcastle Mountcastle feels like a prospect that is already ready, but I was hoping to see it myself in AAA this year. The defense is there (sure, only at 1B) and the hitting tool is pretty much big league ready, but I'd love the discipline to fill out more. I think he's probably a better option than Will Craig at 1B already, but I still want to see if his 2019 AAA performance holds. He could be a call-up next season.
8 (78) - C Drew Romo My new scout isn't as high on Romo as the one I had when I drafted him, but I'm still hopeful. Since he was in a low enough league, we can actually see that he was a good player in the Gulf Coast League last year, hit well in his 49 games. He's definitely going to be going up to Low A to see if he keeps moving nicely and hopefully that helps the hit tool come along. The defense is already solid and I love the high work ethic and leadership - I'm hopeful he's a long-term backstop for me.
9 (87) - 3B Isaac Paredes Paredes is why I'm teaching Hayes 2B - I think Paredes profiles better at 3B, though isn't going to win any gold gloves there. He was great in 2019 so I want to see it a bit in AAA, but he's coming along nicely despite no playing time. He looks to truly have no weakness, though no elite talent either. If he fills out the hitting, he'll be a nice everyday player for me soon.
10 (96) - RP Bryan Abreu See above for Abreu's 2020 in the MLB. Abreu was great in relief and I imagine he doesn't quite have the stamina for more, but BNN likes him as a top 100 arm.
11 (124) - 1B/OF Evan White I really wanted White to learn a corner OF position, he's got the ratings for it (60/60/60) and I have Mountcastle at 1B in the pipeline too. The new scout likes White even more than my old one did, and he had a couple of nice positive progressions throughout the season despite no playing time. The concern with White is the hitting, but it sure looks like it's come along nicely already and he looks about as big league ready as he's going to - I just wanna see him do it in AAA for a bit this season.
12 (129) - RF Yusniel Diaz Diaz looks like he can be a league average hitter and a good right fielder. Frankly I'm hoping his high work ethic pushes one of his hitting tools a bit higher to make him more worthwhile, but he was hitting well in AA in 2019 and I hope he'll do the same in AAA.
13 (143) - SP Franklin Perez Perez has some work to do and his fragile durability concerns me a lot. It's probably as good of a time as ever to try to sell on him if anyone will take him, but I'm not sure if they will. BNN still likes him as a top 150 guy though and he looks to have a fairly balanced profile. If he survives on the team until the season he'll open it AA.
14 (146) - OF Daz Cameron Daz is the guy I'm hoping replaces Hill in CF soon. He needs to show me the bat in AAA, but the speed is good and the defense is good. He's god a solid profile (and I need a prankster on my MLB team) and has the makings of a solid walks guy with decent average and pop.
15 (168) - SP Kyle Harrison The big lefty spent time in the GCL after being drafted in the 3rd round (69th overall, nice) and was pretty solid in his time there. 10 starts, 3.04 ERA with an ERA+ of 152. The strikeouts weren't that great, but he didn't give up a bunch of homers or walks - he'll be in Low A next season.
16 (190) - Dean Kremer Another arm I would've loved to see in AAA this season, he struggled there in 2019 but I think he's ready now. Four solid pitches, balanced profile, but I need to see him perform in AAA this year before deciding if he's ready to come up, I think he's a year away.
Notes on some outside the Top 200:
LF Sammy Siani did well enough in R+ that he'll go to Low A next season. SP Justin Dunn will get time in AAA to see if he's ready. SP Ryan Hagenow wasn't overly stellar in the GCL, I might try him in Rookie + for the year rather than a full bump to A-. SP Charez Butcher was solid in the GCL, will see A- action in 2021. SP Storm Hierholzer was decent in the GCL, he'll go to R+ for the Clio Kings. CF Derek Hill is now 28th in my system and outside the Top 500. OF Petey Halpin struggled a bit in the GCL, may give him another year there or try R+. SP Calvin Schapira was good in A-, will go to A/A+. 2B Addison Barger raked in R+, will go to A- or A. C Yeison Ceballo was a bit below average in Rookie ball, will try R+. SS Hunter Haas will move to R+ from the GCL after an average season. SP Alex Greene was solid in the GCL, will go to A-. SP Davis Heller is probably ready for A- after a decent R+ season. SP Hunter Cranton dominated R+, will go to A/A+ (was 20th round pick). 1B Alex Burleson was solid in limited time in the GCL, will go to A-. IF/RP Masyn Winn tore his rotator cuff and missed most of 2020, will repeat GCL. RP Luke Little struggled in R+, will repeat. RP Blake Weiman retired from baseball to go play golf.
I'm looking forward to getting all of my prospects on the field in 2021 and seeing if we can improve upon our major league performances. I know it'll be another rough year, but we have lots to look forward to!

Even though everyone's already forgotten about Baseball-Reference's simulated season, I put together a prospective ballot for each award based on how players did in the sim.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about click here. Here’s some more links to how AL pitchers did, how NL pitchers did, how AL batters did, and how NL batters did. Also if a stat is italicized that means the player led their respective league in that category. Anyway onto the important stuff.

American League MVP

1. Francisco Lindor, CLE

.309/.361/.546, 205 H, 56 2B, 33 HR, 131 RBI, 362 TB, 9.2 WAR Lindor proved he was the complete package this year. At the plate, he led the AL in hits, hits for extra bases, and total bases. Of course, clobbering 56 doubles and 33 homers will do that. He had the most WAR of anyone in the American League (including the fish man), and his glove sure helped that number. Oh did I mention his team came back from a 3-0 deficit to win the World Series? Because his team came back from a 3-0 deficit to win the World Series.

2. Mike Trout, LAA

.275/.436/.556, 151 H, 43 HR, 145 BB, 94 RBI, 129 R, 9.0 WAR Wow didn’t expect to see him here. Led the AL in OBP and OPS. Shocker. Would've led WAR too if it wasn't for that Indian man. Also led league in Runs Scored and Walks because why not when you're a god. Mike Trout is still very good at baseball, and the Angels still didn't make the playoffs.

3. Yordan Alvarez, HOU

.304/.380/.551, 195 H, 39 HR, 135 RBI, 354 TB, 162 GS, 5.2 WAR The 23-year-old really stepped up this year, batting in the most runs in the league. He also scored 118 runs, the second most on a team that won 94 games. Alvarez also came in super clutch for Houston with 4.5 Win Probability Added, third most in the league. Second most was Mike Trout with 5.0, and in first we have…

4. Matt Chapman, OAK

.248/.337/.512, 151 H, 42 HR, 127 RBI, 94 R, 7.1 WAR, 5.2 WPA A low batting average didn’t matter to the reigning Gold Glove winner, whose team won the division by 5 games. I feel pretty safe in saying if Chapman had been gone the Athletics wouldn’t have won 99 games, and when a player does something like that, you put him on your MVP ballot.

5. Shohei Ohtani, LAA

As Batter: .301/.372/.520, 121 H, 21 HR, 43 XBH, 209 TB, 79 RBI, 72 R, 3.5 WAR As Pitcher: 10-14, 3.68 ERA, 20 QS, 203.0 IP, 73 BB, 246 K, 1.084 WHIP, 3.2 WAR Second best OPS on a team with Mike Trout on it is nothing to sneeze at. Accomplishing that while also being arguably the best pitcher on the squad and you have Shohei Ohtani. While, again, the Angels didn’t make the postseason, that 86-76 record would look a lot worse if it weren’t for Ohtani-san.

6. Byron Buxton, MIN

.274/.322/.446, 189 H, 24 HR, 308 TB, 97 RBI, 113 R, 55 SB, 754 PA, 691 AB, 6.3 WAR A shoo-in for Gold Glove in CF following Kevin Kiermaier’s midseason trade to the Cubs, Buxton helped his team win 97 games, finishing only one game behind the AL Central-winning Indians. Buxton also held his own at the plate, where he settled in more than any other American League batter, and made the most of it. Second most bags swiped in the league too.

7. Jose Ramirez, CLE

.289/.363/.540, 186 H, 38 HR, 83 XBH, 348 TB, 108 RBI, 125 R, 28 SB, 6.6 WAR Batting in front of the Francisco Lindor does have its perks, but when that bat is Jose Ramirez, it helps even more. Ramirez was also the leader in runs scored on the come-back-from-a-3-and-0-deficit-to-win-the-World-Series team, and finished with the second most extra base hits in the AL (behind Lindor).

8. Yoan Moncada, CHW

.308/.370/.531, 197 H, 36 HR, 88 RBI, 108 R, 340 TB, 6.6 WAR, 4.1 WPA Moncada’s inclusion this high up is more out of sympathy than anything else. His team came in with such high promise, so many predicted they’d compete for the division, before finishing the year below .500 at 78-84. He still contributed, garnering the 3rd most hits and the 7th most total bases in the AL, but ultimately fell victim to a team that started Edwin “.180/.261/.359 and -1.6 WAR” Encarnacion at DH for 138 games. A bullpen whose second best arm had negative WAR probably didn’t help either.

9. Gleyber Torres, NYY

.291/.371/.559, 178 H, 46 HR, 81 XBH, 132 RBI, 121 R, 342 TB, 6.3 WAR, 4.4 WPA Best player on the team with the most wins in the AL. Second most homers in the league behind Joey Gallo’s 47. Only thing holding him back is the excellence of everyone above him. And the fact that while he was the best player on the only AL 100-win team, he was far from the only great player on that team.

10. Shed Long, SEA

.287/.352/540, 182 H, 39 HR, 79 XBH, 343 TB, 133 RBI, 103 R, 5.1 WAR Wanted to acknowledge the surprise team of the year, the Seattle Mariners, who led their division for a good portion of the season before regressing to finish at 84-78. A big part of their success was Long, who led the team in hits (by 24), RBIs (by 46), homers (by 11), and qualified OPS (by .113). In other words, the tenth spot on this ballot went to the entire Mariners offense, and his name is Shed Long.
Honorable Mentions: George Springer HOU (.303/.386/.564, 44 HR, 6.6 WAR) Rafael Devers BOS (.303/.351/.457, 38 HR, 2nd most TB, 6.1 WAR) Andrelton Simmons LAA (.283/.318/.407, 6.6 WAR) Gerrit Cole NYY (18-4, led league in ERA and Ks, 6.0 WAR) Trey Mancini BAL (~30 games lost to injury, .302/.368/.587, 40 HR, 4.1 WAR)

American League Cy Young

1. Gerrit Cole, NYY

32 GS, 18-5, 214.1 IP, 3.02 ERA, 283 K, 23 QS, 1.106 WHIP, 11.9 K/9, 2.0 BB/9, 6.0 WAR Best pitcher on the best team, but that’s not why I’m voting for him. He’s in the #1 spot because he led the league in the two more important categories of the Pitching Triple Crown, only walked 48, and accrued the most WAR of any AL pitcher.

2. Shane Bieber, CLE

33 GS, 20-8, 214.2 IP, 3.65 ERA, 218 K, 22 BB, 20 QS, 1.030 WHIP, 9.1 K/9. 0.9 BB/9, 4.8 WAR Lowest WHIP and fewest walks surrendered of any qualified AL starter, most wins in the league, and need I remind you that he’s on the team that came back from a 3-0 deficit in the World Series to beat the St. Louis Cardinals? While he was tenth in strikeouts, his miniscule number of walks meant his K/BB was also the best in the American League.

3. Lucas Giolito, CHW

34 GS, 13-9, 187.2 IP, 3.40 ERA, 277 K, 14 QS, 1.040 WHIP, 13.3 K/9, 2.2 BB/9, 4.6 WAR While he may not have gone as long into the games he started as the people above him, G-Elite-o made his pitches count. Only six strikeouts behind the leader Cole despite over 25 fewer innings pitched, the highest K/9 in the AL, and probably would’ve had a lot more wins if his bullpen wasn’t a dumpster fire.

4. Jesus Luzardo, OAK

33 GS, 13-7, 210.1 IP, 3.04 ERA, 234 K, 25 QS, 1.108 WHIP, 10.0 K/9, 2.2 BB/9, 5.5 WAR Second lowest ERA, most Quality Starts, and being the best pitcher on a 99-win team while a rookie. Stands right below Gerrit Cole on several lists (ERA and WAR are the primary two that land him here) but his contributions to his team were far from second best.

5. Aroldis Chapman, NYY

48 GF, 1-2, 35 SV, 55.2 IP, 2.10 ERA, 86 K, 0 BS, 1.006 WHIP, 13.9 K/9, 2.0 WAR, 3.7 WPA Yankees games very often came down to Chapman performing (as you can see with the league-high save total), and each time they called on him, he delivered. His 3.7 Wins Probability Added is the highest of any AL pitcher, starting or otherwise. Gerrit Cole, in second, has 3.0. Chapman was integral to the Yankees pitching this year.
Honorable Mentions: Zack Greinke HOU (33 GS, 18-7, 229.0 IP, 4.52 ERA, 6 CG, 2 SHO, 216 K, 27 BB, 3.6 WAR) Brendan McKay TBR (32 GS, 16-12, 186.0 IP, 3.87 ERA, 207 K, 4.3 WAR) Sean Manaea OAK (33 GS, 16-7, 219.1 IP, 3.32 ERA, 192 K, 4.1 WAR)

American League Rookie Of The Year

1. Jesus Luzardo, OAK

33 GS, 13-7, 210.1 IP, 3.04 ERA, 234 K, 25 QS, 1.108 WHIP, 10.0 K/9, 2.2 BB/9, 5.5 WAR Basically for all of the reasons listed for his Cy Young candidacy, plus the fact that he’s a rookie. Dude killed it.

2. Austin Hays, BAL

.286/.326/.510, 179 H, 35 HR, 70 XBH, 319 TB, 87 RBI, 91 R, 3.4 WAR The consensus best rookie bat of the 2020 American League came to us from the Baltimore Orioles. Hays led all AL qualified rookies in every single stat listed above, sharing only his homer total and WAR total with Luis Robert. The future of the Orioles is looking bright.

3. Brendan McKay, TBR

32 GS, 16-12, 186.0 IP, 3.87 ERA, 207 K, 15 QS, 1.210 WHIP, 10.0 K/9, 2.7 BB/9, 4.3 WAR Any other year, Brendan McKay would be an easy pick for best rookie pitcher. He had the bad luck of debuting the same year as Jesus Luzardo, but that didn’t stop him from excelling. He led his team’s rotation in Wins, Quality Starts, and BB/9.
Honorable Mentions: Nate Pearson TOR (34 GS, 8-8, 170.2 IP, 3.85 ERA, 204 K, 7 QS, 1.178 WHIP, 3.2 WAR) Luis Robert CHW (.248/.297/.496, 135 H, 35 HR, 270 TB, 75 RBI, 84 R, 3.4 WAR)

American League Manager of the Year

1. Terry Francona, CLE

98-64, Won AL Central, won World Series Tito just broke a 70+-year World Series drought with his second team. Also, not sure if you’ve heard, but they came back from a 3-0 deficit to win the World Series.

2. Bob Melvin, OAK

99-63, Won AL West, lost ALDS in 4 to eventual WS Champs I honestly don’t know what I’m doing here so I just voted for Melvin because Oakland seems like a good team that Melvin helps along.

3. Scott Servais, SEA

84-78, 4th in AL West A great deal of expectations were upended near the beginning of the season as they led the AL West as late as June and were in a Wild Card spot for a great deal of the time they weren’t leading. Servais was a big part of making that product happen, so that’s why he’s here.
Honorable Mentions: Rocco Baldelli MIN (97-65) Aaron Boone NYY (100-62)

National League MVP

1. Juan Soto, WAS

.317/.441/.626, 187 H, 44 HR, 90 XBH, 369 TB, 141 RBI, 128 R, 130 BB, 9.0 WAR Juan. Soto. And I thought Mike Trout’s age-21 season was incredible. Soto truly showed all he had this year, leading so many offensive categories, captaining a playoff team, and garnering the most RBIs by a batter in a single season since 2009. Now some might say “But Bellinger was more valuable! His WPA dwarfs Soto and he had a much better season!” To that, I say, look at what they had to work with. Bellinger had 9 other players on his team top 3.5 WAR. Soto had 5. Bellinger’s team won 121 games, and without his 9 Wins Above Replacement, they would have won a measly 112, still by far the best in the league. If Soto’s 98-win team gets his 9 wins taken away, their 89 wins don’t capture the division, and depending on how many of those wins go to Milwaukee, they might not even be in the playoffs. So, in that sense, I feel comfortable picking Childish Bambino as my NL MVP.

2. Cody Bellinger, LAD

.297/.431/.593, 170 H, 45 HR, 77 XBH, 339 TB, 104 RBI, 137 R, 134 BB, 9.2 WAR, 8.8 WPA Boy oh boy did Bellinger have a year. Although it ended far short of where many believed it should have in NLCS Game 5, that doesn’t discount the amazing things Belli showed he was capable of. He led the NL in both home runs and walks, the first to do so since Barry Bonds in 2001. His 9.2 WAR was the most in the league. His 137 runs were the most in the league. His team won 121 games. What else can I say?

3. Ozzie Albies, ATL

.325/.367/.542, 222 H, 27 HR, 84 XBH, 370 TB, 95 RBI, 128 R, 29 SB, 7.0 WAR, 7.3 WPA Albies was the best player on a very good Braves team. Led the league in hits and total bases, which, I mean, that’s pretty good. Also spent a fair amount of time this season atop the batting average leaderboard. 7 fewer wins and Atlanta likely isn’t in the playoffs, so, yeah. Dunno if I can say much more. Braves fans better enjoy that contract.

4. Christian Yelich, MIL

.312/.423/.582, 174 H, 39 HR, 71 XBH, 324 TB, 114 RBI, 122 R, 29 SB, 7.9 WAR Another player whose team wouldn’t have made it if his Wins were taken away. Yelich’s Brewers barely scraped into the playoffs, and he dragged them kicking and screaming to that postseason spot. One of only three NL players to pass an OPS of 1.000 (others were Soto and Bellinger), and the third most WAR of any NL player, it’s no surprise he’s on here in such a high spot.

5. Clayton Kershaw, LAD

32 GS, 17-0, 217.0 IP, 2.36 ERA, 227 K, 25 QS, 2 SHO, 0.912 WHIP, 9.4 K/9, 1.0 BB/9, 7.2 WAR Three people are all valid answers to who the best pitcher was in the NL this year. Those men are Max Scherzer, Walker Buehler, and Clayton Kershaw. In my opinion, which will most definitely not be shared by everyone, Kershaw deserves to be remembered as the best. He suffered no losses, allowed the fewest walks and home runs of the three previously mentioned, and, last but not least, he threw a no-hitter. That will surely not convince many of you. It convinced me. And he’s that’s why he’s at number 5.

6. Max Scherzer, WAS

33 GS, 16-8, 226.0 IP 2.63 ERA, 318 K, 25 QS, 0.889 WHIP, 12.7 K/9, 1.4 BB/9, 7.7 WAR See what I meant? Scherzer was dominant. He struck out 35 more batters than any other pitcher did this year. Only eight of his starts weren’t Quality Starts. He pitched more innings than any other NL pitcher not named Johnny Cueto. His ERA and win total are 3rd and 6th among National League starters, respectively. He also pitched his team into the postseason, so it seems like he did all right.

7. Walker Buehler, LAD

33 GS, 15-5, 205.1 IP, 2.28 ERA, 278 K, 24 QS, 0.843 WHIP, 12.2 K/9, 1.5 BB/9, 7.1 WAR, 3.8 WPA I really didn’t have any option but to group these three together. They were all just that good. And Buehler was no exception. League’s lowest ERA, lowest WHIP, and second most strikeouts. Lowest H/9 (6.0) of any NL starter as well. The only thing that Buehler did wrong was pitch so well in the same year as two other amazing performances. He even performed in the playoffs, allowing but two runs in striking out 19 in 15.1 innings of NLCS work only to see it all wither away as LA lost both games. You’ll get em next year.

8. Nolan Arenado, COL

.296/.364/.572, 182 H, 44 HR, 80 XBH, 351 TB, 110 RBI, 122 R, 7.8 WAR The high-flying third baseman may not have reached the postseason, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t try. With the most home runs and runs scored for the most potent offense in the NL West not based in Los Angeles, Arenado only struck out 103 times this year. That was the second lowest on the team, and lower than 93 other qualified batters. I guess he was also a pretty good defender so there’s that too.

9. Kris Bryant, CHC

.285/.413/.533, 159 H, 35 HR, 297 TB, 86 RBI, 107 R, 100 BB, 22 HBP, 7.0 WAR The Cubs lost 97 games this year, the most in the National League. They did that due to the trainwreck that was half their rotation and a bullpen that was equivalent to soggy bologna. If they were tanking, it appears they forgot to tell Kris Bryant, because he went off. Fourth highest on-base percentage among qualified batters. 5th highest OPS. 5th most walks. Top ten in many other categories. If you were curious who was above him on those leaderboards, many of them are elsewhere on this ballot. Pity the Cubs’ pitching exploded or he’d be in for a much better conclusion to a fantastic year.

10. Fernando Tatis Jr., SDP

.280/.354/.521, 173 H, 35 HR, 322 TB, 84 RBI, 98 R, 5.2 WAR If anybody doubted that Tatis Jr. was destined for greatness, this year silenced all doubters. At 21, Junior helped a surprise San Diego squad to a much-higher-than-predicted 77-85 record, and led the team in hits, home runs, slugging, and total bases while he was at it. He also had the most WAR on the team but that was kind of a given. He can only go up from here.
Honorable Mentions: Jacob deGrom NYM (13-14, 222.1 IP, 2.67 ERA, 250 K, 26 QS, 1.043 WHIP, 5.1 WAR) Kolten Wong STL (.283/.363/.390, 181 H, 42 XBH, 249 TB, 59 RBI, 102 R, 39 SB, 6.1 WAR) Miguel Rojas MIA (.300/.359/.421, 187 H, 49 XBH, 68 RBI, 82 R, 20 SB, 6.5 WAR) Ronald Acuña Jr. ATL (.302/.392/.536, 184 H, 35 HR, 71 XBH, 327 TB, 114 RBI, 117 R, 39 SB, 6.1 WAR) Gavin Lux LAD (.295/.376/.519, 161 H, 27 HR, 63 XBH, 283 TB, 74 RBI, 98 R, 22 SB, 5.4 WAR) Stephen Strasburg WAS (19-5, 211.0 IP, 3.67 ERA, 242 K, 22 QS, 1.095 WHIP, 6.7 WAR)

National League Cy Young

1. Clayton Kershaw, LAD

32 GS, 17-0, 217.0 IP, 2.36 ERA, 227 K, 25 QS, 2 SHO, 0.912 WHIP, 9.4 K/9, 1.0 BB/9, 7.2 WAR Said all I need to say back over at #5 on the MVP listing, so go peep that if you haven’t already to know why he’s here.

2. Max Scherzer, WAS

33 GS, 16-8, 226.0 IP 2.63 ERA, 318 K, 25 QS, 0.889 WHIP, 12.7 K/9, 1.4 BB/9, 7.7 WAR Same as Kersh. This was really tough I promise you, and tomorrow I might feel differently, but this is my ballot today.

3. Walker Buehler, LAD

33 GS, 15-5, 205.1 IP, 2.28 ERA, 278 K, 24 QS, 0.843 WHIP, 12.2 K/9, 1.5 BB/9, 7.1 WAR, 3.8 WPA Ditto on the last two. Buehler also led the league in WPA for starters, which I didn’t mention up there, but do here because this is specifically a pitching award.

4. Jacob deGrom, NYM

34 GS, 13-14, 222.1 IP, 2.67 ERA, 250 K, 26 QS, 1.043 WHIP, 10.1 K/9, 2.2 BB/9, 5.1 WAR While deGrom may have lost out on the three-peat, he didn’t lose for lack of trying. In only his second losing season, the deGrominator led the league with 26 of his 34 games started being Quality Starts. He also happened to be given an average of, and I calculated this myself, 1.97 runs of support. Because of course he was. He did throw a no-hitter of his own against the team that would eventually win his division, though. So that’s pretty good.

5. Stephen Strasburg, WAS

33 GS, 19-5, 211.0 IP, 3.67 ERA, 242 K, 22 QS, 1.095 WHIP, 10.3 K/9, 1.5 BB/9, 6.7 WAR The Nationals and Dodgers had, without a doubt, the best 1-2 starting duos in the league this year. Scherzer and strasburg were 1st and 4th on pitcher WAR league-wide, and Kershaw and Buehler were 2nd and 3rd. Strasburg showed last year was no fluke, striking out the 6th most batters of any NL pitcher and having the 4th best K/BB of any starter. His 22 quality starts were also tied for fifth most in the National LEague, and his 19 wins were the second most behind only Dodger Alex Wood. Strasburg’s numbers speak for themselves.
Honorable Mentions: Jack Flaherty STL (33 GS, 10-9, 198.1 IP, 3.40 ERA, 245 K, 1.008 WHIP, 11.1 K/9, 2.2 BB/9, 5.9 WAR) Robbie Ray ARI (34 GS, 18-7, 203.0 IP, 3.01 ERA, 1.158 WHIP, 5.5 WAR) Josh Hader MIL (42 GF, 4-3, 52.0 IP, 1.38 ERA, 25 SV, 105 K, 0.932 WHIP, 18.2 K/9, 2.8 WAR) Freddy Peralta MIL (9-6, 3.01 ERA, okay overall, but threw a no-hitter with 17 strikeouts)

National League Rookie of the Year

1. Gavin Lux, LAD

.295/.376/.519, 161 H, 27 HR, 63 XBH, 283 TB, 74 RBI, 98 R, 22 SB, 5.4 WAR Early on in the Rookie of the Year race, Lux proved the award was his to lose. And following a rookie season that could see him pop up on more than a few MVP ballots, it looks like he hasn’t. He leads NL rookies in all rate stats, has the most dingers, hits for extra bases, and total bases among that crowd. His team won 121 games. There you go.

2. Carter Kieboom, WAS

.283/.356/.451, 170 H, 21 HR, 58 XBH, 271 TB, 87 RBI, 101 R, 4.5 WAR The consensus second best NL rookie is nothing to be ashamed of when the first place player does what Gavin Lux did. Kieboom showed up too for his first year in the majors, leading NL rookies in RBIs, hits, and runs scored. He’ll definitely be one to keep your eye on in the coming years.

3. Kwang Hyun Kim, STL

59 G, 9-1, 104.1 IP, 2.76 ERA, 2 SV, 10 Ho, 123 K, 0.939 WHIP, 10.6 K/9, 1.9 BB/9, 2.6 WAR The former KBO MVP proved he could hang with the big dogs of the MLB in his debut season across the pond. In a year that saw many promising pitchers debut very well, Kim led them all in ERA, WHIP, and K/BB (5.59) while coming out of the bullpen for the NL pennant winners.
Honorable Mentions: Bryse Wilson ATL (29 GS, 12-9, 173.0 IP, 3.59 ERA, 165 K, 10 QS, 1.069 WHIP, 3.0 WAR) Trevor Rogers MIA (27 GS, 10-11, 164.0 IP, 3.24 ERA, 140 K, 15 QS, 1.220 WHIP, 3.3 WAR) Brusdar Graterol LAD (42 G, 20 GS, 8-4, 131.1 IP, 3.22 ERA, 136 K, 1.150 WHIP, 9.3 K/9, 2.9 WAR) Michel Baez SDP (64 G, 3-2, 82.1 IP, 2.95 ERA, 109 K, 0.996 WHIP, 11.9 K/9, 1.8 WAR)

National League Manager of the Year

1. Mike Shildt, STL

96-66, Won NL Central, Won NL Pennant Again I’m not sure how I’m supposed to judge this because there really isn’t all that much to go on but his team did really well so…

2. Dave Roberts, LAD

121-41, Won NL West, lost NLCS in 5 games His team did really well too but everyone kind of expected that so his placement isn’t as high even though they did really well.

3. Davey Martinez, WAS

98-64, Won NL East, Lost NLDS in 3 games His team did really well too even though they lost a pretty good player so I guess he gets my vote too.
Honorable Mentions: Craig Counsell MIL (86-76) Brian Snitker ATL (92-70)

nl batting average leaders by year video

Yearly League Leaders & Records for Batting Average. Create your own custom leaderboards . Become a Stathead today and run queries with our Season and Career Finders to see the best seasons in MLB history. Become a Stathead. Table; Year National League BA American League BA ; 2020 (NL AL) Juan Soto* .351: DJ LeMahieu .364 : 2019 (NL AL) Christian Yelich* .329: Tim Anderson .335 : 2018 (NL AL ... Can you name the MLB - NL Batting Average Leaders By Year? by billn64 Plays Quiz not verified by Sporcle . Rate 5 stars Rate 4 stars Rate 3 stars Rate 2 stars Rate 1 star . Popular Quizzes Today. Find the US States - No Outlines Minefield 26,193; Group Clicking: Africa 11,556; Absent Letter Women ... NL Batting Leaders 1961 Topps . THE PLAYERS; ARTICLES ... (1967). In 1960, Groat led the National League in batting average (.325), earning the NL Most Valuable Player Award while leading the Pirates to the 1960 World Series title over the heavily favored New York Yankees. Dick also won the 1964 World Series title with the Cardinals, again over the Yankees, and earned five NL All-Star Game ... League Year-By-Year Batting--Totals Table; Year Tms #Bat BatAge R/G G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB; 2020: 15: 327: 28.4: 4.71: 898: 33202: 29399 Tags: Baseball Quiz, MLB Quiz, AL Batting, Batting, Batting Average, Batting Champions, Batting Leaders, NL Batting, Season Stat, Stats Leaders Top Quizzes Today Big 4 21st Century MVP Sorting Blitz 1,293 Todd Helton took Associated Press MLB Player of the Year honors by batting .372. He also led the Majors with 147 RBs, and he hit 42 home runs. Helton blew up criticism that Rockies players cannot hit on the road by batting .391 at Coors Field and .353 on the road. In the sixth inning on Aug. 21, his average reached exactly .400. Year by Year Leaders for Batting Average Major League Baseball Batting Champions. Ted Williams once commented about those that fail 'only' seven times out of ten attempts will be the greatest in the game. He was right about that and the list of batting champions below, reflects those great hitters who truly dominated during a single season of play. Note: Three point one (3.1) plate appearances ... Leaders Attendance Data; Hitting Charts; Pitching Charts; Record Books; Statmaster ... Year: League By League Batting Averages: The Major League record for the highest batting average in the American League was .292, set in 1921, in the National League it was .303, set in 1930. The Major League record for the lowest batting average in the American League was .230, set in 1968, in the National ... nl: 60: 2074: 348: 556: 130: 3: 103: 338: 239: 573: 23: 4.268.349.483.832

nl batting average leaders by year top

The Future of Farming - YouTube

Like and subscribe Technology is revolutionizing farming. That's great news—by the year 2050 Earth's population will be 10 billion, so we need to almost double the amount of fo... The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for ... Amazon Affiliate Link. For Paper Towel Rolls by GP PRO (Georgia-Pacific), Brown, or White, 26301, 800 Feet Per Roll, 6 Rolls Per Caseby Georgia-Pacific Prime... Own This Day - https://thebaseballpage.comSeptember 10, 1960 - Mickey Mantle unloads a cannon shot clearing the RF roof in Detroit and landing in Brooks Lumb... TOP 5 NL BATTING AVERAGE LATINO LEADERS1. Jose Martinez - STL - .3072. Nolan Arenado - COL - .3053. David Peralta - ARI - .3054. Eugenio Suarez - CIN - .... Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

National League Batting Year-by-Year Averages Baseball ...

nl batting average leaders by year

nl batting average leaders by year - win

A Toast to the 2020 New York Mets

Player of the Day (2/12/21): Justin Turner

I love Trea Turner and you should too: a brief history and analysis on baseball's most underrated shortstop

A speedy boy is born

From the start to the starting shortstop

Zooming to greatness

TVT for MVP

All MLB snub: real eyes realize real lies

In conclusion: Trea Turner send tweet

Motor City Management - Detroit Tigers Report 2024 - Cleveland Rocks