You mean we get to watch 'sherwood? A dream come through.

If you would like to trade me young studs for overpriced junk, PLEASE join!!!!

CINCINNATI VENUS FLYTRAPS, SEASON2

It is here! The second season of my rebuild project in Cincinnati. The world has rolled over and we are just waiting for 5 or 6 spots to be filled and then the season will start to roll.

I am not going to go into as much detail about various in-season events this year (other than a new section I will do about the Rule 5 draft) and instead refer you back to prior pages in this thread. However, I will be discussing events leading up to the start of this, my second season (Season 5 for the world) in the following order:

1. Pre-budget roster evaluation
2. Setting the budget
3. Dealing with Team options.
4. Resigning free agents, rehiring coaches, and arbitration
5. Coach Hiring
6. Free Agency
7. Finalizing Season Rosters
8. Rule 5 Draft Preparation (pre-Rule 5 Day)
9. Rule 5 Draft Preparation (on Rule 5 Day)
10. Rule 5 Draft Results
11. Spring Training
12. Regular season preparation

I may add in another step or two along the way, and I will post updates about any trades or other significant events as the preseason unfolds. And once the season starts, we should be hearing from Les Nessman again with a Season Preview and regular in-season updates.

Up next: Pre-Budget Roster Evaluation

#1 PRE-BUDGET ROSTER EVALUATION

In my first season with this team, all I could do once I joined the world but before budgets were set is look at the current ratings of my players and try to make a starting gameplan for what I needed and what my first season goals were. After rollover for my second season, I have more information that I can begin to evaluate. As I mentioned earlier, I maintain spreadsheets that hold the current and projected ratings of every player on my team. As long as I do not change my Advanced Scouting budget, the projected ratings will not change, with only 2 exceptions, as follows:

1. Players that hit 27 years of age will not longer have projected ratings. I update my spreadsheets to remove their projecteds.
2. If an individual rating has increased beyond what was projected, the projected will go up to the current. For example, if a pitcher last season was a current 67, projected 71 in control, and at the start of this season has a 72 current control, his projected control goes to 72 as well.

Because of this, once the world rolls over, I can update my spreadsheets and will have all of the current and projected ratings data for every player on that sheet (which includes not only my current players, but the guys that are free agents to be this season as well).

I will at this time also go through my spreadsheet and delete anyone that has retired. Given that I had a lot of minor league free agents that I used to fill low level minor league roster spots, I actually had almost 40 retirements. Hopefully, as I rebuild the minor leagues for my team, that number will reduce in future seasons. I do anticipate having to sign a nice handful of minor league free agents again this season.

Once my spreadsheets are updated (and sometimes this can take me until several days into the offseason activities depending on my real life schedule), I will begin trying to figure out which players will play what roles this season and what holes I will have on my big league roster. I also start consideration of budget issues in anticipation of budget day.

In Cincinnati, unlike my first season, I have very minimal payroll commitment for this year. I am under 35 million heading into the season and still have a couple bad contracts that I was not able to move in the offseason. I also still have very little in terms of talent on my major league squad, but my "Fab Five" of prospects are set to all play AAA this year and by next season I should be in decent shape for position players. Pitching is another issue as I only have a couple of legitimate major leaguers on my roster and very little to no pitching prospects in my system. Therefore, this season's main goal is to find a way to build a pitching staff through trades, the draft, internationals (I will pursue them this season as I should have a lot of excess money due to my low payroll), and possibly free agency (if a young starter is available).

Remember, Season 1 was about clearing out the payroll which I was fairly successful in doing. Season 2 is about building up the talent base. Season 3 will be the year we start to win games and make a potential playoff run.

Up next: Setting the Budget

Welcome back C-wood. Good luck again this year and I'm looking forward to your updates as usual.

Same here C-wood. This thread is interesting AND informative.

Thanks. League just filled, we are just waiting for the commish to approve it. Budget day will probably be Friday. This may present a bit of a problem for me as I will not have any computer access on Saturday to resign free agents, but I am working on ways to have someone else take care of that for me.

#2 SETTING THE BUDGET

In my first season, the budget question was all about trying to save money. As a result of the trades I made, I have MONEY to available all over the place this season. My player payroll is only 34 million, and I only have 2 arb eligible guys that I have any desire to bring back, and combined they will cost me under 4 million.

As a result, I pump the money into my future. High school and college scouting both go to 16 million. International scouting goes to 10 (it was only 6 last season so that is as high as it can go). As I discussed last season, Advanced Scouting, as always, gets set at 14. I pump my Training budget up to 14 also and set Medical at a solid 11.

I now turn to Coaching. I want to make certain that I have top coaches this season, so I pump Coach budget up to 16 million. I could go higher, but that should be more than enough to have a solid staff. Prospect Payroll gets maxed out at 20.

This still leaves me with 68 million for Player Payroll. With only 38 spent after I sign my arb eligible guys, I have 30 million to play around with. As I do not expect to contend this season and I lost a handful of major leaguers to either free agency (or guys that are arb eligible that I intend to release), I will need 5-10 million to fill out my major league roster. The balance can be used either to bid on free agents (if there are any young studs that are available - I don't want veterans), or to be saved and transferred to Prospect Payroll so I can actually get involved in International Free Agency this season (of course I need to be careful here because my scouting is only set at 10 million, so I will only bid if I am certain the guy will be a stud - thus, if his ratings are way off, he should still at least be a decent prospect.)

With my budget set, the next step is dealing with Team options, of which I have 2 very interesting ones to consider this season. That will be the subject of my next post.

Asking for all my secrets, huh?

Actually, I will try to answer this. Unfortunately, I am about to leave town for a couple days, so I will put something together beginning of next week.

#3 TEAM OPTIONS
#4 REHIRE COACHES/RESIGN FREE AGENTS/ARBITRATION

I am dealing with steps 3 and 4 in the same post because I have been away for the past couple of days and am now getting caught up. I did not have computer access during resign free agent day, but had my fiancee take care of it for me. Today is arbitration day (and the second day of rehiring coaches). Also, all decisions on Team Options are due by the end of arbitration day.

With regard to Team Options, I had two players with option years. The first was a veteran relief pitcher who sat all of last year on the AAA inactive list and he is an easy decision to decline his option and save about a million dollars. The second player is Derrin Wilkinson, my DH who had probably the best season of all offensive players for me, hitting around .312. He is also 31 years old and his hitting ratings would be decent on a middle infielder or center fielder, but are nothing special especially on a guy that cannot play defense. As I have no intent to bring him back after this season anyhow, I go ahead and decline his option. It will save me almost 2 million dollars this season and odds are he wont be a huge target in the free agent market anyhow. If I find myself entering spring training without a DH, I can always go and try to resign him later.

With regard to resigning free agents, I had a couple decent players on the list, but anyone worth keeping also ended up being a Type B free agent, including starting pitcher Clarence Smith. I need prospects, so I let them all go in hopes I get a supplemental round pick. Again, if no one signs these guys, I can pick them up after regular free agency ends if I need guys to fill out my roster.

As to rehiring coaches, I am able to rehire a nice chunk of my staff including my pitching coach and my fielding coach, both prized positions. I get my AAA staff filled as well with rehires, so despite having a large coaching budget, I actually have only a small handful of the "expensive" positions (all ML and AAA coaches) to fill. This means I can go "top of the line" for positions like ML hitting and bench coach.

Finally, with regard to arbitrations, I end up arbitrating catcher McKay Xavier. He is my backup catcher but he swings a decent bat and at least fills a roster spot. I also have a AAA pitcher that is on my 40 and has some ML time so he is arb eligible. His progress was slowed down but I hope he can still develop so I arbitrate him as well. One other worthless player gets released. As noone presented a long term demand lower than their single season demand, no long term contracts were offered.

Up next = Regular Free Agency and Coach Hiring.

BREAKING NEWS - THE PRICE IS RIGHT

We interrupt your regularly scheduled program to bring you this BREAKING NEWS. WKRP's Les Nessman reporting:

The Cincinnati Venus Flytraps shocked the baseball world today with a HUGE announcement. The team announced the signing of this season's premier offseason free agent, 30 year old starting pitcher Johnnie Price. Price signed a 5 year deal worth a total of 100 million dollars, at a rate of 18 million per season plus a 10 million dollar signing bonus. The deal also includes a No Trade Clause and a Player Option for the final season.

Given the team's moves to unload salaries, combined with management's admittance that the team is not going to be competitive for at least one more season, this signing comes as a complete shock. In an exclusive interview with GM csherwood, this reporter was told as follows:

"Yes, Les, we knew this move would come as a complete shock. However, we were so successful in our attempts to move bad payroll last season, that we had over 30 million dollars in salary cap room available this season. A player of Johnnie's caliber rarely comes along on the free agent market, and odds are that next year, when our Fab Five prospects break into the bigs, there will probably not be a free agent close to Johnnie's caliber available. Plus, with out first round draft pick protected this season, we only had to give up a second round pick as compensation for signing him. Johnnie is just entering the prime of his career and we now have the cornerstone in place around which to build this franchise into a champion."

Things are starting to look bright in Cincinnati.

(NOTE:
Price's ratings:
DUR 30
STA 87
CON 81
vsL 76
vsR 78
VEL 82
GB 54
P1 86
P2 67
P3 57
P4 52
Makeup 94
Health 92
Overall 89

Also, his ratings improved from the start of last season so he should still be several years away from any decline.
He has a career record of 60-34 with a 3.98 ERA)

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#5 COACH HIRING
#6 FREE AGENCY
#7 FINALIZING SEASON ROSTERS

I will deal now with these next 3 preseason steps in a single post. There is not much to say about coach hiring that wasn't said last season. I did find myself this season having overbudgeted for coaches. Therefore, as coach hiring was completed I made certain to save exactly 2 million, which can later be transferred to player or prospect payroll at a 50% penalty. My overbudgeting coaching was definitely a mistake, but at least I was able to minimize the damage and will get use of an extra 1 million should I need it later in the season. I won't transfer it yet but instead will wait to see where I need it before I move it.

As for free agency, Les Nessman's update on the signing of Johnnie Price was the only significant news. I will start by saying that dyoungquist (whose team Price played for last season) made an announcement late last season that price would be a free agent. It was then that I decided that I would sign him. I did not post anything about it previously in this thread because other players in World Addicted Users may read and could have moved to try to stop this signing. I did mention earlier that I had over 30 million in excess player payroll budgeted this season. The real reason for that money was to sign Price, but if I somehow did not get him, I would have used it as indicated -- to increase prospect payroll and go after multiple internationals.

So why would I spend 18 million a season plus a 10 million bonus on a 30 year old pitcher? Contrary to some of the other very successful HBD users out there that succeed with minimal budgets, I do believe that on occasion it is worth opening the bank vault up and paying an arm and a leg for a guy. Price was about as good as you will ever see on the free agent market for pitchers. I was certain that next season, when I have a few less bad contracts still hanging around and when my "Fab Five" prospects will be ready for the bigs, a free agent pitcher of his quality will not be out there. And looking at my farm system, while I have done well in accumulating offensive talent, I simply do not have much in terms of pitching. So I made this move, a year early, to set my team up for the 4 or more seasons after next.

What about how long Price will last? He is 30 this season, which means the contract (assuming he accepts his 5th year player option which for 18 million he in all likelihood will) will run through age 34 (not 35 as dyoung stated). From the start of last season to this one he improved 1 point overall. His makeup is 94 and I will keep my training budget at 14 million or higher. I therefore have no fear of him dropping more than 1-2 overall points (an insignificant number) between now and the end of the deal. he may even improve for the next year or two before he begins a decline.

Price gives me a staff ace. A stopper. Plus I should be able to bring in another veteran starter during free agency next year - combined with the handful of decent pitchers I can dig out of my organization such - and I should have a starting rotation good enough to compete for the playoffs next season.

As a final note about Price, dyoung noted above that I do not have the defense and catcher his team had last season for price. that is true this year, but when the fab Five come up to the bigs, I am going to have a very solid infield defense and a catcher whose pitch calling should be between 65 and 70.

With regard to finalizing my season rosters, I use the same process I did last season and there is nothing to note. I did also sign a handful of minor league free agents to fill out my minor league rosters. I still have 2 holes on my major league roster, including utility infielder and third base. I will try to fill them through the Rule 5 draft.

Up next -- Pre-Rule 5 Draft Day preparations