Cincinnati Reds Reborn !

[learning2fly_24]

During the offseaon (2005), Cincinnati Reds Majority owner Carl Linder has decided to sell the team. A ownership group based in the home town of Cincinnati, head by Robert Castelinni has agreed in principal to buy the franchise. All that remains is the approval of Major League Baseball. It's a done deal right? But, wait, but wait, but wait.....out of the woodwork comes a new competitor in the bidding, Josh Garrin. Josh an internet wiz kid who made billions during the dot.com boom selling sports statistical databases has decided to take on the ownership of his own team. Due to his background in sports and his huge pocketbook.. MLB approves the the new ownership by a vote of 26-3. Garrin is ready to take over the team, and we're off and running.

[learning2fly_24]

Garrin's opening press conference-

"Thanks for coming everyone. I would like to welcome you all to a new age in Cincinnati Reds baseball. Ok lets get to it. For those of you who know me, you know I like to win. The first thing I want everyone in this room to understand is it's not about the profit. It's not about lining my pockets...it's about returning the Cincinnati Reds among baseball's elite. To all the Reds fans out there...I know your tired of losing. I know your tired of not competing. My promsise to you is that withing the next 3-5 years you will be rooting for a championship ball club."

" In order to get there we're going to have to make changes. It starts with the attitude from the Front Office. It will change. It starts with a change of attitude in the minor league system. It will change. It starts with the attitude from the big league team. It will change. From a personal standpoint I have no intentions of rattlling the cages as of this point. John Allen will stay on with the team as the acting GM, and Jerry Narron will remain our big league manager. His attitude and 'stick to the fundamentals' attitude is just what we'll need over the next few years. In the immediate future look for this team to get younger. Although we have alot of talent on this team now...we don' have the ability to expand on this team. Therefore some changes will be made now. It's tryout day #1 for the big league club because changes are coming and probably sooner rather than later."

" The mantra for 2006 and beyond will be "Reds Reborn". I please understand....that is my goal..thank you for coming"

[petrel]

A few questions:

1) What about Junior?
2) Are you going to spend money for All-Stars or play "Moneyball"?
3) Where will most of the money be spent, for pitchers or position players?
4) Free agency or the minor leagues...where will your emphasis be?
5) Any changes in ticket prices or TV philosophy?
6) What about Pete? :)

--Pet

[learning2fly_24]

Warroom- The plan beginning the season is to win and win now. We feel like there should be enough talent here to compete immediately. If not the goal is to attempt to lock up the young stars and build around them. (not a reveloutionary idea ) The hope is to build around Kearns, Dunn, Encarnacion and Felipe Lopez. Also Arroyo and Harang should remain in our long term goals. However, we need to slash some payroll immediately.

Pre-Season moves-
Aquired Brandon Phillips- (commish mode....he is currenlty on the reds roster)
Signed Calvin Pickering for two years at 350k per.

New York Yankees- Eric Milton
Cincinatti Reds - Bubba Crosby

No real value with Crosby...however dumping Milton 8 mil per season will help
the team long term financially.

Spring Training Line up

2b- Tony Womack
ss- Felipe Lopez
cf- Ken Griffey Jr.
LF- Adam Dunn
RF- Austin Kearns
3b- Edwin Encarnacion
1b- Calvin Pickering
c- Jason LaRue

Bench

Ryan Freel
Rich Aurillia
Javier Valentin
Scott Hatteberg
Terrence Long
Quinton McKrackin

Rotation-

1- Aaron Harang
2- Bronson Arroyo
3- Brandon Claussen
4- Dave Williams
5- Darrell May

Pen-
Dave Weathers
Todd Coffey
Brian Shackleford
Kent Merker
Mike Burns
Rick White

Pay Roll- Currently 66 million - Expected Revenue 60 million.

1st Month April 1- May 1

6-17 10.5 Back. Last in central. Hitting .224 ERA 5.98

Encarnacion- 2 weeks Tendonitiusa
Griffey .236 Womack .218 Larue .210

Arroyo Best ERA 4.11
Weathers 1.76 3-3 saves

What a woeful start. We'll give it another month to see if we can turn it around

[HoustonGM]

I like it so far.

TRADE WOMACK! He's worthless. Ryan Freel would serve them team best at 2B (or in the case of real life, Brandon Phillips).

[learning2fly_24]

May 1-31

18-33 15.5 Games Back hitting .243 Era 5.99 -

Warroom- Ok this team is not getting it done. Its unreasonable to think that some subtle changes will help this team recover from 15.5 down. Time to start building this team for the future. As evident from our 5.99 team ERA (and the Reds track record) Starting pitching is required. Due to payroll constraints it needs to be young pitching. Also..due to the "Great American Ballpark" Effect...Ground ball type..that don't give the long ball are at a premium. Here is a list of the guys on the block...

Ken Griffey Jr.
Jason LaRue
Tony Womack
Rich Aurillia
Scott Hatterburg

Pitcher I know that I'm currently interested in include-
Matt Verlander det, Brandon Webb ari, Yorman Barzado sea, Chin Min Wang NYY, Jake Westbrook cle, Aaron Cook col, Danny Cabrera bal, and Jimmy Journall from stl.

After shoppinging the forementined players...Ken Griffey Jr was the only one that drew massive interest. After multiple attempts with Arizona to land Brandon Webb it became apparent we didn't have the fire power to land such a high quality pitcher. So we began shopping for prospect. Seattle brought an offer so we began dealing. The final agreement was as follows

Mariners get- Ken Griffey Jr
- Eric Crozier
- Rich Aurilia
- Jacob Cruz
- Chris Enorfia
- Grant Balfour
Reds Get- - Rene Rivera C Prospect
- Yorman Bazardo p prospect
- Adam Jones CF/SS Prospect

Next to go would be Jason Larue. With Javier Valentin hitting well we decided it was time to deal and let Javier take over and promoting Dave Ross from AAA Louisville. We've decided with an abundance of cf, c, 2b prospects in the minors that we would once again attempt to land a pitching prospect. Talks began with LA Dodgers as we tried to land Chad Billingsly. (He played baseball at a local rival of my high school, so there is alot of local interest). However the Dodgers had no interest in shaking out this deal. We were however able to land a prospect high and our list.

Dodgers Get - Jason Larue C
- Calvin Pickering (7 HR's...2nd on team)
- Alex Sanchez
- Andy Machado (84 Peak Rated ss Prospect- d+ scouting)
- And two other Mid level Prospects
Reds Get - - Jonathan Broxton

Other trades of note in the league.

Philidelphia Gets - Amioriox Burgos RP
- Emil Brown RF
- Doug Mientkiewicz 1b
- Paul Phillips c
KC get - Julio Santana
- Alex Gonzalez SS
- Pat Burrell LF
- Chase Utley 2b

**** it...If I knew Phily wanted to give away Utley and Burrell I would've been a player.

Current Lineup -

2b- Ryan Freel .194
ss- Felipe Lopez .315 7 hr 6 sb
Rf- Austin Kearns .304 4 HR
LF- Adam Dunn .244 14 HR
3b- Edwin Encarnacion .238 OUCH
c - Javier Valentin .353 4 HR sharing time
cf- Bubba Crosby
1b- Scott Hatteburg

Bench
Terrence Long
Timo Perez
Dewayne Wise
Tony Womack
Quinton McCracken
Dave Ross

Rotation same except for Wislon replacing May

[learning2fly_24]

May 1-31

18-33 15.5 Games Back hitting .243 Era 5.99 -

Warroom- Ok this team is not getting it done. Its unreasonable to think that some subtle changes will help this team recover from 15.5 down. Time to start building this team for the future. As evident from our 5.99 team ERA (and the Reds track record) Starting pitching is required. Due to payroll constraints it needs to be young pitching. Also..due to the "Great American Ballpark" Effect...Ground ball type..that don't give the long ball are at a premium. Here is a list of the guys on the block...

Ken Griffey Jr.
Jason LaRue
Tony Womack
Rich Aurillia
Scott Hatterburg

Pitcher I know that I'm currently interested in include-
Matt Verlander det, Brandon Webb ari, Yorman Barzado sea, Chin Min Wang NYY, Jake Westbrook cle, Aaron Cook col, Danny Cabrera bal, and Jimmy Journall from stl.

After shoppinging the forementined players...Ken Griffey Jr was the only one that drew massive interest. After multiple attempts with Arizona to land Brandon Webb it became apparent we didn't have the fire power to land such a high quality pitcher. So we began shopping for prospect. Seattle brought an offer so we began dealing. The final agreement was as follows

Mariners get- Ken Griffey Jr
- Eric Crozier
- Rich Aurilia
- Jacob Cruz
- Chris Enorfia
- Grant Balfour
Reds Get- - Rene Rivera C Prospect
- Yorman Bazardo p prospect
- Adam Jones CF/SS Prospect

Next to go would be Jason Larue. With Javier Valentin hitting well we decided it was time to deal and let Javier take over and promoting Dave Ross from AAA Louisville. We've decided with an abundance of cf, c, 2b prospects in the minors that we would once again attempt to land a pitching prospect. Talks began with LA Dodgers as we tried to land Chad Billingsly. (He played baseball at a local rival of my high school, so there is alot of local interest). However the Dodgers had no interest in shaking out this deal. We were however able to land a prospect high and our list.

Dodgers Get - Jason Larue C
- Calvin Pickering (7 HR's...2nd on team)
- Alex Sanchez
- Andy Machado (84 Peak Rated ss Prospect- d+ scouting)
- And two other Mid level Prospects
Reds Get - - Jonathan Broxton

Other trades of note in the league.

Philidelphia Gets - Amioriox Burgos RP
- Emil Brown RF
- Doug Mientkiewicz 1b
- Paul Phillips c
KC get - Julio Santana
- Alex Gonzalez SS
- Pat Burrell LF
- Chase Utley 2b

**** it...If I knew Phily wanted to give away Utley and Burrell I would've been a player.

Current Lineup -

2b- Ryan Freel .194
ss- Felipe Lopez .315 7 hr 6 sb
Rf- Austin Kearns .304 4 HR
LF- Adam Dunn .244 14 HR
3b- Edwin Encarnacion .238 OUCH
c - Javier Valentin .353 4 HR sharing time
cf- Bubba Crosby
1b- Scott Hatteburg

Bench
Terrence Long
Timo Perez
Dewayne Wise
Tony Womack
Quinton McCracken
Dave Ross

Rotation same except for Wislon replacing May

[learning2fly_24]

June 1st-30th

team 26-51 24.0 back .242 avg 5.66 era

Team Notes- Continues to be little as far as bright spots. There are no major injuries to date and we are still playing horrible. With the trade deadline a month away we decided it's time to continue our progress forward.

Of course the one bright spot is Javier Valentin. With his contract ending post season and due to the fact he's not in our long term plans we begin to shop him to other teams in the league. Prospects are still the return we're seeking. A future leadoff hitter and more young pitching prospects are where our interest lies the most. Interestingly Tampa Bay seems very interested in Valentin. With an abundance of cheap, young talent and a back up of lead off hitters with Crawford, Baldelli and Gathright waiting in the wings...we were all ears. Here's how it shook out......

TBD get - Javier Valentin (85)<.300 7 hr 29 rbi in 80 ab's. .613 slugging>
-Matt Kata 72/90 but 28 years old

Reds get - Chuck Tiffany sp 90 peak
- Joey Gathright
- Reid Brignac ss

other deadline deals included....

Detroit recieves - Geoff Jenkins (of)
Milwaukee recieves - Craig Monroe (of)

Don't see why this trade went down...don't see the benefit for either team.

Milwaukee also recieves -Nick Swisher
Oakland recieves -Bill Hall
- Fermaint
This seems to be a steal for milwaukee in my opinion. However, how are they
going to find room for Swisher with Prince Fielder in tow?

Nothing else of note takes place.



July 1-Aug30

53-77 27 GB .246avg 5.3 ERA

Nothing new to report...this team is bad and looks to remain bad.

Trading Deadline-
There was not alot of action...

We did aquire Jimmy Journall from LAA for cash considerations. Other deals included, Preston Wilson sent to the cubs for Wade Miller...there were other players involved but who cares.
Atkins and holliday were dealt from Colorado to oakland for ellis and kotsay.
Pretty good players there....I really like Oakland's end of this deal. Also, CHWS- Deal Bobby Jenks to Cleveland for John Drennan and Thomas Mastny. Interesting deal within the division.....however Jenks was offered to my Reds on several occasions.....Sox seemed to want rid of him?

Warroom-
With uppermanagements plans in order it was time to lock up some of our young talent.


DeWayne Wise and Dave Williams were both resigned. Wise for 5 years at $500k and williams for 5 at 1.5 million. More importantly however Austin Kearns resigned 7 years 3.8 million. Which seems to be a steal for such a young talent. Felipe Lopez was also signed for 5 years at 5.75 million per.

[HoustonGM]

You really got the good end of that deal with Seattle. Nice work.

BTW, what difficulty setting is this?

[learning2fly_24]

Difficulty setting is on Manager. Also.....Once I save a screen shot how do I move it on to here so I can show you guys the season standings and such?

[HoustonGM]

Difficulty setting is on Manager. Also.....Once I save a screen shot how do I move it on to here so I can show you guys the season standings and such?
You could always use an image hosting program like Photobucket or Imageshack, or when posting, go down to Manage Attachments, browse for the file, etc. It's pretty self-explanatory.

[learning2fly_24]

Here are the final results of the 2006 Season and Playoffs.

Award Winners


Verlander CY 19-7 2.80 141k 212 ip
AROD MVP .287 46hr 135 rbi 119 rs
VERLANDER ROY

Pedro CY 21-6 2.48 213k 225 ip
Puljos MVP .343 47hr 161 rbi 140 rs 16/17 sb
Fielder ROY .264 36hr 117 rbi 82 rs

[learning2fly_24]

Season End-

The Cincinnati Reds finished the 2007 Season with a record of 53-77, 27 games back. There were no bright spots in the eyes of management. A press conference was held for October 2nd, the last day of the Reds season, after the 7-4 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.

Press Conference -

Garrin-" Thank you all for being here. I would like to start by thanking the city of Cincinnati, and Cincinnati Reds fans everywhere for their continued support this season. Next I would like to issue a public appology. I promised the city of cincinnati a winner when I got here....and I didn't deliver. I promise you an interesting offseason here in Cincinnati and I promise to put a better team on the field next year. 'Reds Reborn' is not something I take lightly, and when I promised a change in attitude I meant it. "

[HoustonGM]

You finished 62-100, not 53-77. :p

[Outsider]

Mets!!! :)