Building a Boston Dynasty

[zhongv1979]

Yeah, I know, for us faithful, it's no longer that much a charm to bring the Redsox to the world title in mogul... Anyway, as ppl says it's hard to win consistently than once. I think it would still be challenging to build a dynasty following the historic 2004 season...

So now it's April 1, 2005, the start of (hopefully) the new Redsox dynasty (to **** with the evil empire~~~)...

League Settings:

Difficulty: Mogul
League Avenue: 0
Salary Demand: +20%

I tend to think expensive free agency hurt big market teams more so I use this kind of setting. Anyway for small market team they cannot build by buying, so that will not affect them too much.

Ticket Price: 36.00
Concessions: default
Broadcast: Pay TV

Oops, my payroll budget is now 68.7M. With a 113.1M salary, I guess I need some creativity in dealing with my financial situation...

[zhongv1979]

Here is an overview of the whole organization:

Catcher:

Jason Varitek is signed through 2008, he's 87/87, one of the best hitting catcher in the league. But his handling is not that great now. I might have to move him to 1B in a few years.

Doug Mirabelli (76/76) will provide me a serviceable backup catcher until 2006.

I got this hot hitting catcher prospect in Jeff Bailey. He's 73/87, and might be a year away. He got pretty good handling rating, and he'll be the future signal caller of my team.

I got two other catcher prospect not likely going anywhere soon. Maybe pawns in traeds.

First baseman:

I am loaded in this position with quantity, but not quality. Kevin Millar will be my 1B for the next two years, and David Ortiz will remain a DH. Brian Daubach still got some pops. I got a few 1B prospects in the minors, but nobody is close, and may not be in any forseeable future. As said above, Jason Varitek will eventually moved to this position.

Second baseman:

I got Mark Bellhorn, that's it.

Shortstop:

How comes my farm system only producing good shortstop prospects? I got at least three really good ones: Dustin Pedroia, Kenny Perez and Hanley Ramirez. Unfortunately this position will be blocked by Edgar Renturia until 2008 (Thank you, Theo). It seems that Perez and Ramirez will not find a position in this organization, while Pedroia might be ready when Renturia's contract expires.

Third baseman:

Bill Mueller looks past his prime, but Kevin Youkilis is unlikely to hit good enough to replace Mueller this year.

Leftfielder:

Manny really got an iron glove, and DH is occupied by David Ortiz. I don't know how to deal with this situation. Ideally I should rid his huge contract as soon as possible, but emotionally it is hard to do so. For now he'll remain my starting leftfielder. Adam Hydzu will serve as a defensive replacement although he is not himself not much better defensively. I got no depth in this position in my farm system, but I got plenty of CFs, so I might switch one to this position.

Centerfielder:

Another jammed position. Brandon Moss and Mickey Hall will come in handy when Damon's contract is up. I move Chip Ambres to leftfielder to avoid a jam in AAA level.

Rightfielder:

Very thin. I got Trot Nixon, and Jeff Francoerr, who is not promising at all.

Basically I am thin at corner outfielders and 1B, good news is these positions are the easiest to fill. Bad thing is it seems my team is overpaid in position players. I may need to overhaul this lineup in a few years.

Starters:

I got my five quality starters, and that's it. Nobody in AAA seems ready to fill in should bad things happen. I might have to resort to John Burkett if that really happens. This is not a promising thought.

Bullpen:

It's falling apart, sooner or later. I hope it's not this year. Foulke, Ambree and Timlin look right pass their prime. And I got no help from my farm system. Have to pray for now.

[zhongv1979]

Opening Day:

Apr 3, 2005- Redsox 2-4 Yankees

Dueling of Schilling and Big Unit. Hideki Matsui took the lead for Yankees in the 2nd with a homer, and Damon tied it at 3rd with his first homer this year. In the 5th David Ortiz doubled to drive home Damon. I led the game well into the bottom 8th, with Embree pitching. He then went wild. Walking two and throwing two wild pitch, he allowed Hideki Matsui to score the tying run from third. And Gary Sheffield hit a walkoff homer in the bottom of 12th against Keith Foulke. Not a good start for me.


Apr 6~7, 2005 At Yankees, W 5-1, L 4-8

Matt Clement limited Yankees to 1 run in 8 innings and we roughed up Tom Gordon to claim the first win of the year. Wakefield then got hammed by the Yanks, giving up 7 earned runs in 5.1 innings. Amasingly he did not throw a single wild pitch or did Varitek allows a passed ball. On the contrary,
Yankees got one wild pitch and one passed ball.

Around the league:

A lot of free agents got signed during the first week of April. Detroit spent 6-year, 6.5M/yr on Tony Batista... for his .298 career OBP, I am speechless...

Also a few injuries hit the league. Adam Everett of Houston likely lost for the year. Corey Koskie and Ray Durham both tore their ligaments and likely to be out until all-star game.

[zhongv1979]

Apr 8~10 (1-2) at Blue Jays: L 2-3 W4-3 W6-5

Bronson Arroyo pitched a gem with 2 runs in 8 innings, but Keith Foulke lost another one for me in extra innings. We won the rest two games with strong outing of my bullpen. Mark Bellhorn was out for at least 3 weeks, and Ramon Vazquez will take his position in the lineup. Kevin Youkilis is called up from Pawtucket to fill Bellhorn's roster spot.

Apr 11 (3-3) vs. Yankees: W 8-5

Home opener, with Fenway Park filled, Matt Clement pitched wildly but effectively into the 7th inning, walking 6 en route. Leasing 8-2 by then, David Wells relieved him but got roughed up in the 8th, almost letting Yankees making it a game. Keith Foulke shut the door effectively anyway.

And Johny Damon's gonna be out for 3 weeks because of a hairline wrist break, ehh.... Jason Varitek did not play due to a bruised foot. He'll be ok.

After the game Adam Hydzu is recalled from Pawtucket to fill in Damon's roster spot.

Apr 13~14, 2005 (4-3) vs. Yankees: W18-2, L3-8

Wakefield pitched a nice game and we won the first one. We went out of gas after hitting 5 home runs in the first game and struggled against Mike Mussina to let Yankees pull even. Wade Miller had a bruised hip and would be skipped in the rotation.

Apr 15~17, 2005 (5-4) vs. Devil Rays: W3-1, W4-3, L11-12

I thought I was going to sweep, but Keith Foulke blew the last game and Embree lost it in extra innings. Not looks good for my bullpen. Wakefield looks even worse: 3 starts: 1-1 with 7.45 ERA... And Schilling would miss his next start for a hip injure.

Trade: Nationals traded 2B Jamey Carrol to Devil Rays for 3B Jared Sandberg. A swap for AAA players.

Apr 18~19, 2005 (7-5) vs. Blue Jays: L10-15, W5-1

A strange 2-game series split with Blue Jays. The first game was a hitting practice. Renturia managed to go 3-6 with 2 homers to up his avg to .241, but my bullpen proved no relief: 5IP, 9ER. Bronson Arroya provided the other 6 ER. This looked really really not good.. at all. Wade Miller won the second game for me and struck out 9, pretty impressive.

First roster move in the bullpen: After allowing 5 ERs in 6 innings, Jack Cressend was sent down to Pawtucket. John Halama was reclled from Pawtucket to make an emergency start for Curt Schilling.

Also it seemed my accountants severely underestimate my income before the season. Now they said I could have a payroll budget at 108.1M. I was still over by a bit, but it was pretty manageable now.

Apr 20~21, 2005 (8-6) at Orioles: L 3-5, L 0-6

Halama could not finish the 5th inning with a 3-2 lead. He'd be sent back to Pawtucket right after the game. Then I had to face O's ace Rodrigo Lopez and he four-hit me. It was not good, really...

Lenny DiNardo and Matt Mantei were added to the 25-man roster, with John Halama and Tommy Hottovy sent down to Pawtucket.

Apr 22~24, 2005 (8-8) at Devil Rays: L5-6, W7-5, L8-9

What should I say? I almost got swept by the almighty Devil Rays. Bronson Arroyo, Tim Wakefield, Wade Miller... None of them could give me a quality outing... Ramon Vazquez was hitting .197 now. I really missed Mark...

Amasingly other teams in AL east did not fare well, either. I was actually only one game back.

Around the league: Blue Jays acquired RP Mike Williams from Phillies for 2B Menechino, with both team threw in a few career minor league players. Mike Williams was a serviceable reliever, but I wouldn't worry about this.

Apr 25~27, 2005 (9-10) vs. Orioles: W8-1, W9-4, L2-6

Curt Schilling became to stopper for my skid. Then Matt Clement gave ma another solid outing. After winning the first two games, I though I could get a sweep, but Tim wakefield's knuckleball obviously did not fly... Sammy Sosa hit one home run in each games.

Mike Timlin was awful, allowing 10 ER in 10.2 innings. I would give him one more shot though..

Around the League: Indians DH Travis Hafner hit 4 home runs against Detroit Tigers in Apr 26. Braves SS Wilson Betemit's season came to an end when he blew his knee ligament. He was playing in AA anyway, though.

Apr 28~May 1, 2005 (11-11) at Rangers: L1-4, L3-7, L3-14

I got swept by the redhot Rangers who won 16 out their last 20 games. Only good side of the story: Mike Timlin managed to lower his ERA from 8.44 to 6.75.. and Johny Damon's back..

Roster Move: OF Johny Damon activated from DL, OF Dave Berg sent to Pawtucket.

So here comes the end of April, my record standed as:

11-14 (fourth place in AL East, 5 games back)

Team ERA: 5.17
Team OPS: .805
Best hitter: LF Manny Ramirez .340-5-17, 1.083 OPS(6th in AL)
Worst hitter: 2B Ramon Vazquez .207-0-2
Best pitcher: Matt Clement 4-1, 3.63ERA, 29K in 34.2IP
Worst pitcher: Bronson Arroyo 1-3, 7.67 ERA

Around the league:

Division Leaders:
Yankees 16-9 ALE
Tigers 15-10 ALC
Rangers 19-7 ALW
Mets/Phillies/Nationals 14-11 NLE
Cubs 18-7 NLC
Dodgers 14-10 NLW

Individual Leaders:

BA: Rangers OF Richard Hidalgo .450
Home runs: Whitesox 1B Paul Konerko/Rockies 1B Todd Helton/Rangers OF Richard Hidalgo tied 11
RBI: Mariners 3B Adrian Beltre 30
W: 9 tied with 4 (including my Clement)
ERA: Astro's SP Roy Oswalt 1.34
K: Twins SP Johan Santana 49

[zhongv1979]

May 2~5, 2005 (11-14) at Tigers: L1-6, L4-5, L0-3, W5-4

Facing first-place Tigers... Tigers? How many times you can find Tigers and first-place in the same sentence? Yet they were batting .824 OPS as a team, and here comes their ace..... Steve Avery... yes, that Steve Avery, he came out and shut us down in the first game, beating Matt Clement soundly.

Then Foulke lost his 5th games this year, yeah, a closer lost his 5th games in May 3. He still got only one blown save, but every time I put him in a tied game he would lose that one for me. Edgar Renturia was hitting .223/.288/.314 while making 10M/yr. Good job, Theo.

We natually got shut out by Nate Robertson the next game and then bounced back to avoid the sweep with David Ortiz's 4 RBIs.

Roster Move: 2B Mark Bellhorn activated from DL. OF Adam Hydzu sent to Pawtucket.

May 6~8 (12-17) vs. Mariners W8-5, W16-1,W2-1

Despite the lackluster performance, we still sold out almost every game in Fenway Park. Mariners had the worst ERA in the league, and they showed it this series. Manny, Ortiz and Damon continued to hit well, and Millar got his 8th home runs to lead the team though hitting only .233. My middle infielders still had not found their bat, Mark Bellhorn managed to hit worse than Ramon Vazquez so far.

May 9~11 (15-17) vs. A's L3-7, W10-9, L4-5

Our middle-of-lineup guys did their jobs, our pithcer did not. Bronson Arroyo and Wade Miller got knocked hard in back to back games. Lenny DiNardo made an emergency start for the ailing Schilling and pitched strong, but this time it was Matt Mantei who blew the lead and took the loss. We did salvage one game out the three in game two when David Ortiz hit a go-ahead 3-run homer against A's RP Jairo Garcia.

Roster Move: Bronson Arroyo placed on DL. John Halama recalled from Pawtucket. He'd replaced Arroyo's position in rotation.

Kevin Millar was ailed by a broken cheek bone for a few days and Kevin Youkilis would start at 1st base for these games.

May 13~15 (16-19) at Mariners W 1-0, W4-3, L1-4

After Schilling pitched a shutout and Matt Clement outlasted Thomas Oldham I hoped for a sweep, but Tim Wakefield ruined my day by allowing 12 hits and 4 ER in 5.1 IP in the last game. Youkilis was hitting hot recently, posting a .345 average in 18 games, and more amazingly, with only 1 walk. However, with Millar healthy now, he had to be demoted to the bench.

Around the League: Ugly things happened to the (gulping) first-place Tigers. They lost their starting CF Andres Torres for the year. They also got Brandon Inge and Omar Infante hit the DL. Good that they had signed Tony Batista... They had since lost the first place to (gulping again) Kansas City Royals. Perhaps feeling that they could win right now, Royals pulled the trigger and complete the first big trade of the year 2005:

Royals traded 1B Ken Harvey, 2B Tony Graffanino and LF Alexis Gomez to Orioles for LF Larry Bigbie.

Bigbie's been red hot, hitting .358/.410/.596 for the year, with 6 homers and 28 RBI. However, with Brian Roberts hitting DL twice in one and a half month, Orioles felt they needed to get another infielder, so they traded for Graffy. Royals gave up three bench players and got a huge upgrade in leftfielder position in Larry Bigbie over Terrence Long. Good job.

May 16~18, 2005 (18-20) at A's W5-3, W6-5, W8-3

John Halama pitched strongly and homers by Kevin Millar, Trot Nixon and Johny Damon let me win the first game. The second and third game both went into extra innings, but we outlasted the A's. Mark Bellhorn drove in the winning run in game 2 but otherwise still hitting poorly.

After sweeping the A's we were finally back above .500. And we were only 1.5 game back in wild card race, behind Los Angels... Los Angeles Dodgers of Ananeim... Los Angeles Angels of Disney World... well, you know what I am talking about...

[zhongv1979]

So started the fun interleague play. The first series were against my designated "rival" Atlanta Braves. This did not make much sense. What rivalry between Redsox and Braves? Just because Braves fled town some fifty years ago? I'd say Mets or Cards make a better rival.

But here we go, Braves, 2nd in NLE behind Phillies. 21-19, nearly the same record as me. Good matchup.

May 20~22, 2005 (21-20) vs. Braves (21-19): L2-5, L6-9, W2-1

We lost the first game despite a strong outing by Matt Clement. 3 errors- one by Manny and two by Millar had killed us. Poor relieve pitching certainly did not help. Both Timlin and Embree gave runs again. I had enough. The following day I pulled off two trades:

May 21, Redsox traded RP Jason Shiell, 1B Jeremy West and cash to Whitesox for SP Tetsu Yofu

Redsox traded SS Kenny Perez, SP Beau Vaughn and cash to Angles for RP Brandon Donnelly

Yofu was a career minor league starter with nice ratings (86 control, 80 power and 92 movement). I could certainly use him in the bullpen. Jason Shiell was 28 and struggled in single A, while Jeremy West was 23 and could not hit double A pitching. Nice trade for me.

The trade for Donnelly was a little bit different. Donnelly was one of the best reliever in the league who was not a closer. Angles was fighting me in the wild card race and I did not know why they want to part with Donnelly. Anyway I grabbed the chance and got him, although he was up for arbitration and I might not be able to retain him. I was reluctant to trade Kenny Perez, but he was blocked by Edgar Renturia and Hanley Ramirez was 2 years younger. I was surprised by Angels that they would want Vaughn. They originally asked for Mickey Hall and I would not have accepted for that. Donnelly would be my primary setup man

Roster Move:

Mike Timlin sent to Pawtucket to make the roster room for Donnelly. Yofu assigned to Pawtucket.

The 2nd game Tim Wakefield went out and got whacked again. Giving up 6 runs in 3 innings. Granted, two errors from Millar and Mueller would not help. David Wells had to come to long relieve and got racked up for the loss. At any rate, Wakefield's days in Redsox rotation would not be long.

Bellhorn homered and drove in both runs in the 2-1 win in the series finale. John Halama, maybe felt his spot in rotation in danger after I traded for Yofu, responded with a 8IP 1ER game. Pretty nice handling of pressure.

Around the League: Reds LF Adam Dunn gone for the season with a severed knee ligament. Cincinnati responded by... starting Rob Stratton in LF while let Wily Mo Pena warm the bench.. could not belive it.

Also gone for the season was Brewers C Damian Miller. He blew an ankle ligament.

May 24~26, 2005 (22-22) at Blue Jays: L4-5, W14-4, L3-6

With an off day in May 23, I skipped Wade Miller to start Curt Schilling in game 1. He did not pitch well, allowing homer after homer to Blue Jays. However, it was my newly acquisition: Brandon Donnely who blew the game giving up a walkoff home run to Vernon Wells. Just nothing worked for me so far!

We got one back with hitting 7 doubles against Blue Jays pitchers.. I noticed Bellhorn had improved his average to .262, nice job.

Roster Move: Tim Wakefield sent to Pawtucket, Tetsu Yofu recalled from Pawtucket

I recalled Yofu to start the final game 3 of this series. Yofu gave me a strong game, pitched 7 innings with 3 ER and a no decision. Brandon Donnelly came in 8th inning and quickly gave up a 2-run homer to Brad Fullmer. Why he must do this to me?

Also Trot Nixon and Kevin Millar hit home runs in this game. I noticed these two guys this year were going all or none in their at-bats. They were both on pace to 30+ homers, but also 140 Ks... and both struggled in average.

Around the League: Mariners 2B Bret Boone got his 1000th RBI. Another bright young player went down with injury. Indians C Victor Martinez out for 9 months with a severed knee ligament... Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaooh

May 27~29, 2005 (23-24) at Yankees: L8-10, W10-9, W8-3

I hoped Lenny DiNardo could give me some quality innings. He did not and we lost the first game although we loaded the bases in the 9th with 2 outs. only to see Manny grounded out to end the game. My bullpen almost blew a 8-1 game in the second one, but
we went through. Manny had driven 5 runs. Yankees manager must have gone nuts to let game 2 starter Carl Pavano go out again to start game 3, and he was hammered. It's always nice to get two games in Yankee Stadium

[zhongv1979]

May 30~Jun 1, 2005 (25-25) vs. Orioles: W11-2, L6-9, W10-3

Not a bad series. Although Yofu got roughed up in game 2. Manny and Ortiz hitting really hot while Bellhorn and Renturia gradually battled back to their normal level. The only one slumping was Varitek, whose average had dipped to .261.

At the end of May:

Record : 27-26 (2nd place in ALE, 2 games back in wild card race)

Best Hitter: LF Manny Ramirez .363-12-48 leading the Majors in batting average
Worst Hitter: SS Edgar Renturia .277-5-24, 5 SB. Not really that bad, but not his real level, either
Best Pitcher: Matt Clement 8-2 ERA 3.24, leading Majors in wins
Worst Pitcher: Bronson Arroyo 1-5 ERA 7.03

Overview of the league:

ALE: Yankees 33-19
ALC: Royals 29-23
ALW: Rangers 36-16
ALWC: Angels 29-24
NLE: Phillies 32-21
NLC: Cardinals 33-19
NLW: Giants 29-22
NLWC: Cubs 29-23

Individual leaders:
BA: Redsox LF Manny Ramirez .363
RBI: Yankees 3B Alex Rodriguez 60
HR: Whitesox 1B Paul Konerko 21
W: Redsox SP Matt Clement 8
ERA: Giants SP Jason Schmidt 1.83
K: Brewers SP Ben Sheets 87
Sv: Royals RP Mike MacDougal 16

[zhongv1979]

May 3~5, 2005 (27-26) vs. Angels: W12-7, W4-3, W8-3

Angels were my major opponent for wild card race. It was pretty nice to sweep them, since every wins doubled in this case... We hit 8 home runs against Bartolo Colon and Jarrod Washburn when our starters held their own. Sweet

May 6~8, 2005 (30-26) at Cardinals: L1-3, W9-4, W8-5

Interleague play again, this time against the NL Central Juggernaut the Red Birds. David Ortiz took the defense first time this year and committed an error in the 2nd game. I was happy to take 2 out of three, although both Bronson Arroyo and Wade Miller were hit hard.

May 10~12, 2005 (32-27) at Cubs: L2-3, L3-5, L4-7

Curt Schilling and Matt Clement both pitched pretty well in the first two games, but they were opposed by Mark Prior and Greg Maddux, so I lost both. The third game John Halama was tagged for 5 earned runs quickly and I lost flat. Got swept.. what a reverse turn of fortune...

Brian Daubach hit his first homer this year. David Ortiz continued leading my hitters in homers with 16.

Around the League:

Bluejays, in a tight wild card race with me, acquired SP Andy Pettitte from Astro's for SP Jason Arnold, RP Terry Adams and SP Ismael Ramirez in May 30. Terry Adams was a mediocre reliever. None of other two seems to be of major league material. Astro's was in the pennant race and I did not know why they wanted to trade away one of their best starters. Although it's amazing that Astro's actually got a very good performance from their rotation, with a cumulative 3.34 ERA and 20-12 record, and that's without Andy Pettitte AND Roger Clemens (who's on the DL). Their bullpen was awful. Maybe this was the reason that they traded for Adams. But I would say it made more sense to move one of the starters to the bullpen.

Frank Menechino was traded again, this time with 3B Travis Chapman by Phillies to Marlins for backup catcher Ramon Castro. Obviously Marlins got no backup middle infielder and Phillies did not think Todd Pratt was a serviceable catcher (defensive rating about 60). Nice swap of spare parts.

Two division leaders, Rangers and Giants, obviously believed that you could never be too good, made a 9-player trade in June 7:

Rangers traded RF Gary Mathews, P Reynaldo Garcia, P Juan Domiguez, P Sam Narron, CF Jason Conti and C Denny Adoin to Giants for P Pat Misch, P Jason Christiansen, P Tyler Walker and C Justin Knoedler.

Basically it was Gary Mathews for Tyler Walker and Pat Misch. With Richard Hidalgo coming off DL, Gary Mathews was expendable for Rangers. Although they already had one of the best bullpen in American League, Rangers still wanna get Tyler Walker to play the long man. Tyler Walker got good pitching ratings: con 89, pow 84, mov 85 and was a solid reliever. Pat Misch was a 24-year-old relieving prospect. Although stuggling in AAA, he might be able to compete for a bullpen spot next year in Rangers. Gary Mathews would back up for Barry Bonds and Moses Alou in outfielder position. He was definitely an upgrade to Carlos Valderrama.

Here comes the trade: June 13, Redsox acquired P Woody Williams from Padres for P Mark Malaska and P Lenny Dinardo.

Woody was 1-6 with a 4.38 ERA. He made 3.5M this year. I was desperate for pitching help, so Arroyo would be sent to Pawtucket to make a roster spot for him.

Jun 13~15, 2005 (32-30) vs. Reds: L4-11, W5-3, W8-7

Wade Miller was not dependable at all. Curt Schilling was. In game 3 we rallied to score 4 runs in the bottom of the ninth for a comeback win. David Ortiz now had 19 home runs. But my starters were still struggling.

Around the League: Two Florida teams swapped their 1.5M contracts. P Ismael Valdez and C Matt Treanor went to Tampa Bay for P Travis Harper and P Mark Hendrickson. Ismael Valdez had the best ERA in Florida starters with a 3-2 2.37 record. I did not know why they wanted to let him go. Travis Harper was an adequate reliever, but he would do mop-up work in Marlins bullpen. I did not understand this.