Greater Chicago Strat League Newsletter

May 3, 2017

KEY DATES:

1. 5/9/2017 (Tuesday) – Computer Manager (.MGR) files containing 25-man rosters (initial Major/Minor setup) and pitching rotations (Starter Schedule) due to Game Manager.

2. 5/21/2017 (Sunday) – Computer Manager (.MGR) files containing final player settings and manager tendencies, along a separately attached default lineup number specifications document/spreadsheet for each game due to Game Manager.

3. 6/2/2017 (Friday) – Trade deadline for June games.

TRADE SUMMARY (since 3/6/17):

To VRN: Murphy,Daniel*, Seager,Kyle*, Aoki,Nori*, Duffy,Danny*, Tillman,Chris, Strop,Pedro

To CAL: Machado,Manny, Corbin,Patrick*, Duffey,Tyler, Urena,Jose

What this means for VRN (1 trade):

Total Additions: Murphy,Daniel*, Seager,Kyle*, Aoki,Nori*, Duffy,Danny*, Tillman,Chris, Strop,Pedro

Total Subtractions: Machado,Manny, Corbin,Patrick*, Duffey,Tyler, Urena,Jose

Great talent with incredible cards, but the fit may come into question. This seems to impact the regular season and depth more than the playoffs, but also improves VRNs infield for the foreseeable future. I’ll focus on the impact to the replay here.

Adding Tillman and Duffy improve his overall rotation from middle-of-the-road to top 5 by adding two quality back of the rotation guys to partner with Price behind Sanchez, Iglesias and Scherzer. However, that probably just means improving from Price to Tillman for 1 start in a 7 game series, so this seems to be more about the regular season. Strop adds another great arm to what was already the best bullpen, but will be more of a 7th inning guy with Oh and Britton the best late inning options.

Offensively, Murphy, Seager and Aoki all have great cards - but I am not sure how good they fit with VRN. Seager replaces Machado at 3rd without missing a beat - call that even. With a great solution of Ortiz, Weeks and Freeman covering 1B and DH, the only spot for Murphy appears to be replacing a very good Phillips at 2B. This is a move you have to make to get Murphy’s bat (top 10 overall. Maybe top 5) in the lineup, but Phillips is too good to sit on the bench. With Aoki as a 4 in LF and 5 in RF, he seems to just be depth in LF behind Braun. A big power upgrade vs R, this trade actually has a negative defensive impact and no change or worse vs L. More trades could come.

What this means for CAL (1 trade):

Total Additions: Machado,Manny, Corbin,Patrick*, Duffey,Tyler, Urena,Jose

Total Subtractions: Murphy,Daniel*, Seager,Kyle*, Aoki,Nori*, Duffy,Danny*, Tillman,Chris, Strop,Pedro

With CAL throwing in the towel for the replay, this trade puts him within spitting distance of the BZZ rotation for ineptitude. This is clearly a rebuild thought for CAL.

Machado looks to be settling in at 3B where he could be an upgrade over Seager. However, you could also argue Seager’s consistency, left handed bat and defense offset some of the “star power” of Machado and really make this a trade to get 5 years younger at 3B. This comes at the offensive loss of Aoki (little loss) and Murphy - who is still killing the ball and a top 5 2B (arguably top 2). With players having success later in their careers, no reason to believe the 32 year old Murphy can’t keep this going for another 3 years. Then we look at the pitching impact. Corbin could return to career averages as a ceiling (4.00 ERA, 1.3 WHIP), which makes him back of the rotation help at best. Tyler Duffey is unproven without much pedigree and seems to be delegated to long relief in Minnesota. Urena appears to be mop up / long relief. Duffy and Tillman both have career numbers better than Corbin and appear to be trending in the right direction, so it seems like CAL took a step backward with his rotation - his biggest weakness. However, none of these players are front of the rotation guys.

FINES & FINANCES:

No change

Note - all commentary is not intended to offend, just to provide some “conversation” to recent activity.