2 Year turnaround

[henry296]

I started this career in 1920 with the Pirates. After dominating the National League and winning five of the past six World Series, I wanted to start a new challenge. I took over the Boston Red Sox who finished 1937 at 60-94 and in last place in the American League.

The only specific house rule is to reduce my available finances. It is now 1939 and I have $2.7 MM for salaries while most CPU teams are around $3.5 MM. However, I still end up ranking towards the top of the payroll rankings.

In 1938, my team was competitive but a late 9 game losing streak dropped me to 4th in the AL, 9 games behind the White Sox who won the World Series. In 1939, I ended up winning the AL by 8 games over the Athletics and swept the World Series over the New York Giants.

I wanted to share how this team was built and see if anyone has any comments on how to increase the difficulty. I'm currently using 1-10 ratings. I think decreasing from 1-5 would have an impact, plus perhaps reducing my available finances even further to perhaps 1/2 of the CPU teams to reduce my ability to sign players in free agency.

In the 1938 draft, I selected Enos Slaughter in the first round to solidify my offense and my second round pick was 22 yo Jim Bagby who in his second year became my staff ace with a 20-6 record and 3.67 ERA. My other draft picks were a solid relief pitcher in the 3rd round, in the 4th round I picked a 27 yo OF, Taffy Wright, with 10 CH and low potential who ended up with a league record 389 batting average. In the last round I took an older SP for depth who had 9 Stuff and 10 control. He spent the whole year in the minors and was traded at the trade deadline for a young catcher.

In free agency, I recognized that catcher and third base were still weaknesses. I signed an aging Gabby Hartnett as a stop gap measure and Tony Cuccinello for 3rd base. He was a 30 yo who played for me in Pittsburgh. He was a good solid player rated 8 CH and 6 PH. He's been a very solid addition hitting near 330 in 1938 and 1939. I also signed an aging Lloyd Waner to play CF, but that didn't work out and Taffy Wright took over.

I made one pre-season trade to pick up Max West a 22 yo outfielder from Philadelpia who was their first round pick in 1938 for one of my older pitchers Danny MacFayden. He was one of my older pitchers and wasn't going to make my starting rotation.

You might notice that I made very little changes to the pitching staff. Most of the pitchers were solid but in their early 30s. I noticed the CPU had demoted some of them to AAA in 1937, but at 31-33 years old I felt they still had some good years left.

I made 2 in season trades, one was my 5th round pick for a 25 yo old catcher, Ken O'Dea. While I had Hartnett, my backup was horrible and Hartnett was 38 years old. O'Dea become my starter in 1939 and hit 331 with 10 HRs. I also traded one of my younger 1st baseman Buddy Hastert for Pat Malone a 36 year old free agent to be as part of my efforts to win the pennants. At the trade deadline I was within a couple of games of first place.

In the 1938 off season I add the final pieces. I draft Ted Williams in the first round. Although I had a Rookie of the year in LF, I couldn't pass up the potential super star. He didn't disappoint as rookie of the year with a 340 avg, 31 HR and 117 RBIs. The second round, I added a Starting pitcher, but he spent most of the year in the minors except of a couple of injury replacement starts. My third round pick was my backup catcher. My 4th round pick Marty Witek was a 24 yo second baseman who became the starter and hit 290 with a 350 OBP. In the 5th round, I add an older relief pitcher Bill Church. He was 29 yo in 1939 and was my #1 reliever appearing in 78 games with a 15-8 record to win rookie pitcher of the year.

Entering Free agency I had about $550,000 to spend with 3 roster spots. I really went for it as the reigning MVP a 25 yo CF was on the market. He was asking for $175,000 per year but I went for it offering $200 per year for 5 years. Joe Dimaggio signed with the Red Sox and the dream outfield was complete with Williams in LF, Dimaggio in CF and Slaughter in RF. I also saw a young first baseman. Elbie Fletcher was a 23 year old with 9 potential and 9 CH, 6 power and a great batting eye. I also offered him a 5 year deal for $80,000 per year. He signed quickly. I also resigned my former 2b Don Heffner to backup Witek.

While my older pitchers suffered a couple of injuries each, my backup starters held their own and my offense carried me to the World Series. I made no in season trades.

Here are what I see as some of the CPU issues that lead to my quick turnaround.

1. Most CPU teams had 1 MM in money to spend which equals at least 8 really good players.
2. Not sure why Dimaggio or Fletcher we in the free agent pool especially since team's have money.
3. I have no issues picking 25-28 year old rookies in the later rounds. The become my backups and relievers and provide good depth. Guys like Taffy Wright and Bill Crouch were great finds in the late rounds.
4. CPU values potential more than current ability.

I'm going to start a new career using the early import feature with the 1946 Pirates. It should make it less likely to build through the draft quickly. Plus I'm going to make my finances 50% of the highest CPU team to start to limit my options in free agency. I should be able to resign most of my own players. If that doesn't work, I might have to turn off finances. That should prevent issues like Dimaggio being available as a free agent.