The day Baseball Changed Forever

Sorry for the double post, but putting them both together puts me over the 10,000 character mark.
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For the sake of getting this dynasty going faster, Here's how the series went:
1st game, 5/4: First day for our new player-coach Alex Cora, and it was a good debut. Beavers 7, A's 3. Vargas:

Code:

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                  ip  h bb hr  r er  k pit    ERA
      J. Vargas  6.0  5  1  2  3  3  4 103  4.54

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Bubba Bell and Brandon Inge each knocked in 2 runs, with a double each. Not much attendance, just over 24,000, but I suspect that number will rise once the weather get warmer. 9it was 50 degrees at gametime.)

[/B]2nd game, 5/5: [/B] Another winner! 6-0, Brad James went six and two thirds, with 11 k's and 2 walks! Another all-around great game for us, while Montero hit his 5th homer, a grand slam(!) to take the team lead from Kory (Though Casto still has a slim lead in RBI, 18-17). The only downside was Bell got hurt for the next 6 days, so Todd Linden will start in RF and hit 6th for most of those days.

3rd game, 5/6: We lost, 6-0. We only had 2 hits until the ninth, and surrendered two errors. A terrible game to snap our win streak. This puts us 5.5 games back, and if we don't win tomorrow, the series was a total waste of time.

4th game, 5/7: A VERY frustrating game, since we got 2 hits off of Joe Blanton in 8 innings, letting him only throw 82 pitches. In the 9th, with us down 5-0, Brandon Inge got a grand slam with one out, and the fans, the ones that had not left yet anyway, went crazy. Montero and Kotsay, two of our best hitters so far, could not follow-up, so we lost 5-4, to go back to 6.5 games back.

http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/7...7bf3bigvo4.jpg Brandon Inge now was 15 RBI for us, 5 behind the team lead, with 100 fewer ABs than the leader.

For the last 3 innings, Preston Kinzer made his MLB debut for Portland with three of our regulars tired, and did very well, going 3 innings, allowing a run and K-ing 2. In AAA this year, the surprise pitcher 1.38 ERA through May. He's 20 years old, and could possibly be seeing more time with our club if injuries occur to the staff or we have a long game and many pitchers are too tired to pitch.

In AA yesterday, Lance Cormier went 4.1 innings and allowed 8 runs on 10 hits, 5 walks and 137 pitches. I don't know what to do with him, except send him down to A ball. This is pretty much his last chance to prove he can pitch, or he could find himself back on the FA list.

5/8 vs. Indians: we lost, 5-2, but Montero hit his 7th homerun of the year, and Kinzer went 2 innings, allowing nothing but a single hit on 23 pitches. Lance started today in Boulder, and went 5.2 innings, allowing 8 hits and 3 ERs.

"Gary, what do you think of Lance?" I said over the phone to my minor-league director Gary Sheberski.
"Cormier? Not too much."
"Well, I'm thinking of letting him go. He hasn't done much for the organization, and we need to cut payroll."
"Yeah, with our finances, I say try and trade him, but probably ending up releasing him."

http://mlb.mlb.com/images/2007/03/15/Hoz7Q988.jpg Lance is headed to his 5th MLB team in 7 years in the league.

I sent out a message saying Cormier was available before I called Gary, and I had just recieved an email from the Royals front office as I was speaking with him. I called them up, and 15 minutes later, we came up with this:

Lance Cormier (P)
Devon Robinson (P)

for

Jeff Bianchi (SS)
Brent Fisher (P)

I sort of like the long recaps. Its like listening to a game on radio, almost.

Boa- Thanks for the input, then I'll do some everyone once in a while. I've just had other complaints about them being too long and boring.

Everyone- I'm getting a new computer, so this dynasty will be inactive for a week or so while I set up mogul and transfer the files to the new computer.
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Five days after Shane Youman was taken to jail, he said the comments that have not just the baseball world, but all of America, buzzing:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shane Youman

Now that I have been revealed as a Gestenate member, I will reveal this. Bud Selig was in with us. His died by murder, yes, but because he did not carry out his part. The plan was for Selig to lure all the owners to a meeting, and blow up the room. Hours before he died, he told me on the phone:

"I just felt I couldn't do it. I know boss won't like it, but I just can't do it. Yes, I will be killed, but my biggest regret was joining the group. No amount of money in the world would be worth it, and I wish I could go back and stop them from doing that on June 27th. I think I deserve to die, Shane."

I am still with Gestenate, and would not reveal their next plans even if I knew them, but I will tell you this:
Something is coming. They are planning something bigger. Everyone better watch out, and I promise you, we will stop Major League Baseball completely.

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After that, he kept his mouth shut. WOuld not say anything but, "I'll spend another 100 years in prison before I say anything!"

Hopefully, he's just trying to intimidate us. Just in case, like everyone will be doing, here's our new security plan to help prevent an incident like last summer at Yankee Stadium.

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...17/PGEpark.jpg

Here's our stadium. The green markers our portable bomb detectors, that will go off whenever a bomb is in range of it.

Blue is police cars, with officers in them of course, who can have quick access to anywhere on the field. The red represents a fire engine, so fire can be put out right away.

The Yellow is a road closure, effective four hours before the game until 1/2 hour after.
Of course, will have our regular ambulance, but we're increasing medical staff in the "Medical Assistance Center" on the concourse from five to ten. Also, a mandatory increase for the MLB of 15% more security guards will be put in place, all immediately.

Shane Youman will have his trial on May 25th, three days before the court will re-evaluate the Mutinski situation.

What are those in the middle of the field, the squares? Anyways continue, this dynasty is getting interesting.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TheBigBomber

What are those in the middle of the field, the squares? Anyways continue, this dynasty is getting interesting.

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Its just descriptions for points of interest on Google Maps.

Ok, this dynasty is coming out of retirement. Stay tuned for the next post, later today!

After we split the last two games in Cleveland, interleague play started for us in a crime scene still under investigation. Matt Smith, 1-6 this year with an average of just over 2 innings per start took the ball for us.

The team was weary, with little life, everyone exhausted from the non-stop travel and losing, nothing much being expected of themselves today. We had just arrived in Phoenix hours earlier,and the team would fly again once this one-game series was done. Kory Casto was the only one showing life, and he produced a double in the first with it.

The down-hill turn to come of our team may have started when Mark Kotsay grounded weakly to first. 2 innings earlier, Kotsay was hit by Dan Haren, an action thought to be purposeful by Mark. When he came up in the 4th, it was apparent he was trying to hit one to the moon, that or drill Danny Haren square in the nose. Once he came back to the dugout, his helmet was thrusted into the cubby hole marked "11" and a bat exploded seconds later in the tunnel.

Of course, I wasn't sure of any downturn, but I could sense it. Even with my limited experience as a manager, I still knew what could happen from this. Something had to be done, but I was not sure what yet, though I needed to decide soon.

Once Preston Kinzer, our 20-year old miracle worker up to that point, helped allow 8 runs in the 6th and 7th, Casto helped a small rally, knocking in Eric Reed with a 2-run homer. It was the 8th inning, but if we rallied some more, Casto could have a chance at hitting a triple, completing the cycle. Unlikely, yes, but we have to have something to hope for on the team.

Casto did come up in the ninth, 2 outs, bases loaded. The few Portland fans rose, Sean Morgan, on the mound now, took a deep breath. On the 6th pitch of the at-bat, Kory sent a rocket to center, and as we all jumped up to the rail, Chris Young opened his glove as the ball entered, clinching an 11-2 win.


Beaver notes...
Preston Kinzer sent down to AAA Oregon City... Brooks Brown called up to Beavers... Ramon Trancosco sent down to AA Bristol...Beavers sign 5 year deal to play spring training in Tucson, Arizona. Team will share stadium with Colorado Rockies (Hi Corbett Field) Until the new stadium is built for 2013. The Beavers will pay about 60% of cost for stadium.

After we took the last two games against Baltimore, the AL East leaders currently, we finally headed home after a 3-4 road trip,
placing us eight games back from Oakland and 10 under .500.

A little more than 23,000 came to see us lose 9-4 against Colorado in 56 degree weather.

It's now 3 hours after the last out, there are very few left at The Beaver Dam, but I have to prepare.
The next couple weeks will be very important, with the amateur draft approaching and 20 of our next 25 games at home, a great time
to pull ourselves above .500. We start against the White Sox tomorrow, who are 14-27, and have their 4th and 5th starters going against us in the first two games.

Besides the players being ready, a team of Beavers' executives are set to meet with me tomorrow morning, at 8 am. Seeing that I only have 6 hours until then, I
take my briefcase of secrets about Chicago hitters and how Brooks Brown pitches to lefty hitters on cold nights on the road with the team in the alternate red jerseys.


May 17th, 2011: 8:00 am...

Mark Cuban was last to enter the board room, a nice, brand-new shiny room with large windows facing the river.

He was in a blue jumpsuit, sweaty from most likely a run. If he weren't the owner, he'd be out the door by now,
working at the Citgo across the street.

Our publicity director spoke first. "Gentleman, thanks for coming today. Let's get down to business.
The team is struggling, and attendance has dropped off. As you know, we have a very large amount of home games left
until the middle of next month, and we need more people."

He spoke very monotone, a voice that would have put me to sleep already had we not been talking baseball.

"Sir," said the young, 25-year old out of Harvard, Zac, looking at both me and Mark Cuban, "We have a pretty good amount
of cash, and we are under budget, so I think some promotions would help us out."

Everyone else sat for a moment, almost insulted Zac had said something.

"That's what I thought as well. I say the fans need something connected to our team." The director spoke.
"Yes, and maybe something that can help fans endure cold weather." I said, my first words of the meeting.

After another 10 minutes, an order was placed for 10,000 wind breakers with Beavers logos on the back, set to be handed
out at the last game against Chicago. The bill was $300,000, but hopefully we can make that up with the million-or-so
ads set to be put out for that game.



May 17th vs. White Sox...
With Javier Vazquez on the mound, struggling Jamey Carroll was put on the bench in favor of Alex Cora. That way,
six of our eight hitters are lefty, and we have two righties on the bench.
Matt Smith, 1-7 so far, gave up an RBI single to Konerko in the 1st, alonging with another hit and a hit-batter.
He really took the crowd out of it when he walked in a run, then served up a Grand Slam to Quentin to make it 8-0.
Once Edinson Volquez pitched 4.1 innings, after Matt's terrible 2.2 innings. We lost 10-1, and Matt Smith will have a start
in AAA. I have no idea how he got away with being in the rotation all year. He did pitch just as many innings as
he had in the last 3 years of his career.

http://media.scout.com/Media/Minor_L...aufferRich.JPG Tim Stauffer has been stuck in the minors most of his career before he came to us.

Kinzer is back, after he threw 7.2 innings of shutout ball, and the very far-off from his peak pitcher will get another shot in the
majors, as our Long Reliever. Volquez will take Matt Smith's spot in the rotation.

May 18th vs. White Sox...
Brandon Inge was on the bench today. He wasn't happy about it, but that's what happens when you hit .154
in the last 10 games.
James Desi hit 7th, playing third, not his usual position, but he made us very lefty-heavy.

In the 2nd, Tim Stauffer pitched out of a jam, and Jamey Carroll (hitting .122 this year) got his first RBI this year,
on his 42nd at-bat. Stauffer even came up with a hit, to counter Javier Vazquez's two hits yesterday, and Juan Pierre
got a single to bring in Carroll.

Tim gave us 7 great innings, a solo homer to Crede his only mistake. In the 8th, Tallet walked in the tying run, and
Joe Bisenius got one out to end it. We couldn't do anything in the bottom of the 8th, so we needed Joe to give us one inning
of shutout ball against Dye, pitcher's spot and then Orlando Cabrera, for Kotsay, Guzman and Desi in our half of the
ninth. He did, and the few fans rose and clapped after he struck out two. Kotsay reached on an infield single, and Eric
Reed jumped out of the dugout, knowing his job before I told it to him. I didn't want to do a sacrifice with the bottom-
of-the-order coming up, and becuase our teams seems pretty bad hitting with more outs. Reed was off on the pitch, and
good thing because Guzman grounded out to short, a double play had Eric not ran. James Desi wanted to go home, sending
his third homer of the year over the short left-field fence.
The team ran on to the field, all except Brandon Inge, who had grounded out in his only at-bat. He shuffled into the
clubhouse, not caring about what just happened.

On May 19th, Brandon Inge rebounded and hit the walk-off single, our 2nd in as many days. They're were only 20,000 in the stands today, just 2,000 more than the night before.

We than lost two in a row on the road against Cleveland, oen game 1-0 and the other 7-1. Sunday really got to me. We were in total control, and a 5-4lead was ours going into the ninth. Bisenius got a quick first out, but he and Bautista handed over 9 runs to the Orioles. This was really the first time I showed my anger to my players. At first, after most had gone into the main room of the clubhouse to the dinner.

I looked at the big white board at the entrance to the room, with neat, block letters in assorted colors. I stared a minute, as if it took my 30 seconds to read the time for our game tomorrow. I picked up the nearest chair and flung it just above the heads of some pitchers, exploding the locker of newly-aqcuired Jon Switzer. All of the chatter abruptly stopped.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" My face turned red, my voice a little hoarse. Denny Bautista slipped into the nearest bathroom.
Lowering my voice a little, I still yelled, "YOU'RE EMBARRASSING ME AND THE CITY AND THE FANS!!" I let that sit for a moment. "YOU JUST WALTZ OUT ONTO THE FIELD, THINKING YOU'RE REAL COOL FOR BEING IN THE MAJORS!"

"And you know, you're not very good. If not for this, you'd be back in the minors, pitching in front of 4,000 people. I want some more effort around here!" I ran out of words at that point. I stared down a group of players for a moment, then left for my office, but not before I grabbed another chair and thrust it against the wall.

I left 10 minutes later, arriving at my apartment 7 blocks from the ballpark. It was emptier than usual. I peeked through the curtains, seeing one homeless man wandering around and some business men carefully and quickly avoiding him. I couldn't get my self to go to school, and espn wasn't my answer for that, since Mike Lupica was giving his 5-minute insult-filled monologue. I ended up on top of my bed, street clothes from yesterday still on, at 10:30. The game was at 4:30, so I had to rush to get to the Dam.

May 23rd, 2011...
The baseball world was not focused on our game today, let alone any baseball game, but instead the trial of Shane Youman. Not that I cared to watch, but the trial was at 5pm EST, in the middle of BP for us. I suspected Youman would be convicted of murder, but I was far from a legal expert.

Tim Stauffer was our starter by default in the last game of the series against Baltimore. The lineup was normal, at least from the last few weeks, but let's review that:

1. Juan Pierre CF: Leads our team in PAs by over 40, and has been a great hitter for us and has played in every game.
2. Bubba Bell RF: Has become a great 2nd hitter, hitting .339 for us since coming from the Red Sox.
3. Kory Casto 1B: 2nd in homers for us, has slumped recently.
4. Brandon Inge 3B: After jsut 2 games on the bench, has worked himself back into the lineup.
5. Miguel Montero C: Leads the team in homers and RBI, but has also slumped recently. He's only homered once in his last 38 At-Bats.
6. Mark Kotsay LF: Is only hitting .257, but has come through in tight spots.
7. Jorge Meske 2B: Gets about 60% of the playing time over Jesus Guzman.
8. Jamey Carroll SS: Has struggle a lot so far, but Barmes is injured for the next month or so.

The first 5 innings were pretty uneventful, no scoring as Stauffer was pitching good. In the 6th, Aubrey Huff hit a leadoff triple and then was knocked in by Bill Hall. Kory Casto then luanched a two-run homer into the upper deck in left-field. The crowd jumped up and didn't get the chance to sit down before Inge doubled and was moved to third on a single by Montero with one out. Kotsay promptly hit a towering flyball to right-center, giving us the 2-1 lead in the 6th.

They scored again in the 7th, so we came up, tied 2-2, in the ninth. Jorge Meske singled with one out.

Carroll flew out and so did the pinch-hitter, sparking my cap to fly across the dugout.

In the 10th, Tallet got Baltimore 1-2-3. I liked our chances in the 10th. We had Pierre up first against a struggling George Sherrill. Juan was thrown out on a very close play at first, and Casto and Inge each had long flyouts after Bubba's single.

I really needed us to get this over soon, since Kinzer was the only guy we had left in the bullpen who was fully rested.

Preston ended up giving up a homer to Reimold, and we lost 3-2. We left for Pittsburgh after an espisode about half as intense as yesterday's.

Once the team was back on our charter flight again, everyone avoiding me best as possible, I opened up the report on the first day of the trial online, which was filled with almost nothing. The biggest news was that the jury seemed very likely to convict Shane Youman on counts of murder and illegal possession of weapons. The next two days would be the ending of the trial, possibly giving Youman 25 years in prison.
As for our game, it was one of the worst yet. It was our 5th lose in a row, putting as at 18 and 32, 7 games back. In the first, Yoslan Herrera promptly allowed two runs on 2 hits and 2 walks. This was one of the most frustrating things to me, when a pitcher gives up runs in the first inning before our offense can get started. We managed another run in the 4th, when the bottom of our order put together 4 hits to tie it. We had the confidence back, you could tell just by being in our dugout, but once again our pitchers did nothing to help our offense. Steven Pearce was given a gift for a double to start the inning, then 2 straight singles scored him. The Pirates had a 3-2 lead back. I picked up the stool I was sitting on and thrust it down at the ground with both hands. The chair popped back up and nearly hit the dugout ceiling, as I stormed off into the clubhouse.

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/...ZAg5m/340x.jpg Yolsan Herrera, 2-4 on the season with a 3.53 ERA so far. He's been one of our best pitchers this season.

It happened once again in the 7th. James Desi had a great double as a pinch-hitter to lead off, and Bubba Bell had the sacrifice fly to bring him in two batters later. I signaled for Denny Bautista after Herrera had been removed for Desi, and he got one out and walked two. I brought In Brian Tallet to face the lefty, LaRoche, and the very first pitch, LaRoche hit a towering homer to left. I was as frustrated as possible, asking god what I had done to deserve such cruel punishment, and looked for the first opportunity to take it out on someone else. On the third batter of the 8th, Jesus Guzman grounded to third on a very close play. Usually, I don’t argue since umpires are trained to make calls like that and I’m not. I rushed out to Mark Jenson, a rookie umpire, and screamed right up next to him, “I plead the eighth!”
“Wha….” His voice trailed off, very confused at what I just said.
“Come on; get me out of this hell-hole!” I screamed, though trying to channel my yelling just at Jenson so no one else could hear, “Toss me! Now!”
“Oh, what about my call?!” He yelled back, as if we were really arguing.
“It was great! Now, do as I say! Let’s go!” Thinking back to that old Lou Piniella ad, the one aired before he retired and bought an Arena Football Team, as Mark gave the over-dramatic hand gesture and I quietly said, “Thanks,” and walked away.
For dramatic effect, I threw my cap down and went to my office.
I didn’t care about how the rest of the game went, unlike most of the time when I’d manage from my office, and put Alex Cora in charge. We ended up losing 6-3, putting us 29th in the league in runs scored per game and 28th in ERA. I was going to chew out the pitchers for always blowing everything the offense ever did, and for being worthless piles of crap, wasting all the team’s money by drinking energy drinks, but they had just had one of those two days ago, plus I was too tired with another flight coming up. At least it was at home for 5 more days, I reminded myself, and took the gun away from my head and saved it for another time.

We trudged back to the airplane after another loss in Baltimore, our fourth in a row overall and fourth in a row lost against them. We end the month of May with the worst stretch in the majors this season that began just after I gave my talk about the importance of the next month. Since that off day of May 15, we are 4-16, and 1-8 in our last 9, having allowed 5.63 runs a game and only scoring 2.75 ourselves. Portland was now the laughing stalk of baseball, as we dropped into 29th place in the majors (New Orleans is worse than us by 4 games) and last in our division. Our pitching has suffered, the bullpen tired and nearly all the players in the lineup have hit cold streaks (every player but Juan Pierre and Bubba Bell have been benched for at least one game in the last week due to performance).

As we head into a new month, one that shows great promise for the team with a draft coming up, let’s review the month of May:

Month Record: 12-18

Standings:
Team W L GB
Oakland 28 30 -
Seattle 25 29 1.0
Los Angeles 26 32 2.0
Texas 22 37 6.5
Portland 20 37 7.5


Team Leaders: (To put the team leaders in perpective, I have the AL league lead in that category in red)

ERA: Yoslan Herrera (3.08) 1.96
Wins: Joseph Bisenius (4) 8
Saves: Joseph Bisenius (6) 13
AVG: Juan Pierre (.293) .354
HR: Kory Casto (8) 17
RBI: Kory casto (28) 58
SB: Juan Pierre (18) Leads League

Team Stats: (Ranks in MLB)
Runs scored: 200 (29th)
Runs allowed: 310 (28th)
ERA: 5.09 (27th)
Batting Average: .238 (28th)
OBP: .295 (28th)

Sporting News' May review was not very assuring either, putting as 29th in the Power Rankings, but even more frightening, giving us the projected record of 46-116 for the rest of the season.
What do I do know? "Ok guys, our new goal is to not break the record for most losses in a season!"
The team is doing terrible, attendance has dropped by nearly 20,000 a game in the last month, and our minors are barely stocked to improve in 5 years. I am preparing for a firesale in 6 weeks, though many of our stars are not very attractive to other teams. Jason Vargas has expressed his interest in leaving, as has Brandon Inge, Mark Kotsay, and Brooks Brown. I hope to be able to get some good propects for them, and take a big hit for those moves for the rest of 2008.

I'm handing out the MVP award to Juan Pierre, hitting .293 with 18 steals and 72 hits, twice the amount he had the last 2 seasons in Los Angeles.
http://i.a.cnn.net/si/2007/writers/a....pierre.wi.jpg Juan Pierre, our team MVP for the second straight month.

The draft is in one week, so next up is the Draft Preview....

Your closer(?) is also the team leader in wins? Ouch.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BINGLEBOP

Your closer(?) is also the team leader in wins? Ouch.

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I know, we have the stats of a little league team

No, I think my little league team has better stats than that

rockiesfan4ever: We challenge you to a game!


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The month of June has not been good to us so far. We’ve lost all 5 games (we were outscored 43-16), putting us 10.5 games back from Oakland with a 9 game losing streak. The worst part is, we lost 5-4 against Toronto on the 6th in 15 innings, in front of a crowd of just above 13,000, and burned all our pitchers. Denny Bautista threw 3 innings for us on short rest, and everyone in the bullpen is not ready to go against Cleveland tonight except Jorge De La Rosa, our long reliever. I arrived in New York at 4 am on the 7th, along with 15 staff members, and gave the keys to the team to Alex Cora while we draft. I am pretty excited for it, actually, to take my mind of our team’s struggles and prepare for winning in a couple seasons. We already had our plan down when we got there, but had 2 hours of meetings to review, and here are the highlights:

Portland Beavers’ Draft Preview 2011:

Portland has the 2nd choice in the draft.
Best Players:
1.Leon McNally: 20 year-old lefty starter has great movement for his age and could even join a major-league bullpen by next April.
2.Gus MeGingho: 22-year old catcher has excellent power and is just a great hitter overall. Needs work on his defense.
3.Jose Raguay: Can throw 98 MPH and is one of the most powerful pitchers in the draft, but only has two pitches.

The list stops there for our first-rounders, but here’s some interesting story lines on draft day:
-Ellie Pice will definitely be drafted, most likely in the second round.
-Kingston Alexander, a newly-discovered prospect from Jamaica, has not played baseball for more than a year but is by far the fastest player in the draft. He is an ultimate-Frisbee player, national player of the year in Jamaica, and looked to baseball when he realized he couldn’t go anywhere after high-school with Frisbee.
-The Flamingos have announced Leon McNally will be their pick at 3:14 PM EST, 1 hour and 46 minutes before draft time.

We got into a frenzy in our draft room, but 5 minutes later we have our pick, scrolled on a piece of paper and stuffed in an envelope…

To be Continued…




Created Players (All are draftees):

Andrew Bensel- RP (71/85) 21 years old
Gus MeGingho- C (73/89) 22 years old
Chuck Ayers- RP (71/85) 20 years old
Dirk Gregor- SS 865/87) 20 years old
Thomas Snave- C (75/86) 23 years old
Kingston ALexander- 2B (54/81) 19 years old
Ellie Pice- OF (62/84) 20 years old

2011 Draft Review

Leon McNally was announced as the New Orleans Flamingo’s new pitcher by Theo Epstein, and our table tensed up. Dan Burtmeier smiled. “Go ahead and call it in, Charlie. It’s your team.”
Everyone else nodded with approval, and I reached for the phone, sensing how important this moment was for the Franchise. We already had our pick, decided hours earlier.
The phone automatically went to a booth behind the stage of the Draft. We were down a hallway in front of the booth.
“Hello. Portland Beavers phoning in. We will draft #436.” I had already memorized the number of our player, which was on a large sheet with hundreds of names and random code numbers next to them.
Everyone turned towards the back of the room, looking at a TV with Theo Epstein centered on the small screen.
“With the second pick in the 2011 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft, the Portland Beavers select Gus MeGingho, catcher out of the University of Arizona.”
All the scouts and front office executives in the room clapped, I stared at the ceiling like an idiot, thinking of Gus blasting 40 homeruns in our three spot in three years. Jose Raguay was picked next by the Astros, followed by Joe Tomblin going to Philadelphia. I stood up and congratulated Dan for correctly picking the first four draftees in order, saying that was great to know we had such a great scout working for us. We sat discussing picks for the next 30 minutes, the buzz of Gus MeGingho dying down, and phoned in again as New Orleans pick Dirk Gregor with the 31st overall pick. We had been planning on picking Gregor, a pretty good shortstop prospect with speed and good contact, but I gave the booth our backup: number 183, of course. 183 was Don Armstrong, a Canadian pitcher out of Oklahoma University. He was 21 years old (I agreed with the Billy Beane draft strategy of picking older players, and since my staff would not be in baseball if not for me, they agreed) with a main attraction of a 98 MPH fastball. We felt less interested through the rest of the draft, thinking we had already set a solid future for ourselves, so here’s the rest of our picks, why we chose them and their expected roles for when they are developed:

1.Gus MeGingho, 2nd overall: Catcher out of Arizona, has great power and was the top catching prospect in the nation according to, well, everyone. He is 22 years old, so we think we can have him for call-ups next season, and then as a starter by mid-2013.

2.Don Armstrong, 32nd overall: Pitcher from Oklahoma who can overmatch almost any hitter (68 K’s in 44.1 college innings) with great command (16 walks). If our top pitching prospect Oscar Acarons can develop as promised, Armstrong is a good candidate for our 2nd starter in 2014.

3.Etienne Archill, 62nd overall: A 20-year old pitcher from Columbia is hopefully our next closer, with good deception on his fosh ball and a 94 MPH fastball.

4.Ken Speirs, 92nd overall: This 21-year old with a 96 MPH fastball can be a good starter someday, rd or 4th for us, with pretty good control.

5.Daquain Johnson, 122nd overall: He has above-average power as a second-baseman, and could maybe take Meske’s spot with proper development in 4-6 years.

6.Ben Howe, 152nd overall: Is a speedy center-fielder, who needs major work in the field and at the plate. Most likely a backup for us when developed.


Because of our now-good Minor League systems, but mainly because of the fact that our franchise rests on the shoulders of the minors (Yes, we are definitely rebuilding, and that will become clear in about a month), I will be writing a bi-monthly minor league report, chronicling the progress of our top prospects and also that of some created players. I talked with Dan after the draft once the rest of our staff had left; “Nice job Dan. Thank you for your help in the draft.”
“Oh, no problem Charlie. I hope our prospects turn out good.”
“Yeah, they better. We’ll help them along by hopefully getting some prospects in the next 6 weeks or so.” I said, packing up my binders of player information and stats.
“Yes, we’re not getting too far now. We’re not the 1970’s Royals, after all. And Kory Casto isn’t Will Thompson…” Dan said, heading out the door.
“Okay, see you back in Portland, Dan.” I hailed a taxi and was gone to the airport to prepare for tomorrow’s game against Cleveland.

*************************************

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/...iadOq/340x.jpg

Mark Kotsay hit a walk-off single on the 7th, giving us our first victory of June and snapping a 9-game slide. Alex Cora managed his first win in his big-league coaching career, using 5 pitchers and 2 pinch-hitters. The Indians took us to 12 innings before our 3rd walkoff ever, and hopefully now we can feed off of that game. Maybe a turning point in the franchise, June 7th?

This dynasty has been lots of fun so far, but I feel it has really been decreasing in readers and interest over the past couple of weeks, so I'm going to take a break from this for a little while to get some better ideas for it and just give my self a break from always writing this dynasty. The team has also been frustrating me, so instead of writing the same thing over and over about how terrible we have been, I am going to go ahaed and play some more of the dynasty, just to help move it along and get some different players. Thanks for reading so far, and I hope to have the Beavers back up soon!

Wow I guess I lost all my readers after that month-long break...

I'm reading, always have been just because no one is posting doesn't mean there aren't readers. Do what you want, but it's been a great dynasty so far.

I've always been reading too.

This dynasty is returning. I found the file on a flashdrive that was laying around the house, but it was from the end of 2011, so the last few posts have been deleted and we are now in the offseason between 2011-2012.

I have not written this dynasty in a while, meaning:

-Gestenate no longer exists.
-Charlie Lumarsa is alive and will most likely stay alive for 2012.
-San Diego was never destroyed, the Padres remain at Petco Park.
-This thread has all posts from 2012 on deleted.

I will stay with the same format mostly, but please PM me for suggestions on making modifications to make this dynasty easier to read or more enjoyable.

Thanks for reading,
Charlie

The Oregonian/December 23rd, 2011

After the first season in franchise history, the Beavers predictably
many moves. The signed many free agents, but their main three
signings were outfielder Ryan Ludwick, who hit 10 homeruns
in St. Louis last year, signed at 2 years, 4.3 million dollars;
Joe Nathan, who posted a 2.44 ERA in 62 innings, signed at 2 years,
$11.7 million; and the international free agent Mehmed Ediz for 3 years,
$3 million contract as a rookie out of Turkey.

The moves do not look like smart ones right now, because the team is
in no positions to win now (Nathan is 36 years old) and the signings put
their budget about even with their budget. Also, Kory Casto, Jorge Meske, Joseph
Bisenius and 21 others have expiring contracts at the end of 2012.

When asked about the recent signings, Charlie Lumarsa simply said,
"I know what I'm doing."

Rumors have also been swirling around of a Beavers' relocation, and
at least $31,000,000 would need to be on hand to move (the Beavers have
$13,000,000). Charlie denies these rumors, saying "That's ridiculous:
we have only been in Portland for one year." and, "We love the city of Portland.
We need to give the city more of a team and the support will come."

So is it basically the same dynasty without the story line?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Red Sox Fan 734

So is it basically the same dynasty without the story line?

---

well, somewhat. I had this dynasty going into 2013, but I could only find a file from earlier. So I will obviously not use things that happened after the current date in my file, and I will give one update soon to show how Gestenate ended, but I will still use the same facts and opinions from the original writings.

Ok, sounds cool ill be reading

"Hey, dude, your mom's like the Beavers: her home smells like ass and
she gets paid a third as much as the others to suck."
These are the kind of remarks I hear walking around Portland on a drizzly day.
Like most in the city, this particular day was depressing. The thick grey clouds cast
a permanent shadow over the worst baseball city in America. Hoboes
lined the dirty sidewalks, heads in their laps, reflecting the city' attitude.

Besides my wife considering divorce, I was thinking about the starter
I needed for my team. The only pitching prospects were the either the
next Byung-Hyun Kim or a relieft pitcher. The current rotation is probably
the worst combination of 5 guys in the majors, with our likely ace having
never played baseball on a regualtion field before last month. Carlos Silva
and Justin Germano are my main targets, but Germano has almost no interest
in playing for a losing team. That gives me Silva to go after, and that's where
I am headed to tomorrow: My 3-person team will be meeting Carlos and his agent
to discuss a contract, which they think should be for two years. Scanning through
the free-agent list, I don't see anyone else interesting. AJ Burnett is a free-agent
but is now the best free agent pitcher on the market, so he will be way out
of our price range. I decided not to talk to any other free agents before I talk
to Silva, so we know where our budget stands, but my next move is probably Brian
Fuentes. Fuentes is a perfect fit for us, since we need a lefty and a stable veteran,
plus he is seeking between two to three million per year. My only concern
is his injuries, since he only pitched 26 innings last year because of trips to the DL.


*****

We came home exhausted and frustrated. Two days in Miami, and Carlos Silva
was done with us in 30 minutes. He was already mad we made him fly from his home
inVenezuela. We pleaded our case for his excellent control, but that apperently
went to his head and Carlos demanded five million a year after he said Boston offered
4.5 million each year for three seasons. We realized we couldn't compete, if that was true,
but we argued to lower the price but their side got even more reluctant to work with us.

We immediatley made plans to meet Brian Fuentes at his home in Merced, California
tomorrow. If we can sign him, I would set our bullpen's staus to "Solid".

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...7/BB2K9-14.jpg

*****

Portland Beavers at Baltimore Orioles

Opening Day: April 1st, 2012

Code:

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                1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 +  R  H  E
  Beavers (Por) 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0    3  5  0
  Orioles (BAL) 4 1 1 0 0 6 0 0 x  12 16  0

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Code:

---

PORTLAND            ab  h bb  r hr bi  k sb    avg
J. Pierre (CF)        3  0  1  1  0  0  0  1    .000
B. Bell (RF)          4  2  0  0  0  0  0  1    .500
R. Ludwick (LF)      3  0  0  0  0  1  1  0    .000
M. Montero (C)        4  0  0  0  0  0  1  0    .000
K. Casto (1B)        4  1  0  1  0  0  1  0    .250
J. Meske (2B)        4  0  0  0  0  0  3  0    .000
J. Coronado (3B)      3  0  1  0  0  0  3  0    .000
J. Bianchi (SS)      4  1  0  0  0  1  0  0    .250
J. Vargas (P)        0  0  1  0  0  0  0  0    .000
 L. Overbay (P)      1  1  0  1  1  1  0  0  1.000
 E. Volquez (P)      0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .000
 R. Troncoso (P)      0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .000
 R. Diaz (P)          1  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .000
 J. Bisenius (P)      0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .000
TOTALS              31  5  3  3  1  3  9  2

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Code:

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                ip  h bb hr  r er  k pit    ERA
    J. Vargas  5.0 11  2  1  6  5  6 118  9.0
    E. Volquez  0.1  2  3  0  5  5  1  37 135.0
    R. Troncoso  0.2  3  0  0  1  1  0  16  13.50
    J. Bisenius  2.0  0  0  0  0  0  4  32  0.00
          TOTALS  8.0 16  5  1 12 11 11 203

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Code:

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                  ip  h bb hr  r er  k pit    ERA
    D. Cabrera  7.0  5  3  1  3  3  6 143  3.86
    C. Tillman  2.0  0  0  0  0  0  3  20  0.00
          TOTALS  9.0  5  3  1  3  3  9 163

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