Rebuilding a Champion: A Phillies Dynasty

[GutterPhenom16]

I have begun my very first Franchise in any MLB: The Show game and I cannot wait to get hold of the reigns with my favorite team, the Philadelphia Phillies.. The team was a threat 8 years ago, even 5 years ago.. but now they are the bottom of the barrel, boasting a large array of old and overpaid and underwhelming players.

My initiative coming into the GM role is to begin hacking and slashing - which will shock our fans, taking away their Hometown Heroes (ie. Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Cole Hamels, Carlos Ruiz) and even strong signings of the past like Cliff Lee. The moves I make are simply made to either bolster our team right away or for the future. Mostly, I look for young talent that has good potential o back up their stats.

In future posts I will update you on any trades (mine of major around-the-league trades) and I will post about any Free Agent Acquisitions, and even call-ups and send-downs thanks to the advice of my Minor League Talent Manager.

This season will be starting in the beginning of May but I will post about all of the moves I made prior to the first day (5/9/15 - Mets @ Phillies)

Speaking of Which, if anyone is interested in seeing how the team turns out or wants to watch me play sometime, I broadcast ALL of my games on Twitch which you can watch by clicking here: http://twitch.tv/gutterphenom16/

[GutterPhenom16]

Like the title implies, I am not here to simply take this dying team into complete death. I need to revitalize this franchise and bring in new blood and bring this monster back and make the MLB absolutely FEAR Philadelphia once again!

I do NOT play the pre-season, I find it to be a big waste of time IMO. However, I made 2 trades in the first day of action.

Trade 1 - Between the Chicago White Sox and Phillies (3/3)
Phillies Give: Cliff Lee (SP), Cesar Hernandez (2B), and Cody Asche (3B)

White Sox Give: Carlos Rodon (SP), Courtney Hawkins (LF), and Dan Jennings (RP)

This is a good trade for this franchise. While I lose Cliff Lee and his invaluable high overall right off the bat. I get one of the best lefty prospects in the game. He is MLB-Ready with a low 70's Overall Rating (unfortunately after 4 starts I figured he might be better off going back to Triplel-A to really warm up) Each prospect I got in return has at least a B rating for Potential and while Hawkins begins his career in A-Ball with his super low 59 OVR Rating, his B potential and 19 age make him an ideal candidate for call up in 2 or 3 years.

Trade 2 - New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies (3/3)
Phillies Give: Dustin McGowan (SP), J.J. Crawford (SS), and Robert Quinn (CF)

Mets Give: Dominic Smith (1B), Kevin Plawecki (C), and Gavin Cecchini (SS)

Another trade in which I dump some overpaid middle of the road old guys from some absolute dominate talent that can really make a dent in the MLB (One indication is our last Catcher/First Base/Shortstop) combo that came through our minor league system - Carlos Ruiz, Ryan Howard and Cbase Utley (ok he was 2B but I'm trying to make a point!)

Simulatred the rest of the Pre Season to get to opening day unimpeded by injuries or anything else!

[GutterPhenom16]

OPENING DAY!!!

Opening Day has arrived and I beat the Red Sox 5-4. Hamels seems a little shaky but it's like his real-life counterpart who simply has become the Jay Cutler of the MLB and just wants out of Philly more than anything.

Going through April I noticed that I was playing at a 500 level and was pretty impressed by the old guys of the team. I wasn't completely happy, but I was satisfied (especially with Chase Utley). One of the problems I really noticed from the get-go was that backup 1B Darin Ruf had a better Contact AND Power versus both lefties and righties. However I used Howard simply out of respect. But that came to a crux when Howard began to fall down to under 200 in his season average. So.....

Trade 3 - Oakland Athletics and Philadelphia Phillies (5/2)
Phillies Give: Ryan Howard (1B), Justin De Fratus (RP), and Jeff Francouer (RF)

Athletics Give: Billy Butler (1B)

This trade really gives me immediate impact. Ryan Howard was once a great player, and I wish he could have continued and retired a Phillie but simply put, he is not producing. With his low OVR, high age, and middle of the road Potential I can't get my pick of the litter, Billy Butler was an amazing find and while I had to give up 3 players to get him; I didn't lose much in the long term view - the best player I lost was De Fratus who was shoring up to be the replacement closer for Papelbon. However, Butler gives me the versiatility to let Butler bat for both sides of pitching and allows me to focus on something else.

Now that I had Butler I was starting to see an immediate effect in my Hit count every night. Butler is a high average guy who can still blast 20+ homeruns a season. Unfortunately, Ruf is sitting on my bench and has the caliber to start for an MLB team right now. So I went and made another trade..

Trade 4 - Philadelphia Phillies and Washington Nationals (5/7)
Phillies Give: Darin Ruf (1B), and Freddy Galvis (SS)

Nationals Give: Trea Turner (SS)

This deal just makes me very happy because after losing Rollins in the last free agency period I need an immediate upgrade at Shortstop and the Galvis/Blanco combo I had running was laughable at best. Trea Turner allows me to keep using Blanco and get mediocre numbers for a little while and put Turner in AAA ball and let him get a feel for the team and once he is ready this kid is going to take over the Shortstop position.

So Now... My Team Looks Like This..

Philadelphia Phillies Depth Chart - 2015

• Catcher
• Carlos Ruiz
• Cameron Rupp

• First Base
• Billy Butler**

• Second Base
• Chase Utley

• Third Base
• Chris Nelson
• Kevin Frandsen**

• Shortstop
• Andres Blanco
• Edgar Duran

• Left Field
• Ben Revere
• Brian Bogusevic

• Center Field
• Odubel Herrera

• Right Field
• Domonic Brown
• Grady Sizemore

• Starting Pitcher
• Cole Hamels (L)
• Darren Sutton (R)
• Jhoulys Chacin (R)
• Paul Malholm (L)
• Chad Billingsley (R)
• Aaron Harrang (R)

• Relief Pitcher
• Jerome Williams (R)
• Ken Giles (R)
• Bick Hill (L)
• Jake Diekman (L)
• Dan Jennings (L)

• Closer
• Jonathan Papelbon (R)

• Designated Hitter
• Kevin Frandsen**

The First Recorded Game for this Franchise was on May 9th, and here is the box score for this pitching gem by Cole Hamels (click here to watch full game)

New York Mets at Philadelphia Phillies
Mar 9, 2015	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
New York ((13-17))	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	4	0
Philadelphia ((18-13))	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	X	2	6	0
W: Cole Hamels (3-2) L: Rafael Montero (3-2)

Scoring Summary
SCORING DETAILS			NYM	PHI
NYM	2	Granderson Crushes Homer to Deep Right Field	1	0
PHI	3	Hamels Helps His Own Cause by Smacking a Soft Liner over the wall in Right	1	1
PHI	6	Butler Smacks a Hanging Change Deep to Left for the Go-Ahead	1	2

New York Mets
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
Caniel Murphy, 2B	4	0	1	0	0	0	0	.247
Juan Legares, CF	4	0	1	0	0	1	0	.288
David Wright, 3B	4	0	1	0	0	0	1	.268
Lucas Duda, 1B	4	0	0	0	0	0	1	.232
Curtis Granderson, LF	3	1	1	1	0	1	1	.353
Cesar Puelle, RF	3	0	0	0	0	2	0	.294
Travis d'Arnaud, C	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	.255
Dilson Herrera, SS	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.263
Ruben Tejada, SS	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.250
Rafel Montero, P	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.083
John Mayberry Jr.	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.131
BATTING: HR: Granderson RBI: Granderson

Philadelphia Phillies
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
Ben Revere, LF	3	0	0	0	1	0	0	.281
Odubel Herrera, CF	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	.330
Chase Utley, 2B	4	0	1	0	0	0	0	.295
Billy Butler, 1B	4	1	1	1	0	3	1	.274
Domonic Brown, RF	3	0	1	0	0	1	0	.242
Carlos Ruiz, C	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	.291
Chris Nelson, 3B	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	.243
Andres Blanco, SS	3	0	0	0	0	2	0	.232
Cole Hamels, P	3	1	1	1	0	1	1	.187
TEAM TOTALS	29	2	6	2	1	7	2
BATTING: 2B: Herrera, Ruiz HR: Butler, Hamels RBI: Butler, Hamels HBP: Herrera GIDP: Nelson
BASERUNNING: SB: Revere

New York Mets
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
R. Montero	5.0	6	2	2	1	4	2	2.45
R. Torres	2.0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0.85
J. Blevins	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0.00
TEAM TOTALS	8.0	6	2	2	1	7	2

Philadelphia Phillies
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Cole Hamels	9.0	4	1	1	0	6	1	2.34
TEAM TOTALS	9.0	4	1	1	0	6	1

[Braeden]

A homerun with Cole Hamels?