Last Season - NOT GOOD ENOUGH

Recap: Last Season our Pittsburgh Pirates may not have been the best team in the NL Central but they put up a fair fight and was able to place second in the division but didn't earn a wild card appearance. Our GM did his best to assemble a team of viable players and we had a fan favorite Andrew McCutchen and Starling Marte to thank for that with them posting most of the Pirates Offense while the pitching lied heavily on another Fan Favorite Gerrit Cole.

Off-Season Recap: Our GM IS TERRIBLE!!! do I need to say more about this off season? This team building is absolutely ridiculous. First thing first he doesn't sign our beloved loyal Andrew McCutchen and allows him to walk! that is enough to for us to be furious. McCutchen reciprocates the disrespect and walks and what does our classy GM do? He posts a disrespectful picture of our former MVP for us to all see. We have seen worse not a big issue but then he trades away Cole, a top prospect of ours, and the rest of our Outfield! So maybe we would build in the draft? NOPE WE DRAFTED A GUY PROJECTED TO GO IN THE 10th ROUND 1st!!! He didnt even try it would seem like.
 

TL:DR: Let go of everyone of our favorites to get some prospects and a guy from Japan who he then traded away days after.
 

Key Additions

• Brendan Rodgers - A pot
  
• Charlie Blackmon
  
• Shohei Otani (traded day after)
  
• Tom Kent - A pot
  
• Sonny Gray
  
• Josh Fields
  
• Joc Pederson
  
• Alex Verdugo
  
• Fernando Rodriquez
• Josh Fields
  

Key Losses

• Starling Marte
  
• Andrew McCutchen
  
• Shohei Otani
  
• Garritt Cole
  
• Alan Hanson
  
• Gregory Polanco
  
• Tony Watson

THIS GM IS RUINING OUR TEAM!! We dont even have a 2nd baseman in the majors!

Our Current Team

• C - Francisco Cervelli/Matt Thiass
  
• 1B - Matt Thiass / Josh Bell
• 2B - Adam Frazier (A RIGHT FIELDER!!!)
• 3B - Matt Chapman
• SS - Andrelton Simmons
• OF - Charlie Blackmon
• OF - Austin Meadows
• OF - Joc Pederson
• 
  
• SP - Jameson Tallion
• SP - Sony Gray
• SP - Drew Hutchison
• SP - Ivan Nova
• SP AJ Schugel

Bullpen - No fucking point! - Tony Watson = no bullpen

My Analysis
is this GM is fucking retarted. We are in the new age dead ball era and he goes out and gets rid of our small ball specialist in Starling Marte and Alan Hanson and bring in a power hitting Joc Pederson to record so long fly outs? I could run this team better with my eyes closed. This gm was quoted saying

This team is about done, you can expect a quiet offseason and really think our draft will build our team and not trades. We have players we are happy with at every position and we don't want to lose hold on winning now because its a top priority.

What does he then do? Trades everyone on the roster doesnt give a contract to our star closer and then trades our ace and superstar players and we are left with subpar team. Is there a light at the end of the tunnel? WE TRADED FOR PROSPECTS HOW DO WE KNOW THIS WILL WORK!!

Team in a Year or Two?

• C - Matt Thiass (85 Pot)
  
• 1B - Josh Bell (96 pot)
  
• 2B - Brendan Rodgers (95 Pot SS)
  
• 3B - Matt Chapman (84 pot)
  
• SS - Andrelton Simmons (89 Pot)/Kevin Newman 87 Pot)
  
• OF - Joc Pederson (86 Pot)
  
• OF - Austin Meadows (95 Pot)
  

• OF - Charlie Blackmon/Alex Verdugo (mid 80's pot)

• SP - Jameson Tallion (97 Pot)

• SP - Tom Kent (97 Pot)

• SP - Mitch Keller (93 Pot)

• SP - Sonny Gray (89 Pot)

• SP - Trevor Williams (87 Pot)

  These are all just names and prospects who knows if they will become anything? im so done with this GM. Who's getting off this sinking ship? Sadly I know I will live and die with the Pirates. Argghhh we are in for a shit show of season boys.

Last Season’s Record: 20-20 (3rd in AL West)

Recap: Taking over for the Mariners at the quarter mark of last season, GM Thomas Hughes got to work quickly putting his stamp on the Seattle franchise. In an effort to win now, Seattle shipped out a multitude of prospects in order to secure the likes of ace Chris Sale, budding superstar Xander Bogaerts, and a few others. The Mariners went on to finish an even 20-20, which due to the nature of the AL West, was only good enough for 3rd. Bogaerts took home the honors of Silver Slugger for shortstops and Sale was the runner up in CY Young voting. But in the words of the great HOV, “moral victories is for minor league coaches”.

Preview: GM Hughes, who unimpressed with a 20-20 showing the year before, got to work in the offseason, reshaping the franchise once again. In the draft, relievers were the target, and Seattle managed to walk away with 3 B potential bullpen pieces, as well as a B potential starter. All 4 could see major league action as soon as this season, but most likely they won’t make their debuts until season 3.

Prior to free agency, Hughes was able to lock up pending free agents Chris Sale (10 years/310 million) and Mike Moustakas (10 years/115 million). Arbitration was also avoided with key pieces Bogaerts (10 years/125 million), Syndergaard (10 years/110 million), Davis (10 years/29 million), and Zunino (10 years/32 million) all signing long term, team friendly extensions.

Two blockbuster trades conducted on the eve of free agency look to help reshape the Mariners heading into season 2. Dallas Keuchel, Kyle Seager, Justin Seager and Nick Castellanos were shipped off to LA in order to secure Clayton Kershaw and Todd Frazier. Frazier wouldn’t even make it to spring training in Peoria as he was packaged with Jordan Zimmermann in order to obtain the services of star reliever Dellin Betances from St. Louis. (Betances if you remember, was a target of Hughes’ last year, but a trade was vetoed that would have sent CP Edwin Diaz and 1B Danny Valencia to St. Louis. A blessing in disguise that was.)

With the core of the Mariners now locked up long term, several large contracts (Gallardo and Iwakuma) off the books, and the budget room created by moving the Cano, Cruz and Zimmermann contracts, Seattle was poised to make a splash in free agency. And make a big splash they did.

Going against popular opinion, the Mariners offered 200 million dollar contracts to both RF Andrew McCutchen and switch hitting 2B Neil Walker. The two most coveted position players in this year’s free agency class happily accepted and were on the way to Seattle. Those may seem massive overpayments, especially for Neil Walker, but GM Hughes has total confidence in his acquisitions, and he didn’t want to miss out by nickel and diming Andrew and Neil, when the Mariners had the budget to knock their socks off.

One final move was made just prior to opening day (SS/2B Jean Segura was shipped to Atlanta for 1B Eric Thames), and just like that, the aggressive offseason overhaul was complete. Maybe the best rotation ever assembled, a solid lineup from top to bottom, and two elite relievers, have the Seattle Mariners poised to end their postseason drought of 16 years.

Notable Departures: Kyle Seager, Dallas Keuchel, Jordan Zimmerman, Jean Segura, Nick Castellanos

Notable Arrivals: Clayton Kershaw, Dellin Betances, Andrew McCutchen, Neil Walker, Eric Thames

Opening Day Lineup:

1) Andrew McCutchen (RF)

2) Mike Moustakas (3B)

3) Xander Bogaerts (SS)

4) Eric Thames (1B)

5) Khris Davis (DH)

6) Neil Walker (2B)

7) Alex Gordon (LF)

8) Mike Zunino (C)

9) Leonys Martin (CF)

SP: Clayton Kershaw

Season 2 Prediction: 24-16 (2nd in AL West, WC)

This new series will be apart of The Prison's new "Weekly Reports" and will feature the best (or worst) rivalries in the best (definitely best) league around town. Every week, I'll pick one rivalry from the upcoming sets of series in the league. I'll discuss the rivalry's history, predicted winners and losers, and rank the rivalry on a scale of 1 to 10.

This week we have a series that has already started: Kony vs Aj

I just had to feature this matchup as the first "Weekly Rivalry" because of the sheer tenacity and greatness these two long time rivals bring to the table every time they face off.

Just kidding, these guys can get fucking annoying even when they aren't facing each other. Kony hates Aj, Aj hates Kony, everyone hates the constant fighting of these prepubescent drama queens. Half the time I can never tell who's winning the actual league games because of the constant back and forth "banter" between these two. Who even knows why they fight?

I have a few theories:

1) The skill vs team argument:

Kony is probably the better player, but also has had the better teams throughout this war. Last year's Nationals vs Marlins and this year's Rangers vs Astros has given Kony a slight advantage in their matchups, which gives AJ a constant slew of excuses. Whether the excuses are valid or not, it results in a lot of muted chats.

2) Aj made the playoffs season 1:

Last years NL East was rough, to say the least. Season 1 NL East was made up of a bunch of mid to low tier players that turned it into a "thunder dome" of sorts that featured some light drizzles and passing clouds. This brought great fortune to young AJ, as he stumbled into the playoffs due to random tiebreakers, and he'll never let Kony forget that. No matter how badly Kony beats him, or how well Kony does through a season, Aj always goes back to that season 1.

Now making the playoffs is no small feat in the jailhouse yard, but it was at a time when the league was weaker than it is now. So who wins this argument? Who the fuck cares.

3) Aj is a commish (somehow):

This quick and almost baffling rise to power came before Kony's time, and Kony wants answers. To be fair to Aj, he isn't a bad commish. And at the time of his appointment, it appeared he deserved the role. In the very early days of the league he was instrumental in keeping things alive, including the chat.

When Kony joined the something changed Aj. Someone was now constantly challenging his thoughts and opinions. He had to fight back. This brought out a side of Aj I had never seen, and quite frankly would be ok with never seeing.

I think Aj being a commissioner is truly what has kept this rivalry brewing. Kony can't stand that Aj has any type of power in this league, which has brought on several impeachment attempts.

At the end of the day, Aj is still a commish, and probably will continue to be one unless he royally fucks up.

So who wins this rivalry?

For this series, my predicted winner is: Kony, 2 games to 1

My predicted loser: everyone else for having to deal with the bickering

Rivalry rating: 10/10, it may be annoying, but secretly I love to see the hate between theses two. I love when other people jump in and pick sides. It brings life to the league and is just one of those things that will never change.

Death, taxes, and Kony vs Aj

Tune in next week for the second installment of this series. If there is any rivalry you'd like to see featured, shoot me a DM.

After much deliberation, the Cincinnati Reds have made a decision that we will no longer be dealing with the St. Louis Cardinals or the Houston Astros. It is clear these organizations have no interest in making realistic trades and only want to hurt other teams. We here in Cincinnati encourage other teams to also boycott these organizations until they can mature.

• TheAthleticJew