T.J. LauermanComments Off on MMAA: The “ToddFather” Departs
Just a quick little update. The “ToddFather” was traded to the Rangers for Rougned Odor, straight up. I’m still a little surprised that they were willing to pull the trigger. Maybe they’re afraid that Beltre will retire after the season? Either way, we save some money, and get a young quality second basemen in the process.
One of our owner goals was to extend Jeurys Familia. While it was against my better judgement to keep him, I decided to keep my owner happy and gave him a 5-year deal that could be worth $67 million, assuming he picks up his player options.
Through May 1st, we’re 17-11 and leading the NL East.
Disclaimer: I am the Baseball Community Manager for Out of the Park Developments, makers of Out of the Park Baseball. This series is not an ad for the game and the opinions expressed here are mine, and not that of OOTP Developments.
If you’re interested in checking out Out of the Park Baseball 19, you can go to ThatSportsGamer.com/OOTP19, and use Promo Code TSG19 to save 10% at checkout.
T.J. LauermanComments Off on MMAA: Kiss Yoenis Goodbye!
Last night I started working on this Mets franchise, and decided I was ready to part ways with Yoenis Cespedes. I shopped him around with the intent on keeping roughly 20% of his contract, and received an interesting offer from the Cubs. They were willing to offer Jason Heyward, straight up, in return for Cespedes. Heyward is making 2/3rds of Cespedes’ contract, he’s almost 4 years younger, and he has a player option after the 2019 season. If Heyward accepts it, he’ll be owed about $120m over 5 years.
Since cutting money right now to possibly make a big signing after 2018 is a short term goal. Getting an extra few million is a pretty good plan, and, if Heyward happened to decline his option, we’d have even more money in the future. If he accepts option, we’d still have a very good defense right fielder, and maybe, just maybe, the prospect of playing closer to his birthplace, Ridgewood, NJ, would spark his bat.
To hedge my bets, and since I was already willing to retain some of Cespedes’ contract, I decided to look around the Cubs prospect list and see if they would throw one in so that, if Heyward did decline the option, I wouldn’t be empty handed. I was able to add the Cubs’ 2017 1st round (30th overall) pick, Alex Lange, a potential 3-star SP, while only needing to retain 15% of Cespedes’ contract. Just like that, the deal was done.
During the start of the regular season, relief pitcher, A.J. Ramos went down with the torn flexor tendon in his throwing arm, and he’ll require Tommy John surgery and be out for the season.
As I advanced a little bit into April, Jason Vargas was ready to come off the DL, but I didn’t really have a spot on the 25-man for him. Instead, I decided to shop him, and his, up to, $22m over 3 year contract. I wasn’t expecting much, and was pleasantly surprised to see the Blue Jays offer Lourdes Gurriel Jr., so I jumped at that offer. Gurriel is a nice young talent, and opens the door to possibly trying to move Todd Frazier sooner than later, and he could end up being our future third basemen.
Through April 15th, we’re 9-6 and currently tied for the NL East lead.
Disclaimer: I am the Baseball Community Manager for Out of the Park Developments, makers of Out of the Park Baseball. This series is not an ad for the game and the opinions expressed here are mine, and not that of OOTP Developments.
If you’re interested in checking out Out of the Park Baseball 19, you can go to ThatSportsGamer.com/OOTP19, and use Promo Code TSG19 to save 10% at checkout.
T.J. LauermanComments Off on MUT Huddle w/ Sports & Snaggle
UPDATE: Due to the amazing success of Out of the Park Baseball’s Perfect Team mode, Kris and I sadly don’t have time to dedicate to MUT Huddle.
Sometimes a plan just really comes together quickly.
Kris and I have known for a while that Bullpen Banter was going to end up going on hiatus. With that, we also knew wanted to continue working on stuff together, outside of OOTP Developments, where we are the Community Management team for Out of the Park Baseball.
So today, we’re announcing our new project, MUT Huddle. As we started dipping into Madden NFL 19, we noticed that there was a void that needed to be filled. There are a bunch of great shows, and videos for the experienced and hardcore Madden Ultimate Team fans. However, there isn’t a ton of stuff for casual players that are just getting into the mode.
MUT Huddle is not going to be super gameplay centric. If you’re looking for a Cover 3 beater, or the 6 pre-snap adjustments you need to make to combat a WR Bunch formation, we don’t have that knowledge, and we’re not going to fake it. There are a lot of great places to go to if you need that, and we’ll be more than happy to point you in that direction.
T.J. LauermanComments Off on Bullpen Banter Goes On Hiatus
You’ve probably noticed that there hasn’t been a new episode of Bullpen Banter in (WOW!) almost 2 months. Sadly, this year’s iteration of MLB The Show has made me really lose interest in the game.
After two years, Bullpen Banter will be going on a semi-permanent hiatus.
Right now, the passion for the game is just not there for me, and without my heart being in it, I just feel like I would be doing you a disservice by just regurgitating the latest post on TheShowNation.com. You deserve better than that.
Over the last two years, I’ve loved working with Kris and Chris on the show, and I hope one day I’ll be back loving, and discussing MLB The Show. Will that be later this year, or the launch of MLB The Show 19? I really don’t have an answer to that right now.
If you liked Bullpen Banter, I’m working on developing a similar show(s), but for a different game(s), but there is nothing to announce right now.
While the show is going on hiatus, we, and the great Bullpen Banter community, are still talking about MLB The Show on a daily basis over on the Discord server, and you can join that over at ThatSportsGamer.com/Bullpen-Banter.
T.J. LauermanComments Off on MMAA: Roster Evaluation (Pitchers)
On the pitching side of things, we’re probably also going to move almost all of these guys. Syndergaar and Matz both fall into the same situation as Conforto. They are free agents after 2021, and while I’d love to keep them, if there is a great deal, I’ll definitely take it. Also, if they are willing to sign an extension at a good price, I’d definitely want to keep them.
Yamaguchi, our Scouting Director, only really loves Callahan. He’s the only 3-star or higher prospect in our minors. However, the OSA, which also loves Callahan, actually likes a handful of our prospects better than Yamaguchi. It should be interesting to see who is right on these guys.
Just a reminder, I am the Baseball Community Manager for Out of the Park Developments, makers of Out of the Park Baseball. This series is not an ad for the game.
This is an ad for the game: If you’re interested in checking out Out of the Park Baseball 19, you can go to ThatSportsGamer.com/OOTP19, and use Promo Code TSG19 to save 10%.
T.J. LauermanComments Off on MMAA: Setup And Personnel Changes
The setup for this franchise in Out of the Park Baseball 19 is pretty straightforward. It’s a New Standard Game, and the only leagues that will be in are Major League Baseball and the US Independent Leagues. The only setting I’ll be changing is the AI Trading Difficulty, which will be set to Hard, because if I don’t do that, OOTP Developer, Matt Arnold will never let me live it down.
Some of the team personnel has got to go if we’re going to change the culture of the Mets. The first one on the block is, Scouting Director, Marc Tramuta. His Fair, and Poor Scouting Ratings are just not going to cut it for what needs to be done here.
We’re going to be bringing in Norio Yamaguchi to reevaluate what we’ve got in the pipeline, and help us make the decisions going forward on who to bring into the fold. As of now he’s the only personnel change we’re going to be making for the time being. Though, once we start bringing in new players, we’ll probably make some other changes as well.
Just a reminder, I am the Baseball Community Manager for Out of the Park Developments, makers of Out of the Park Baseball. This series is not an ad for the game.
This is an ad for the game: If you’re interested in checking out Out of the Park Baseball 19, you can go to ThatSportsGamer.com/OOTP19, and use Promo Code TSG19 to save 10%.
T.J. LauermanComments Off on MMAA: Roster Evaluation (Batters)
When I loaded it up, the above image was the Mets lineup. Obviously, since we’re going to be diving into a rebuild, the vast majority of these players will be going. With our goal being a 2022-ish run, the only realist players from this current lineup staying are Brandon Nimmo and Amed Rosario. The notable names not shown here are Juan Lagares, who will probably be moved, and Wilmer Flores, who I’m still on the fence about. Also, Dominic Smith starts the season on the DL, and he looks like someone I will want to keep around.
Michael Conforto (starts on the DL) is a really big question mark for me right now. At 25, he’s young enough to be there when we plan to be ready. He’s eligible to be a free agent in 2021, but, if I were to be able to buy out some arbitration years, and maybe lock him up until 2023, that would be a huge windfall. However, if there is an amazing offer, I might have to pull the trigger.
These for guys are the best prospects we’ve got according to our new Scouting Director, Norio Yamaguchi. I wish there was a little more, but I’m going to trust in Yamaguchi’s knowledge. With what we’ve got in the future, and Rosario already playing in the big leagues, we should have a very nice infield as we start to turn things around.
Just a reminder, I am the Baseball Community Manager for Out of the Park Developments, makers of Out of the Park Baseball. This series is not an ad for the game.
This is an ad for the game: If you’re interested in checking out Out of the Park Baseball 19, you can go to ThatSportsGamer.com/OOTP19, and use Promo Code TSG19 to save 10%.
T.J. LauermanComments Off on Make The Mets Amazin’ Again
Today, while listening to The Ringer MLB Show recap the latest craziness that has happened to the Mets, I was inspired. Within the talk of a lackluster players in return for Jeurys Familia, Noah Syndergaard contracting hand, foot and mouth disease, the prospect of losing Yoenis Cespedes for an extended time due to calcium in his heels, and Jacob deGrom’s agent asking the Mets to “shit or get off the pot” and either give him an extension or trade him, all the hosts seemed to agree that this Mets team was to good to just throw in the towel and start from scratch.
While I agree that this team “should” be good enough to get some pieces and make a decent run at the NL East in 2019, I remembered that I’m the Baseball Community Manager for Out of the Park Developments, makers of Out of the Park Baseball, and I have an amazing tool at my finger tips, and I could see what could happen if the Mets had decided to trade away everything in 2018, and rebuild for the future. So that’s just what I’m going to do.
If you know me, you probably already know that I’m a Braves fan. However, you might not know that when I started watching baseball, the Mets were my team. I remember sitting at the kitchen table, watching the Mets on a little 5″ black and white television, intrigued by the game I would grow to love. However, the Mets didn’t stick. Somehow I ended up watching a lot of TBS, and a lot of Braves games, and I would quickly become a fan of them. Yes, I know it’s weird that a kid from N.J. would become a Braves fan. Also, if you want to see some OOTP action with the Braves, I’m currently doing a series on my YouTube channel called Acuña Matata.
Back to the plan to make the Mets amazin’ again. I’m going to try to make the Mets a serious contender for the title by 2022. It’s probably not going to be very pretty for Mets’ fans like Rich Grisham and Gus Ramsey to watch. We’re going to be trading away a lot of players, and making some tough decisions, but hopefully it will all pay off in the end.
I hope you stay tuned, and are interested in joining me on this journey.
Just a reminder, I am the Baseball Community Manager for Out of the Park Developments, makers of Out of the Park Baseball. This series is not an ad for the game.
This is an ad for the game: If you’re interested in checking out Out of the Park Baseball 19, you can go to ThatSportsGamer.com/OOTP19, and use Promo Code TSG19 to save 10%.
