MLB 15 The Show: Rebuilding the Phillies

[RaychelSnr]

The Phillies are not exactly setting the league on fire so far in the early 2015 season. They are a struggling team, and it is quite clear to everyone that they need to rebuild. For fans of MLB The Show, Philadelphia can be a fun and challenging project to rebuild in franchise mode. For those of you trying this, here are a few things to try out.

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[geisterhome]

Quote:

Of course a total rebuild including shipping all their last assets like Cole Hamels and giving up on year one seems like the most logic way of approach here. BUT taking a closer look at how their (injury free!) roster shapes up to my surprise I figured that the Phillies could in my opinion even still be a contender this year. Pitching The Phillies have an ace in Cole Hamels and a very good number 2 starter with Cliff Lee. Then there are a bunch of guys who could make a solid number 5 or depth starter on a contender. So what we need would be 2 middle of the rotation pitchers. Looking at the free agent pool (I'm using osfm v1 rosters) I found Jhoulys Chacin, signed him to be my number 4 starter. 1 more pitcher was needed to make a very good rotation out of an imo already above average one- I found Josh Collmenter to be a very good option for that porpose, so I traded Aron Harrang plus 2 Porspects (T. Windle -B 63 and M. Imhof- C 60) to the Diamonbacks. Now there was the Bullpen: Pappelbon still is a legit Closer, some decent MR were also there, all I needed to add was actually some depth, that Ifeel I overachieved with signing Rafeal Soriano and aquiring David Hernandez in the Collmenter trade. At catcher the Phillies have veteran Carlos Ruiz who is still one of the best Catchers in the game but no decent backup for him. Again and not I looked at the free agent pool and found J.P. Arencibia. The infield looked ok to me, both on defense and offense, no need to change much there. The outfield was another story, I signed FA Dayan Viciedo as RF and moved Revere to CF. Domonic Brown to LF. Grady Sizemore an alright 4th OF. For sure not the best OF defensively but Citizens Bank Park doesn't have the largest dimensions so it could work. After that transformation I'd say the Phillies have one of the better Pitching rotations and BP, are mediocre on defense overall, have a lot of power (playing in a HR friendly Ballpark) and slightly below average speed and contact hitting. Sure they still aren't the best team in baseball by any means but if things go right and barring any major injuries to their key players they could make a run for a wildcard spot. And with some big contracts to veteran players coming of the books some nice additions could be made during the next FA period.

That is what I did with them; no real rebuild but anyways thought it would be worth the try!

[peavy_44]

I must say, it's very weird seeing such an article as I have played this game since its inception and first time I am ever seeing my team in one of these articles.

I have started playing as the Phillies and plan on keeping this Franchise in carry over mode etc.

I am 12-7 with the current team, minus Lee and Brown etc and I am taking a wait and see approach come the deadline. I have a long way to go.

Unfortunately in my season, I have lost Revere for 6 months already, thus making the Cody Asche transition to LF immediate. I have recalled Chris Nelson to play 3B for the time being. I am having fun for the first time in a long time playing a franchise.

Odubel Herrera has 13 steals in 19 games, Carlos Ruiz is hitting .439, Galvis has an OBP hovering around .500 with like 15 walks. Asche is clobbering the ball. Utley and Howard are meddling, not doing much.

[bbking26]

Do a Cubs one.

[RogueHominid]

I decided to take on this challenge, and I agree with the notion that the team can compete in year one if all goes well.

I disagree on Galvis. I'm using a re-rated roster that corrects for several issues in the base rosters and that uses 3-year averages to generate ratings, and Galvis is a monster defensively who has great positional versatility across the infield. Plus he switch hits. He's a keeper for me.

I really like the way Franco and Herrera look, too. For me, the odd man out might be Asche, though I've always kind of liked him for some reason.

Cesar Hernandez is a great pinch hitting weapon off the bench.

I'll report back after a month.

[jyoung]

Quote: Originally Posted by MMChrisS

They are a struggling team, and it is quite clear to everyone that they need to rebuild. For fans of MLB The Show, Philadelphia can be a fun and challenging project to rebuild in franchise mode. For those of you trying this, here are a few things to try out.

There's no need to undertake a complete rebuild when you can just start paying Philadelphia's bat boy a little extra money to "accidentally" pick up fair balls.



That will guarantee an 81 - 81 record for the Phillies, at worst.

[Ghost Of The Year]

My first thought is why rebuild 'em? I think contraction would be more interesting, speaking strictly as Braves fan
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[RogueHominid]

At the draft, I'm 30-25, 4 games behind the Braves, who are cruising at 33-20.

So far the interesting stories regarding pitching center on Hamels and Lee.

My playing strategy is to use one pitcher, pitch all of his starts, and sim the rest. Hamels is my personal pitcher. In 11 starts, I have yet to be the winning pitcher of record once. I'm 0-2 with a 3.18 ERA and a WHIP of 1.38. Only 5 of those starts have been quality starts. Hamels has been laboring consistently, with lots of 20-pitch innings.

Lee by contrast has been a killer. He's 8-2 with a 1.94 ERA, 3 CG, 2 SO, and a .95 WHIP. If he keeps this up, he'll likely be the more attractive trade chip at the deadline.

On the other side of things, I'm having a terrible time generating consistent offense.

Ryan Howard (.161 AVG, 3 HR) and Domonic Brown (.171 AVG, 2 HR) have played their way out of the lineup, and I now have Ruf in RF, Franco at 1B, and Asche at 3B.

Utley is by far the most productive hitter, with a .290 AVG and 5 HR. It's sad that I'm having to contemplate this, but I may move him to cleanup.

The first year draft was encouraging. Here's what I got:

1. Sergio Quintero, SP, A POT, 64 OVR
2. Julio Vasquez, LF, A POT, 71 OVR
3. Steven Gonzales, RP, C POT, 61 OVR
4. Henry Soriano, 2B, C POT, 63 OVR
5. Abraham Barton, CF, D POT, 70 OVR
6. Samuel Valentin, 3B, D POT, 56 OVR
7. Lincoln Kaufman, 1B, D POT, 42 OVR

I think my top 3 will contribute in 2 years, and my 4 and 5 picks could contribute in 3-5 years if they do well in the minors.