Been playing HBD for close to 20 years now and in my 177 seasons it seems that each season during spring training there are several quality players still in the Free Agent Pool that I always wondered what kind of team could be put together with the "leftover players"

Last season I took over the Cincinnati Reds franchise in Around The Horn as a replacement owner and was posed with an interesting challenge. The Major League roster was filled with old guys on poor contracts. A quick look and I would guess that only 5-6 of them actually deserved to be on a major league roster. I had enough cap room where I was able to demote or DFA the entire ML roster and sign 25 guys from the free agent pool to build an all new roster. That roster went on to have a record of 60-95 - the team was 1-6 when I took over. Because I signed all those guys to 1 year contracts they left as FA at the end of the season, and at the season roll over I had 0 guys on my 40 man roster and a total of 31 players in the entire organization.

On to the next challenge, can a franchise be built from next to nothing? The previous owner(s) had 3 terrible seasons before I took over which should have been great for draft picks but since they budgeted 0 in HS/College/INT scouting there wasn't much talent there. For last season's draft (#2 overall pick) I drafted a guy who was unlikely to sign, offered him his demands and took the comp pick for this season so I have pick 3 and 6 in this years draft. The only 2 prospects from the previous 3 drafts are
Season 23 (#2 overall) - drafted unsignable guys in Round 1,2, and 3, have comp picks for all of them this season.
Season 22 (#1 overall) - Zac Kazmir. looks like a solid top of the rotation SP prospect. 1-2 years away
Season 21 (#1 overall) - Chin-Feng Xiao - The type of RP that can throw 100+ innings, but not worthy of a #1 overall pick.

As for this year's ML roster I have claimed a few guys off waivers and will look to take a couple guys in the Rule 5. Most of the players will be Type A/B Free Agents left over at the end of Free Agency. I will sign them to 1 year deals with the hope is that they leave after next season and people sign them and give me a couple more comp picks the following seasons.

I'll post updates here every 25 games or so to see how the team turns out and see how long it takes to get this franchise competitive. For me it's a 4-5 season plan as I rebuild the entire organization, not just put together a ML roster.

Current Roster
C K. Rios - (FA 1yr/1.8M) Above Average bat, below average glove, I've had success with similar C before.
1B - Hack Hawkins - (WW) hope is he hits .250 with 25 HR. Solid D for 1B
2B - Alexei Rivero - (FA 1yr/4.1M) Low splits but based off career numbers can assume .275 with 30 HR. Good D at 2B
SS Chin-Feng Komatsu - (FA 1yr/2.5M) Former GG SS with just a little pop in his bat.
3B Valerio Ontiveros - (FA 1yr/4.6M) Solid bat, Below AVG glove for 3B
LF Gene Anderson - (FA 1yr/1.3M) Best seasons are in the past but should be solid for one more
CF Glenn Nunnally - (FA 1yr/4.6M) If sticks to past numbers should be 25-30 HR and .250 AVG. Ok D for CF.
RF Charlie Locke - (WW) Hope the his 99 Power leads to 35+ HR playing in Cincy. Defense should be above average.
DH Terrence Clark (FA 1yr/4.3M) - If career number stay consistent 25-30 HR, 80-90 RBI, .250 AVG

Backup C Marc Sheffield - (R5) Good Arm, Pitch Calling, contact. could start vs LHP to give starter rest.
Backup IF Mack Stubblefield - (FA 1yr/1.4M) Solid glove at SS/2B/CF. Could start vs LHP. Could get 20 HR in 400 AB
4th OF Tomas Palmeiro - (R5) Platoon in RF with Locke
Uti Albert Bell - (R5)

SP R.J. Martinez - (WW) Inning Eater, like his GB rating for Cincy
SP Jemile Bradley - (WW) Another Inning Eating SP
SP Floyd Kelton - (FA 1yr/3.4M) Will his health let him get to 180 IP?
SP Tito Lyon (FA 1yr/3.8M) Low control but solid splits.
SP Pascual Campos (R5) Worry his GB/FB ratio will hurt in in Cincy
RP Preston Short - (R5) Could throw multiple innings in relief or be a 5 inning SP.
RP Duane Piatt - (R5) Low control is a concern but should be a decent RP.
RP Rico Berrios - (FA 1yr/3.9M) Hoping he performs better than his career ERA.
RP Cecil Cross - (FA 1yr 3.7M) Durable RP who should be ready to pitch almost every day.
RP Sidney Henley (FA 1yr 4.9M) Only glaring weakness is against Left handed bats.
RP Jordany Arenciabia (FA 1yr/1.7M)
RP Victor Melian (R5)


ML Transactions
Game 21 - Promote Chin-Feng Xiao, Return Rule 5 Victor Melian (refused, now in AAA)
Game 68 - Terrence Clark to 15 day DL, Promote Wellington Mendoza
Game 71 - Mack Stubblefield to 15 day DL, Promote Bill Holtz
Game 83 - Activate Terrence Clark from DL, Demote Bill Holtz to AAA

Great challenge! I too have wondered what kind of team the leftover FAs would be.

Interesting

That would be fun. I would sign guys to longer-term deals either in free agency (2 or 3 years) or in-season for future seasons if I felt they would be useful. That way, you don't have to recreate the wheel each season. Looking forward to see how this works out!

Great experiment. Looking forward to see how it goes.

Rule 5 Results

Didn't get the results I hoped for. I had the 5th pick so I ranked my top 5 guys and then went looking for some under the radar type guys. Ranked them starting at 20 figuring guys 6-20 would get picked by other teams before my later picks rolled around, and well I ended up with the guys ranked 1,5,6,7,8,9,10,12,13, and 22 on my board! Rounds 3-9 basically a waste but I never figured to get real help from the rule 5. I did have a couple elite D SS ranked just behind Sheffield that would have been great to have, but not a huge loss.

Round 1 - Preston Short - #16 pick in S20 draft looks to fit in my bullpen as a Set-up A who can throw 2-3 innings or as a 5 inning SP.
Round 2 - Duane Piatt - 1st round comp pick is another bullpen arm though the low control worries me.
Round 3 - Victor Melian - former DITR who will never hit his projected ratings. Mop-up RP if he even makes the team.
Round 4 - Pascual Campos - another DITR though he might be serviceable as SP5.
Round 5 - Albert Bell - former 2nd round draft pick could be a 25th guy utility player....maybe.
Round 6 - Alfonso Viriato - One of those C that got the DITR boost in all the wrong categories. Enough to drive his overall rating up, but bat isn't good enough to DH and glove isn't good enough to catch everyday. Waste of a pick.
Round 7 - Geronimo Ordonez - Similar to Bell, nothing more than a 25th guy utility play, if that.
Round 8 - Chuck May - at 26 is done developing, won't make ML roster
Round 9 - Tomas Palmeiro - Might keep around as 4th OF.
Round 10 - Marc Sheffield - Defensive backup at C, possibly start vs LHP


Players lost
Ezequiel Benitez - Above average RP, but happy to have the 11.6M contract off the books.

I'm betting somebody goofed on that Rule 5, yikes. What a stroke of luck.

Yeah, definitely a strong reason to put a reasonable salary limit on R5 draftees!

At the quarter way point and the team is underperforming to a 10-30 record. I thought the bats would carry us to a few more wins but they are in the lower third on OPS but top 7 in HR. Need to get more guys on base.

I knew pitching would be our weak point but didn’t imagine we would be dead last (except for the dead team throwing 0(0) guys out there) A move was made bringing former #1 overall pick Xiao up to help the bullpen and he has been solid for his first few outings.

Defense is ranked third from last, but one player is really pulling the stats down. 3B Ontiveros has 14 errors in 40 games, he had 16 in all 162 last season. Other than him not many really weak defenders, hoping the law of averages has him playing better the rest of the year.

Will update again at the halfway point

Halfway point and we are sitting at 30-51, First 40 games 10-30, second 41 games 20-21.

Realistic goal for the team is not to lose 100 games. In the upcoming schedule after the break once we get past our divisional rivals (all are WAY over .500 and we went 2-8 against them to open the season) we play 20 of 23 against teams with losing records. If we go on a run and can win more than we lose during that stretch the goal might stretch to winning 70 games, but will depend on that stretch of games.