Those familiar with me know I have a definite opinion on how things should be done. This will be longer than my "normal" posts but I think it might help some folks understand that you don't have to purge your roster(although I semi-purged), lose 110 games for 3-4 seasons and, hopefully, start to win then.

So a little background first. I took a bad team with the 2nd pick in a merged world. I wasn't looking but commish sent an invite. A form letter, to be sure, but not the HBD invite. For whatever reason, I thought a commish that would do that should fill their world. Too many sit around and wonder what WifS will do to help them.

Trout/Brett	ATL Atlanta Bravos	1	$94.0M	67-95 (.414)	4	-
Trout/Brett	ATL Atlanta Bravos	2	$94.1M	66-96 (.407)	4	-
Trout/Brett	ATL Atlanta Bravos	3	$77.8M	47-115 (.290)	4	-
Trout/Brett	ATL Atlanta Bravos	4	$94.1M	67-95 (.414)	4	-
Trout/Brett	ATL Atlanta Bravos	5	$118.8M	63-99 (.389)	4	-

Bad team, high payroll. And low training so I couldn't keep old budget.

After budgeting, I had 91m for payroll, 88m committed. That wouldn't do as I couldn't even arb the 2 guys I thought were cheap/good enough to arb.. I'll stick to pitching because I'm still making roster decisions on position players. So I figured out who had to go. I started with these four and waived them because I didn't think I could trade them and, more importantly, getting their contracts off the books was the goal. In part because the older ones were declining due to low training and the younger ones were multi-year deals that I didn't like.

Player Profile: Renyel Gomez - Hardball Dynasty Baseball | WhatIfSports
Player Profile: Rich Padden - Hardball Dynasty Baseball | WhatIfSports
Player Profile: Anthony Rice - Hardball Dynasty Baseball | WhatIfSports
Player Profile: Miguel Viciedo - Hardball Dynasty Baseball | WhatIfSports

Gomez and Rice were claimed. I just agreed to a deal to move Padden for a utility guy and two C prospects. Viciedo will probably be a SP5.

I was dead set against trading my 33 y/o ace but, with the low training, he'd started declining pretty hard. I wasn't sure if my 14m would stop it and, quite honestly, the team had no young talent. I moved him and a RP is was one the fence for arbing for my future 2B/3B and a RP that will be able to throw 140+ innings.

I also released two arb-el pitchers. So I'd essentially tore that staff apart. Time to start building some pitching I like.

I signed 5 BL pitchers(one sent to the minors for insurance) between 1.2m and 5.4m. I claimed 3 off waivers and got two more in the R5. Two more former BL pitchers were sent to AAA. BL money so I have 3 pitchers in AAA already on BL payroll for injury insurance.

My staff:

Player	Lvl	Pos	Age														$
Charley Cummings (R)	ML	P	30	26	67	63	74	69	87	36	68	74	62	68	64	41	$5.2M
Eugenio Seanez (L)	ML	P	22	66	69	22	51	74	74	37	83	87	72	60	0	0	$327K
Floyd Donald (R)	ML	P	29	6	93	89	69	65	72	80	48	78	63	53	0	0	$343K
Hoss Conway (R)	ML	P	27	24	86	50	58	70	71	56	35	84	65	51	45	0	$3.0M
Jim Miles (R)	ML	P	22	82	74	26	85	71	79	90	70	82	52	0	0	0	$327K
Jorel Russ (R)	ML	P	33	13	42	70	91	65	75	60	51	82	71	52	67	57	$1.9M
Jorge Pino (R)	ML	P	23	26	55	91	78	62	69	81	76	76	62	52	44	16	$360K
Lonny Rodriguez (R)	ML	P	31	86	72	21	98	58	68	86	71	79	92	0	0	0	$4.6M
Merkin Griffith (R)	ML	P	30	20	88	82	49	70	77	91	79	80	86	54	32	0	$5.4M
Miguel Viciedo (L)	ML	P	29	26	89	92	50	69	55	52	78	92	84	64	43	52	$4.6M
Polin Nova (R)	ML	P	30	24	78	92	43	55	76	80	75	75	80	65	45	0	$3.6M
Rich Padden (R)	ML	P	31	29	95	72	91	55	57	93	55	97	80	54	46	0	$9.0M
Rigo Trevino (R)	ML	P	30	54	80	16	79	70	83	82	91	72	57	38	0	0	$1.7M

Padden will be gone today and Player Profile: Miguel Bonilla - Hardball Dynasty Baseball | WhatIfSports will be added. With just the pitching changes alone, I think I've added 5-8 wins. Once the Padden trade goes thru, payroll will be 77.5m.

Here are my minor league insurance pitchers:

Player	Lvl	Pos	Age														$
Tony Groom (R)	AAA	P	29	21	47	89	62	64	72	52	37	80	75	56	35	0	$1.2M
Artie Kirwan (R)	AAA	P	25	31	62	75	79	53	54	88	75	72	79	55	0	0	$360K
Jason Ojala (L)	AAA	P	23	29	93	72	59	68	46	58	73	83	67	51	48	44	$343K

Position players to come.

Returning pitchers: Rodriguez, Nova, Pino and Viciedo.

OK, position players.

I was stuck with 3 high dollar(5m+) that I couldn't move. Jim Brewington has an especially terrible contract. But I'll do something with all 3 even if it's just play out the contract. Throwing in a prospect, of which I have precious few, to move a bad contract is just dumb.

I claimed 3 off waivers(Shoppach, Daniels and Chavez) and 1 in R5(Willis). I signed 1 FA(Blalock) and arbed 3(Vizcaino, Fien, Christians). Karstens, my starting C, was renewed at 343k. My position players:

Player	Lvl	Pos	Age															$
Jim Brewington (L)	ML	LF	34	77	80	64	49	60	89	77	56	85	73	86	41	63	3	$16.9M
Ronnie Holt (R)	ML	3B	34	66	57	90	56	69	74	53	71	60	72	73	71	77	20	$5.8M
Willie Espinosa (R)	ML	1B	34	63	76	78	78	67	61	71	20	23	39	36	33	35	9	$5.6M
Willie Vizcaino (R)	ML	CF	27	77	82	71	64	55	64	44	58	91	84	78	83	82	0	$3.8M
Trey Blalock (R)	ML	RF	26	79	76	63	85	40	52	85	36	42	59	35	64	54	15	$2.0M
Phillip Fien (L)	ML	SS	26	75	69	50	73	63	41	43	72	54	85	80	94	79	2	$360K
Mel Karstens (S)	ML	C	27	75	84	58	49	71	69	80	59	31	13	28	70	73	58	$343K
Trevor Christians (R)	ML	C	28	72	64	63	90	79	47	69	58	50	0	19	65	65	37	$327K
Ross Shoppach (L)	ML	RF	27	80	73	56	39	61	74	68	60	87	68	61	54	52	2	$327K
Ronn Willis (R)	ML	SS	22	80	69	28	27	23	36	36	50	36	86	83	94	86	13	$327K
Robbie Daniels (L)	ML	1B	28	88	90	60	56	62	85	88	46	43	35	36	31	31	0	$327K
Diego Chavez (R)	ML	2B	27	85	97	65	22	56	61	53	67	48	76	72	82	75	1	$327K

I don't think I have anyone who isn't expendable on that list and I have 3 BL money insurance guys in AAA. My AAA:

Player	Lvl	Pos	Age															$
Oscar Wanatabe (R)	AAA	1B	34	71	59	77	43	90	45	65	41	78	59	45	61	59	25	$3.3M
Rich McKenry (R)	AAA	3B	28	76	76	35	98	59	41	37	30	19	56	66	71	62	11	$665K
Gregorio Gimenez (L)	AAA	LF	24	72	81	39	69	56	56	69	62	90	80	78	55	54	16	$360K
Jolbert Sardinha (R)	AAA	2B	27	96	84	61	41	53	45	60	55	71	72	82	56	57	7	$62K
William Jones (L)	AAA	DH	28	68	72	73	81	50	66	93	46	40	13	19	68	60	35	$59K
Midre Alvarez (L)	AAA	SS	23	78	84	59	28	40	31	34	73	49	91	82	98	89	25	$57K
Vic Beavan (R)	AAA	C	31	55	32	59	47	55	36	81	50	28	6	18	57	52	57	$55K
Wilfredo Bonilla (L)	AAA	DH	23	75	65	58	70	33	61	54	8	31	9	17	60	49	30	$55K
Scott Davis (S)	AAA	C	22	69	83	55	67	87	65	82	30	5	13	20	61	59	52	$55K
Anthony Conway (S)	AAA	C	24	80	91	57	53	34	52	63	47	19	28	36	70	68	81	$55K
Tracy Taylor (R)	AAA	CF	26	79	84	34	9	28	21	28	48	68	56	46	40	49	5	$55K
Trey Baker (S)	AAA	RF	27	82	96	52	67	38	19	44	25	44	57	51	64	53	10	$55K
Kolten Vizquel (R)	AAA	LF	26	86	91	44	65	59	49	52	55	55	62	58	48	52	18	$55K
Andrew Thomas (S)	AAA	2B	25	77	66	69	49	75	65	56	73	85	74	77	83	76	14	$55K
Cord Neugebauer (S)	AAA	CF	24	88	92	45	14	63	65	53	65	94	84	88	49	56	2	$55K
Luis Gonzales (S)	AAA	SS	24	74	87	58	66	11	55	35	83	63	88	81	91	81	4	$55K

I traded for Alvarez, Thomas and Neugebauer. All could be on the BL roster at some point this season although I'd like to hold Neugebauer back if Vizcaino is adequate in CF for a season. Jones might be a C in RF for a couple of seasons. Davis is likely destined to catch. McHenry was signed as a FA because I kind of want to see what 98 POW produces in Indy. Gimenez will likely get back to LF while Brewington develops into a 1B over the next 3 seasons. Gonzales might become a SS. Or, at the very least, a solid utility guy. Other than that, I've got nothing.

Started 2-0 but have lost 3 straight. I expect 75ish wins.

I didn't think you went for Pitchers with Control under 50

No, I'm the "I don't care nearly about as much as control as you do" guy. I've had success with 39 but generally draw a line around mid 40s. Nova was a holdover and a relatively cheap innings eater.

I'll dip into the 40's on occasion, had some luck. Went into the 30's once, was not good. Not good at all.

Low control pitchers are pretty inconsistent. Like RP, you have to look at individual games to determine their effectiveness. They may throw 6 great games then drop two consecutive stinkers with 9 walks in 4 innings to muck up their season stats.

When I am helping people, I tell them to avoid pitchers under 50 in control. There are situations to use them, but when they are just learning the basics, it's better to avoid them until you understand what pitchers under 50 could be useful and under what circumstances.

Ugh. Padden is a cringe worthy contract.

You have no interest in having Wanatabe in the ML to platoon and be a bat off the bench?

Edit: Wait, someone actually traded FOR Padden? How did you pull that one off?

Espinosa is a better option VL at 1B. I didn't really have enough spots to keep him as a PH.

I got a bunch of questionable "prospects" in return. FWIW, Padden was a "league average" pitcher. I just couldn't keep that contract.

This has been a disaster. We've scored 135 runs in 41 games and sit at 8-33. Mediocrity is tougher to achieve in recently merged worlds. I've been moving guys up/down from AAA with no luck. Every "around average" hitter is below average. Ugh.