I've been a big believer in Heilman, If he gets that splitter anywhere near 80, you have a hall of fame reliever. I would train up that second pitch, then maybe try to add a third pitch next off season but 90 rated heater with a solid splitter, that's a nightmare combo
Ha, great minds think alike. I haven't gone into what I'm doing in the Dev Lab in a video yet, but Heilman is working on secondary pitch improvement right now!
Homer could be really interesting if he continues to develop as a pitcher and hitter. Could be a zobrist type utility bench piece while also allowing you to move to a 6-man rotation, or could just use him as a reliable long reliever.
Agreed, I think he could be a real useful piece to have around with one more season of good development in the minors. Not a star, but could probably put up a combined WAR of 5 between hitting and pitching in his better seasons.
I’d at least entertain shopping Mendoza. A Comp pick is nice, but that quality of player might have a very solid pool of players available for trade who could improve the A’s now or in the future.
Mendoza is a little more valuable than guys like Galick and Orosco on the open market, but it's not by a huge margin. Since I feel like we have tons of good young relievers on the way I think I'm still more inclined to trade the pitchers, but I'll try to keep an open mind.
@@jbrax425 Locking him down is definitely not an option... looking for a 10 year, $300 million extension, with multiple player options taking him through his age 38 season!
Hey old school - I've loved the series this year and am getting very excited for ootp 26. Do you think you could do a video walking through some or all of the stuff you do offline to manage your org? Specifically how you manage your minor league players development and promotions, and explore trade options? Thanks!
Hm, I will try again to post something here then. I see my first longer comments both on this and on the 2 previous has not been kept (censured ?) Whatever just take a shorter variant then. It's nice to be back following you and your A's. Missed your last 2040 season, since it was holiday season actually. Lots to do, lots of visits. Back to normal time now and thought even you might have left your great task in Saving the A's. You done so much more and given the old A's fans a push to think back on those glory days when the team was a strength, with or without mustasches. Your own Jets have finally struggled to the end of their season, which should be forgotten. Was it the last you and everyone saw of A-Rod ? At least he got that 500th TD pass. Now focus on the real 2025 MLB season can begin.
I had almost forgotten how crazy our bevy of bullpen prospects are, yowza! As you say, a couple of them are ready to start tearing up the league this coming season. Regarding Mendoza, you have a good game plan and I respect your reasons for sticking to it. As long as we can make the money work (I think Mendoza was due $10M~ in Arb?) either way works for me. I have to say, other than an occasional bust, we have hit really well on prospects during this playthrough OSS. I am excited to see this new crop come up in spring. Good luck with the trades, bud. Time to wheel and deal. 💣
I’m agreeing with this. I was unsure about trading away some of your expensive bullpen arms, but after seeing the bullpen prospects ive seen the light! Deal any bullpen guy making over 5 million for sure and upgrade
The first several crops of minor league and IAFA guys were pretty disappointing, but it does feel like the farm system has been pretty fertile for close to a decade at this point! Mendoza's arb number for this coming year is $15.6 million! Winning ALCS MVP followed by World Series MVP may have pushed him a little higher!
Love the videos keep up the good work! I was hoping After you finish this series I was hoping you could do the angels they have a really interesting roster rn and they don’t really have a strong farm system they have also had a really hard time developing a home grown super star (Ohtani was already very good coming to the angels )and I believe it could be very interesting as well as the owner is very hot or cold in spending money not only that but they have a very hard division outside of Oakland. The other team if not the Angels I would want you to play would be the blue jays they have a roster that is falling apart and to make it more of a challenge you could play without signing vald because in all likely it looks like he’s not going ti resign as well as they don’t have too strong of a farm and a lot of their good players are older in age I believe both of these teams would be great for you because you like build up farms and you like fixing pitching staffs I would hope you do long series on both of them like the A’s not no short series
Thank you for watching and the suggestions! I haven't given too much thought to OOTP 26 yet. I did seriously think about the Angels and the White Sox this past season, but obviously ended up going with the A's instead.
The farm is so stacked with pitching that it’s no surprise you are content to allow some of the less budget friendly guys go. Great building job 👏🏻 Not looking so god on the batters though with just three I think in that top 200 which is a bit of a concern and maybe an area to be looking more at over the next IAFA and draft. Not too many misses looking at those players that you could have picked up in previous IAFA or drafts. Cepeda being the main one that was a shame to miss out on although I can’t remember whether we passed on him for someone else. If we did it would be nice to check how that player has done so far in comparison 🤔.
Good points as always. Hopefully we will be able to turn some of the pitchers into a couple of everyday player prospects to help balance out the farm system! I'm sure I never seriously considered paying the full $5.7 million in 2034 for Cepeda given his personality, but it's an interesting question. Looks like our prime IAFA signing that year ($3.8 million) was Jesus Aguilar. The 23 year old spent the entire season in AAA, and had a solid season. The .301 average with 43 doubles, 11 triples, 24 HR and 13 steals sounds borderline incredible, but it added up to just a 115 WRC+ and 3.4 WAR in the offense-heavy PCL. He is certainly in the mix to compete with Palomares, Harman, and the recently acquired Bobby Armstrong to potentially be our starting CF next season.
I've been a big believer in Heilman, If he gets that splitter anywhere near 80, you have a hall of fame reliever. I would train up that second pitch, then maybe try to add a third pitch next off season but 90 rated heater with a solid splitter, that's a nightmare combo
Ha, great minds think alike. I haven't gone into what I'm doing in the Dev Lab in a video yet, but Heilman is working on secondary pitch improvement right now!
Homer could be really interesting if he continues to develop as a pitcher and hitter.
Could be a zobrist type utility bench piece while also allowing you to move to a 6-man rotation, or could just use him as a reliable long reliever.
Agreed, I think he could be a real useful piece to have around with one more season of good development in the minors. Not a star, but could probably put up a combined WAR of 5 between hitting and pitching in his better seasons.
I did it I caught up!
Nice! I'd like to say I've slowed down the new episodes the last few days to help you catch up... but that would be a lie. Thanks for watching!
I’d at least entertain shopping Mendoza. A Comp pick is nice, but that quality of player might have a very solid pool of players available for trade who could improve the A’s now or in the future.
I agree, especially since he's a top catcher. If you can't lock him down, get top prospect for him.
Mendoza is a little more valuable than guys like Galick and Orosco on the open market, but it's not by a huge margin. Since I feel like we have tons of good young relievers on the way I think I'm still more inclined to trade the pitchers, but I'll try to keep an open mind.
@@jbrax425 Locking him down is definitely not an option... looking for a 10 year, $300 million extension, with multiple player options taking him through his age 38 season!
Hey old school - I've loved the series this year and am getting very excited for ootp 26.
Do you think you could do a video walking through some or all of the stuff you do offline to manage your org? Specifically how you manage your minor league players development and promotions, and explore trade options?
Thanks!
Thank you. I'll give it some thought. I definitely need to do some tutorial style videos!
Hm, I will try again to post something here then. I see my first longer comments both on this and on the 2 previous has not been kept (censured ?)
Whatever just take a shorter variant then.
It's nice to be back following you and your A's. Missed your last 2040 season, since it was holiday season actually. Lots to do, lots of visits.
Back to normal time now and thought even you might have left your great task in Saving the A's. You done so much more and given the old A's fans a push to think back on those glory days when the team was a strength, with or without mustasches.
Your own Jets have finally struggled to the end of their season, which should be forgotten. Was it the last you and everyone saw of A-Rod ? At least he got that 500th TD pass.
Now focus on the real 2025 MLB season can begin.
Glad to see you back, and hope you enjoyed the holidays!!!
I think AAron will play somewhere next season, but I don't think it will be with the Jets.
I had almost forgotten how crazy our bevy of bullpen prospects are, yowza! As you say, a couple of them are ready to start tearing up the league this coming season.
Regarding Mendoza, you have a good game plan and I respect your reasons for sticking to it. As long as we can make the money work (I think Mendoza was due $10M~ in Arb?) either way works for me. I have to say, other than an occasional bust, we have hit really well on prospects during this playthrough OSS. I am excited to see this new crop come up in spring. Good luck with the trades, bud. Time to wheel and deal. 💣
I’m agreeing with this. I was unsure about trading away some of your expensive bullpen arms, but after seeing the bullpen prospects ive seen the light!
Deal any bullpen guy making over 5 million for sure and upgrade
@@whyme943 Yep. I am betting that it won't be long before Huntley is no longer the closer- he struggled quite a bit in the playoffs this season.
The first several crops of minor league and IAFA guys were pretty disappointing, but it does feel like the farm system has been pretty fertile for close to a decade at this point!
Mendoza's arb number for this coming year is $15.6 million! Winning ALCS MVP followed by World Series MVP may have pushed him a little higher!
@ Oooof.
Love the videos keep up the good work! I was hoping After you finish this series I was hoping you could do the angels they have a really interesting roster rn and they don’t really have a strong farm system they have also had a really hard time developing a home grown super star (Ohtani was already very good coming to the angels )and I believe it could be very interesting as well as the owner is very hot or cold in spending money not only that but they have a very hard division outside of Oakland. The other team if not the Angels I would want you to play would be the blue jays they have a roster that is falling apart and to make it more of a challenge you could play without signing vald because in all likely it looks like he’s not going ti resign as well as they don’t have too strong of a farm and a lot of their good players are older in age I believe both of these teams would be great for you because you like build up farms and you like fixing pitching staffs I would hope you do long series on both of them like the A’s not no short series
Thank you for watching and the suggestions! I haven't given too much thought to OOTP 26 yet. I did seriously think about the Angels and the White Sox this past season, but obviously ended up going with the A's instead.
The farm is so stacked with pitching that it’s no surprise you are content to allow some of the less budget friendly guys go. Great building job 👏🏻
Not looking so god on the batters though with just three I think in that top 200 which is a bit of a concern and maybe an area to be looking more at over the next IAFA and draft.
Not too many misses looking at those players that you could have picked up in previous IAFA or drafts. Cepeda being the main one that was a shame to miss out on although I can’t remember whether we passed on him for someone else. If we did it would be nice to check how that player has done so far in comparison 🤔.
Good points as always. Hopefully we will be able to turn some of the pitchers into a couple of everyday player prospects to help balance out the farm system!
I'm sure I never seriously considered paying the full $5.7 million in 2034 for Cepeda given his personality, but it's an interesting question. Looks like our prime IAFA signing that year ($3.8 million) was Jesus Aguilar. The 23 year old spent the entire season in AAA, and had a solid season. The .301 average with 43 doubles, 11 triples, 24 HR and 13 steals sounds borderline incredible, but it added up to just a 115 WRC+ and 3.4 WAR in the offense-heavy PCL. He is certainly in the mix to compete with Palomares, Harman, and the recently acquired Bobby Armstrong to potentially be our starting CF next season.