Again, More Created Players

I'm at it again, but this time, it's MVP Baseball 2005 for the PS2.

During my free time last year, this is the game that I had always played. Guiding the Minnesota Twins to the World Series Championship was something in itself, but sports games like these, I get this itching to create "free agents," players based on myself and others (like hockey, for instance).

About halfway through my first season, I created roughly 6 or 7 players. I maxed them out to their full potential and placed them in free agency, seeing whether or not a team would pick them up. I couldn't afford them for my Twins, since all players' abilities were maxed out, they were begging for a minimum of $12.4 million/season.

Just after I had created them, Mike was picked up by the Boston Red Sox. Sporting the #0 and playing center field, he dogged it in Double-A, moved up to Triple-A, then hit the majors in less than two weeks time. The move was so dramatic, that the Red Sox actually moved their star player of that year, Johnny Damon, from center field to right field to make way for the future Hall of Famer.

The other player that got picked up was Matt, my brother-in-law. In real life, he's a pretty good left-handed pitcher, and it wasn't surprising to me to see that he got picked up by the New York Yankees. Just like Mike, Matt played a few games in the minors before making a huge impact in the majors.

The rest of the guys, including myself, did not see any action until after the draft for the 2006 season. When free agency picked up, the big ball clubs decided that they had money to spend, so all of the created ballplayers were signed to huge lucrative contracts. They are as follows:

• Sean, left field: free agent pick-up for the San Francisco Giants. Surplanted "Jim Dowd," the Barry Bonds-like character in left field.
• Robb, right field: free-agent pick-up for the Colorado Rockies.
• Mike (the other brother-in-law), catcher: free-agent pick-up for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
• Tim, pitcher: free-agent pick-up for the Chicago Cubs.
• Tony (myself): free-agent pick-up for the New York Yankees.

I've played through the first week of May on the 2006 season. I do not have any control over the created players. The statistics these guys are putting up are impressive -- very competitive with the likes of Albert Pujols and Manny Ramirez. As soon as I can get some stats, I'll have to post them and give updates!