Rookie in an advanced league looking for advice

[palacekillers]

I'm new to Strat this year and love it so far. I went in with the Billy Beane strategy - OBP, OBP, OBP. OBP is at a fair level, walks haven't been bad, and base stealing has been good. None of this is translating into wins though. This is an advanced league, so I kind of leaped before I looked. If some of the pros wouldn't mind....please look at my team and I would appreciate any advice. Thanks!

http://members.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2007/team/team_other.html?user_id=1756

BTW, considering a few pitching changes: I'd drop Burnett, Hensley, and Pettitte and pick up Cole Hamels and Dave Bush. I might drop Dempster and some change to get Dennys Reyes also. Just a thought.

[durantjerry]

I have probably played Fenway more than anyone else, as I live in Boston and have been playing since 2001. To me, you have some of the wrong type of hitters. The type of lefties you want are Carl Crawford and Abreu types. A little pop to keep them honest, but not losing much to the ballpark. I think Beltran or Berkman should definitely go. Maybe keep one, but I'd rather have Cabrera than either of them. I'm trying Ortiz in AT & T(same as Fenway almost) with the following results:
180 29 44 6 0 15 28 28 47 0 0 0 .244 .354 .528
I'd rather have Cabrera myself. With no lefty parks to speak of in 2007, I would not have a LH starter or a LH main reliever. Why give the opposition twice the odds in your park on the #HR. Rollins and Roberts should work. Vlad is OK, but ties up the DH spot. Here is a Fenway team doing well that may help some. It lacks a little in the power department. Bush is a good idea, but I don't think Hamels is a "*" and you already have three four day guys. I could be wrong though.
[url]http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2007/team/team_other.html?user_id=1842[/url]

[durantjerry]

I looked at your team thinking it was preseason, but I see you started and some of what I said is true. Roberts and Rollins work, Vlad is very good(I said he's OK). Berkman struggling, LH SP Pettite no good. Why Jenks as closer? With all the good cheap RH closers, he's at the bottom behind Street, Wickman, the guy from Houston and even Jones and the FLA guy IMO. You are compounding your Berkman error by going with Beltran. He's the same type of guy. The first rule is to build for your park, not "OBP, OBP, OBP", and you are not following it, which is why you are struggling. How many RH bats with "N" power are you starting vs RHP's, one? Youi need at least three if they are real good and probably more.

[markp65]

ADVICE TO ROOKIES IN ADVANCED LEAGUES

1. Wear your cup at all times. It is, after all, for your protection.
2. Be prepared to sing the fight song of your Alma Mater on command.
3. Familiarize yourself with the vets' preferred ways of taking their coffee.
4. Bring the donuts. Don't worry about "when." Just bring them.
5. If you drop the soap in the shower you should probably just leave it there.

[durantjerry]

When I was a rookie, #5 was #1.

[palacekillers]

Ok, please bear with me. I feel like school is in session. I have 4 switch hitters and 2 righties in my lineup for right handed pitchers with the N rating. I thought that was what you were saying I needed. Did you just mean pure right handed batters?

Can you help me understand the ball park thing more? We (I have a co-owner) were shooting for a park that did not surrender a lot of homers to right handed batters, but was a little more friendly to lefties, which is why we went with Beltran and Berkman for power. It says Fenway is a 3 for right handed HR and a 6 for left handed HR, so we thought that fit our plan. Also, I don't understand how those numbers factor into the #HR thing. Sorry to be so green....we want to learn though.

Basically, I don't want to continue to play against my park, so if I understand what I'm screwing up I'll try to fix it. Thanks for all the advice!

[LMBombers]

Every time you see a # symbol before results on a pitcher's card or a hitter's card you ignore the results printed on the card and simply refer to the BP HR rating of whatever park you are playing in. For example if you are playing in Fenway the result would be 1-6 HR, 4-17 flyout for a RH hitter or 1-3 HR, 7-20 flyout for a LH hitter. Switch hitters ALWAYS bat on the opposite side of the pitcher. So Beltran and Berkman will be batting LH vs a RH pitcher. The above results are assuming an N power hitter, not a W hitter.

The same holds true for the < symbol on the cards which refers to the BP single rating for that park.

[HUDAMAN]

Palace, you actually read the Fenway rating backwards. Fenway HR rating is a 6 for RHB and a 3 for LHB, much is more friendly to RIGHTHANDED hitters, so your switch hitters kill you when you face a righty pitcher, they are batting from the wrong side.

Power hitting switch hitters in a righty slanted park is not a good thing, which is why you are seeing those guys struggle. Right handed hitters who hit right handed pitching well work best at Fenway, or any other park that favors righties. You just mixed up the readings.

In parks like this with reduced power, power hitters need to either hit the correct way for the park (pure righties for Fenway), or have lots of 'natural' (ball park independent) homeruns. Berkman and Beltran are fine for that, but both is overkill, you need a righty who has max BP HRs and mashes righthanded pitching to compliment Berkman or Beltran (Pujols/Manny type guy). Otherwise, teams will just throw righties (and in your case maybe a junk reverse righty) at you in your home park. You need to be able to punish RHP in Fenway.

[Free Radicals]

1st off let's actually address the thread accurately .

Rookie in an advanced league looking for advice

[quote:d66b402088]This is an advanced league, so I kind of leaped before I looked.[/quote:d66b402088]

Advanced means nothing more than if you win the league you get more rating/ranking points (50 pts. instead of 20 pts)....that's it ...nothing else .

I had Teixiera , at the 39 game point in the season I dumped his .121 BA and his 0 hr's and 11 rbi's . Berkman is not supplying what you are paying the big bucks for .He should be putting up numbers closer to Vlad. Replace him . If Youkilis is out there grab him , he's from your park . Matsui isn't doing much either . Your catchers suck but most catchers do . Your staff is ok , nothing to write home about but good enough . Your pen needs a bit of an overhaul is all . If you were getting more O your record and staff would probably reflect it . It's early , so corrections now will hopefully help out . You don't want to wait until your 10-15 back to make any moves and generally ,if your league cap is 5/10/20 the cap goes up to 10% after tonights games . So now is the time . The best move you've made thus far is coming to the boards and asking for help . :wink:

[Carsurgeon]

[quote:38e25b8a6b="leehaak"]Palace, you actually read the Fenway rating backwards. Fenway HR rating is a 6 for RHB and a 3 for LHB, much is more friendly to RIGHTHANDED hitters, so your switch hitters kill you when you face a righty pitcher, they are batting from the wrong side.

Power hitting switch hitters in a righty slanted park is not a good thing, which is why you are seeing those guys struggle. Right handed hitters who hit right handed pitching well work best at Fenway, or any other park that favors righties. You just mixed up the readings.

In parks like this with reduced power, power hitters need to either hit the correct way for the park (pure righties for Fenway), or have lots of 'natural' (ball park independent) homeruns. Berkman and Beltran are fine for that, but both is overkill, you need a righty who has max BP HRs and mashes righthanded pitching to compliment Berkman or Beltran (Pujols/Manny type guy). Otherwise, teams will just throw righties (and in your case maybe a junk reverse righty) at you in your home park. You need to be able to punish RHP in Fenway.[/quote:38e25b8a6b]

You should make a stop in the "Podium". Yeah, we're all still there. :wink:

I always wondered where you went. How's that Saab running?? :lol: :lol: :lol: