What pre-season preparation do you do?

[ANDYCOCHRANE]

What sort of preparation do other managers do before the season starts? I always check my team after a draft, try to build a line up and find any holes in my squad that i need to plug. I also go through the ratings book and copy out the ratings vs Left and Right for all my players. This gives me one sheet of paper with all the stats on it, including speed and stealing etc.

I then look at my opponents basic team make up and their ballparks and write down which of my pitchers I can use against which team and which I can never use. i.e. Maddux in strong LH ballparks (Shea etc), putting all these on one sheet of paper for easy reference.

Well that's what I do. What do you do? Which stats etc and figures do you focus on and why?

[1crazycanuk]

I did that for one of my teams. Actually went through other teams and wrote down which pitchers I could use against them and which I couldn't. This time I just did it mentally and don't really have to worry about it cuz I am going with a four man rotation for the first time.

I try to find pitchers with a WHIP under 1.30...don't worry about ERA so much as long as it's not astronomically high. As for hitters, my process for finding them has even myself confused. I just go with gut feelings. Some with high OBP. Some with speed, etc.

[ANDYCOCHRANE]

I try to mix my teams up but have to have a written record of who I have and their basic stats. This helps me see where my weak spots are and what I am lacking in, such as OB, TB, and so on.

[geekor]

Usually I sacrafice 1 goat, 3 chickens and 1 rattlesnake to my altar of HAL and pray that he blesses me with a playoff berth for my team. :P :lol:

[Roscodog]

I also sacrifice a goat and 3 chickens like geekor, but I stay away for the rattle snake and go with a cat or rabbit depending?

[visick]

What nobody sacrifices a virgin anymore?

Are there any left? :shock:

[Coffeeholic]

:lol:

Nice Geekor!

Socalchiro, my 9 year old daughter qualifies, but Mrs. Coffee is already close enough to banning me from SOM as it is.

My pre-season ritual revolves around me taking a perfectly sound team and making enough drop/adds so that I totally "F" it up. :(

[1crazycanuk]

LOL

BTW...I always do too many drop/adds in the preseason and somehow my team don't seem as good as it did. :(

[STEPHENANDERSON 2]

I use the slips of paper in a hat approach..... which for the 69 game is just as well. I also sometimes take a "gut" approach. Since I have yet to win a "World Series", guess what I am doing is wrong even though I have had teams finish first.

Also, I try new player, just for the heck of it. Whats the diff, its only money.... RIGHT

8) :lol: :(

[cummings2]

Well, the secret for me is meditating on images that will help my team perform the way I want it to (very zen like, really):

When I want a wham-Bam knocker-kinda team: I just visualize Angelina Jolie like crazy all day long on the day of the draft and up until the last day of pre-season.

...hmmmm...Angelina
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Haven't been able to get past that stage.

-Sacrificing the goat didn't work for me...guess because the best I could do was dress my neighbors cat as a mini-goat and since I felt guilty at the time of sacrifice I just tried to milk it's tiny nipples and drink from it's elixir of life...as I said before THAT didn't work for me.