Hoof Hearted: A success story

[schnoogens]

There has been an abundance of "woe is me" postings on this board, so I think it's time for a happy story. I think the story of how a team succeeds is far more fun than the story of a collapse - it's interesting to see how moves made during the season really can improve a team despite the salary penalties. So I present to you...the '86 Hoof Hearted squad...
[url]http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/stratomatic/team/team_other.html?user_id=84891[/url]

This was intended to be a team with very solid pitching combined with decent 2B's and OBP hitters, taking advantage of platoons whenever possible. I love the platoon possibilities in the '86 set.

But the season got off to a rocky start, 35-40 nearing the midpoint. I had already ditched Quisenberry and his 5.32 ERA/1.86 WHIP for Scott Nielsen - Q was getting too many innings that should have been going to my better relievers, so I needed a guy who I could label as "avoid everything", and Nielsen's 1 inning of perfect relief for the whole season was well worth it. Sometimes a downgrade is really an upgrade - the relief innings did indeed go to my better pitchers.

The Quisenberry move freed up some cash but I wanted to wait to see where my needs were - 75 games is a good marker of what's working and what isn't. Scioscia was a disaster as the RH-hitting component of my catching platoon, with a .239 OBP. His defense was not worth it and I was struggling scoring runs. Swapped him for Scott Bradley who ended up turning in a .320 OBP.

I had been platooning Ron Roenicke (.328 OBP) and Danny Heep (.250 BA, .340 OBP) in RF and neither was doing well enough - I needed some power and to shake things up. I dropped both of them, picking up Harold Baines - who actually was ultimately a minor disappointment, but his 8 HR's did help win some games. Mike Felder was also picked up as a backup OF.

After these moves, there wasn't immediate improvement - Bradley and Baines were performing below their cards, although I finished the 2nd month with a 25-23 record to bring Hoof to 60-63.

At this point I made a minor change, dropping Toby Harrah (backup) for Don Baylor. This was a non-DH league so Baylor would be limited, but...he won a game for me with a 3-run pinch hit homer.

Things jelled in the last month, with the team going 25-11 and storming to the wild card. 3 meaningless games will be played tonight and the playoffs begin on Monday. Team MVP: Nolan Ryan and his 20-4 record, 2.49 ERA, 1.09 WHIP. Runner-ups: Schiraldi with 2.01 ERA, 1.26 WHIP and Bill Dawley with 3.10 ERA, 1.18 WHIP.

Success can be found...I just wanted to contribute a success story in the face of all of these complaints. This is not supposed to come off as bragging, I just think it's interesting how teams CAN turn around...it's the other side of the coin, for once.

[Phenomenal]

Well done, way to stay with it and fight for the playoffs. Good luck!