2001 dilemma

[ArtemusRex]

Ok, first the 2001 team in question, my Susquehanna Natives:


http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2001/team/team_other.html?user_id=24598



Not a bad team. Was able to make a few trades and turn things around. Picked up Piazza and Hoffman in a trade for Bagwell and Mesa (Both of which were doing horribly for me in Skydome). Now Jimenez had actually been doing a good job as closer with Dave Williams as long relief/setup. Hoffman/Mesa at this point were fluff, expensive at that so when another team made a call for relief pitcher in exchange for Cliff Floyd I jumped at it as I have Floyd on another of my 2001 teams and he is a great performer. Piazza had been picked up as a DH only as B.Melina was doing well for me as a defensive catcher and whose offense was actually on an upswing. J.Damon had been doing very well for me in LF (1+1e3) and especially as a three hole speedster/avg man behind Ichiro and Jeter. Damon can also play CF but only at a 2 range and where his popgun +1 arm would be a liability. Best to leave CF for Finley's defense.

Now when I picked up Floyd I was originally going to trade Piazza away or drop him for better pitching. Well, have had no bites so far and in the meantime Melina goes down for 3 games and I decide to bite the bullet w/ Piazza's defense and play him against a very good team. Only thing, putting him next to Floyd in the lineup seems to have done a good job as lineup protection for each other as they caught fire and we swept that team quite nicely. That and my upgrades choices for starting pitching are Smoltz and Mendoza ) who are best as relievers/closers in the 2001 game and probably overpriced at that, Kevin Brown (who I hear is rarely taken and underperforms when his is), Corey Lidle and Brad Radke.

Here's my choices, play Floyd at DH and let Piazza fend for himself defensively and possibly lose the game for me there and lose Melina's resurgence and defense. OR play Piazza at DH and let Floyd go to LF and lose my "find" Damon to the bench or have him hurt me at CF. I tend to like to go for a speed team with defense but I am usually struggle at run production. At best I will probably sit Melina for a few series and watch if the results continue but at one game over .500 for now I don't want to experiment to long. I would imagine Piazza's upside and downside doesn't change to much from year to year so I don't think I need a strictly 2001 perspective on him. What's everyone's opinion on defense at C, pretty important I would think for WP and steals against. And even with his popgun arm I believe Damon is better defense in LF then Floyd's 3(0)e9.

Granted a dilemma some managers wish they had but here it is anyway.

ArtemusRex

[ArtemusRex]

Another choice if I choose to drop Piazza would be to pick up Jeff Cirillo for 3B and move Polanco permantly to 2B. Right now Homer Bush is performing well offensively and defensively but seems to get a 3 games injury for every 5-8 games played. Luckily for me Hal doesn't seem to have a problem with the double switch of putting Polanco at 2B and bringing in Mordecai at 3B (and who does as well offensively off the bench as Bush does as a starter at 2B.

Just another wrinkle.

[visick]

I'd like to help...but the link doesn't work.

Go to the stats page, click on your team, right click on your team in the address bar and paste it here.

[ArtemusRex]

ok try this...

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2001/team/team_other.html?user_id=24598

[ArtemusRex]

:oops:

[ArtemusRex]

:arrow: one more time

[visick]

This is what I would do for awhile, and see how it goes...

vs. RH's:

Floyd in LF
Piazza as DH
Molina catching
Finley in CF (He's much better vs. RH's and I love a 1 in CF)
Damon sits. (Unfortunately...)

vs. LH's:

Floyd in LF
Piazza as DH
Molina catching
Damon in CF (He's not as bad as you think. I can live w/ a 2 def.)
Finley sits.

Piazza should catch ONLY when Molina goes down.

See what happens after, say 15-20 games and then gauge how they are doing. If Molina does go down for 15 games, you may need a defensive catcher ($.50) to come in as a late inning defensive replacement for Mike.

[ArtemusRex]

mmm. intersting plan. Damon's 2 in CF is not what worries me, its his +1 arm. The plan is good as it does cover Piazza's defensive deficiencies (he is worse at C then Floyd is in LF and does address giving Damon AB's. If this was a more advanced game I guess I would start Piazza at C and try to work the settings to bring Melina in the late innings esp during blowouts.

I'm going to keep that in mind. Obviously my plans to get rid of Piazza are done now with his resurgence an the lack of credible pitching replacements.

I still would like to hear if anyone else has an opinion.

BTW, when Melina came back from injury, I kept with the experiment of Piazza catching and keeping my all 1's defensive outfield of Damon, Finley, and Ichiro and we have gone a total of 6-0 since, most of them blowouts. :D :) 8)

So I believe I might keep the current lineup until I lose, baseball superstitions at their finest even in a electronic/dice rolling game such as this.

Wouldn't want to mess up a good thing whilst its happening. :P

[visick]

Damon's arm shouldn't really worry you.

I use Rowand (2005) in CF and he's a +1 arm. He's a 2 as well.

I kinda draw the line on using a 3 in CF, or a +2 arm. A 3 will give up too many hits, and a +2 arm will have faster guys on the basepaths advancing the extra base.