by jmccully61 » Thu May 05, 2011 8:51 am
Before I say anything, this game is a lifelong learning experience, and the first time you play it is nearly impossible to understand all the variables. I looked at your team, and made the following conclusions.
First, you need to decide if you want to be a team based on pitching or hitting. It appears you decided to go with hitting based on your players and playing in Coors Field. With that said, even if you are a hitting team, you still need at least 1 very good SP, 2 would be ideal (those would be the ones that are at least $5,000,000).
If you want to be a hitting team, then you need to look for a few things, and some have already been mentioned. You need a leadoff hitter with a high OBP and the ability to steal.
Your 2 hole hitter needs to be a contact hitter, and make sure his outs are not ground balls because this could lead to a lot of double plays. Furthermore, the ideal 2 hole hitter would also have at least a B rating in both hit and run and bunt. This way if your speedy leadoff hitter gets on base there are two more possible ways to advance him to second.
3 hole hitter would be your best hitter. Look for both high average, OBP, and at least 20 HR.
4 hole hitter, do I need to say anything?
5 hole hitter, you can do two things. First, you can add another power hitter, but you most likely this avg and obp will be lower, or you can go with a high avg high obp with less power. Personally, I prefer the latter.
The rest of your lineup should be filled with defensive players. For example, one of the most important parts of Strat is the triangle, C, 2B, SS, and CF. Whether you are a hitting or pitching team, you will not win if you have 3's and 4's in all of these positions. You want 2's in each of these positions, 1's if you can get them. Also, look at their errors, there might be a 2e23. This could be a problem cause that is a decent amount of errors. Therefore, sometimes a 3e4 might be better than a 2e23. You will lose range, but not commit as many errors. As for your OF, you want your RF to have a cannon, that means at least a -1 arm rating, the higher the better. Finally, you need your catcher to have a negative arm rating as well, personally a prefer at least a -2. A catcher with a strong arm will help stop teams that are based around stealing bags.
One final note, when I was looking at your team you had hardly anyone with the ability to either Hit and Run or bunt. You need a few of these people on your team.
As for your lineup, the following if very key. The cards never play out how they are suppose to. For example, someone might be a 4R, but hit .220 with a .300 OBP righty, but hit .330 and a .400 lefty. You always need to check your players splits. Near the top of the screen, above the pitchers is a button, Sim L/R, this shows your players splits against lefties and righties. Normally, I adjust my lineup weekly