Experts - can you help? Season starts Monday!

[amitdoc2b]

Hi. I joined 2 different leagues, and this will be my first time playing this game. Can you give me your opinions and suggestions regarding both of my teams (both playing at Dodger stadium)? Both of my seasons start monday; waiver period is over, and here is what I was finally able to put together:

[b:3493e6abe0]LEAGUE #1[/b:3493e6abe0]

[u:3493e6abe0]Starting pitchers:[/u:3493e6abe0] Peavy*, Oswalt*, Webb*, RJ*
[u:3493e6abe0]Relief pitchers:[/u:3493e6abe0] Escobar, Ambiorix Burgos, JJ Putz, J Taverez, JC Romero, Benitez
[u:3493e6abe0]Closer:[/u:3493e6abe0] Guardado

[u:3493e6abe0]Starting lineup against righties & lefties:[/u:3493e6abe0]
Suzuki (RF) 1(-5)e2
Jeter (SS) 2e16
Jason Bay (LF) 3(+1)e4
Jeff Kent (2B) 3e19
Utley (1B) 3e26
Posada (C) 3(0)e3
Sizemore (CF) 2(0)e3
Soriano (DH) --
Blalock (3B) 2e12

Reserves: AJ Pierzynski, Pedro Feliz, Carl Everett (24 man roster)
---------------------------------------------
[b:3493e6abe0]LEAGUE #2[/b:3493e6abe0]

[u:3493e6abe0]Starting Pitchers:[/u:3493e6abe0] Oswalt*, John Patterson*, Webb*, B. Myers*

[u:3493e6abe0]Relievers:[/u:3493e6abe0] Escobar, J. Tavarez, K. Mercker, R. King, L. Carter, T. Hoffman

[u:3493e6abe0]Closer:[/u:3493e6abe0] Francisco Rodriguez

[u:3493e6abe0]Starting lineup:[/u:3493e6abe0]
Ichiro Suzuki (RF) 1(-5)e2
Tadihito Iguchi (2b) 2e18
Victor Martinez (C) 3(+1)e1 [b:3493e6abe0]-martinez & matsui switch spots against lefties[/b:3493e6abe0]
Albert Pujols (1B) 2e15
Miguel Tejada (SS) 2e23
Hideki Matsui (LF) 3(0)e3
Alfonso Soriano (DH)-- [b:3493e6abe0]-soriano and wells switch spots against lefties[/b:3493e6abe0]
Bill Mueller (3b) 2e12
Vernon Wells (CF) 1(-1)e0

Reserves: Juan Pierre, Maicer Izturis, Sean Burroughs, Y Molina (24 man roster)
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[b:3493e6abe0]It took me a lot of time to type this so I do appreciate any feedback you have about my teams, trying to hold up against the veterans here!![/b:3493e6abe0]

[MARCPELLETIER]

amitdoc,

You shouldn't type all this. Two links to your teams would have been much faster (to get a link: go at statistics page of your league, click on your team, copy the link, and post it here. Besides, it's hard to assess your team without looking at teams in your division. Webb, for one, might be a stellar choice, but might also be a burden, depending on what's your division.

That said, both of your teams suffer from the same major problem: your pitching squads don't have a good balance of SPs/relievers.

Either if you have to get stronger starters;
Or you need at least one big set-up man in each team.

If you don't take one of these two options, then your weak relievers will pitch way too many innings.

Escobar is not a good choice as a reliever. He costs way too much to be used as a specialist, and he is not strong enough to be used as your main set-up man.

For your second team, make sure to have K-Rod as a set-up man vs rh in addition to the closer role, so that he pitches close to 100-120 innings (if you limit him as a closer role, he will be limited to 40-50 innings). You can click "don't use before the 7th (or the 8th) " if you don't want him to come too early in his set-up role vs rh.

Suzuki can't be lead-off vs rhp. Way too few on-base. Jeter can lead in team #1, but you definitively miss a lead-off for team #2.


Don't be shy to make decisive different line-ups vs lhp/rhp. In Strat, we deal with cards, not humans!!! Along these lines, Wells must be somewhere between 2nd and 4th vs lhp, and 9th vs rhp. This way, he'll face more lefties than the rest of his teammates. Same logic with Blalock on the other side.

[MARCPELLETIER]

Escobar kills right-handed hitters, but he is quite weak vs lh. Any strategy that you will choose to reduce the number of at-bats vs lh will result in a sharp reduction of pitched innings from him, which in turn will force your other (weaker) relievers to eat more innings.

The peace of mind that you will get in buying a strong set-up man vs both lh and rh and who will give you 150-180 innings is priceless.

(yeah, in this strat leagues, 150-180 innings/per season is what you should look for for an excellent set-up man, when your SPs are average).