poll: what has worked best for you?

[bomp helium]

The lively debate continues as to the different philosophies of team-building...what is more effective: building with an emphasis on HITTING, PITCHING or DEFENSE?...my poll question is not about your philosophy, but rather what seems to HAVE WORKED for you...which strategy (I've tried several, as I'm sure most have) has GOTTEN RESULTS (i.e., championships or at least to the finals)...remember, tell us WHAT WORKED, not what you THINK should work...

might be interesting (or not)...

[durantjerry]

You should not have included home field, as everyone first builds their team to the home field whether it is with hitting, speed or pitching. They may go about it differently, but they are trying to tailor their squad to fit what they think will be successful in the park where they play half their games. If they are not doing this, they probably should be.

[durantjerry]

For what it's worth, the only speed team I tried swiped 478 bases and won 95 games on it's way to a championship. Might be an underutilized offensive aspect of the game.

[url]http://forums-beta.sportingnews.com/posting.php?mode=editpost&p=1315294[/url]

[wavygravy2k]

[quote:916af7acd4]For what it's worth, the only speed team I tried swiped 478 bases and won 95 games on it's way to a championship. Might be an underutilized offensive aspect of the game.

http://forums-beta.sportingnews.com/posting.php?mode=editpost&p=1315294 [/quote:916af7acd4]

I would like to try and build a speed team but then there's no power in my lineup. How to be sucessfull with little power?

BTW, your link doesn't work. It says "You can't edit your own posts".

[visick]

Build a team by looking for the best 2B's hitters...

These guys tend to hit anywhere and will move runners around.

Speed + 2B's

[superflymacdaddyjuice]

balance

[durantjerry]

I think you have to play in a RH or Pitching park. I think you also have to have Pujols or Lee at 1B, which gives you a dependale power hitter. A RH park allows you to use Soriano and Olivio, who both produce consistent platoon power and where the 1B can excel. Abreu is good also. I guess you have to really target the few guys that possess both speed and power. A guy like Crawford chips in nicely with a few bombs . I took Lee at the bottom of my draft list and got him, as I often do with him. I still think I was last in HR's, but finished only a run out of 3rd in runs scored.


Here is a new link to the speed team referenced above.

[url]http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2006/team/team_other.html?user_id=7663[/url]

[exwallman]

Superfly is correct.

Balance! :wink:

[markp65]

Thanks to all for an interesting thread. Just to play devil's advocate, I'd like to respectfully take up arguments against the "speed" and "balance" approaches.

Compared to other approaches, a speed team is one of the easiest for other managers to neutralize. Compare defending against a speed team versus defending against a power team or pitching team. The problem is that, unlike pitching and power teams, a speed team is not protected by its home park. All it takes to neutralize a speed team in any given game is a SP, 2 OF and a catcher with (-2) to (-5) arms. It's not like you have to make any big roster/payroll concessions to have players with killer arms in those positions. There are plenty of them available.

I'd also argue against the "balanced" approach. Sure, it keeps the other managers honest against you, i.e., no one can sandbag you with a Padilla or Brian Anderson. But isn't it a better gamble to play hard to the strengths of your park and force the hand of the other managers to beat you? Isn't there benefit in causing someone to adjust their roster just to beat you 6-18 times a year.

I've found that learning to maximize value within your home park is the key to winning. I'm sure this isn't breaking news or rocket science. But it works.

For example. I've used Brad Radke on almost all my Minute Maid teams this year with excellent results. He's put up Cy Young numbers in some leagues and been a reliable innings eater in others. I've never had a problem drafting him, probably because of all the BPHR vs LH. Fair enough. But I'd rather have Radke than Carpenter, Pedro or Zambrano or many other pitchers, because he can deliver me comparable results (depending on the overall league composition) for a fraction of the price. And if I can get a 5-6 million dollar performances from 2.2 million dollar players, I'm on my way to winning.

[Jerlins]

Disagree with durantjerry 100% about the need to play in a pitchers or RH park. I think a LH park (especially RFK), or a LH pitching staff, is the way to go, and heres why:

Out of the top 18 hitters price wise you'll find exactly 3 hitters that are not stronger vs a RH pitcher. A few of them, Manny, Pujols, Arod, Andruw, Teixera, have some killer cards vs RH. Bring them into RFK, pitch LH's against them, and watch those $7 million plus ballplayers turn into nothing more than slightly better than average hitters. If most of these players end up in my division, I make it a point to get a LH or two regardless of the park I play in. You need every slight advantage against these hitters.