How to Compete

[RICHARDMILTER]

1.Can you make minor changes(free agent pickups) and still make the playoffs?
2.Are there certain ballparks that are harder to win Championships?
3.How much should you spend on your bullpen?
4.Can you win with a 5 man rotation?

To anyone who has some help for a novice,I say in advance,"Thank you very much"!I am not new to Strat-o-matic,however I am new to some of the advanced features and online play.


Student of the game :shock:

[LMBombers]

1.Can you make minor changes(free agent pickups) and still make the playoffs?
The general answer is NO. If you are using the standard 20% drop penalty then you should not be dropping/adding players or soon you will be playing with a 75M team or worse instead of an 80M team.

2.Are there certain ballparks that are harder to win Championships?
I'd say no. It is all about how you build your team to your stadium. Having similar parks in your division certainly helps out too!

3.How much should you spend on your bullpen?
There is no right or wrong here because it all depends on your overall strategy. You can go with most of your salary cap on hitters and try to bash your way to a championship. You can go with a pitcher's park and load up on quality pitching. In an evenly balanced roster I would say around 11-13M maybe.

4.Can you win with a 5 man rotation?
I think the answer is yes in the 2007 game more so than ever before. There are some quality 4 day rest guys and the *SP are not as dominate as in the past. When I go with a 5 man rotation I usually try to grab 1 *SP who would be my #1, 2 or 3 guy in the rotation with the rest being 4 day rest guys. How this helps is that when you make the playoffs the *SP can go in game 1 and 5 so you don't have to start your #5 guy at all in the first series. Even if he is not your best SP you would rather he get two starts than your #5 guy guy get 1 start in the deciding game 5. The other SP would only get 1 start anyway even if they started game 1.

[visick]

1. Yes it's possible. Most guys will wait till the 30-40 game mark where you have played mostly everybody in your league, before making changes.

2. This season alot of the ballparks are very similar making it difficult for a manager field a team that would dominate in their home park.

3. Generally, guys will spend under $30 million on pitching. Some will invest this amount in their SP while other will use the $ for their pen.

4. Yes. Some prefer the * 4 man rotation though. This set of cards is kinda weak on *SP, so I've seen more 5 man rotations in my leagues.
A problem with the 5 man rotation is if you do advance to the playoffs, your 5th SP (generally a weaker guy) will have to pitch a game 5 instead of your #1 or #2 guy.

[geekor]

This tema had only about 70 mil left an won a title.... went for Sb's and it was failing miserably,s o had to make changes.

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2007/team/team_other.html?user_id=3109

[RICHARDMILTER]

To all who answer my questions,I say thank you for taking the time!I am a SOM player for life,but I am new to this online format.
As far as making minor changes(with 80%back on dropped players)I kind of had to.I traded Carl Crawford in return for Alex Rodriguez.By the way does anyone have an opinion on that trade(I know it would help to know my entire roster)?After the trade I dropped David Bell and Juan Pierre for Ben Broussard and Tim Salmon.Thank you to anyone with helpful thoughts!!!!!

Richard

[RICHARDMILTER]

By the way for this team(2007 set) my starting rotation is:

1.Ben Sheets
2.Scott Kazmir
3.Matt Cain
4.Aaron Harang
5.Justin Verlander
RP:
Bob Wickman
Houston Street
Matt Thornton
Damaso Marte
Roberto Hernadez

lineup RHP
1.Ichiro Suzuki CF
2.Joe Mauer C
3.Chase Utley 2B
4. A-Rod 3b
5.F. Thomas DH
6.B. Broussard 1b
7.R.Freel RF
8. O.Vizquel SS
9.R. Langerhans LF

Any comments or critiques would be very kind!

[geekor]

You team is geared to hit lefties better, where as usually you only face about 25-30% LHP. Crawford was a better choice, but too late now.

Vs R, I guess that is an ok lineup. Vs L you have 2 good OBP guys in Vizquel and Freel, with Ichiro being 3rd I guess, followed by Arod, Utley, Thomas.

Mauer has a TON of double plays, and batting him 2nd may hurt.

[LA Bear]

Bump