Archive of SportingNews.com's old SOM Baseball forum

Two questions:
1 When setting up a team is it best to mark pitchers cards and leave stuff to HAL, as a lot of you have mentioned, or better to mark the cards by specifying "do not enter until 7th inning" etc, etc? Setting up the pitching is something I really find difficult to do.

2 When drafting a team or deciding on FA's is it better to look at the card numbers from the disk and book or to use the general stats? I presume you will say use the card values, and that is indeed what I do, but just in case I am becoming obsessed with the card values I want someone to let me know I am doing the right thing. Is it better to look at 47.5 OBP and 8 BPHR in the book or to see .380 and 35 HR on the Strat web site?

These are my opinions, which may or may not be shared by others. They have served me well -

1) I let the manager settings set the overall tone of my ballclub - emphasis on running, bunting, etc. Same goes with pitchers. I try and set up the general guidelines - if I have great starters my relief is not aggressive, and vice versa. If I have a dominent reliever like Benitez, I want him with as many innings as possible, so I'll designate him as set up against both sides.

I use the individual player settings to define roles in my bullpen, as best as the game engine will allow. They do work, but it takes time to figure out the best way to set them. And just when you think you have them down, something that didn't occur to you probably shows up.

2) The ratings disk will give you a better picture of how that player did than just looking at his overall stats. But remember, his statistics on the ratings disc are based on his play at his actual home field against his real-life divisional and league opponents. In a fantasy game like this, it can be difficult to get players to match their real-life stats. Some tank, others excel - and the element of chance also comes into play.