Archive of SportingNews.com's old SOM Baseball forum

First season noob here:

Are your outfielders impacted by your selection of ballparks? For example, I'm thinking of selecting the Metrodome, but my OFs are:

CF - 3(0)e4
RF - 4(-1)e25
LF - 4(-2)e15

I just want to be careful that I don't try to grab an edge on one side (16-13) for singles (11-11) for HRs while penalizing myself on the other (lot of balls dropping in a big outfield because of OFs lacking range).

Related, I'm choosing Metrodome based upon:

* More lefties on balance (due to Switch hitters facing righties)
* Most of my starters are Lefties and so compound disadvantage to righty bats I'll be facing.

Is this thinking flawed? This is a 1986 league ($80M cap).

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/stratomatic/team/team_other.html?user_id=67732

Ballbark Ratings have nothing whatsoever to do with OF's (or IF's for that matter) defensive abailities.

OF ( and again IF) fielding checks of range ratings are based solely on the pitchers lfX (subtitute whatever fielder).

Ballpark ratings come from a hitters card and need a role of a 20 sided die to determine whether there is a hit or not.

[quote:d1c2ac26f0][b:d1c2ac26f0]Ball Park Effects[/b:d1c2ac26f0]
[b:d1c2ac26f0]>[/b:d1c2ac26f0] - Ball Park Singles
Ignore all readings that have a [b:d1c2ac26f0]>[/b:d1c2ac26f0] to the left of it. Instead, read the results found underneath the [b:d1c2ac26f0]>[/b:d1c2ac26f0] symbol of the ball park effects card. To obtain results, refer to the appropriate home stadium and the batting stance (L = lefty or R = righty) of the hitter. Most likely, you will roll a twenty-sided die to determine the final outcome.


[b:d1c2ac26f0]#[/b:d1c2ac26f0] - Ball Park Home Run
Ignore all readings that have a [b:d1c2ac26f0]#[/b:d1c2ac26f0] to the left of it, Instead, read the results found underneath the [b:d1c2ac26f0]#[/b:d1c2ac26f0] symbol of the ball park effects card. To obtain results, refer to the appropriate home stadium and the batting stance (L = lefty, R = righty) of the hitter. Player's with weak power (W, see 'Power Rating' in the Miscellaneous Rules section below) may not hit homeruns. In this situation, change all homerun results to single** (You resolve the play in the normal manner. If the result is a flyball(of)B, the result is the same. However, if the play results in a Homerun verbally substitute single** for any player with weak power.)


[b:d1c2ac26f0]Power Rating[/b:d1c2ac26f0]
Please note that all homerun readings found on the pitcher's card are preceded by the letter N. An example may be found in 6-9 of Tom Glavine's pitching card. If a batter's power rating is N, the homerun reading remains unchanged. However, if a batter's power rating is W, substitute verbally the phrase single** for homerun. For example, if a 6-9 is rolled and Glavine is facing a W (weak) rated batter, the reading would change to "SI** 1-3, DO 4-20". A batter's power rating may be found at the top of his card. Please note that some batters' power ratings vary against right- and left- handed pitching.



[/quote:d1c2ac26f0]

Unless it's an iron-glove league, no one will use a 4e25 in the OF, DH yes

4e15 is a stretch in good judgment because of the impact errors have

With Trammell and Whitaker, you can probably get away with a 3 in CF

Can you give me a better sense of the impact? I went through my pitcher cards and didn't find a lot of instances of Fly (X). For example, when it does happen, can I be almost assured of an error or ?

Ultimately, I'm trying to figure out where I need to make the trade-offs. I really appreciate everyone's help / insight.

Compared to something average like a 3e10, a RF-4e25 will cost around 31 runs over a full season. That does not even include the throwing arm. Do not use a 4e25 in the OF, period. Don't even use a 4 in the OF, unless he's a great deal for the price (and given that the pricing is very accurate, this is very unlikely), or if it's someone like Manny Ramirez who hits up a storm [i:58eadd7553]and[/i:58eadd7553] playing him at DH is not an option. The CF-3e4 will cost about 11 more runs than a CF-2e4, or about 21 more runs than a CF-1e4 (again, throwing arm not being considered here.) So try to figure out whether the 3e4 is giving you enough additional offense to make up the runs being cost on defense, relative to the alternatives.

Any OF with a 1 rating catches everything except for the error chances. As the fielding rating increases, the less sure catches are made, until with a 5 no cathces are made, everything falls in for a hit or error chance.

Errors in the OF are 2 or 3 base advances by all runners. The lower the e#, the fewer errors are made, hence fewer major advancements.

Each pitcher's card will have 3-X chances for the CF and 2-X chances each for the LF and RF. Most players will look for a 1 or 2 in CF and 1, 2 or 3 in LF and RF.

Based on my last full season which finished last night, with a championship :D, each CF had 87 X-chances and each LF and RF had 58 X-chances. That can add up to alot of base hits and errors.

Check the strategy message board "newbie advice thread" for more info. The fielding and strategy charts are also helpful.

I really appreciate the input. Since the response was generally strong, I went ahead and dropped Alvin Davis (will miss his Left hitting (metrodome), and OBP of .373 though) and a 1-2M relief pitcher (also miss him as there is s severe drop-off after my top 2 RPs).

In the end, I grabbed Gary Pettis for CF...the OBP stinks, but the speed is nice (is what I could generally afford). I now only have 1 OF as a 4...but think I'm going to be stuck with him (Canseco).

This is my first ever Strat team...learning.


http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/stratomatic/team/team_other.html?user_id=67732

[quote:a4b2c0ac85="texasdrawl"]I really appreciate the input. Since the response was generally strong, I went ahead and dropped Alvin Davis (will miss his Left hitting (metrodome), and OBP of .373 though) and a 1-2M relief pitcher (also miss him as there is s severe drop-off after my top 2 RPs).

In the end, I grabbed Gary Pettis for CF...the OBP stinks, but the speed is nice (is what I could generally afford). I now only have 1 OF as a 4...but think I'm going to be stuck with him (Canseco).

This is my first ever Strat team...learning.


http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/stratomatic/team/team_other.html?user_id=67732[/quote:a4b2c0ac85]

Shh. Shut up about Pettis.

As state above, a 1 catches everything. A 2 catches just about everything and has maybe 1 or 2 in 20 chance of an XBH.

A 3 catches about 60% of the X chances (plus errors), and a 4 catches 45% if I recall correctly.

As I've said before, they should give us links to charts here so people can really see the story with fielding. Dean TSC is the king though, and somewhere there is a link to a chart where he has done the math for all of this.

I can tell you one thing, a team with a 1, and two 2's in the OF as a combo, will generally pitch extremely well (assuming you have 2's or better at SS & 2B of course.

I got lucky with an infield of good hitting 1s and a bunch of 2s in the OF, with good bats. Was lucky and lost the first 3 games.

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/stratomatic/team/team.html?stats=actual

The thing on Pettis, who I am using as a defensive replacement is those SOs. 143 or so...........way to many to be anything more than a defensive replacement. I'd rather start a 2 with a better bat in CF.