Advice for Wrigley?

[JdEarly]

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2005/team/team_other.html?user_id=46121

I've played Wrigley once before and just got walked on, so I thought I might ask you guys to take a look at my team and let me know what you think. What would you do? The league starts next Monday, and I have two other Wrigley's and a PNC in my division. Talk to me, people.

[LANCEBOUSLEY]

i think i'd throw cheap hard righties at you all day...

[visick]

freshmeat is right. Guys like Hermanson, R. Ortiz, Ginter...would be tough on you.

You need a few lefty bats to keep the opposing pitchers honest.

ie. Helton, Casey, Ortiz, Hafner, Damon.

Either lefties with natural HR power or good hitters. (Doubles guys)

[visick]

I'd also look to get a reverse LH, like Glavine, Pettitte or a Lowry type.

[JdEarly]

Thanks for the input, guys. I made a few moves with the roster, both with your thoughts and a few ideas that popped into my head while scouring the waiver wire.

1. Moving Manny out to the field might constitute a risk on some level, but I feel that grabbing Travis Hafner to DH was imperative. I needed that left handed power bat in there to, as you said, keep other people honest.

2. I grabbed Lyle Overbay to play first base, because his high OBP and all those doubles should compliment my right handed batters very well. At least I think Overbay's qualities should fit in with the rest of the lineup.

3. I'm thinking about running with a Mackowiak/Merloni platoon at 3b, with them both set to avoid the side that they are weak against so that hopefully HAL will substitute one for the other in case of a pitching change. Deivi Cruz can man the position, as well, and I realize the defense at the hot corner is going to be atrocious.

4. The Castillo/Matheny platoon behind the plate should be interesting, at least. I think that Castillo should put up fairly decent numbers in Wrigley, and Matheny hasn't done me wrong (for the price) yet.

5. I'll have Miguel Tejada batting behind Travis Hafner, so hopefully that will trick HAL into bringing a lefty in to face Hafner and leave them in for Tejada. I think the middle of my batting order (Manny, Hafner, Tejada, Hunter, Overbay) will cause HAL to make some big mistakes with opposing pitching staffs. At least that's what I'm hoping.

Any other thoughts, guys?

[ROBERTVOZZA]

if you're still in pre season. Any longtime vet here will tell you who the Wrigleymeister is...Send it to me in a PT and I'll send you all the suggestions you might need. I don't like to post everything on the SOM Online section. Plus it would be lengthy. Robert(SWP) :)

[cummings2]

Hey there JD, This is my one and only (current) wrigley team...my original idea for the team was a bit washed with a weird draft. Originally I intended to get OBP from LH batters who could also serve me away from Wrigley and SLG from RHB. My original draft included Eric Chavez, Ichiro, Abreu and Willie Harris. I ended up with only Harris and Abreu.

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2005/team/team_other.html?user_id=34501

On paper I thought Madritch was a perfect fit for Wrigley...even though many people might disagree, his numbers are good so far but I have to agree that every time he pitches I cringe a bit.

I think Haffner is an excellent pick for your team. I think your pen is a bit flimsy (and my flimsy pen has been costing me some games.)

Personally I wouldn't carry so much $$ on extra SP and would put some of that money on your pen, just my opinion though. With Tejada's defense and Manny in the OF I think that other than Zambrano, Garcia and Gagne your staff will have a wee bit of a hard time. Don't underestimate lefties in Wrigley, as you can see in my team most of the HRs my guys have given up are to lefties...logical since they face mostly lefties, but the right BPHR is so high in Wrigley that it is easy to think that lefties will struggle...they still have a 40% chance on BPHRs, just a thought to keep in mind. I think Brian Roberts will give you very low numbers batting LH mostly...his main contribution to your team is defense though.

Either way your Thunder Roads usually do very vell, I am sure you'll do great again.

All best of luck.
[/b]

[ROBERTVOZZA]

I tried to figure out what was available to you by looking at all the other teams in your league from your team page. Altho, not necessarily a bad Wrigley team under other circumstances, Your Div and League are definitely set up to give you trouble.

Now if Bonds were available, I'd say you'd have a better chance. Barry is actually the 1st player I would build a Wrigley team around for future ref. Why? Because he is the best LHH with the most Natural HRs who kills RHP in the entire pack. At Wrigley you see almost nothing but RH R Killers - many of them cheapos that allow other teams to save money on SP's and while taking advantage of your park - in essence using it against you.

To win at the Wrig, you take bonds(The great RH SP equalizer) and one of the many great RH 3B(Beltre is the best at Wrig) or one of the many great RH 3B(Ramirez, Glaus, Rolen, Mora etc - who hit RHP well) In front of tthe best LH Righty killer(Bonds) and the best RH righty killer(One of the 3B listed) you place high OBA 1 LH, 1 RH and stick another RH killer in the 5 spot. Carry good D(2 or better) up the middle - I like Everett backed by either Furcal, Gomez/Cruz Combo or Larkin(Any of whom can DH at a nice price) It is good to have at least 1 or 2 decent inexpensive LH killers at positions where they can have some defensive impact(or can start in a platoon.) I like Boone because he gives you a 1 range at 2B with low injury risk and good power vs the leftside for only 4.5M. Others are Hernandez(5 Pos and one of the best cards vs the leftside for only 3.74M), or at C - Torrealba 1.15/Blanco .51 or Grissom platooning with Cameron in CF for only 2.62.

The point is, you don't want to spend much on hitting vs the leftside because at Wrigley, you will seldom see LHP anyway. If you do, they will likely be hard reverses - Pettitte/Alvarez/Perez/Lowry etc. Which brings up another good point. At wrigley it is also good to carry at least 2 decent Lefty reverse hitters. My favorites - Giambi .98/Wilkerson(I always take him as my Wrigley CF - with either Freel or Ford in RF) or Huff at 1B(Who hits both sides well).

The best value catching tandem at Wrig is Bush/Torrealba. only 3.07 for a possible 40+ HRs combined.

Pitching is very simple: Hard RH SP's with 1 tough inexpensive RH reverse with no Rightside HRs to make a lefty stack pay the price. Carry a very inexpensive Tough Lefty(Capuano/Lee etc) for Lefty Parks on the road and a decent tough LH reverse(There are many already mentioned) for both Home and road games. Obviously a fairly balanced closer tough on RHH with No BP HRs and a cheap tough LH - Fultz/Rincon/Fuentes etc to pitch the 9th set on 9th inn only. But spend your money on middle relief. Krod/Lidge/Gordon/Madsen/Harper etc. and a decent RH reverse w/ R2 capabilities(Ayala/Osuna etc. )

That's Wrigley. It looks like your division mate The b Boys has a good handle on it. With Arod at SS/Beltre or Ramirez(I can't remember) at 3rd and glaus as his DH - he basically has the 3b market cornered ad fills 3 spots in the lineup with them and fields a decent team as well. Pretty ingenius.

I didn't see Morneau - who is a lefty with a lot of natural HRs and costs a lot less than the 13.5 in cap you're carrying at 1B. If Giambi is available, you'd have 2 very good LH hitters w/ lost of natural hrs vs bOTH sides for only 5.6M You couold even pickup Sweeney to be your RH Righty killer at either 1B or DH. Robinson isn't a bad choice in your Div or league vs RHP and you could DH Manny. Ford is fine at leadoff and LF. I don't like Hunter's card for his price. But i have seen him put up very good numbers tho. Put some oBA in front of him(Castillo?)in th the bottom of the order and he should do ok. With only 3 LH SP's in your Div Tejada will struggle for 7.23M. But there may not be anyone better out there.

The pickins looked very slim. GL, SW

[ROBERTVOZZA]

I meant Ford in Right. :roll:

[hechojazz]

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2005/team/team_other.html?user_id=22621

That's a Wrigley team I just took to Game 6 of the finals before losing. Bonds is definately awesome in that park! And Jose Guillen, I-Rod and Belliard all provided great hitting around him. I found Mohr to be disappointing there though.

Pitching-wise, see if you can get El Duque. And so long as you can have a different SP to start in many other parks, Maddux is excellent and cheap. Benitez was expensive but effective (for the most part - the Mets fan that I am had to cringe many times in reviewing the box scores).

I can't believe that three of four parks in your division are Wrigley! Definately grab Maddux if he is somehow still available!