Archive of SportingNews.com's old SOM Baseball forum

My first team has just drafted,and i have a speed/defense/pitching team.
I wanted to have a catcher with a -2 or more throwing and mostly all pitchers who have a hold of -2 or better.Why I did this is just my small ball/defense strategy. But do these hold ratings and catchers throwing ratings play a big enough part in base stealing in your opinion?Do owners look at a teams roster that they are having a series with and look for things like hold ratings and catchers throwing rating???My thinking is,that teams that run and dont look at my ratings will be getting thrown out an awful lot.Teams that run and do look at my ratings will be wise not to try to run in this series.I'm wondering do others owners look at such things when starting a series and setting there strategy.This is my first team,these are things I am looking at in my first series coming up.Also if i understand the home ballpark homerun rule any roll with a #and a Homerun next to it is disregarded and the ball Home Ballpark Homerun roll is used instead?I ended up with ryan howard for this 2007 season.I have a pitchers ball park with rolls of like 1-4Homerun for my Home ballpark rolls.Ryan Howard has alot of #Homeruns in good spots that will end up being outs in my ball park,really hurting is value in my eyes.I noticed carlos pena is available and his good homerun rolls dont have the # and he will hit more homeruns in my ballpark the howard for sure.Is my thinking correct with this #rule??If so i should get a power hitting first base man to replace howard before my season starts that doesnt lose so many homeruns in my ballpark like howard does.Let me know your thoughs,your help is appreciated.

I look at my upcoming catcher arms and pitcher holds every day to decide whether to be agressive, normal or conservative with my team stealing strategy so you are on the right track there.

Also you are correct about the # symbol. Ignore whatever is on the card after the # symbol on either the pitcher or hitter's cards. If that is rolled you simply would roll a 20 sided die and compare to the home park's BPHR rating. Therefore a lot of Ryan Howard's power will be lost in your home park. So a 1B like Derrick Lee, James Loney or Todd Helton might be a better fit for you.

Your strategy regarding throwing arms and holds is sound, especially when teamed with great defense up the middle. I don't think it makes a very big difference though. Running is just not a big part of most peoples strategy. Also, I had a team in 2007 steal 500 bases with a (-3) and a (-4) with respectable hold ratings in my division(which I won) and never changed my settings, which were close to being the most aggressive. It is almost infinitely more important that a pitcher can pitch as opposed to hold a runner on base. IMO, your strategy is a small thing that when added up with many other factors will determine if you are successful. However, in a game where one game can mean the difference between playoffs and no playoffs, it can't hurt.