Fenway Team

[Camp Westwoods]

With it's unusual settings (1-16 singles, 1-3 lefty BPHR, 1-9 righty) Fenway gets ignored by a lot of people. It's probably written off as too complicated, but I've always had a measure of success here.

I've never posted here, but I really want to stop being a bridesmaid for the championship (swept twice at the altar...literally...0-8 in champ games with fenway teams). Please give me any input or insight you can. Thanks guys:

Starters: Pettitte, Andy 3L, Arroyo, Bronson 2R, Kennedy, Joe L 6L Buehrle, Mark L S7* Lopez, Rodrigo R S6/R4 1L
Lowry, Noah L 9R Relief: Rodriguez, Francisco 3R, Dotel, Octavio 7R, Betancourt, Rafael 2R , Graves, Danny 3L

Hitters: Mauer, Joe 8R, Cota, Humberto 3R
Morneau, Justin 3R Thomas, Frank 4R
Jimenez, D'Angelo 3R Rolen, Scott 2L Quinlan, Robb 5L Wilson, Jack 2R Matsui, Kazuo 3L Damon, Johnny 2R Davanon, Jeff 7R Matos, Luis 6R Sosa, Sammy 1R Jordan, Brian 5L

[cummings2]

My experience in Fenway has to be taken with a grain of salt. I was running a team where I played a lot with the H&R strategy and also it happened to be a fairly slanted lefty league with several Sheas, so that kinda worked for me. Having said that, the main problem I had with my team was in the Bullpen. I had Isringhausen closing and noone stellar setting up so I had quite a few late inning losses. Granted Izzy had a subpar season but still this leads me to:

I think your pen could use an upgrade, the way it is would have Dotel Closing R and Graves closing L with K-Rod setting but I am not a big fan of spec closers. Maybe it'll work for you but I'd try another nasty arm to close. All too often what happened to me was a 2/3 run dinger in late innings to cause the collapse.

Also related: I'd try to improve my IF defense. I imagine you'll play Jimenez in 2B, and J.Wilson in SS, Wilson gave me a good season offensively but I wasn't too sold on his defense, I'd look for a lower e-rating. Jimenez...hmmm....not too sold on a 3 up the middle, Damon's arm in CF doesn't help either, just my opinion though.

Also, injuries: Mauer, Quinlan, Sosa, DaVanon...Rolen can go down for 15...in case of a few bad rolls and you're looking at almost all your pop and OBP going down.

I like Morneau but I don't think I'd play him.

I'm writing this off the top of my head so I hope it makes some sense.

- I'd upgrade my pitching first and then work on my hitting.

[durantjerry]

You have some players I wouldn't use in Fenway. Mauer and Morneau is overkill on LH natural power guys in Fenway. I wouldn't use either. Irod or Kendall much better at C IMO and a guy like Casey much better at 1B, and he would also help vs lefties on the road. Ditto on Damon, I would prefer Kotsay. Quinlan is a waste as a platoon in a park that invites the opponent to throw rhp's. Jiminez could be improved(Roberts?) also. I would also prefer Sweeney at DH over Thomas-less injury prone and still crushes rhp's. I think you have too much of a slugging team(especially LH), for what is not really a slugging park. Krod is great. Depending on the rest of your league, I think a cheap closer(pitching the 9th inning only) is the way to go in Fenway, as the 1-3 LH HR hides a lot of sins for a guy like Percival or Dotel, and with a few Petco's/Kauffmans in the league, you can end up with 120 or so games where the LH HR is nullified. The rest of your pitchers are OK. I think better pitching, better defense and more of a well rounded offensive team is needed in Fenway.

[Camp Westwoods]

Thanks guys....new lineups:

Hairston Jr., Jerry (R) 2B
2. Quinlan, Robb (R) LF
3. Rolen, Scott (R) 3B
4. Sweeney, Mike (R) 1B
5. Wells, Vernon (R) CF
6. Sosa, Sammy (R) RF
7. Matsui, Kazuo (S) DH
8. Miller, Damian (R) C
9. Wilson, Jack (R) SS

Hairston Jr., Jerry (R) 2B
2. Davanon, Jeff (S) LF
3. Rolen, Scott (R) 3B
4. Sweeney, Mike (R) DH
5. Morneau, Justin (L) 1B
6. Wells, Vernon (R) CF
7. Sosa, Sammy (R) RF
8. Wilson, Jack (R) SS
9. Cota, Humberto (R) C


Pettitte, Andy Arroyo, Bronson Buehrle, Mark Lopez, Rodrigo Lowry, Noah Lieber, Jon Rodriguez, Francisco Torres, Salomon Dotel, Octavio
Eyre, Scott Graves, Danny

[Camp Westwoods]

Can anyone offer me some Fenway friendly options for catcher...I have Damian Miller right now but I'm concerned about pop at the bottom of my lineup without giving up too much Defense.

Any of these guys particularly good with the natural power?

Varitek, Jason BOS S C 2(0)e1 463 30 18 73 62 10 .296 .390 .482 2 2L 5.21M
Mauer, Joe MIN L C 2(-1)e1 107 8 6 17 11 1 .308 .369 .570 6 8R 5.13M
Hernandez, Ramon SD R C 2(-1)e3 384 23 18 63 35 1 .276 .341 .477 4 4L 4.15M
Martinez, Victor CLE S C 3(+2)e4 520 38 23 108 60 0 .283 .359 .492 2 1R 4.13M
Barrett, Michael CHC R C 4(+1)e4 456 32 16 65 33 1 .287 .337 .489 2 2R 3.41M
Lieberthal, Mike PHN R C 3(0)e1 476 31 17 61 37 1 .271 .335 .447 2 1L 3.18M
Inge, Brandon DET R C 3(-1)e5 408 15 13 64 32 5 .287 .340 .453 2 4L 3.10M
Snyder, Chris ARI R C 3(0)e2 96 6 5 15 13 0 .240 .327 .458 2 E 2.79M
Larue, Jason CIN R C 3(-2)e3 390 24 14 55 26 0 .251 .334 .431 3 3L 2.65M
Castillo, Alberto KC R C 3(-1)e1 89 6 1 11 14 0 .270 .365 .371 2 2R 2.51M
Wilson, Vance NYM R C 3(-1)e4 157 10 4 21 11 1 .274 .335 .427 5 6R 2.48M