Advice needed for a rookie manager

[Jimbo1958]

It sure is easy to get hooked on this game! I am midway through my first season and having a blast. Got a problem, though.

Although I am only one game out of first place, I am not convinced I could win in the playoffs. So I need to strengthen my team, but not certain how to go about it. Some of my players are underperforming and it's hard to part with them because I just know they will turn around.

Any suggestions or comments from some of you veterans out there?

Much appreciated.

Here is my team:

[url]http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2005/team/team_other.html?user_id=50621[/url]

[Jerlins]

Well, if you decide to strengthen it at all, do so via trade as opposed to dumping players. I'm not all that familiar with PNC, so I'll leave it up to those who have used that park now and then. Good luck though, thats a good record you have there.

[LMBombers]

Don't dump a player that has a good card that is underperforming. If you do you will get a player with a lesser card and just hope for lucky rolls. The good cards will even out by the end of the year.

For future reference....If you have 4 *SP that you plan to use like you do then all you need is a 50¢ SP that will never pitch. You are wasting money on Penny. You should have used his salary to upgrade to a better *SP or on some other player. If you go with a 5 man rotation you should have no more than 1 or 2 *SP as the price of being a * is factored in to the salary. Therefore you would be overspending for what you have.

Also you have too many hitters. Unless you are using several platoons, or are using high injury players, you should not have more than 14 hitters. By having 16 hitters you dilute the price that you can pay for the players that you do actually use.

I don't mean to criticize your team. Nobody is an expert from day one. I have had many teams and I am a long way from being an "expert".

Don't give up on your team the way it is. It has been my experience that the playoff team with the best record wins the Championship less often than the Wild Card team. Anything can happen in the playoffs and often does.

[worrierking]

Don't mess with success. It's a pretty good team. I would try to get more efficient with your pitching. You have some cheap guys getting more innings than more expensive guys. Penny hasn't pitched many innings, but that's probably because you are mixing * and non* starters, which is not usually advisable. Maroth has many more innings than Penny, which you don't want.

Your cheap relievers are getting more innings than Wagner. While Wags has been amazing and you might be tempted to leave well enough alone, I would see if i could restrict your cheap guys a bit more to try to force him in more often. He's too good to have sitting around.

I don't think I would mess with the personnel too much. You might try to shop Penny for a * starter, but you're not likely to get much interest. Do not start dropping guys. You lose too much in $ with the 20% penalty. It almost never works.

Good first effort. It took me many tries to have a team this good. Good luck.

[Jimbo1958]

Thanks for the advice. Lots of good tips from all the replys. It's nice to have a support group out there!

[goredsox33]

you def dont want to start dumping players...you will end up with a $70 million team and unable to compete....try to get better thru trades and use the excellent advice you already got in here about getting wags more innings and limiting the crappy pitchers

[LA Bear]

1) Winning in the playoffs has as much to do with luck as it does having a great team getting there.
2) Look for ways to maximize your IP from Wags and Gagne and you should do fine. There's probably better ways to do this, but I'd set them both to come in no earlier than the 6th and set them both to slow hook.