Archive of SportingNews.com's old SOM Baseball forum

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Egg Suckin' Dogs

We start play tonight...wondering if I'm approaching a Kingdome team correctly...my primary concerns relate to my pitching. Quiz appears to have good cards for Kingdome (despite a relative vulnerability to lefties), but the 5Mil price is steep. The bottom end of my 4*SP rotation (B. Forsch and Mahler) is making me nervous, but then again I've been fielding pitching teams for awhile now...I could upgrade Forsch to Gubicza or Sutcliffe if I dropped Quiz for a guy like Robinson or McCullers, but I'm hesitant...any thoughts?

In the field, I'm rolling the dice on a 3B platoon of Pagliarulo against RHP and either Buechele or Cabell against LHP (whichever works out to be the better hitter). I'll start Daniels as my full time DH to begin the season, hoping his numbers against LHP can keep him in that lineup...otherwise I guess I'll have to pray for a good year from one of my cheepies...But I gotta believe Reggie, Rice, Lynn, Sandberg, Daniels, Thornton and Tettleton will smashalot in Kingdome, right?

:D

Pitchers that I have had a lot of luck in the Kingdome are Darling, Liebrandt, DeLeon, Deshaies and Cox. For some reason I have never had good luck with Rice and Daniels in the Dome, but a guy who usually puts up great numbers is George Bell and he is almost always available.Don't be too alarmed when yuor era and whip are terrible you still might have good cards but the stats almost never bear it. Good luck, Long live the DOME.

Ugly

In my current Kingdome team, I started with a rotation of Fernando, Viola, Barker, and Cox and gave up on them pretty quickly. I've ended up getting serviceable work from the following motley crew (most of whom don't have many BP HRs), so I guess I'd argue go cheap:

McCaskill
J.H. Johnson (got his best card, he's 12-1 with a 2.77 ERA)
Beattie (he's struggled)
Tibbs (I've got a bad card of his, but he's pitching much better than his card)
Terry
Haas (early results aren't good)

It seems to me like the key is to have a good bullpen, with some R3s for the long relief stints that are common in the Kingdome. Your hitters should score lots of runs and if you've got a strong pen you can pull out some late games.

Trade Kal Daniels for Danny Tartabull straight up. That'd be my advice for your DH situation. Tartabull has some nice upside. He is a righty that can hit righties in a couple of seasons. He's chock full of BP HR's too. His worst card really isn't that bad in terms of production either.

IMHO, Tartabull is the most undervalued hitter during the autodraft in the 80's game. After over 60 teams played, he's the player that I have finished the season with the most (salaries greater than 1 million bucks.)

He'd be a great fit in the kingdome and could easily carry your squad offensively in (2) out of the (5) seasons.

I'm guessing that you have Daniels slated to start in the lead off spot though?

Well, I pulled the trigger - Tartabull for Daniels (Tartabull was a free agent). Reviewed the cards and I appreciate your advice! I'll see if Tony Fernandez can adequately bat leadoff...not much else unless I want to waste some of Sandberg's O by leading him off...but I went for a no-speed slugging team, and particularly now I sure got one! Hopefully Cabell will win the 3B job against LHP, get a little more zip into the lineup...

The Tartabull move should prove doubly effective, as two of my three divisional opponents play at Fenway...so a righty as opposed to a lefty...and all that jazz...thanks again!

I'm just happy that Daniels was not snatched up by one of my divisional opponents (the third plays at Candlestick)...he did go, and fast, but to another division.

...how do you know which players will play well at the Kingdome vs. those who won't. Of course, I know that Mark McGwire will hit home runs. But, I'm really interested in how one knows (e.g. Tartabull) who'll succeed at the Kingdome and who won't. Again, I'm new to this. Is Glenn Davis a stud for the Kingdome? If so, how does one know?

Thanks.

By the way, so who's good for pitcher's parks and why?

Well, if you're ambitious, you can figure out the probabilities based on the home park here:

http://www.diamonddope.com/diy.cfm?tab=diy

But for BTT80s, this means 5 cards for each player...that's a lot of work.

Or, you can take the lazy way out and count the number of #'s (bp effects) on a card (remembering that 7's come up the most) and take a WAG.

For pitcher's parks, I'd look for as few of bp effect homers as possible, then look to see who hits for a high batting average with lots doubles and triples.

[quote:1e211b2ebc]But, I'm really interested in how one knows (e.g. Tartabull) who'll succeed at the Kingdome and who won't. Again, I'm new to this. Is Glenn Davis a stud for the Kingdome? If so, how does one know?[/quote:1e211b2ebc]

As silly as it sounds, I remember many of these cards from my youth - playing against my buddies across the kitchen table and Tartabull was always a monster. But more scientifically speaking, Toi Son is correct. Just look for the ballpark symbols in high probability spots on cards.

Also, you hit the nail on the head with Glenn Davis. His cards were designed around playing in the Astrodome. Tartabull's best cards were designed around playing at K.C. Therefore, many of their BP HR opportunities exist in fairly high probability areas.

[quote:8a527c04a3]Well, I pulled the trigger - Tartabull for Daniels (Tartabull was a free agent). Reviewed the cards and I appreciate your advice![/quote:8a527c04a3]

You're welcome. I hope that the move pays you off in spades. :D

Some other ideas for fallback plans are Bo Jackson. He can be murder in the Kingdome.

Greg Nettles at 3B. Two of his cards have (4) BP HR opportunities on it against RHP. His '78 card would be a monster at the dome. BP HR @ 1-10, 1-11, & 1-12. Plus a 1-3 and an automatic in that column as well. Kaboom.

The roll of 10, 11, or 12 alone makes it equivelant to a roll of a 7 on two dice.

Also, I like Cabell and he certainly could win the job for you against LHP.