New team

[moodinator123]

It seems like a ritual where all the new players post their first, or one of their first, teams up here for perusal by the vets. I am not sure how to post a link to my team yet (I'm sure someone will tell me), so I'll just post who I have and see your opinions on it.

I am in Busch Stadium (9 singles, 4 homeruns):

after waivers and main free agent frenzy i have:

ROTATION

Blyleven
Guidry
Key
Saberhagen
Lynch(who will probably never pitch)

BULLPEN

Donnie Moore
Dayley
Dawley
Howe
Henke

LINEUP

2B-Randolph 2e17
LF-Raines 2(+1)e4
DH-Daniels, K ---
1B-Joyner 1e10
3B-Bell 1e17
RF-Barfield 2(-4)e7
C-Scioscia 2(-2)e6
SS-Fernandez 1e17
CF-Devon White 1(-3)e8

RESERVES

C-Melvin 2(-1)e2 to face lefties, but Scioscia hits them ok it seems
2B-Browne, J 3e21 to face lefties as DH if Daniels needs to platoon
LF/CF-Young, G 2(-1)e3 PR and def replacement for Raines
OF-Heep --- PH only

going for lots of defense (only places to upgrade are 2B(but want to keep Randolph's great OBP), LF (same for Raines too), RF(Winfield and Evans are gone of course and he's my only power), and C(have used Boone on my 2 other teams but his hitting stinks and he is gone anyway))

Used White on my first team which missed the playoffs by 1 dang game and he was in his .245 year and still had 90 RBI and 33 SBs and his D is awesome in CF so hope he'll be in his 40 doubles year.

Any input from the vets on this teams chances?

[Jablowmi]

To link, go to your league's statistics page and click on your team name. Then, copy the link, click on the "URL" box when preparing the new message, paste and then click the "URL" box again.

As for your team, you do have a nice D and good staff, particularly Blyleven and Key. Saberhagen and Guidry are more hit and miss. As for your pen, I'd consider losing one of the closers and shift the $ to offense. I love Raines, Randolph and Kal, but I think Bell is a waste. I really think you need another power stick to hit #3/4, probably in front of Joyner and behind Kal (at least against RHP). I'd also be somewhat concerned about the OBP of your bottom 5 - Bell, Barfield, Scioscia, Fernandez and White.

Can you improve Bell (even for a bad D guy)? Nothing wrong with Joyner, but is he the best 1B out there?

Good luck. You should be able to keep the runs against down, the question is whether you can outscore them.

Then again, I don't really know what I'm talking about.

[honestiago1]

If that's your lineup, I'd switch Randolph and Raines. Use Randolph to advance the runner, walk, H&R, etc. I'm not a Devon White fan at all, but if you get a good card, cool.

Busch will probably sap Barfield's power. Daniels, if the card is good, won't be affected by the park as much.

I'm a fan of defense, so I don't believe Bell is a waste (unless you get his .219 card).

Good L/R balance, with 3 switch hitters (Right? Three?)

Guidry might underperform for you. Keep an eye on him.

Blyleven and Key are solid picks (I like all of Key's cards). If Sabes gets one of those monster years, you have a solid rotation. Henke is almost a can't-miss closer. As always, the bullpen is a gamble (though Dayley is a pretty good guy to have no matter what [in my opionion]. Hope you get a lights out Howe year -- then it just wouldn't be fair to anybody.

Looks like a balanced lineup. You have a hoss in the rotation (Blyleven), a good #2 (Key or Sabes [Guidry, if it's the great year]), a great closer. Defense is very good, as well.

Good luck.

[PillPop]

I like Devo, always seem to end up with him. You can't go wrong with a 1 (-3) in CF. Good defense is a real plus. You've got it all over the field. Enjoy the season...

[moodinator123]

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/80s/team/team_other.html?user_id=56939

here's the link

thanks for the all your opinions...any more would be cool.

So far the only move I've been able to make is to drop Heep for Felder since I probably had enough left-handed bats.

I just think I'm due for some good luck this season since a league i'm currently in (at game 54) I have had none. Drafted Dale Murphy, Dwight Evans, and Ken Phelps...all guys with 4/5 great years...all 3 had their worst year...as did Von Hayes. not very fair.

I try to pick guys who are 3/5 or 4/5 very good years and hope the odds work out.

[Outta Leftfield]

I think the team looks very promising. You've got excellent defense top to bottom, good SPs (though Guidry seems to have trouble producing a lot of the time) and a strong bullpen. I've seem monster years out of all the .75M RPs. And also some bad years--but if you get a good one you've struck gold. Bill Dawley once had 30 saves for me, and Moore has also been the ace of my staff. Dawley, Moore and Dayley are among the best of the .75M guys.

It may be just me, but if I were to do one thing, it might be to swap out Howe (since you've already got Henke) to get an offensive upgrade in CF. I tend to want more offense from my outfielders, even in CF. You might be able to work a trade--a package of Howe and White for a cheap reliever with some good cards and a CF with a tad more pop.

I like Buddy Bell, by the way... Also, sometimes Dale Murphy's card seems permanently stuck on his bad year. On the other hand, Winfield almost always seems to produce, maybe because even his bad year is not really that bad. And I've never seen Phelps produce to his card. I recently cut him after 66 AB when he was hitting .136 with one HR (OPS .439), even though a HBP had ruled out his bad card. I have a theory about this, relating to Phelps and others like him--why low average, high walk guys rarely produce in the 80's game. Maybe I'll outline it on another thread. :D

PS. I don't think you can EVER have too many LH bats. :wink:

[Jablowmi]

Start it up, Outta. Interested to hear your thoughts re: the one-sided lefty's. Isn't it still good cards vs. bad cards?

[Outta Leftfield]

[quote:15f3cf2d84="Jablowmi"]Start it up, Outta. Interested to hear your thoughts re: the one-sided lefty's. [/quote:15f3cf2d84]

Well, I like to have a lot of LH hitters because the league is full of RHP. The league divide is pretty close to 33/76 LHP/RHP. This is more RHP than in real life--because all but the top lefties get killed. I think the real life split is closer to 40/60. So lefthanded hitters are going to get a lot of work.

Increasingly, I find myself platooning at more and more positions. I always used to stick to 13 players. Now I often have 14 or 15, with everyone actively involved in a platoon role. I don't necessarily plan to platoon, but instead react to the players in their years. Some years they hit great both ways, other years not. One obvious place to PLAN a platoon is at DH, since you don't have to worry about defense. Another is catcher, since you have to have two players anyway.

[quote:15f3cf2d84] Isn't it still good cards vs. bad cards?[/quote:15f3cf2d84]

IMHO, if you platoon it can protect you against bad years--e.g. somebody might have his "bad" card, but still be OK in a platoon situation--whereas in his goods card he can hit both sides. Also, sometimes a card is too good to dump, but the player just can't hit LHP (or RHP). So in that case, a cheap platoon can save the day. For example, on one current team, I've got a LH 1B who is hitting .320 overall, with power, but he just can't hit LHP (.353 vs RHP/ .228 vs LHP). Though I obviously wasn't going to dump him, a cheap platoon seemed to be the way to milk a bit more offense out of the position, so I picked up Ron Jackson, who has hit .323 in 96 AB. Not every platoon player you slot in will do that for you, but it's often worth the gamble.

The cheap onesided hitters can be useful because in a lot of cases you KNOW they're capable of hitting that one way, every year. Guys like Polonia and Castillo don't really have a bad year on their cards if used in a platoon role. They won't always hit to their cards, but it's a gamble worth taking.

Here's an example of a team that used a lot of platoons.

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/80s/team/team_other.html?user_id=51359

Although in a pitcher's park (Royals) the team finished 2nd in the league in runs scored and is currently in the finals. The team platoons at five positions, mostly with players dumped by other managers. By the end of the season I was platooning at DH, C, 2B (Herr/Buechele), SS and at one OF slot. The only players not platooning were K. Hernandez, DeCinces, Barfield and Singleton, all in good to excellent years.

Increasingly, I want guys on my bench who can HIT and play an active platoon role. They also are the subs if somebody gets hurt, but I don't just want them gathering virtual splinters on the bench.

[Jablowmi]

Hey, Outta. I was talking about this comment re: Phelps: "I recently cut him after 66 AB when he was hitting .136 with one HR (OPS .439), even though a HBP had ruled out his bad card. I have a theory about this, relating to Phelps and others like him--why low average, high walk guys rarely produce in the 80's game."

[Outta Leftfield]

OK, I'll pop that out onto a new thread....Don't want to [b:4314a6d4cd]completely[/b:4314a6d4cd] hijack this one.