First time with an 80's team - any pointers?

[hechojazz]

Thought I'd give the 80's game a shot. Decided to play at Tiger Stadium for old times' sake. Here's the link:

MOTOR CITY MAYHEM
http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/80s/team/team_other.html?user_id=73110

I'm not sure how to evaluate things, without knowing which of the players' years I've got. Seems like there's much more of a "well, let's see how it works out" sense to this game. I tried to land 4*SPs that hopefully will be stronger against lefties, to fit my park. I also picked a mostly righty balanced set of hitters, expecting to be facing mostly RHP. But at this point (pre-waivers), my divisional opponents appear to have fielded an equal number of lefties compared to righties. One of the three has a hodgepodge of * and non-* SPs, and I imagine some movement will occur there. The other two seem pretty solid with 4*SP rotations. I'm not sure if I should make some big changes in my lineup to better prepare for all that LH pitching. Also, I seem to have a more expensive pen than many of the other teams in the league (but since I'm still pre-waivers, who knows what will happen before play starts on Monday).

Anyway, are there general rules of thumb in the 80s game as far as bullpen constitution is concerned that I should be aware of, particularly in contrast to the '05 game for example? In the '05 game, my teams always seem to be facing more lefty bats than righty - is that true for the 80s as well? Another question - I'm planning to start Gwynn in CF, where his RF range of 1 becomes a 2. Any problem with that? Can't play both Gwynn and Strawberry in right. I have made a waiver election to pick up a good LF so I can DH Gibson, and I'm planning to start Marshall at 1B. The other position players are pretty obvious. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

:P

[honestiago1]

You may have spent too much on relief pitching. You have 3 RP's in excess of 2M. Usually can get by with one high priced closer, a 1-2M guy, and 3-.75's. Some really good .75's=Lopez, J. Robinson, Dayley (several usable years with these cards; Rob and Lopez really get the RH's [usually]). I'd cut Holland and take your chances with the other 3 1M+ guys.

I always like Strawberry. Unless you get the .225 card, he'll produce in any park (since he actually played in Shea). Gwynn has no bad years. Marshall's OBP is low, but power will be helped by Tiger. Think you can find a better 1B than him (or a cheap platoon instead of him). Very good IF defense. Some fast dudes on the roster (though RLaw is not a regular, is he?).

Best case scenario: you get Doc's, Eichorn's and Sut's shutdown cards, a good Howe and good Gott. This could be a team that does very well, pitching-wise.

[Jimmy_C]

Welcome to the 80's Hechojazz...

Gwynn in center is fine...just stay away from a 3 or 4 range fielder in center. I agree with Honestiago that Holland can be replaced with a .75 pitcher...cycle through these guys a little and find a gem in his best year. I'm not a fan of Allen...there are better .75 guys.

I would have thought you would want to go with more lefty starters in Tiger (Tiger rewards lefty hitters)?

At first base...Leon Durham is a good bet, and he's usually available. Strawman and Tettelton will be monsters for you, so an on-base + power guy like Durham equals another run scored!! It won't kill you if Gibson plays left.

I think you have the start of a real good team. Good luck

[AdamKatz]

Gooden is generally considered over-priced. If you land his light-out year, you are looking at 20Wins easy. His next best year is very good. Third year is good. His worst two years are decent but not for 9 million dollars. One of the problems with him is that if he is having a mediocre year, you don't know which card you got and you dont want to be spending 9 million bucks on those bottom two years. Im not telling you to drop him, but dont be afraid t trade him.

The opposite of Gooden would be Steib. Maybe the best value pitcher in the game in my opinion. 4 great years. one awful one. thats how I like it. If there has got to be a bad card, make it awful. By game 42 you know what you are dealing with.

Sutcliff is avg. You could probably do better in waivers but dont place a high priority on it. Mcgregor is a cheap lefty. Leibrandt and Deshai are other cheap lefties that are probably better. In your stadium look for few BPHRs on the pitcher cards. You do want at least one lefty (preferably 2) and quality lefties are rare.

Most people play one 2-4 million dollar reliever, one or two 1-2 million dollar relivers and the rest under 1 million. The thing about the 80s is that there a ton of .75 relievers with one amazing year, so lots of people put 15-20IPs in a reliever then move on the next one until they hit it. Howe and eichorn are strong. Youre other three relievers usually start the season without a job.


On the Gwynn question, I don't think he is a good fit in your park to begin with and, obviously, you would be slightly overpaying him to play center. In Detroit, you want to spend that money on a slugger. Do not dump him, but see if you can trade him to someone in a pitchers park who maybe ended up with Dale Murphy, Eric Davis or Schmidt.

Dont assume the guy with Schmidt was not trying for Brett or the guy with Murphy wasn't trying for Yount. Gwynn is amazing but you want to concentrate on LH SLG.

[hechojazz]

I dropped Damaso Garcia at 2B to save some $$, picking up Gantner (who is a little better defensively too). Used the extra scratch to upgrade Brunansky to Mitchell - I'll DH the latter and put Gibson in left. Got Thornton to play 1B instead of Marshall. On the pitching front, I dropped Sutcliffe for Bud Black, giving me a RLRL *SP rotation. I feel the need to hold on to Holland, but only because that's my last name! He doesn't have a bunch of saves on his stats, but can I rely on him to be effective as a closer? I'd like to mark him to setup and close both ways, what do you think? I can freely make add/drops until games begin on Monday...

[rookssa1958]

and I use him regularly, but I would not set him to setup and close both ways.

I think I would set him as set up both ways and see how HAL uses him for a few games.

Set closer to normal, not maximize.

You need to see who the RP's are getting out before tweaking the bullpen a lot, or you may never get a goos read.

[hechojazz]

Sounds good. Hopefully Gott and Howe will show themselves to be hard against righties and lefties, respectively. Then I can set them to close against their strong side. Otherwise, barring a move, I guess I'd need to leave the closer slots blank on the manager settings, and let HAL utilize Holland and the rest of the crew to close as he sees fit?

I tried to pick pitchers that were likely to be harder on lefties than righties for a couple reasons. First, Tiger Stadium favors lefties a bit. But also, my experience playing in the '04 and '05 games is that there are generally more lefty bats than righty ones...of course, I haven't seen what's up in this 80s game yet. Am I likely to see 50% or more lefty bats here?

Finally, my inclination is to bat Ozzie leadoff, with Gwynn #2 and some combination of Strawberry, Mitchell, Gibson and Tettleton 3-6. Any thoughts on an appropriate order for them? Not sure if Thornton should be in there before any of them, but I'm pretty certain that I should have Gantner and Gruber at the bottom of the order both ways. Sure makes it difficult when you don't know which cards you have!

:lol:

[dsm925]

I have won 4 league titles in 6 seasons... the one constant has been defense. I have been no worse than second in fielding percentage any league that I won...

PS try to have a good balance... good hitting vs. righties and lefties. and don't forget a stud bullpen can make up for mediocre starting pitching, etc. Try to stay away from ballparks with unusual dimensions in the beginning