Archive of SportingNews.com's old SOM Baseball forum

Part of that March Madness tourney action - games start tonight, and I'm considering some final tinkering. I've put a pretty good defensive team together with good pitching...made some moves recently to try to address a power concern - Got Bonilla to DH instead of Bochte, Von Hayes to play LF instead of Lezcano...I'm wondering if I should reduce the range and arm of my catcher in return for Slaught's superior hitting...also worried that I should stick with Boone because he's likely righty-balanced, whereas Slaught is probably going to be lefty-balanced...anyway, any last minute observations on this possible switch - I'd need to make it by midnight.

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/80s/team/team_other.html?user_id=74119

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While I can't say that I've had extensive experience with either one of your choices, I'd say stick with your first instinct. Your team looks decent as is.

Slaught will probably be around for a while on the wire if things don't go your way.

Do you have a lot of base stealing threats in your division?

Panzer Ace is the lead dog in my division - not a tremendous amount of apparent speed to worry about I guess (he does have HoJo and both D. Murphys, plus speedy Dave Collins on the bench). But UglyJerry's got some serious speed in the division (eg: H. Reynolds, W. McGee, Canseco - plus lots of speed on the bench). Eric Davis is on the final divisional opponent. It isn't a speed demon division, but with my SPs having -1 hold ratings at best (one has a +1), I'm worried that getting rid of that nice -3 arm behind the plate would be something I'd regret...but would Slaught hit enough to make it worthwhile?

Bo Diaz can be a good (and cheaper) compromise between defense and offense. He's probably available too.

After looking at Slaught's numbers I can't say that I'd prefer him over Boone necessarily. Slaught's splits lean towards better success against lefties. Boone favors righties in most years which could be a bonus since you'll face more righties than lefties.

I don't think you have to worry about the other team's speed. Unless you run a +1 or +2 catcher out there, most managers stay a tad conservative on base stealing. Eric Davis is going to have trouble getting many steals batting in a power slot. (Strawberry has that problem too.) Canseco may have been a 40/40 man in real life but in the 80's he's no better than Yount on the basepaths. I say you don't have to worry so much about the SB.

Just pick a catcher that can give you a decent compliment to the rest of your team. If your opponents play in HR parks, get a catcher with N power both ways and hope for the best. Maybe even look for a platoon partner and platoon with your backup if he is viable.

Who's your backup?

Berryhill's my backup, and I am hoping for a good card from him. Not a bad cheapie backup...

Very RH slanted lineup. Are there any LH hitting CF or C's left to balance your lineup. Moseby possibly? Also 3 LH SP could be troublesome.

Scioscia is often available and is a big favorite of mine. He gives a very good balance of offense and defense and is a LHB who generally hits both ways. Not a huge amount of power but great OBP and has great bat handling ability if you care about that sort of thing (I don't). I would take Scioscia in a heartbeat over either of the options you mention.

If you really want some offense out of the C slot you could go with Brenly or Hassey. Not much D but they can hit....