WOW! Where is everyone? Here's something to chew on....

[pedakrla]

Anyone have thoughts on this team? (pre-waivers, which run this afternoon)

Home park is Anaheim. Other parks in division: Anaheim (yeah, a 2nd one), Comiskey, and Busch.

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/1969/team/team_other.html?user_id=23763

[LMBombers]

Your rotation is awesome. Bullpen, outside of your closer is shaky. I like your catcher platoon. I would replace Cash for a 2 or 3 at 2B. How about Tommy Helms or a cheap platoon could be Versalles/Boswell. Woody Woodward could work as well.

Another option could be to downgrade Santo to Tony Perez and use the leftover money to upgrade elsewhere. If Perez is gone Tito Fuentes is a great hitter too.

[pedakrla]

Bombers,
I agree with your comment about the bullpen. It looks like everyone in the league has the same bullpen philosophy, because there is NOTHING left in the vicinity of .75M to 1.25M. I'm gonna have to cobble something together. I'm thinking of dropping Fisher and Billingham and picking up one solid reliever in their place.

Thanks for your 2B platoon suggestions. I've used Boswell in a platoon before and had some success, but hadn't really looked closely at Versalles.

I was toying with the idea of going cheap at 2B, and using the money to upgrade C to Freehan (for Ellis) and replace Osteen with Cuellar.

Thanks for your input.

Dave

[Risden]

In my experience, Osteen is a small notch below Cuellar. I'd keep Osteen and try to upgrade Reed or Boswell.

Reed is OK and worth the salary, but I think Osteen is a better bargain and he'd make a very good # 2 if you can secure an upgrade.

[pedakrla]

Thanks, Risden. Unfortunately, right now the only other stud pitcher available is Dierker, and I think that spending the extra $4M to get him and drop Boswell would hurt me too badly in other places. :(

(The top of the free agent pitcher list looks like this: Dierker, Cuellar, then drops all the way to Gentry.) :shock:

I'll keep my eyes open after waivers run, though. Thanks again for the input.

[Risden]

Hey Dave,

Looks like you did OK in the waiver run. I'm not a huge fan of the 5-Man Rotation, but you got some good ones. Taylor & Maloney & Selma always seem to perform well.

Lyle is a nice cheapie to go with Segui and the others. Drabowsky is great when he's in a pitching den like yours. You may want to dump Sembra (he's OK but the other 9 should do the trick) and upgrade your two weak spots: 2B &SS, with the extra cash.

[pedakrla]

Thanks, Risden. I'm not crazy about the 5-man rotation either, but this is the second team in a row where I've ended up with one. It seems like everyone else shies away from the 5-man rotation "on general principle", and after waivers there are some real studs available who happen to need 4 days rest. I believe this 5-man rotation is equal to or maybe even a little superior to the 4-man rotation I started with, for less money overall. That freed up some cash to address my woeful bullpen.

I'm afraid I'm gonna have to go cheap at SS and 2B. There's just no one available to upgrade to. I'm hoping the Boswell/Versalles platoon is one of those sleepers that does well. They certainly have good cards. Defense is a little shaky, but I have Rojas (a 2) for a defensive replacement. Campy is cheap at SS--that's the most I can say for him. A week still to go before the season starts--maybe someone will become available.

I dropped Sembera and picked up Neibauer, who has done well for me in the past. Thanks for the tip.

[pedakrla]

First time in playoffs! Thanks, LMB and Risden.

Here's living proof you can win (a division, anyway) with a 3 at SS, a 3 at 2B, and a 4 at C.

[Risden]

Congrats, Dave. I won a title with my second 1969 team, but haven't done so well lately in 1969 playoffs.

I lost a Game 7 World Series to abnerdoubleday last week and got dumped by a wild card team in the semis despite having the league's best record this week. :cry:

Good Luck!
Bob

P.S. Your 2B platoon rocked! Also, gotta love F. Robby, Bando and Moe!

[pedakrla]

:) This was a fun team. That 2B platoon was neat to watch. I kept waiting for them (Versalles especially) to tank but they never did. I batted Versalles 5th against LHP, and he produced. :shock:

It would have been even better if Reese had come close to his real-life numbers!