Anyone ever play Citizens in 2005?

[Tennisballs2]

[url]http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2005/team/team_other.html?user_id=29521[/url]



Playing each stadium slowly over the last few years and I am unable to find much advice on this park.

I am not in love with my hitting or pitching but i think it may work.

Other stadiums in division-safeco-newbie,shea-pretty good team,coors-dneedle!
Others in league-SBCx2,another shea,ameriquest,camden,skydome,another citizen,yankee[/quote]

[cummings2]

Hey there Tb2,

few thoughts:

I've seen Francisco Cordero have a few good seasons...the only time I used him he tanked. I wouldn't recommend sending a closer who walks a lot of guys in a hitter's park, I would probably downgrade Rincon to Salomon Torres and upgrade Cordero to Foulke. Torres is still pretty good, not Rincon's card but I like Foulke's card, he's always been solid for me but, he does have that 5-5 # roll vs RHB, so...

SP-wise, I see Kennedy, Wright and Radke are out there, probably not the best of fits and with your budget most likely out of your reach but I'd really try to do as much as possible to prevent that Cliff Lee/Pete Munro 5th spot...just my opinion though.

Defense-wise...I just wouldn't go with a 3 in 2B...personally I would go for Alex Cora or even Pokey Reese. I know everytime I used Pokey people looked at me funny, but considering the Defense and cheap price I played him a lot, helped make my pitching better, but I am quite defense oriented...Cora would be cool, with Shea and Safeco having a lefty N 2e11 seems like a good option to me, a bit cheaper...it is a significant loss of power, especially vs. LHPs but, an option nonetheless. Now as far as what [i:6e9b17fba4]I[/i:6e9b17fba4] would do, get Willie Harris and Pokey for about .5 less than Hernandez but a much better defense, some speed and OBP in Harris and glove with Pokey that can platoon vs LHP and serve as a Def Rep.

---> Now, I just took a look at your division and, it seems like you won't be facing many lefties...between their righty pitchers and their lefty parks...I think Jose Hernandez might struggle a bit.

Offensively...I might be missing something, but I don't see a need to be so heavy against Lefties...given what I see in you division and league you'll face a pretty average number of lefties (about 30-35%) yet of your team only Molina, Branyan and Vizquel are xRs I don't know what to say about your offense...I see that Davannon is out there, he could be an option to platoon and play with.

My main suggestion is, as I mentioned in the main forum, try to not rely [i:6e9b17fba4]solely[/i:6e9b17fba4] on the BB- HR approach, if you add some speed and average in a few spots I think you should be fine.

Hope some of this helps...I'm not very much into hitters parks so I'm afraid I'm not as much as some of the other pros.

[Tennisballs2]

I still appreciate the thougths as no one else seems interested.

I see what you are saying at 2nd/ I don't think I have ever used a 3 either but with all the hitters parks and only the 2 pitchers parks i need something power wise, but hernandez may not be it. Pitching wise I will aslo start to look around.

It is dumbfounding how few of people actually post on here compared to the old boards.

Thanks Again,
ROBert

[cummings2]

I think it's interesting how the flow in this forum goes, some times you get really cool and good players dropping by with some hints and stuff but I agree with you, it seems like it's a busy time for several players, maybe the new set is taking a lot of their time, maybe the bullpen's mudfights are a bit more alluring...who knows :wink:

Now back to your team, I saw the changes, personally I like them quite a bit. I think you can have some flexibility now and balance both vs. LHP and RHP with good D, good OBP and in my opinion sufficient pop in your lineups.

I guess that where I come from with my comments is that I don't necessarily see your division/league as predominantly hitter friendly, sure you have a Coors and an Ameriquest pretty much all parks supress OBP to some extent, with the exception of the two SBCs, even shea is not really a haven for LHH, it's just not as brutal as it is vs righties, hence it's advantage.

The reason why I bring this up is because I really feel that if you want to outslug your opponents then you don't have just the right team, since you probably won't outslug them then you'll have to outplay them, i.e. solid game all around, I think your current team with Cora, Pickering and the better 5th spot in the rotation is a move in the right direction.

A word of caution, be patient with some of your hitters is they post slightly lower Batting Averages, given your divisiona parks and pitchers I think the numbers could be slightly lower than expected, but you should be fine.

I don't know how you are thinking of lining you offense, but a thought:

Vs R
Wilkerson
Ichiro
Pujols
Pickering
Youkulis
Ford
Molina
Matheny
Cora

or:
Ford
Ichiro
Pujols
Wilkerson
Pickering
Youkulis
Molina
Matheny
Cora

Personally I like to have speed and average in the 2 spot following OBP with speed for 2 reasons: It increases the chances of a leadoff walk/SI to make it to third with less than two outs and sac flies can pile up good runs and also a runner on 3rd will likely pull the IF in and turn the +s into SI**

Wilkerson leading off might seem like a waste of HRs but if the botton of the order gets on base when the LU turns those HRs could come with men on and help produce up and down the LU.

I's try to max the chances of using Youkulis' + clutch, keeping in mind that either with the clutch on or with the IF in his average rises with 6 rolls/108 chances (+. 055 BA from his card)

I am sure you know all of this and I'm just stating the obvious but still, thought of sharing some thoughts.

Luckyman started a really interesting thread in here "The BooK" where he had some really good conclusions about the makeup of lineups, have you checked it out?

All best of luck TB2

[MARCPELLETIER]

Tennisball,

for team advices, you better go on the other forum. This strategy forum is really about general strategies.

In my opinion, Pujols is the most overpaid player in 2005. Not sure what are the other options, but I would seriously consider dropping him for a cheaper first base and gets yourself stronger in the bullpen. I think that Cordero is a strong closer, but I think you need a better set-up man in Citizens than Madson or Torres. IMO, you need at least one really big set-up man in offensive parks.

Another option with the extra money is to improve the lower part of the line-up. Cummings gave you lots of good advice, but one I perhaps disagree with is to use Youkilis sixth. In my opinion, his card has not enough power to be 6th, despite the good clutch. I know one team that used Youkilis the whole season through 5th, and Youkilis finished with around 60 rbis. That is way too low for the 5th spot. Given that you play in Citizen, your 6th hitter should be a power hitter with lots of BP homeruns.


In your division, there is a Shea team going nuts with left-handed hitters, and there is a Safeco team going nuts with right-handed hitters. I think you should exploit this. Make sure that Haren is facing the Shea team, even if this means skipping a start. Same thing with R. Ortiz vs the SAfeco team. Perhaps consider dropping Cook for two other extreme SP.

[cummings2]

I agree on all accounts with Lucky, He's right about Youkulis, matching vs. your Shea and Safeco teams (BTW it'll be interesting to follow that Safeco team since it's such a reverse way of playing Safeco), Pujols price tag and the rest..