More Comments on my MM Team

[kimkrichbaum2]

Thanks All who responded to "MY First Pitching Staff" I have chosen my starters and am down to two choices on my relief staff. Decided to go on cheap side with starters, cause i found some great bargains for MM!

Some questions I have up now, How important is defense against stealing, I have valued Catcher Arm and Pitcher Hold pretty highly. When I rate players I treat one point of Catcher Arm as the equivaent of a single on 4 or 10 (3 probability points) and I treat two points of pitcher hold as the equivalent of a single on 2 or 12. Does this seem too extreme to you, or realistic?

Also playing at an extreme ballpark and drafting my hitters, I am wondering how much to just play to my home field, and how much to have a little balance in case I run into Petco's or lefty-friendly stadiums. Any thoughts?
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[markp65]

Angel, can you post a link to your team roster so we can take a peek? Just go to the "statistics" page of your league and click on your team's roster from that page. Then post the URL that comes up.

Also, what are the other parks in your division?

I'm not sure about your interesting calculation for catchers, but if you're playing in a one-sided power park like MM, I wouldn't worry so much about the opposition stealing against you. Stealing isn't an effective strategy for winning in your park. So let them have at it if they want to. I'd rather use a catcher like Barajas or Stinnett, perfect MM guys who could plate 20+ HR in your park, rather than sacrificing offense with guys like IRod or Yaddy.

A balanced approach is merited in neutral parks. You're not playing in one. I would definitely contour my roster to play to the strength of the park. That means 7-9 RH batters who can go deep. You won't regret it! Get a guy like TClark, Ortiz or Abreu and load the rest of that lineup with RH power. There is a wealth of RH power hitters in the 2006 deck, in all price ranges.

Of course, don't be blind to what the other parks are in your division. If, for example, you're playing against 3 Safeco teams, you'd want to shy away from an SP like Brad Radke and use someone like John Lackey. On the other hand, if you're playing against 3 Petco teams, Brad Radke might win the Cy Young Award for you.

[cummings2]

I think defense is quite important, all of it, not only zone and e rated but, also OF arm and as you point out battery hld/T ratings. I usually try to go as good as I can there but I never pass on a stud due to low HLD ratings though :wink:

My first impression is that the value you are putting on HLD and T seems to be a bit high, IMO. Remember that the comined value of pitcher's HLD and Catcher's T can not lower/greater than -5/+5. So if you are drafting a -3 catcher all you need to be as good as it gets is a -2 HLD pitcher.

Therefore, to some extent the pitcher's HLD rating should be valued in relation to the catcher's T rating. I put it in this order since it makes it easier to calculate since the catcher's T value will have a tendency to be more the norm than the pitcher's HLD.

Still, I think your system would greatly value running defense over field defense. That is that I think that through yor system a great catcher would be more valuable than a great SS or 2B and that I think would be a mistake.

Remember also that the running defense, more so than any other defense is greatly dependant on the opponent's running ability, so you also have to factor in the possibility of gearing your defense to hold runners while opponents never even want to get a jump on you.

So, since I've got to run I'll run some numbers on your value system but as I said, I would make sure that under no circumstances my way of rating catchers' T and Pitchers HLD give me a sense tha they are more valuable than 1s in the MIF.

Hope this made sense, I am writing in a bit of a rush.

[geekor]

I believe catcher def rating is bunk, I'll take a 4 no problem, in fact I have many times.

Now the arm, PB and T ratings are what are really important.

I try to get the PB and T ratings as llow as possible, as they lead to many errors, but as long as they are 10 or less I don't really worry.

The arm is dependant on what pitchers you have. Remeber the max adjustment is +/-5. So if your pitchers hold rating are already -5, then you don't need more than a 0 arm. In MM, someone like IRod would be decent, though I batted him 5th vs L and 6th or 7th vs R, and his hitting stats were rather subpar, but maybe it was just my bad luck.

[kimkrichbaum2]

After all my careful study. and all your good advice, I joined a league and had a draft. I got all of my sigificant players except two. I lost Tony Clark and got Jason Giambi (big disappointment) and lost Troy Glaus and got Aramis Ramirez, which is not a big disappointment, i like Ramirez. I am very happy with My pitching staff, Carpenter + 3 quality cheap starters who are good for MM. And a deep quality relief staff. The 3 parks in my division are, Petco (yuk), Comerca and PNC. Not a great combo for me. Their are few hitters parks in my whole league. I have 1mil in the bank, and if a couple of free agents move work out, I will have 6 mil to spend. The question is, what do I do with it? The teams in my division have more righty pitching (especially the Petco team, which seems the strongest). And there hitting seems pretty balanced as to side, with a number of hitters who hit righties harder. So as i see it some of my options for my 6 mil (based on who is undrafted) are: Upgrade to Mark Ellis or Brian Robrts and second base. They are not the bangers I was originally looking for, but I think i will need some lefties and solid average guys for my division, Upgrade to Cabrera or Ensberg at 3rd base, get a great lefty someewhere to create a platoon, at least away from home (maybe Russell Branyan). get a lefty pitcher especially for use on road, or even a reverse righty or lefty for the team with all the switch hitters. or if I squeeze a couple more mil, by letting go of Junior Spivey in my platoon at Second, I could upgradde Garcia to Roger Clemens (The only righty starter left I am intereswted in) or get Derek Lee at First Base. a lnk to my team is below, Our waiver deadline is tomorrow.
Thanks for your comments!

[kimkrichbaum2]

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2006/team/team.html

[markp65]

Angel, please try again on that link. I posted some instructions above in this thread. We're looking forward to seeing your team!

[kimkrichbaum2]

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2006/team/team_other.html?user_id=4323

[markp65]

Very nice work. Love your starting pitching and you've got some great bats for your park. Two observations: I'd consider losing some of your RP with closer credentials for a quality set-up guy or two. Someone with an R2 rating or better. Depending on the division you're playing in, I might cut Mariano, go with Hermanson and use that cash to get a set up guy and substantially upgrade and tighten your defense -- especially at 2B, SS and CF.

Here's a link to my eerily similar to yours first Minute Maid 2006 team. I had Edmonds, L Castillo and Greene at SS but got rid of those guys to snatch up ARod when another team cut him midseason. ARod's reg season numbers weren't so great but he lead me to a world championship.

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2006/team/team_other.html?user_id=1145

[LMBombers]

You should not let a 4 start at 2B. Find somebody else.