Patterson or Burnett

[Roscodog]

I can probably only afford 1 of them after I had Santana, not sure which one to keep. Playing in Camden Yards other parks in div are Wrigley, PNC and Jacobs. I'm leaning towards Burnett because of his lack of HR's given up, but Patterson has the lower whip. Or I could keep both forget about Santana and go after some much needed offence. I also have Pedro. Any suggestions

[Roscodog]

Or I could have a rotation of Martinez, Santana, Patterson and Burnett and forget about offence

[Jerlins]

Or better still, dump the overpriced Santana and go with the other two.

[Roscodog]

I think that's what I'm leaning towards as well

[PossibleJohn]

Dump Santana.

[MICHAELTARBELL]

A URL to your team would be helpful....but I would not say "dump Santana" without seeing the rest of your team. He is the 2nd best pitcher in the deck imho...and a real stud in a neutral/pitchers park. It also seems that to have at least one "stud" is pretty important in 06.....

A couple examples...

[url=http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2006/team/team_other.html?user_id=4863][b:58c694a02c]Santana in Turner[/b:58c694a02c][/url]

[url=http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2006/team/team_other.html?user_id=268][b:58c694a02c]Santana in Kaufmann[/b:58c694a02c][/url]

[url=http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2006/team/team_other.html?user_id=2941][b:58c694a02c]Santana in Camden Yard[/b:58c694a02c][/url]

Good luck! :)

[Jerlins]

I respectfully disagree both about Santana and the need for a stud pitcher.
My two championships were won with D. Davis as my ace in Angels stadium, and Sabathia on my Cell team. The Cell team, (103 wins, division was plus 49 wins so the division was strong) had a combined total of $11.37 spent on the starting 4, less than $23 total on the whole pitching staff, and while I did mash the ball, my staff finished 7th in ERA in a league spiced with pitchers parks. How? I spent the coin saved on defensive studs that can hit the ball, such as ARod, Ensberg, and Andruw.



I'm of the opinion the SP's are way overpriced and the value comes from the $2 to 5 million range. In 05, the need was there, but then again the value was there for the studs as well. Take a look at the 06 Clemens and compare it with the 05 RJ, then take a look at the 05 Santana vs the 06. Not even close!!! I tried a stud P with Pettite in Dolphins Stadium and the best he can muster was the 4th best winning % on my staff of 4, and he was NOT facing others #1's either, as I placed him 2nd in the rotation. Buehrle, Blanton, and Oswalt all had a better winning %.

Clemens, Pettite, Santana? Save the coin and put it into a good hitting, good defense hitter instead. The only *SP with any value in my opinion is Willis, and if anything, he's just at fair value. Stud starters were the key in 05, I'm convinced in 06 they are the kiss of death. Hitting and defense are the keys to 06, and getting a hitter that can do both is the easier path to the playoffs.

Then again, we all have differing opinions, which is why we play the games :)

[Roscodog]

I ended up going with a rotation of MARTINEZ, PATTERSON, BURNETT, and LOAIZA. I really needed some offence so I took M.Cabrera with the 1st pick in the waiver draft instead of Santana. So far so good. I think ptiching was key in 2005, in 06 to be honest I haven't quite figured out what works yet.

[MICHAELTARBELL]

Jerlins, who would you say are the "values" in the 2-5 mill range in a hitters park?

[Jerlins]

Buehrle, Lackey, Oswalt, Sabathia to name a few of the *SP's. I won't go into the non *'s. Are their cards as good as the plus $6? No!!! But, I'd rather have those 4 SP's at $16.12, than a Clemens and whatever other slop you can build for the same price. Or if you're so inclined to spend an average of $4 on your other 3 SP's for a total of $23.11, well, thats one less $7 hitter on your team, or one helluva RP/Closer.

Don't get me wrong, I was very successful with RJ or Santana in 05. Their cards, as well as the hitters cards, justified the money spent. This year, if you want similar type hitters, you're paying more for them. Unlike 05, you cant have you're $28 to $32 million staff and walk away with good hitters or basically, a "complete team". Having the big stud pitcher in 06 means A: you're sacrificing the rest of your starting staff, B: you're sacrificing your bullpen, or C: you're sacrificing your hitting.

As mentioned before, its a different philosophy, and of course, there is probably no perfect answer. I won a ring with a starting staff of $15.31 and Heilmann as my only plus $1 RP in Angels Stadium, and I won my other ring with a starting staff of $11.37 (the cost of Clemens alone) and only 2 RP's (Heilmann and Hasegawa) over $1, at the Cell. And no, my division was not weak, it finished at a plus 48 wins. The only time I finished with a sub .500 was my first venture into 06, thinking the same strategy exisited in 06 as 05. I spent $30 on pitching. I've learned by my mistake and have played .555 ball since that first team fiasco.

Again, I found this way successful, I'm sure you can give examples to the contrary, which, of course, you have been successful. I'm sure I just haven't found the right hitters or pitchers to make the $28 to $32 million staff successful, and at this late in the year, I'm guessing I never will.