F. Robinson, Kaline or Covington?

[JohnnyBlazers]

at Riverfront? Who would be the better choice? I'm thinking of dropping Canseco to get a better avg/OBP. He strikes out at an incredible rate and though I get decent production from him, it wouldn't be bad if two of my other starters didn't K as much (Bench & Wilson). This is my first team and having a lot of fun learning as I go but as a losing team, I'm treating this as an "experiment". This is a pitchers league (8 of 12 teams are in pitcher's parks). My pitching is bad I know but I'm at least starting to use my match-ups a bit better (L v. R). I also have some injury risk players but I have to live w/that (I already used a lot of cap in making changes) Any suggestions? Thanks

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/atg2/team/team_other.html?user_id=71086

[raslavens]

1st rule of thumb: Don't make wholescale changes after only a couple dozen games. This is a game of probabilities and things will skew toward the "norm" over

2nd rule of thumb: Don't make wholescale changes on the FA wire, period. A change or two midseason can have positive impact on your team, but you'll find the most successful teams stick to their guns or fix problems via trades.

3rd rule of thumb: Don't worry too much about Ks. In fact, sometimes Ks are better than GbAs (potential double play ground outs).

4th rule of thumb: Do pay attention to # HRs. These are ballpark HRs. If you're in a HR happy park like Baker Bowl... you want lots of these on your hitter's cards and very few on your pitcher's cards. The opposite is true for pitcher's parks. (Riverfront is a neutral park. # HRs come on dice rolls of 1-11, so BP HRs do play a role. Usually, you'll make decisions based on your divisional ballparks. Mudcat Grant, for example, has quite a few # HRs meaning he's better suited for a pitcher's park. Canseco is a rare hitter who has a lot of natural (non #) HRs meaning he's good in both types of parks.)

Hope this general info helps out. As for your specific question, I don't know what to tell you. Your team is pretty much doomed after so many changes. Those 20% salary cap hits after the season starts are costly.

[raslavens]

5th rule of thumb: Try your best to put the maximum amount of money into your 4/5 SPs, 2-3 RPs and starting offensive lineup. Most owners will only use $.50M backups unless there's an injury risk. There are loads of serviceable $.50M players in ATGII. For instance, on your team, McRae is not an efficient use of your $$$.

[JohnnyBlazers]

Thanks for the advice. I had to make changes because my team was drafted with no scheme in mind, except a 70's theme (mostly players from that era). I put the cart before the horse and didn't really understand the intricacies of the game before picking a team - but I'm getting there!