Secret Formula 2006

[cummings2]

[b:1510f38b7a]PBTR[/b:1510f38b7a]: Very Interesting team. I'll be following closely. Are you letting HAL fill in the lineups? If not I'll be doing sme homework trying to figure out and learn a new trick from those funk-ee lineups I just saw from your first series. I see you're in a division with Jacobs, Petco and Kauffman. How much of the player selection was influenced by that?

Thanks for sharing the link. Fun to follow those teams.


[b:1510f38b7a]PD[/b:1510f38b7a]: As far as managerial settings I do believe that they have a lot to do with squeezing a few more wins every now and then. As Marcus pointed out the impact is fairly small and won't make a "bad" team a powerhouse.

I usually run on Normal for most settings. I do most of managing through the individual cards. One setting I certainly stay away from is the "IBB Less" I've read some posts encouraging to check that but in my experience it brings some fairly bad results, true enough the IBB sometimes comes back to haunt you, but not walking tough bats with two outs and 1B open comes back to bite you more often than the IBB -in my limited experience.

Personally I don't think there's a particular set of rules for managerial settings, Stoney and marcus already shared all I can contribute in that area. As far as what I do? I like perusing boxscores and stats and so I like to check the individual stats, manager profiles and team fielding pages. I very often find "missing/broken links" to my team there, who's getting IBB'd more, who's GiDPs more, if I am not turning DPs.

Perusing all the stats is perhaps the most fun part of the game... for me at least.

Hope some of this helps.

[J-Pav]

[b:f81799ae28]PBTR[/b:f81799ae28]:

[b:f81799ae28]SALARY CONSTRUCTION[/b:f81799ae28]:

1. $7.66 - [color=red:f81799ae28]$4.97[/color:f81799ae28]
2. $6.03 - [color=red:f81799ae28]$3.54[/color:f81799ae28]
3. $5.23 - [color=red:f81799ae28]$3.23[/color:f81799ae28]
4. $4.02 - [color=red:f81799ae28]$2.91[/color:f81799ae28]
5. $2.65 - $2.36
6. $2.05 - $2.13
7. $1.55 - $1.40
8. $1.13 - $0.66
9. $0.95 - $0.56
10. $0.62 - $0.51

1. $8.61 - [color=green:f81799ae28]$13.61[/color:f81799ae28]
2. $7.22 - $7.92
3. $6.59 - $6.05
4. $5.51 - $4.90
5. $4.24 - $4.65
6. $3.74 - $4.58
7. $3.10 - [color=green:f81799ae28]$4.31[/color:f81799ae28]
8. $2.14 - [color=green:f81799ae28]$3.75[/color:f81799ae28]
9. $1.69 - [color=green:f81799ae28]$2.57[/color:f81799ae28]
10. $1.10 - $1.01
11. $0.86 - $0.93
12. $0.73 - $0.91
13. $0.67 - $0.68
14. $0.61 - $0.67
15. XXX - [color=green:f81799ae28]$0.59[/color:f81799ae28]
16. XXX - [color=green:f81799ae28]$0.56[/color:f81799ae28]

Your salary construction was obviously geared around the "low budget staff to get A-Rod in Minute Maid Strategy (where's Abreu??)." After A-Rod, you upgraded your bottom of the order and bench at the expense of your pitching staff.

I know you can make this work (I've already seen one of your teams somewhat similar to this win 100 games when we went head to head). I'll be interested to see if Crain gets the innings to justify being your highest priced pitcher, and if the added depth at the bottom of the order proves to provide added value. Your pitching/hitting split is $22.27/$57.69.

[b:f81799ae28]PITCHING[/b:f81799ae28]:

Obviously you sacrificed pitching to set up your offense (A-Rod) strategy. With the pitcher's parks in your division, you should be able to maintain a low ERA/low WHIP. But will it be low [i:f81799ae28]enough[/i:f81799ae28]? This will be the question to be answered in the end.

Personally, pitching has always been my strong suit and I struggle to get the right mix of hitters. I like the low dollar staff idea, but it hasn't worked for me (personally) like it has in the past. Although I don't want to debate Petco strategies, it doesn't make sense to me to go high dollar pitching, when I think you add value by doing more with less pitching. I like what you're trying to do here (although I have seen the high dollar pitching in Petco thing work very well on many occasions).

[b:f81799ae28]BALLPARK[/b:f81799ae28] and [b:f81799ae28]OFFENSE[/b:f81799ae28]:

Specialty ballpark (Minute Maid), with high lefty obp, high righty slugging. Makes sense to me.

[b:f81799ae28]DEFENSE:[/b:f81799ae28]

2B-[b:f81799ae28]2[/b:f81799ae28], SS-[b:f81799ae28]2[/b:f81799ae28], CF-[b:f81799ae28]2[/b:f81799ae28]; strong at catcher and LF, with Glaus the lone renegade 3e28 at 3B (but still hardly a disaster considering the 2s and 3s w/ low errors everywhere else).

So to say this set-up is [i:f81799ae28]Anti-Secret Formula[/i:f81799ae28] might be a little strong, with so many of the fundamentals I mentioned in place, but I appreciate you throwing out a low dollar staff for scrutiny before the season started. If it were being managed by a lesser player than you, I'd bet against it. But we both already know [i:f81799ae28]you[/i:f81799ae28] can make this work [i:f81799ae28][b:f81799ae28](maybe!)[/b:f81799ae28][/i:f81799ae28]

[b:f81799ae28]Burghers[/b:f81799ae28]:

This thread spends a [i:f81799ae28]lot[/i:f81799ae28] of time arguing over the number 32. I'm not really interested in the set-up of any particular team. [i:f81799ae28]Any[/i:f81799ae28] team can win [i:f81799ae28]any[/i:f81799ae28] league with [i:f81799ae28]any[/i:f81799ae28] amount of pitching salary at [i:f81799ae28]any[/i:f81799ae28] given time. Ask anybody and they'll tell you about [b:f81799ae28]all the teams[/b:f81799ae28] that won for them that weren't at 32 million on pitching.

[b:f81799ae28]HOWEVER[/b:f81799ae28], for the past three years, when you add up all the pitching salary of all the winners and divide by the number of teams, the number is 32. My point is simply to be aware of this. This is your most forgiving number. I'm not naive enough to say that nothing else works. I'm saying that for every dollar you deviate from 32, YOU as the manager better know the reason why you're doing so, so that you understand how you are adding value to your team. [b:f81799ae28]Doug[/b:f81799ae28]'s team is a good example of this. A less experienced manager [i:f81799ae28]probably[/i:f81799ae28] won't execute the strategy as well as someone like [b:f81799ae28]Doug[/b:f81799ae28], so they should be thinking about this before going in with a low budget staff or super high budget staff.

[MARCPELLETIER]

Personally, PTBR, I don't like your team. Not enough right-handed bashers for MM, in my opinion. I like the idea of platooning, but I don't like your choice of platoons. Plus, it seems to me that if you opt to have 4 platoons, you should balance the distributions of dollars spent vs lhp and rhp. As of now, you have 4 players in your line-up vs lhp who cost 1.01M or less. I don't like the idea of having 2 lhp in your SPs, considering MM.

Well, prove me wrong. If you are still succesful, I will say that your division was weak. :wink:

[Play By The Rules]

[quote:a523ada007]I see you're in a division with Jacobs, Petco and Kauffman. How much of the player selection was influenced by that?
[/quote:a523ada007]

Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, we have a wiener...

Of course the adjustment to my players started only after players were drafted, and I completely missed the ball on my OF of Guererro, Jones (a certain highly respected Vet owner refused to trade him despite being in Petco) and Rivera. I was lucky to get Guillen and had to cobble in elsewhere, it's my first time in 06' with DeJesus and I had Tyner one other place, considered him or Crisp but just didn't think Coco was worth the extra $$$ to platoon.

Slanted parks can be played as HR parks to the strong side OR pitchers' parks to the weak side, I am trying (at least with my pitchers) to do the latter. Normally I'd probably only go with 3 LH/SH and load up on a lot more slugging.

As for the crazy lineups, I am a fan of varying left/right etc. Although in this case it is a bit weird, for now I'm trying Tyner and his singles/SB leadoff. Normally Garibito would lead off, he does well #2 also (low DPs), so to start with I'm trying him at #3, and Mauer down at #5. The other choice is Garibito #1, Mauer #3, DeJesus #5 (I thought he was a bit too weak to hit here behind ARod) and Tyner #7 (he hits nothing but singles but has a nice clutch.) We'll see which one I decide on. I'm hoping that, in theory, since my RH guys are all sluggers (except Ellis, who I've seen hit over 20HRs in the Juice Box) a lot of those walks and singles from my LH hitters will be converted into two run HRs. We'll see.

My idea of the "secret formula" was mostly the pitcher/hitter dollar distribution thing. Evidently it's evolved over secret formula 1! Truth is, most of the time I tend to spend more on hitting than your formula says I should. In a perfect world I totally agree with you, that money spent on pitching (especially SP) is well worth the investment. However, in the 2006 set, there is so little quality SP available that I have grown tired of spending a bunch of top picks on stud SP, and ending up with Ben Sheets... There are almost always quality high priced RP available later, so I almost always invest in one or two of them.

The only thing I hate about this team is that I have too many players. There are a bunch of injury players, and the platoons, and my experience is the "secret formula" for me is usually 24 players. I just couldn't find places to consolodate those extra guys that were worth it from what I could see.

We'll have to see how they end up.

[quote:a523ada007]If you are still succesful, I will say that your division was weak. :wink: [/quote:a523ada007]

Well, that certainly covers your "derriere" regardless of how I finish! Thanks for the expert commentary! :wink:

[Play By The Rules]

There is a team in division and I think three other teams in the league where I can use Padilla as a SP. I have Vargas to start (especially against the three Safeco teams in the Central) occasionally (normally he might spot for Bush a bit too but the non-division stadia are 3 Safecos, 2 Turners, 2 Petcos and one US Cell- total pitchers' league) but mainly to function as my cheap one inning LH reliever. I saw a manager do this (he actually never started Vargas) with great success (he kills lefties even for a SP.) I let Flores go at the last minute to pick up Fick, so I surely hope this works!

[Play By The Rules]

I will say one thing. In my 200+ TSNSOM teams, you'd have to look for a neddle in a haystack to find teams which didn't have 2s or less up the middle (never really thought of that as part of the "Secret Formula," but OK...) However, in my normal Ameriquest environs, lately I've found Junior (with a Singleton/Brunlett or Ellison backup platoon) the best value for CF in those situations. It's changed my thinking, somewhat.

[worrierking]

[quote:76356ad3d3]Sorry I don't have much to add to this discussion... [/quote:76356ad3d3]

We knew you couldn't resist!

I'll be paying attention to your team because I have usually played slanted parks as hitters parks. It will be interesting to watch your staff, which I like a lot.

I understand why you typically spend less than secret formula dollars on pitching. In the few times we have hooked up in leagues, I've seen you get remarkable performances from some very cheap guys. We were in a league in '05 in which we were in the same division and the same park (Cell) and you spent about 3 or 4 million less on your staff than me, yet had a vastly better result. It allowed you to spend on O (Bonds) and win the championship.

[BRIANSIELSKI]

[quote:ec52b3efc5]It allowed you to spend on O (Bonds) and win the championship. [/quote:ec52b3efc5]

Actually, that's [b:ec52b3efc5]Bonds*[/b:ec52b3efc5].

By the way, this has been a very helpful topic. I just wish it would translate into a positive record for me. :cry:

Doc

[J-Pav]

Just about halfway through the season, [i:3a851ff28b]Secret Formula[/i:3a851ff28b] continues to chug along, as does [b:3a851ff28b]PBTR[/b:3a851ff28b]'s [i:3a851ff28b]Anti-Secret Formula[/i:3a851ff28b] team.

I started this thread because of I was pretty enthusiastic about the concept of salary construction, especially since there appeared to be less bargain priced player options available (from my perspective). Unfortunately, we spent a lot of time discussing pitching salaries and the salary construction thing sort of took a back seat.

Then I tried this...

One of the things I like to fool around with when I have the time is the Baseball Musings line-up analyzer. I input percentages for obp and total bases (slg) versus both right and left hand pitching. Usually I'm able to generate runs per game in the high 5 area. (**Note: this is not precise, but it does work on a relative basis; that is, I use the same numbers the same way, and use the Runs Per Game output as a raw score for comparison purposes, not necessarily an exact benchmark that I would expect my team to achieve in a season.**)

Fooling around with a team where Derrick Lee was available in the FA pool, I realized that by getting Lee into the batting order, I could generate a lineup that created [b:3a851ff28b]6.30[/b:3a851ff28b] runs per game [i:3a851ff28b]from both sides of the plate[/i:3a851ff28b]. This was an enormous pct increase over the other lineups I have cobbled together, especially versus lhp.

Remember, I had Lee in my [i:3a851ff28b]Secret Formula[/i:3a851ff28b] team lineup before I opted to use Sexson/Edmonds instead (more in line with the salary ideas I was purporting). I didn't like the Super High Dollar stud idea (except conceding the A-Rod in Minute Maid thing) when I could have two studs for the salary of one. But here I went ahead and tried it out:

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2006/team/team_other.html?user_id=14463

If anybody could explain to me how this experiment went so completely awry, please feel free to offer some thought. This team is dead last in offense, and I have only had HAL hate a team this badly one other time in over 140 teams of playing SOM online.

My take is that the salary construction idea should be maximized by having hitters of roughly equal value (between $5-6 mil), taking into consideration a few bargains, a platoon and an increase in the salaries at the top of the batting order (where the players get more ab's). Lee simply costs too much from the rest of the line-up.

Cue the teams that have won with Derrick Lee... :twisted:

[geekor]

3/5 title teams for me had D Lee
3 had Duffy
2 had Castillo
2 had Maddux
2 had ayala

I don't think any other players were doubled up