Advice on a small ball team

[pkwmati]

I like to use the wisdom of the experts here to critique my small ball team. Am I too deficient in power?

[url]http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2007/team/team_other.html?user_id=9290[/url]

Based on the FAs still available, I am weighing picking up F Sanchez and Polanco by cutting Hudson and Chavez. The cons I see in this is that, right now I have an infield of all 1s and I would surrendering more power, which I don't have much to begin with. On the plus side, I love Sanchez' card. Despite him being a 5L, by the looks of his card, he can hold his own against righties too. I also would be replacing 1s with 2e10s, still pretty good defense.

Any thoughts?

[visick]

Even though you are playing in a pitcher's park, you still need 2 guys at least, that slug and hit HR's.

IMHO- Chavez hasn't had a good card in years. He's a total waste in your park.

Abreu, Ichiro, Gonzo, Hudson and Jeter (though expensive) is what you should build this team around. You still need a guy like Ortiz or Hafner, natural HR guys, to bring these guys around the bases.

BTW- Since you will probably see more RH's than LH's, you are gonna need some bats that hit RH's better.

[pkwmati]

Thanks for the thoughts. My big draft miss was Hafner.

Looking at the FAs available, most of the big boppers left have too many BPHRs for my stadium. Thome is out there, but I'd have to cut Chavez & Furcal to get him, then I'd still need a 3B. Glaus is out there too, but again he's a 4L.

In my division, the 13 SPs I will face, 5 are lefties. In addition, 2 of the divisional closers are lefties (Wagner & Ryan).

My divisional parks are 2 RFKs and Shea. The rest of the league also has another Dolphins, 2 Petcos and an Angels.

[keyzick]

Sounds like you have a lot of pitcher parks...also looks like you're running short on money, but I like those guys Socal mentioned as well.

In case you DO try to do any restructuring, some other good guys with big bats for pitcher parks, that are available in your FA pool:

Helton, Atkins, Scott

All are good in any park, but you'd have to do some restructuring to afford them.

Jeter's great, but you already have Furcal, so maybe we could use that Jeter money to upgrade to some of the players I mentioned.

BTW - totally agree that Chavez is way overpriced :shock:

[visick]

IMO- You need guys that have 30 hit chances each way when you are in pitching parks. And you need guys at the top of the lineup that have close to 50 OB chances.

You don't need Furcal. I'd get a better DH. One that hits RH's better would help.

I'll look over your FA list.

German @ 2nd fits the bill for you. Natural hits with ALOT of OB.
Scott is LF is $.
Endy Chavez is a great bargain.
Escobar, with a decent backup, rakes.
Redmond rocks, but ZERO power.
Diaz, Gload, Quinlan, Loduca all have 30 hit chances BOTH ways.
VMart @ 1B will hit for ya.

I worry about the defense @ SS, 2B and CF in that order. Since you have Jeter @ SS, your set. German makes a nice DH and his defense won't kill you as long as you've got a 1 (Ichiro) in CF.

[visick]

Though Furcal would save you a ton of $, he's probably better suited to a hitting park.

[geekor]

how do I never get in these leagues...... :roll: :lol:

Socal is right, in pitchers parks I've done just fine without a HR guy, but you need guys with high BA and lots of TB's (ie doubles) to drive them in.

Abreu is a good leadoff, so you odn't need German. I would definetly find a way to get Scott at LF, doesn't matter how.

I've had horrible luck with Sowers and A Gonzalez (1b).

I would downgrade Sower to O'conner and save a ton of $$. Then I would Move Ozuna to 3b (dumping Chavez), and grab Scott for LF. Drop Furcal, AGon and Molina you could get Diaz (dh), LoDuca (C) and Quinlan (1b).

You can add up the cards yourself, but I'm sure you will see that Scott, Diaz, LoDuca, Quinlan > AGon, Furcal, Schnider, Chavez

[visick]

[quote:067dd63979]You can add up the cards yourself, but I'm sure you will see that Scott, Diaz, LoDuca, Quinlan > AGon, Furcal, Schnider, Chavez [/quote:067dd63979]

AMEN and well said geekor. :lol:

[pkwmati]

Thanks for the thoughts and input.

I just couldn't resist putting F. Sanchez on this small ball team. I ended up dropping Chavez, Furcal, J Molina and Gorzelanny and picking up F Sanchez, LoDuca, O'Conner and Langerhans.

I decided to stick with A Gonzalez (he hit .326 in Dolphins in my just completed 2007 league) and Sowers (he performed well too - and I'm an Indians fan)

Thanks again. I'll try to report on my progress (if anyone cares).

[pkwmati]

Don't know if any of you guys remember some help I asked for regarding a small ball team, but I wanted to pay homage to the experts (and brag a little I guess). The help you provided resulted in a championship! Here is the team:

[url]http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2007/team/team_other.html?user_id=9290[/url]

I was able to make a huge FA move 42 games in with my team struggling at 18-24. One of the teams in the league cut Hafner. I was able to cut Jeter, Abreu, Sheets and Wainright and pick up Hafner, Reyes, Penny and Sikorski.

Thanks to socalchiro, keyzick and geekor. I really have to thank Geekor for the suggestion of O'Connor (15-7, 2.91 ERA, 1.16 WHIP). All for under $1MM.