WHY DOES MY LINEUP SUCK!!!!

[matdavis721]

Im 66 games into the season and my lineup is doing terrible. 7 players in my lineup are hitting more than 40 points below what their average should be, even with homerun friendly ballparks. any help would be greatly appreciated. Im in us cellular with a wrigley, rogers centre, and comerica. here is the link to my team and my lineups.

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2007/team/team_other.html?user_id=9739

Lineup vs LHP
1. Jeter, D. (R) SS
2. Johnson, N. (L) 1B
3. Atkins, G. (R) 3B
4. Guerrero, V. (R)
5. Howard, R. (L) DH
6. Utley, C. (L) 2B
7. Sizemore, G. (L)
8. Hernandez, R. (R)
9. Johnson, R. (R) LF

Lineup vs. RHP -
1. Jeter, D. (R) SS
2. Sizemore, G. (L)
3. Howard, R. (L) DH
4. Atkins, G. (R) 3B
5. Guerrero, V. (R) RF
6. Utley, C. (L) 2B
7. Johnson, R. (R) LF
8. Johnson, N. (L) 1B
9. Hernandez, R. (R) C

[teamnasty]

You have good players, you just need to ride out the bad luck. Jeter Utley and Sizemore should all improve, the others are on par. You are certainly softer versus lefties than righties, and I have other minor quibbles like batting Nick Johnson 8th vs righties when he is a better hitter than Vlad, Utley et al, but really you have a fine lineup and patience is called for.

[teamnasty]

...and Reed Johnson should improve too. However, your rotation is legitimately awful. You need to adjust your settings to shift relief innings away from Beimel and Baez over to your 3 studs, Meredith, Otsuka, and League. Beimel should be for lefties only, Baez on mop-up, and the big 3 should be brought in around the 6th inning of every game with your starters all on quick hooks. That, plus some better offensive luck while standing pat should do wonders, though you've buried a big hole.

[the splinter]

Connsider leading off with Vlad vs. RHP. This allows him to avoid the DP and reach second base for the middle of the lineup. I have had him hit over .330 in two leagues from the leadoff spot.

[LANCEBOUSLEY]

hmmm...

this is a HR team... soooo....

vs rhp get as much obp in front of howard as posible..... Jeter is your only positive clutch guy so he has to go fifth to protect howard.... then he sets the table again for atkins, utley and vlad in decending OBP order....

N johnson
R Johnson
Sizemore
Howard
Jeter (only guy with positive clutch to protect Howard)
Atkins
Utley
Vlad
Hernandez

[LANCEBOUSLEY]

vs lefties other than batting sizermore 9th you could draw em out of a bag...... man your team should hit lefty pitching.

[PIZZAZZ]

RIGHTY LINEUP I COME UP WITH

JETER-SS
JOHNSON-1B
SIZEMORE-CF
HOWARD-DH
ATKINS-3B
UTLEY-2B
GUERRERO-RF
HERNANDEZ-C
JOHNSON-LF

VS. RIGHTIES...I AGREE WITH LACK OF OBA...
**VS. LEFTIES...THIS TEAM SHOULD KILL LEFTIES-FLAT OUT!!
THAT LINEUP COULD BE ANY WHICH WAY IN MY BOOK...
I WOULD LOOK TO IMPROVE PITCHING..TOUGH PARK FOR IT...AND INCREASE OBA VS RIGHTYS!!!

[CHARLESBELL]

A group a good hitters does not always make a great lineup. You are facing an overwhelming diet of RH pitching (1790 to 637 ABs) with a lineup that has 5 RH hitters, 4 of which (jeter, vlad, atkins, and catching) are much better against LH pitching. Of the 4 lefties in the lineup, only howard and sizemore are really heavily favored against RHers.

I wonder how much hard RH pitching you are facing, which is what I would be throwing at your lineup.

Even assuming the offense is underperforming, you are still averaging over 5 runs per game. I can't see how many runs total your opponents have scored, but just looking at the earned runs, your pitching is giving up over 6 runs per game. I'm not sure the offense, even clicking on all cylinders, is going to overcome that pitching, which I think has contributed a lot more to your W-L record than the lack of offense.

On the pitching - over $12M spent on two hard RHers out of the pen is getting your relief pitching killed. They face lefties almost half the time and are getting rocked. You really should trade meredith for a RH R2 who can get lefties out.

Otsuki should close vs RH, Beimel close vs LH, and Closer set to maximize to keep them out of the early innings. Add a cheap relief to the pen for mop up to save your better arms when games get out of hand. Set Baez to not come in before the 7th. He can at least get some use out of his C3 rating and with this setup it forces your two best relievers (league and meredith/replacement) into the game more often. I'd have them both on slow hook and let them stack up the innings.

One other thought is that if you had a 6th SP you could put Morris at the top of your rotation and get more starts out of him, with the 5th and 6th SPs sharing the 5th spot in the order. But that is only a marginal improvement to the rotation given the calibre of pitching your have.

Good luck!

[emart]

Can you post a link to your FA pool?

What's obvious to me is that your pitching is out of whack - too much money tied up on big dollar RP and not enough quality starter innings. With Atkins at 3rd, Howard at 1st, Utley and Vlad, your defense is also allowing lots of runners on base, which is hurting you. Not surprised that your staff is getting shelled. Using the FA pool, I'd try to find some more economical low bphr RP, keeping your closer and Baez/Biemel, then shifting money to the rotation. Your settings need work as well, as HAL seems to be having his way with the pen.

I would normally prefer Sizemore batting 2nd, but with this group I'd go Sizemore/Jeter/Howard/Atkins/Johnson/Vlad. I'd move Johnson for a less expensive LF, since he doesn't have any significant bphr contribution, and shift that money to the rotation as well.

[matdavis721]

here is the top sp, and rp in my free agent pool

Harden, Rich OAK R S5 4 0 0 46.2 31 22 26 49 4.24 1.22 1L 5.89M
Olsen, Scott FLA L S6 12 10 0 180.2 160 81 75 166 4.03 1.30 6L 3.37M
Patterson, John WAS R S5 1 2 0 40.2 36 20 9 42 4.43 1.11 9R 3.16M
Hamels, Cole PHI L S6 9 8 0 132.1 117 60 48 145 4.08 1.25 1L 3.07M
Gorzelanny, Tom PIT L S5 2 5 0 61.2 50 26 31 40 3.79 1.31 4R 2.94M
Verlander, Justin DET R S6 17 9 0 186.0 187 75 60 124 3.63 1.33 2R 2.93M
Glavine, Tom NYM L S6* 15 7 0 198.0 202 84 62 131 3.82 1.33 6L 2.86M
Myers, Brett PHI R S7* 12 7 0 198.0 194 86 63 189 3.91 1.30 2L 2.77M
Hensley, Clay SD R S6/R3 11 12 0 187.0 174 77 76 122 3.71 1.34 E 2.76M
Burnett, A.J. TOR R S7 10 8 0 135.2 138 60 39 118 3.98 1.30 3L 2.74M
Saunders, Joe LAA L S6 7 3 0 70.2 71 37 29 51 4.71 1.42 5L 2.66M
Wakefield, Tim BOS R S6 7 11 0 140.0 135 72 51 90 4.63 1.33 5L 2.64M
Lilly, Ted TOR L S6 15 13 0 181.2 179 87 81 160 4.31 1.43 6L 2.53M
Padilla, Vicente TEX R S6* 15 10 0 200.0 206 100 70 156 4.50 1.38 7R 2.47M
Hendrickson, Mark LAD L S6/R3 6 15 0 164.2 173 77 62 99 4.21 1.43 E 2.46M
Ledezma, Wil DET L S5/R3 3 3 0 60.1 60 24 23 39 3.58 1.38 2L 2.23M
Davis, Doug MIL L S6* 11 11 0 203.1 206 111 102 159 4.91 1.51 4R 2.17M
Williams, Woody SD R S6 12 5 0 145.1 152 59 35 72 3.65 1.29 3L 2.08M
Nieve, Fernando HOU R S5/R3 3 3 0 96.1 87 45 41 70 4.20 1.33 1R 2.05M
Lee, Cliff CLE L S6* 14 11 0 200.2 224 98 58 129 4.40 1.41 1L 2.05M
Cabrera, Daniel BAL R S5 9 10 0 148.0 130 78 104 157 4.74 1.58 2L 2.01M
Billingsley, Chad LAD R S5/R3 7 4 0 90.0 92 38 58 59 3.80 1.67 5R 1.78M
Milton, Eric CIN L S6 8 8 0 152.2 163 88 42 90 5.19 1.34 5L 1.77M
Hudson, Luke KC R S6/R3 7 6 0 102.0 109 58 38 64 5.12 1.44 4L 1.73M
Suppan, Jeff STL R S6 12 7 0 190.0 207 87 69 104 4.12 1.45 2R 1.72M


RELIEVERS
Betancourt, Rafael CLE R R2/C2 3 4 3 56.2 52 24 11 48 3.81 1.11 4L 4.13M
Vizcaino, Luis ARI R R1 4 6 0 65.1 51 26 29 72 3.58 1.22 9L 3.08M
Wuertz, Mike CHC R R2 3 1 0 40.2 35 12 16 42 2.66 1.25 3L 2.97M
Rivera, Saul WAS R R2/C0 3 0 1 60.1 59 23 32 41 3.43 1.51 6L 2.85M
Hensley, Clay SD R S6/R3 11 12 0 187.0 174 77 76 122 3.71 1.34 E 2.76M
Qualls, Chad HOU R R2 7 3 0 88.2 76 37 28 56 3.76 1.17 3L 2.71M
Aardsma, David CHC R R2 3 0 0 53.0 41 24 28 49 4.08 1.30 5L 2.49M
Miller, Trever HOU L R1/C0 2 3 1 50.2 42 17 13 56 3.02 1.09 2R 2.47M
Hendrickson, Mark LAD L S6/R3 6 15 0 164.2 173 77 62 99 4.21 1.43 E 2.46M
Julio, Jorge ARI R R1/C4 2 4 16 66.0 52 31 35 88 4.23 1.32 5L 2.35M
McCarthy, Brandon CHW R R3 4 7 0 84.2 77 44 33 69 4.68 1.30 6L 2.35M
Chulk, Vinnie SF R R2 1 3 0 46.1 46 27 20 43 5.24 1.42 8L 2.29M
Myers, Mike NYY L R1 1 2 0 30.2 29 11 10 22 3.23 1.27 6R 2.28M
Speier, Justin TOR R R1 2 0 0 51.1 47 17 21 55 2.98 1.32 4L 2.25M
Ledezma, Wil DET L S5/R3 3 3 0 60.1 60 24 23 39 3.58 1.38 2L 2.23M
Linebrink, Scott SD R R1/C1 7 4 2 75.2 70 30 22 68 3.57 1.22 8L 2.09M
Ramirez, Ramon COL R R2 4 3 0 67.2 58 26 27 61 3.46 1.26 6R 2.08M
Weathers, David CIN R R2/C3 4 4 12 73.2 61 29 34 50 3.54 1.29 2L 2.05M
Nieve, Fernando HOU R S5/R3 3 3 0 96.1 87 45 41 70 4.20 1.33 1R 2.05M
Correia, Kevin SF R R2 2 0 0 69.2 64 27 22 57 3.49 1.23 2R 2.00M
Bauer, Rick TEX R R2/C1 3 1 2 71.0 73 28 25 35 3.55 1.38 3L 1.99M
Paronto, Chad ATL R R1 2 3 0 56.2 53 20 19 41 3.18 1.27 1R 1.97M
Borowski, Joe FLA R R1/C5 3 3 36 69.2 63 29 33 64 3.75 1.38 7L 1.96M
Wainwright, Adam STL R R2/C2 2 1 3 75.0 64 26 22 72 3.12 1.15 9R 1.91M
Torres, Salomon PIT R R1/C3 3 6 12 93.1 98 34 38 72 3.28 1.46 E 1.86M