settings question...

[bomp helium]

I'm going with big offense at Coors, with solid starting pitching...the (very) weak link in my armour is the RPs...so what settings should I use to maximize the starters?..."conservative" for the bullpen setting, "slow hook" for the starters?...either? both?...

I'm sure others have sacrificed RP for other priorities...what settings have seemed to work for you guys?...

thanks in advancia...

[J-Pav]

[b:48b86d2004]Helium56[/b:48b86d2004]:

Post a link to your team by clicking on "[i:48b86d2004]Your League[/i:48b86d2004]", then "[i:48b86d2004]Statistics[/i:48b86d2004]", then click on your team. Copy the link there and paste it into the forums page. You'll see the team ID number at the end of the link.

"Solid" starting pitching is a bit relative.

:)

[bomp helium]

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2005/team/team_other.html?user_id=51621

here's the link to my team...

what I mean by "solid" is that it was my second priority, after offense...

thanks...

[J-Pav]

[b:f38dfd6e07]Helium[/b:f38dfd6e07]:

Have you played many teams this season? If you're new to the 2005 game, you should take a look at two threads:

I posted a four part series in the Strat-O-Matic Online section called "[i:f38dfd6e07]The Secret Formula[/i:f38dfd6e07]" which begins on page 17 in the SOM online section. It will save you a lot of time, rather than me posting what's wrong with your team and why.

In the Strategy section is a thread called [i:f38dfd6e07]The Newbie Advice Thread[/i:f38dfd6e07], which was started by [b:f38dfd6e07]Marcus Wilby[/b:f38dfd6e07].

A lot of good players posted their thoughts and ideas in these two threads, and once you read them you'll understand why your team, as it is, is destined for last place. If you've already played some and you're just experimenting, then that's another matter!

[bomp helium]

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2005/team/team_other.html?user_id=40761

no need for criticizing my team...which is why I didn't post the link iin the first post...just a simple question about pitching settings...

this is my fourth team...the first was a dud...after that I began using variations on the team which you "destined for last place"...the three teams have gone 1st, 1st and 1st, two Coors and a Yankee...above is the link to the first team, which won 99 games, won the division by 26 games, and begins playoffs tonight...the other two are chugging along with pretty good mid-season leads...

my winning percentage isn't bad (.570 or so), so maybe I'm onto something minor...

so I'm not worried about the team...with a salary cap, the game becomes about "value"...and it seems to me there's lots of value in the under-2 mil RPs...I'm just trying to figure out how best to arrange both manager and player settings...

I know the "golden rules" (up the middle defense, etc.) but I can't help noticing that major league teams bust this rule all the time...there's a whole buncha "4"s in the Hall of Fame...I will say that if you do sacrifice defense at ss, 2b or CF, make sure your man's got the pop to create more runs than he allows...and also grab pitchers with plenty of those lovely GB-As (double plays)...this game is all about "value", and I just happen to think defense is overpriced...I also think "range" is slightly overvalued, so I look for low e-ratings...I'm trying to see how far I can bend the up-the-middle rule until I go Too Far (which of course I may have)...

but so far I've been amazed at how effective my high-injury, mediocre-defense teams are...my key is to have a lineup that never stops coming at you, even with two horses down, and starting pitching that can keep you in the game, and a lights-out super-reliever...

I'm a firm believer in OBP, and a few other sabermetrics that I have devised (sorry, classified)...

anyway, sorry for being defensive (pun alert) and thanks for any and all advice...

My first team (at yankee stadium) followed those rules and flopped...I will hate Brian Roberts, Corey Koskie, Vernon Wells and Kevin Mench till the end of time (although I was happy with ss Guzman)...

[J-Pav]

[b:1d56ce1a16]Helium[/b:1d56ce1a16]:

Thanks for posting your team. I'd really like for you to post your other teams, because if what your describing is working, I've never seen it done successfully before in 2005 and would really like to learn from it!

I guess after re-reading my post I probably sounded like a schmuck. Didn't intend to be insulting or anything. Apologies extended.

I've played a few teams this year and have never seen a team with this kind of make-up ever even make the playoffs. Keep it going and best of luck!

To answer your original question...

The short answer is to set your "solid starters" on slow hook; however, I think solid is defined differently and can't say I'd want any of your starters on slow hook in Coors.

Again, good luck with your team! If you whoop on Daniel (dneedle) like you did the other three guys in your other league, I'll be launching a whole fleet of experimental teams to check this out!!

[bomp helium]

Garcia and kennedy on slow hook?

how about the "conservative" setting?...what has that done for you?...I'm not even sure what it means (stays in for one extra baserunner? or what?)...sometimes I wish SOM would be a little more straightforward at how decisions are made at the software level...

I'd be happy to talk philosophy with you anytime, on the boards or privately...always looking to learn, and share what little I know...

hoping for a good night...my first playoff begins in 36 minutes, HAL time...

g.

[J-Pav]

I don't know that there's any real right or wrong answer to your question.

Typically, I have all studs on slow hook (but not always).

The second tier guys I leave blank.

The rest are on quick hook.

All SPs are generally set to "avoid...(the weak side)", except (usually) the studs.

But all of this changes if you're redoing your settings every night to match up against the days' opponent. (I'm typically a draft and leave alone manager, except for match-up per game starters at times).

The other settings I've learned by trial and error, but I believe they have been discussed in other threads in the forums. Try an advanced search, I'm sure it's in here somewhere.

[J-Pav]

[b:4e2bd44ce8]Aray0113[/b:4e2bd44ce8]:

I set most (even my SPs) on avoid the weak side batter. I don't believe they pitch around the weak side. I believe that when they get tired, they'll be removed before facing weak side hitters. So if HAL is ready to replace Weaver, he'll do it when Giambi comes to the plate.

I remember back in 2002 when I first tried it with a starter, I was absolutely sure HAL would remove the pitcher for the third batter of the first inning if he was a weak side hitter (ie the first lefty that Weaver faces). When this didn't happen, I guess I just assumed that there was actually some logic to the whole avoid-weak-side-batters thing (for SPs).

I'm hoping that HAL uses the setting as [i:4e2bd44ce8]I[/i:4e2bd44ce8] would use it (probably not). But truth be told, I've never gone back and checked it out by watching box scores or anything like that, so I could be guilty of perpetuating a superstition rather than passing on anything factually useful. But I also don't recall having a situation jump out at me where clicking the "avoid" box somehow hurt me. I still do it on my most current teams.

Lastly, I don't know that there's any "tips" that will take you to the top. The guys who win generally play a lot. The guys who win but don't play a lot generally spend a lot of time with the cards in deep analysis.

As I've written in the threads, I study every team that I compete against that wins a championship, and compare those teams with the other winning teams. Piles of insights come from this one technique, for me anyway. When I wrote the secret formula stuff, I think I had a 20 some team sample (and Bigmahon added another 20 or so) which demonstrated that on all 40 Champs teams, the manager had 1s and 2s at CF and SS w/ a handful of 3s at 2B (always Loretta or Carroll). That was 40 out of 40 teams.

In my opinion, if you're not doing at least this much, then you're looking West for a sunrise. Having said that, once you've played a dozen teams, then all the fun is in the outside the box ideas: injury prone teams, $20 mil pitching staffs, home run record teams etc. That's why [b:4e2bd44ce8]helium56[/b:4e2bd44ce8]'s post is so intriguing to me. If this actually works, then this is like three standard deviations outside the box and I would consider it a major insight. However, I believe it worked in this particular example because of the level of competition, not because the offensive value of Barry Larkin offsetting the four on defense at SS was overlooked.

I guess we'll have to wait and see...

:)