RJ, Santana, Zambrano at Yankee Stadium?

[hugedude24]

Newbie to the game here, ex-pro ballplayer and now addicted to this wonderful game known as Stratomatic baseball.

Just started my team and got messed up in the draft with no pitching, only Zambrano and most of my mashers lined up for Yankee Stadium. After much wheeling and dealing I went from offense and defense to uber-pitching and defense in order to win.

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2005/team/team_other.html?user_id=50761

My rotation is:

Randy Johnson
Johan Santana
Carlos Zambrano
Dontrelle Willis

with Mariano Rivera as my closer and a decent spot starter/reliever in Rodrigo Lopez and setup man in Jesus Colome.

Defense is solid, I wanted that from the beginning. Only 3 is in right with Chone Figgins, but everybody else is excellent.

How am I going to fare pitching in this stadium?

1. Figgins, Chone (S) RF
2. Clayton, Royce (R) SS
3. Clark, Brady (R) LF
4. Konerko, Paul (R) DH
5. Chavez, Eric (L) 3B
6. Lee, Derrek (R) 1B
7. Baldelli, Rocco (R) CF
8. Harris, Willie (L) 2B
9. Matheny, Mike (R) C

That's my lineup for pretty much both RHP and LHP, I really don't have much money left over after my pitching. Has anybody done well with these aces in a stadium like Yankee Stadium?

I'm curious so that I might fix things sooner rather than later. Thanks for your help...see you in the forums.

Greg

[MARCPELLETIER]

First, go on page3, and look for the topic : "great rotation....". The coach had the exact same pitching squad than yours.

IMO, you have too much $$$ in your relief. With Rivera there, I would say that you only need one other set-up, in the 2M range.

Also, I don't think I would go with 9L 9R as you seem to go. I understand your idea, but as a coach, you have to go with your strength, and your strength is that top 3 guns RJ, Santana, and Zambrano. It's not a good idea to have them relieved earlier simply because you have a 9R in the bullpen.

Make Rivera your set-up/closer. Have another 2M pitcher. and spend the rest on offense.

Offensively, the two weak spots are DH (for 5M, you can probably have a better dh than Konerko or Lee), and Figgins.

[hugedude24]

Thanks for your help Marcus. Funny that he had the exact rotation as I, it was bound to happen. I was able to drop some of the excess relievers and move for some cap room, but I cannot yet upgrade Konerko at DH or Figgins in right. I'll just have to wait for the season to progress and look to trade or upgrade later.

By the way, first series occurred Monday and both RJ and Santana won (Willis lost) and the trifecta is on for Tuesday!

[1crazycanuk]

The guy with that rotation is in my league. I was surprised he was able to get RJ AND Santana...and then someone else is able to as well! There's an old song that goes "some guys have all the luck"...

[MARCPELLETIER]

Now that the season has started, perhaps a better option would be to keep Figgins and Konerko and spend the money on a better catcher.

2 littles moves I would suggest: replace Lofton with a capable defender (just in case Hal decides to play Figgins at 3rd, and that you need a rf). And replace Leicaster with a better--still cheap reliever. Suggestion: Putz and Groom have done good things for me.

[visick]

I would lead off Clark vs. RH's.

FWIW-
I would have gone with cheap platoons with guys like Harris and Baldelli.

I think with your pitching, you'll be in the ballgame most of the time. But, especially vs. RH's the bottom of your order is weak.

[uncle ny]

If your season hasn't started, you ought to pick up a 2B vs. lhp. Harris can't hit a lick vs lhp. Aaron Miles would do the trick.

[hugedude24]

You guys have all been real helpful in making my team WAY better. This is a completely newbie league (one person has one other team) consisting of members of a large family and we all overvalued setup men, everybody else undervalued stud pitching and I overlooked platoon help on the cheap.

I have picked up Nix to play solid right field and rake versus RHP in place of Figgins and I picked up Blum to play a solid second and rake versus LHP in place of Harris. I'm sticking with my cheap catcher because Matheny and Molina are walls (I was a pitcher and I love defensive catchers, sorry) and there is really nobody else out there right now worth the money to replace them.

Question: I dropped Lofton and picked up Jordan as a defensive replacement, or possible replacement, for Figgins in RF versus lefties. That would make Figgins my utility/speed he was intended to be, but he hits OK versus lefties and I might leave him in RF still, what do you think?

Again, thank you to all you vets who have expanded my thinking in this game with just a few comments.

[1crazycanuk]

I'm just curious to how you could overvalue setup men? I've had Gordon pitch many innings as set up and closer and went to the finals with one of those teams. I would take a great set up man any day of the week.

Also...is it possible for a 31 year old man to learn how to pitch...to play in rec leagues or whatever? I always wanted to be a pitcher but never got to play baseball as a kid. If it's possible...how the heck do I do it? Thanks.

[hugedude24]

When you have RJ, Santana and Zambrano as your top three guys and Rivera as a closer, there is no point in having 3 different 3 million dollar set up men. That is overvaluing setup men in my opinion, especially now that I see how most of these games go (in real life, that would be about right). But I suppose three good ones are really required if you have "normal" starting pitching, and they can help you win a ton of games whereas poorer transitional pitchers can blow a ton of games for you.

As for becoming a pitcher, as long as you can throw the ball where you want it, you can get batters out. I never could, I am real tall and threw real hard (90-95) but was also really wild and it didn't work out. You should go throw, throw and throw more, but always to a target and if you have never messed around with other pitches, start, and find something that feels good to you and you can throw for a strike whenever you want. Man, that sounds easy, why could I never listen to my own advice?! If you can control your pitches and throw some junk no matter the count, there is no reason you could not become an affective pitcher for a rec league. The key is....throw! Hope it works out for you.