Back from the brink

[honestiago1]

This team went 5-16 the first week. Dropped a poor-performing Schmidt (and something like 6 other players), picked up some new pitchers (Witt, Farrell, Horton), and finally got hot (9 of last 10). Still doesn't have a lot of offense, but has been good of late. I'm wondering about relief pitching -- should I dump Horton for TWO cheaper SP/RP's, and let HAL determine starters beyond the big three (Burns, Key, Witt)?

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/80s/team/team_other.html?user_id=67420

[honestiago1]

Team dropped 3 straight last night. Picked up Doran (think he was dropped WAAAY too soon) and Will Clark. Need another 9 of 10 run to get back into it.

[1crazycanuk]

Don't waste your breath...people won't answer. Trust me. Some advice from me too...though I'm only on my first 80s team...try to avoid dumping so many pitchers so soon. It's hard not to, but just try. I guess the standard thing to do is give a pitcher 6 starts or so.

[Sykes25]

Well Will Clark really does not have one awefull year. Doran does though and may have been dropped previously due to injury.

Can't speak to the cheap SP/RP. They are generally hit or miss (20% or 40% usable years) as told by their price tags.

[honestiago1]

He did not have the big red "I" nest to his name on the FA list, so I assumed it wasn't an injury reveal. We'll see if THAT holds true. He was dropped after only 6 games, and had drawn 3 walks (if I remember right). If he doesn't work out, Reynolds is there, and Trillo (both of whom I can just slam at the bottom of the order, with Bowa).

Agree with you on pitchers, but this team's start was so terrible felt I had to make some moves.

Will Clark: why would ANYONE ever drop him, save to gain back cap space?

[yak1407]

There is no rhyme nor reason why anyone drops anybody that quickly.
My current league, someone dropped Dawson six games in and all he's done is hit around .300 drive in 90 and slam 20 plus HRs in 123 games for my team, and he went his 21 games with me without a dinger.
What puzzles me is when someone drops an expensive player after a couple of ABs where he's gone 1 for 2 or 2 for 4. Those guys are definitely worth a look see.
Pitching is so tough to determine. The rule of thumb is five starts before you make a decision, but it's so tough when a guy who were counting on gets lit up his first two or three starts. Relief pitching is worse because a guy can have one bad outing and it ruins his stats for weeks. I look at how RPs have done. If you have a guy who is effective three games out of four, he's probably a keep despite his stats.
Also, when HAL manages the pen there is a pecking order. You can see who your top guy is and who isn't
More and more I find the best plan is to stay the course, give players a chance to perform and wait until you have a good reason to release them.
And watch the splits. I have Bobby Grich's worst year. But he's batting over .300 and has an OBP over .400 vs RHPs. I platoon him, but if Alan Trammell wasn't also tanking for me I'd use him everyday to keep his glove in the line-up
The wisest piece of advice I've found on this board is solve one problem at a time. Don't recall who said, but they are truly wise.
And don't lose faith.
I thought I had turned the corner when I had back to back teams make the play-offs.
Then I put together what I thought was my best team and won 63 games.

[honestiago1]

From 5-16 start to 53-55, 5 GB. Pickup of WClark helped a lot. Dropped Key for extra dough, got Cey to shore up 3B (he started off gangbusters). Acquired additional relief pitching. I've toyed with the idea of dropping Burns to get Barker (who has one pretty bad year, others good), and use extra money for more players (possibly more RP's). Thing is, Burns has been effective, albeit unspectacular. I think we need to win a minimum 32 of last 54 games to have a shot at the division, and probably need 36-18 to have a realstic chance. Tough to do -- though we have gone 48-39 since the bad start. That pace will only bring us 83 victories, however. I'm pleased the team has bounced back, though. It was embarrassing early on.

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/80s/team/team_other.html?user_id=67420

[Ducky]

Try from 2-10 to 52-35. Added Carlton and Soto as they were dropped by other teams.

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/80s/team/team_other.html?user_id=67982

The pitching staff is on a record breaking pace for strikeouts. Okay, not record breaking, but top 5 for the moment.

Mike