Suggestions for lineup and pitching

[Paulze]

Hi everyone,

my league starts Feb. 6 Im pretty new at this. any veterans of ATGII who can give me some advice on my line ups and pitching would be greatly appreciated.

My team plays at Yankee Stadium 27. Here is my tentative lineup vs lefties:

1Speaker, Tris (L) CF
2. Wagner, Honus (R) SS
3. Williams, Ted (L) LF
4. McCovey, Willie (L) 1B
5. Boggs, Wade (L) 3B
6. Valentine, Ellis (R) RF
7. Bishop, Max (L) 2B
8. Ruel, Muddy (R) C
9. Pitcher P

My lineup vs Righties:

1. Bishop, Max (L) 2B
2. Speaker, Tris (L) CF
3. Williams, Ted (L) LF
4. McCovey, Willie (L) 1B
5. Wagner, Honus (R) SS
6. Boggs, Wade (L) 3B
7. Valentine, Ellis (R) RF
8. Ruel, Muddy (R) C
9. Pitcher P



Here are my pitchers. Should i upgrade the pitchers.. Apart from Pfiester, the rest are pretty mediocre


Pfiester, J. L S8*/R3
Lolich, M. L S6*/R4
Hunter, C. R S7*
Splittorff, P. L S6*
Aguilera, R. R S6/R3
Black, J. R S5/R2
Stigman, D. L S5/R3
Fingers, R. R R2
Sisk, D. R R3
Osinski, D. R R4

[Frank Bailey]

Paul's link (folks like to see your roster and get an idea of the league when they make suggestions):

[url]http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/atg2/team/team_other.html?user_id=105206[/url]

I'm in your division, so all I will suggest is that you look at some successful hitters park teams to steal some ideas. You can do that by sifting through the message boards and the record books.

Good luck and enjoy.

[tomwistar]

Paul: A couple thoughts off the top of my head. Hunter, Splitorff, and Lolich will all get creamed in your park. Look for pitchers with no or virtually no ballpark homers on their card. Guys who played in the "deadball" era are a good place to start.

Speaker and Wagner are great at the top of the lineup against both lefties and righties. Bat Honus leadoff--more steals from him. Speaker is one of the best number two hitters in the game; very few double-play grounders.

You want to maximize power in the 3-7 spots. Boggs is no good for that; dump him. McCovey is a good choice. Williams is actually not that great in ATG. He walks a lot, but doesn't hit for as good an avg and power as you might expect. He's far too expensive for what you get. Drop him and use that money to find good power hitters in other spots. Ideally, you want power plus obp.

[tomwistar]

You might want to copy the list of available hitters so folks here can help point out good choices.

[Paulze]

Thanks for your suggestions. Based on your sugesstions i revamped the line up. Dropped Boggs added Mike Schmidt. Dropped Williams and added Oakland #24 (Ricky Henderson??):


1 Wagner, Honus (R) SS
2. Speaker, Tris (L) CF
3. Schmidt, Mike (R) 3B
4. McCovey, Willie (L) 1B
5. Valentine, Ellis (R) RF
6. Oakland #24 (R) LF
7. Bishop, Max (L) 2B
8. Ruel, Muddy (R) C
9. Pitcher P

The stadiums in my division are Griffith Park 24 Fenway Park 86 and Forbes Field 09

My pitching staff now looks like this:

Leifield, L. L S7*/R5
Grove, L. L S7*/R5
Hughes, L. R S8*/R5
Splittorff, P. L S6*
Aguilera, R. R S6/R3
Black, J. R S5/R2
Stigman, D. L S5/R3
Quisenberry, D. R R2
Sisk, D. R R3
Osinski, D. R R4


any other suggestions

[tomwistar]

Your pitching is much improved. Believe it or not, one potential dud in your lineup is Schmidt. Sometimes he puts up big years, but his reputation here isn't good. You could downgrade him to upgrade either C and 2b. These are big holes in your lineup; Bishop and Ruel aren't good for your park (or for any park).

A few possibilities; these are guys who are sometimes on FA wire.

C Sherm Lollar would be really nice. Milt May but he's probably taken, Gedman, Yeager, Bailey (big power potential but beware the limp arm; have a strong-armed backup)

2B Doerr would be decent here. Otherwise go for the cheapest possible "1" range--Frank White, for example--and use the money to upgrade elsewhere.

3B Don Money--bad D and inj. risk, but he is a good hitter in any park. Rosen would be nice in Yankee too. Also Bando.

I like Henderson, although he doesn't get used much because of the pricetag.

Maybe a lineup like this:

Wagner
Speaker
Henderson
McCovey
Valentine
Money
Lollar
cheap 2B

That seems like a competitive lineup to me.

Be sure to bat Valentine cleanup against lefties. One potential problem is that McCovey and Money are both significantly weaker against lefties. How many do you face in your division? If a bunch, it might be worth hanging on to Schmidt. McCovey is esp. bad against lefties. Grab a platoon mate for him. Burns, Clendennon, Carney Lansford if you have the cash.

Splitorff sucks. Possibilities: Vuckovich, Nolan, Leonard.


Good luck!

[tomwistar]

A couple other SPs: Mickey Harris and Bagby Sr. Harris and Vuke in particular would be decent and in your price range. Definitely try to get one of the guys I mentioned instead of Splitorff.

I like that you'll have Wagner, Speaker, Rickey, Valentine; they're versatile enough to hit anywhere. If you can get Money, he's the same way: great in Yankee, still productive in the pitcher parks in your division.

[Paulze]

Ok coach ...here's the line up now

Lineup vs. LHP
CHANGE THIS LINEUP
1. Wagner, Honus (R) SS
2. Speaker, Tris (L) CF
3. Oakland #24 (R) LF
4. Valentine, Ellis (R) RF
5. Money, Don (R) 3B
6. McCovey, Willie (L) 1B
7. Lollar, Sherm (R) C
8. White, Frank (R) 2B
9. Pitcher P

Lineup vs. RHP
CHANGE THIS LINEUP
1. Wagner, Honus (R) SS
2. Speaker, Tris (L) CF
3. Oakland #24 (R) LF
4. McCovey, Willie (L) 1B
5. Valentine, Ellis (R) RF
6. Money, Don (R) 3B
7. Lollar, Sherm (R) C
8. White, Frank (R) 2B
9. Pitcher P


And now the pitchers:


Leifield, L. L S7*/R5
Grove, L. L S7*/R5
Hughes, L. R S8*/R5
Nolan, G. R S6*
Aguilera, R. R S6/R3
Black, J. R S5/R2
Stigman, D. L S5/R3
Quisenberry, D. R R2
Sisk, D. R R3
Osinski, D. R R4


Any last minute tweeks? i think im all set. Thanks for all the help. I just need to play in a few more leagues to get a better handle on it. I have 4 more teams in the can waiting to be created.

[Bunze0]

i wish you great success. only prob i have is you have alot of 15 gamer injury guys on the roster. just gotta pray they dont get hurt at the same time. some on here like to take the risk with alot of those players. their rewards are great but its with a risk. i myself try and keep the high injury guys to 2 or 3 tops on starting 8 or 9 with dh. make sure your subs can fill in nicely.

[tomwistar]

It's true about the injury risks--you have a bunch. Another weakness is the pen after Quiz. But I think this team is much stronger than what you started out with. You've got some very good hitters, and the SPs are all decent enough to keep you in games. You should be pretty competitive in any park, I think.

Nolan was a great grab as your number 4 guy. Who are some of the leftfielders available? You could get one who isn't a 15-game injury risk, and take the money saved from Henderson to upgrade the pen. Goslin and Ennis would be good choices. You could take that money, get rid of Sisk, and get a high-end reliever like Staley, Klinger, Fryman, Nelson, Lefferts, Newhouser, Tincup--one of those guys might be available. That would solidify the team even more.