New Team always looking for advice

[Billings Ballers]

Relative newbie just starting new league. I found the advice from the vets very helpful. Take a look at my new team any thoughts woul be helpful. I stiil don't understand all of the in and outs of the stadiums and such. I can spend hours second guessing my transactions.

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/80s/team/team_other.html?user_id=51759

[Panzer ace]

Martinez tends to give up a lot of HRs. He may not be a good fit for your park. Parrish and Kennedy cant play at the same time, so you have a large amount of cash tied up in a back up. I would drop Kennedy for a cheaper back up and drop Welsh. That would free up $3mil to upgrade at 2b and CF.

[MICHAELBUSH]

I live in Billings and Red Lodge, just started my 2nd and 3rd teams. Grew up playing SOM with dice but play a lot of Diamond Mind Baseball leagues now. Just found this 80s league and love it. Are you also from MT?

Mike Bush

[bjs73]

Try not to get too impatient with Fernando. He walks a lot of hitters but he gives up fewer basehits (and HR's too). He's worth evaluating past the 42 game cut line if he's having good AND bad starts.

I've personally had buzzard's luck with D. Martinez. Your ballpark is unique in that it is neutral for HR's and low for basehits. If you get one of his bottom three cards, I think you'll be happy.

Viola is a work horse. Don't expect a Cy Young from him but he is generally solid and has good reverse splits.

Mahler *could* be a value sleeper which I think that is what you were trying to do here with your choice of ballpark. It's hit or miss.

I'm a fan of W. Hernandez and A. Lopez in the pen. When you hit one their best years it's a jackpot. The other seasons on their cards are serviceable too. I like using them in the big ballparks more than the neutral or small ballparks though.

I'm not a fan of Thigpen. He's more or less waiver wire fodder. However, if you're desperate in mid season for a lift in the bullpen and you've got the spare cash, he's worth a flier then. If you cut him, I'll bet that most people in your league would pass on him.

I'd dump him and his 3 million bucks, make a choice between one of your two catchers, take the money and upgrade 2B, maybe CF, or your fourth starter.

If you plan to DH George Taco Bell, I'd take a look at Bob Horner as a possbile alternative. Horner has more even balance and generally hits to his carded averages. He's not a total stud except in one season but all of his cards are serviceable. Just an alternative to think about.

With the low bp singles in your park, you may want to upgrade 1B with someone who has a bit better OBP. Up to you though. I happen to like Garvey but really only 3 of his cards are useful out of the five because his '82 season is nothing to get excited about. His '85 season is ok but you could inject more production into your offense from a different 1B option.

[griffelh]

I'm new too, but my 2 cents is that you don't need Kennedy at all, and Thigpen is over priced. Dump the 2 of them and upgrade 2B and Cf.

[Outta Leftfield]

I'm getting a monster year out of D. Martinez right now, so I may be biased in his favor, but I see three good years on his card. I would tend to hold him to see if you get one of those three years.

There might be some better .75M relievers out there. I tend to search for low WHIP, low ERA guys with 2-3-4 good years on their cards: guys like Dawley, Moore, Dayley, Crim, Brusstar. Lopez and Hernandez are keepers.

I would want to upgrade Moreno for an CF with more OBP. Maybe you could put your spare cash into that? Otherwise the team looks solid. When the season begins and you start trying to figure out what years you have, then the real adventure starts.

[Billings Ballers]

Thanks all for the advice. Here is the new link to my team. Ive released Kennedy, Thigpen, Moreno and Lind. My question would be I've chosen Grich as an upgrade @2b and Pettis @CF, I could go with Lemon as upgrade CF and Barrett @2b How critical is it to have Def 1 @ the middle positions White is also available @2b he seems to be an early release in the few leagues I've been involved in. As always part of the fun is hearing the reasoning from the vets.

Panzer Ace: How do you see that Martinez will give up quite a few HR in my stadium I've looked at his cards and compared to others and do't see much difference. Not disagreeing just trying learn the fine points. Not having done this with the cards in my younger days probably puts me behind the power curve

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/80s/team/team_other.html?user_id=51759

Thanks all

[Panzer ace]

The '#' sign is a ballpark HR chance. The max a player can have is 8 per side of the card. So in your home park each of the '#' becomes a HR 1-9 (I think thats your park). You also should consider the type of parks your division rivals have. Martinez will often have a solid WHIP, but his HRs can really be high if you have several HR friendly parks in your division. If you have more low HR parks, then he will be fine.
Your defense up the middle is very important. You usually want '1's or '2's up the middle. You can win with a '3' if he has a big bat, but '4's will kill you. Grich can be a monster and has good def. I am not a real Pettis fan. Lemon is a very nice option. I know several of the vets swear by him. He has great def. and a solid OB%. If you cant get Lemon, I would drop Pettis for a '2' in CF who has a better OB% or better 'POP'.

[Outta Leftfield]

This team is really starting to look [b:68d46cb397]GOOD[/b:68d46cb397]. You've made a lot of nice improvements. You've now got strong defense up the middle, and nice mix of power and OBP.

I would be inclined to swap out Power and either Welsh or Pastore (keep the other as your 5th starter) for two better .75M RP's (in my experience there are always a few decent ones left as FA's). Otherwise, it looks good to go.

Good luck and have fun! :D

[cplake]

Keep close tabs on W.Hernandez. He only really has one bad year and you should be able to tell if you have it by the first cut (42 games). Analyze his box scores and throw out his worst game. If he still has good stats, then keep him (everyone has a bad game). There are plenty of cheap relievers in the btt80s game that will do well.

Good luck!