Two Coors a Fenway and Me

[Palmtana]

This team, my 2nd, starts on Monday in SBC.

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2005/team/team_other.html?user_id=56441

I am having trouble deciding on the lineups. I went for OBP guys and don’t see obvious 4-6 hitters. Here is what I have right now.

Lineup vs. LHP
1. Ford, Lew (R) LF
2. Kotsay, Mark (L) CF
3. Mora, Melvin (R) DH
4. Bell, David (R) 3B
5. Burke, Jamie (R) C
6. Snow, J.T. (L) 1B
7. Wilson, Jack (R) SS
8. Cora, Alex (L) 2B
9. Clark, Brady (R) RF


Lineup vs. RHP
1. Clark, Brady (R) RF
2. Ford, Lew (R) LF
3. Snow, J.T. (L) 1B
4. Mora, Melvin (R) DH
5. Bell, David (R) 3B
6. Burke, Jamie (R) C
7. Kotsay, Mark (L) CF
8. Wilson, Jack (R) SS
9. Cora, Alex (L) 2B


On the pitching side I have 2 Coors and a Fenway in my division so I went heavy with RP as I have seen many Coors teams do. Mistake? Should I downgrade my SP or RP and get some more pop?
Thanks in advance for any help.

[hugedude24]

First I would consolidate your rotation to a four man rotation with Garcia and Westbrook to save you some bucks which you could spend on hitting. Your bullpen is good, so you don't need * aces, but * pitchers would save you some cash overall. Perhaps you could upgrade Bell to Ramirez if he is available and put Mora back at 3rd. Also, I'm personally not a big fan of Snow because you are paying such a high price in part to his defensive prowess, which will not come into play very often, so you could downgrade defense at first and spend any accumulated cash on a bigger bat at first, etc.

[dennisfs561]

I' d go for a little more pop. Brady, Burke and Bell might be players to switch out for more pop. It has been my experience that more balanced teams win, whenever I try "theme" teams, they have always been below .500, with the exception of this high avg. team.
http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2005/playoffs/team_other.html?user_id=22842&stats=sim

I like your sp even though you have no fulltime lefty, and your R- handed pitchers are a little too R biased, Caupano will keep em honest. Your bullpen looks good, may be able to trim some $ by dropping Torres, though I'd probably stick with him.

I grew up playing the board game, but I am still on a learning curve with the online version. Thus, this all IMHO.................Dennis

[JAYDINGESS1]

An entire small ball team does not work in this game like the 80's Cardinals. I have tried many times as I am a fan of that style. Burke, Snow (injury) are both +clutch guys that I covet. But you need power. Natural power to play in SBC. Look for some natural homeruns out there somewhere. Personally, I would not trade Burke. I would be hesitant to trade Snow, but if you had to, oh well. Remember to get a backup for Snow when he is injured, and he will be injured a lot (on a 4).

IMHO, dump one reliever. Dump some of your OBP for some natural power. And GL

[JdEarly]

Okay, some of my ideas might sound a little bit strange, but bare with me. I enjoy pitchers parks, and have had some success in them.

First, I agree with the other guys that you should go with a four man rotation, and Garcia/Westbrook is a very good place to start. You've got Peavy, and he should generate some interest if you put him on the trade market. I think you should give that a shot, and see what people offer you. I've had success with Mark Mulder, Jeff Weaver, Kelvim Escobar, and Javier Vazquez, to name a few.

You need a second baseman, but not Alex Cora. You could save the money and get about the same production on both offense and defense if you were to drop Cora and grab Neifi or Tomas Perez. Tomas would be preferable, in my opinion, because he's got some pop in his bat. If you want to stay in the same price range as Cora, try to snag Brian Roberts. You can't beat his doubles at second base.

David Bell isn't going to do you any favors at 3B or at the plate, I don't think. He'll get to a lot of balls with his 3B-2 rating, but those 28 errors stick out like a sore thumb. I'd try to get someone with a 3 rating and several less errors on their card - just a thought. That way, you might even be able to grab someone whose bat fits your park a little bit better (preferably a right handed bat, and any hitter will work well at the Coors in your division). Eric Chavez, even though he bats left handed, would be a decent fit for you - .397 OBP, with power. You could even plug Mora in at 3B every once in a while, if you grabbed an injury prone 3B.

J.T. Snow is the perfect 1B for SBC park, in my experience, except that he gets injured at very poor times. I love his .429 OBP - you can't beat that for $6 million. If you can't find a very obvious upgrade over Snow, I would stand pat. He'll put up some numbers for you. Lyle Overbay would be a suitable alternative for slightly cheaper, and he'll be healthy most of the season.

For instant offense off the bench, check if Deivi Cruz is available. Positive clutch, tons of doubles, but sucks in the field. His poor glove and relatively low OBP make him a bargain at .89M.

Burke is a nice bat to have in a lineup with other big boppers, but in your lineup he appears to be just another abyss that MIGHT hit a homer this season. If you can grab Ausmus or Matheny, I would do that and start them. With a small ball team, too many things have to go right in order for you to score runs. You can't afford to have Burke back there committing 10-15 costly errors when you can never even think about benefiting from a three run jack the next inning.

Your outfield looks better than solid. If you get some guys in the lineup who can knock them in, Kotsay, Clark, and Ford will be motoring around the bases all season.

Jimmy Serrano has no place on your staff. If you're trying for a three man bullpen, you'll need an effective longer reliever for the stretches when your main three are tired. Try to grab Aaron Fultz as a lefty specialist, and set him (or any other specialist) to "avoid weakside, 1-2 innings, quick hook." You don't want them staying in to face their weak side, at all.

Eric Milton might be a good cheapy for you to grab. Lou Merloni, Eric Young - those guys will pound lefties who pitch in SBC.

Keep in mind that this team was bought with YOUR $25, so you should do whatever you want to do with it. I'm just trying to help.

-James

[Palmtana]

Thanks to all (especially JD) for their suggestions.
Heres what I have done:

Snow >>> Overbay (reduced injury threat, a bit more pop)
Cora >>> T. Perez (less offense but still good D)
These moves, plus downgrading my SP, allowed me to go Bell >>> Rolen.
So now Mora, Overbay and Rolen give me a middle of the lineup.

There are no lefty parks in the league so I’m not to worried about all my RH SP’s. (Only one team has more than 3 LHH’s).
Bonderman and Ramon Ortiz should be effective in the 3 Wrigleys in the league. Hopefully Garcia or Peavy can get a CG every now and then for my pen to rest.

I know it is inefficient to mix *SP’s and non* but my current team has 4 *SP’s and it is boring just throwing them out there every 4 days. I want the challenge of mixing and matching SP’s with my opponents.

I had Serrano to bury in the rotation so Hal would only use my main 3 RP’s. The first time Hal misuses Leicester, Jimmys back!

[JdEarly]

Nicely done with the offense. Now, I will recommend a couple of things, lineup-wise.

1. Keep Kotsay and Clark seperate in the lineup. They both have relatively high OBP, but will hit into a significant amount of double plays if the guy in front of them is on base a lot. If you HAVE to bat them next to each other in the lineup, I would have Perez 8th, Clark 9th, and Kotsay leadoff. Tomas Perez's low OBP will make for fewer inning killing double plays out of Clark, and Clark's base stealing ability will put him on second base a lot of the time that Kotsay would have had him doubled up. Make sense?

2. I would take the middle of the order like this: Rolen third (best hitter always hits third), Mora fourth (next best power option, and a darn good one), Overbay fifth. The reasoning behind Overbay hitting fifth is his doubles. Rolen and Mora will be on base a ton, and Overbay's doubles will be effective regardless of the park you're in. I predict 90+ RBI out of him, although others might disagree.

On the pitching side, I would still recommend losing Peavy and snatching another * starter at a cheaper price. Your rotation would lose a very good arm, I will give you that - but your bullpen scares me. Wags will be lights out, but I think you should "upgrade" Gonzalez to a strong 2 inning reliever. Gonzalez might get used too much, get tired, and give up too many hits in the late innings for your liking. Just a thought, just my preference.

I'll check in tomorrow and see what you decided to do, and I will keep an eye on your team.

-James

[Palmtana]

Thanks for the lineup help, JD. That was my main quandry when initiating this thread. Calero was still out there as a FA so I dropped Gonzalez for him but I am not sure I won't go back for Gonzalez later. I've read where Gonzalez pitches very well fatigued. Calero does save me a little money I can use elsewhere. I am going to go see if anyone wants to trade a *SP for Peavy. I would still have Ortiz and Bonderman to use for playing manager.

[bleacher_creature]

I think Rolen will be hurt alot at home power wise, but it will be made up for on the road with all those Coors games. Watch this. If his avg is low at home, don't forget that HRs are hits too. For example, you might think twice about him in the three hole vs hard righties.

I just had him in Safeco where he put up these numbers:

.280/.367/.535
34 doubles
33 HRs.

Safeco = 1-1 singles; 1-7 HRs for RHBs.

I'll bet you could get 25-30 HRs out of Kevin Millar (unsung card IMO) in that division. He would benefit from the 1-17 SBC singles too. Obviously Mora is a better option, it's just a thought.

[JdEarly]

That's an ugly start, but don't worry about it too much. Your offense should continue to produce the runs that it has so far (although not the batting average), but your pitching isn't going to be allowing nearly 6 runs a game all season long. Hang in there.