Nationals Park success?

[longgandhi]

Has anyone had success playing at Nats' Stadium? It's a bit quirky and I was wondering if anyone has found gems that are particularly suited for the park. This is what I have so far

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/stratomatic/team/team_other.html?user_id=200923

Most of the parks in the league are pitcher friendly with Fenway, Yankee and PNC in the division. I'm not sure I have enough bullpen and I know left field is a disaster. Any and all suggestions are welcome. We're still in the waiver period before the season so changes are fairly painless.

[durantjerry]

I don't think Chipper belongs in that park.

[longgandhi]

Any suggestions for a replacement? ARod and Youkilis are available. I considered ARod, but seems like he has a lot of BP homers. After that, it looks like a question of picking your poison: getting a defense first guy or an injury risk.

Also, philosophically speaking, is it better to have a deeper line-up or as many studs as possible? Currently, my line-up is:

Reyes
Crisp
Mauer
Pujols
Jones
Bradley
Fukudome
Christian/E Chavez
Burris

Would it be better to have something like:

Reyes
Span
Bradley
A Gonzalez
Ianetta
Werth
Rios
Stewart
Burris

Just trying to work from a framework of $50 million for the offense without having too many extreme injury risk regulars. I'm dying for ideas.

[AeroDave10]

I like Chipper, and he'll do well everywhere, but durantjerry is probably right in thinking he would excel more in other parks.

I wouldn't say that Youkilis is a "defense first" guy, but you are paying some for his glove. I worry about A-Rod's injury risk, too, but he's a better overall value for you than Youk at Nats park. In an 80M league, Pujols's $14M is really tough to swallow, and your OF is really suffering. He will kill the ball, but if you want to drop Pujols and go for a few great players instead of a mega-stud and some mediocre guys, consider this list of good fits for your park:

Iwamura
Damon
Dejesus
Span
Hairston (an injury risk, obviously, but good in your division parks, too)
Baker (better fit and much cheaper than Mauer)
Winn
Overbay
Josh Anderson (pick up IMMEDIATELY)
Fred Lewis
Nyger Morgan



I think you need to shift to a 5 man rotation, or at least a combo and not all 4 day starters. Keep Nolasco, but drop the other guys and some of the following:

Duchscherer or Chamberlain (Just one of them)
Hudson
Galarraga
Morrow (Perfect for Nationals Park)
Happ
Matsuzaka
Masterson
Bedard
Bennett
Lannan
Sarfate

Your bullpen probably needs to be scrapped, too, except for maybe Grabow. Some good, available fits for Nationals Park include:

Devine
Buchholz
Gregg
Okajima
Jimenez
Carrasco
Ramirez


Hopefully this helps you move in the right direction. Good luck.

[AeroDave10]

This season is full of cheap platoons, so I would try to incorporate at least two into the everyday lineups.

[longgandhi]

Thanks for the tips, Dave. I'm still calculating how to incorporate them.

But I'm a little confused about your suggestions for starting pitchers. Most of those guys seem to be tough on righties, but the park is already tough on righties, whereas lefties get a big boost in singles. Don't I want to counter the lefties? Also, it seems like a lot of the big bats in the division are lefties. Or does the park take care of their power and I shouldn't worry about the singles? Just trying to understand.

[AeroDave10]

[quote:b4331f3e73="longgandhi"]Thanks for the tips, Dave. I'm still calculating how to incorporate them.

But I'm a little confused about your suggestions for starting pitchers. Most of those guys seem to be tough on righties, but the park is already tough on righties, whereas lefties get a big boost in singles. Don't I want to counter the lefties? Also, it seems like a lot of the big bats in the division are lefties. Or does the park take care of their power and I shouldn't worry about the singles? Just trying to understand.[/quote:b4331f3e73]

I think most managers will agree that BPHRs are much more of a concern than BPSI. The reason is that nearly all pitchers and hitters (except for a select few) have exactly 5 BPSI, while the number of BPHRs varies quite a bit from 0-8. Moreover, singles don't kill you nearly as much as homeruns. Your ballpark should kill lefty power pretty well, but I would get at least one lefty starter because of the hitters in your division. This will turn switch hitters around and invoke a lot of platoons. Therefore, the lefty should actually have a better BAL against righties (i.e. J.A. Happ, Erik Bedard, and John Lannan).

[longgandhi]

Alrighty... the clouds in my brain are beginning to part. Thanks much!

[AeroDave10]

I like the changes you've made to your team. I would drop at least one of those cheap-o relievers. They'll end up taking away innings from more expensive, better relievers. You only should have 24 guys on the team to maximize the value per player. Look to make a deal or FA acquistion for a solid R2 to eat up innings. Arredondo, Carrasco, Marmol, Ramon Ramirez, or Breslow seem to be the best values for you.

I know Pujols is amazing, but I'm still leary of using him in an 80M DH league because of his price tag. This is especially true when there are lots of cheap 1B this year. You could get two really good hitters at his price. You might also be overpaying for Jose Reyes, which eats into your budget, and there are cheaper platoons vs. lefties than Varitek, though probably through trades right now instead of FAs.

Overall, though, good job on the moves so far :)

[longgandhi]

I'm still a little reluctant to part with Pujols for several reasons. The first is I'm still working with a moving target here. When I started this thread, my division opponents were loaded with lefty starters, which sorta plays into having Pujols. Now they are mostly right-handed. Not sure what they'll have by Monday when the season begins.

The second is that there are only two legitimate hitters parks in the league, further increasing the value of his natural power and high average, or at least that's my perception. That would also lessen the benefit of having expensive middle relievers over cheap ones, no? Kuo was #5 on my draft list and I didn't get him. The guys in this league really love their middle relief so it'll be hard to swing a deal for one.

The third reason, and perhaps most important, is that if I release him today, I'll probably end up having to face him. I want to make sure that doesn't happen; that guy's a beast. ;-)

However, I'll continue to tinker in order to incorporate your suggestions, probably right up to the deadline and will probably end up parting with Mr. Pujols. Thanks again for your insight and suggestions!