The Secret Formula 2009

[drew6013]

On the Championship teams you've looked over...
What are the W/L record vs Lefties and Righties?

My line of thinking is that I want to have hitters that I know can succeed against righties (seeing how they represent 70% ish of the pitchers you'll face). And if my team are .500 against southpaws, I'm ok with that.

Is their a noticeable trend with championship teams? Are their team splits vs righties and lefties similar?

[J-Pav]

I didn't add up every single team, but just browsing thru I did not notice a tendency to be stronger one way or the other.

My unsubstantiated observation is that it appears to be easier to beat LHP. The number of low dollar guys to platoon against lefties, Renteria, Pearce, Alou, Cancel, Dillon, etc etc, are just too plentiful. But that's never stopped me from having a LH SP or two, and usually two LH RPs, just to keep the opposition honest.

I don't see a reason to build a lineup stronger vs RHP, and certainly not at the expense of leaving your lineup weaker vs LHP. Try to be strong vs both is what I would say.

[schnoogens]

[quote:d537a13eeb="J-Pav"]

If you don't get a high dollar guy, you can go Gregg, Wheeler, Qualls, and maybe Jenks and a quality set-up guy like Kuo, Wade or Johnson.

[/quote:d537a13eeb]

I've used Wheeler on almost every team this year (I always play low BPHR parks). Kuo can be amazing:

273.1 IP 16-14 16 saves 293k 2.27 ERA 1.08 WHIP

in my latest effort with him. I had Wheeler paired with him and it was funny that I couldn't get any innings to Wheeler:

38.2 IP 1-6 17 saves 2.33 ERA 1.01 WHIP

So I really could have gone a lot cheaper than Wheeler (and the big mistake was also having $2.43 of Edwar Ramirez as well).

The point is, you can get away with one IP-eating stud and rely on cheapies, just like Pav indicated.

[J-Pav]

There appear to be a lot more new players asking questions in the forums. So, with apologies, I'll recycle this to the top one more time...

[AeroDave10]

Some players just seemed destined to fail this year. I know some of you will say, "But I had a great year out of _____". In general, however, certain players just always seemed to disappoint. I would like to know what some vets think about the ideal park to use for the following expensive dud players to get the best value out of them:

The Top 10
1. Kevin Youkilis
2. Grady Sizemore
3. Mike Fontenot
4. Brian Roberts
5. Mike Cameron
6. Aki Iwamura
7. Shane Victorino
8. Chris Iannetta
9. Xavier Nady
10. B.J. Upton

Perhaps the answer for some of them is simply don't play them, but I'd love to hear any and all opinions.

[J-Pav]

[b:5eddc0f147]Dave[/b:5eddc0f147]:

I usually play in what would be considered pitcher's parks, or at least the pitcher friendly side of neutral parks. In parentheses are the rings I've won with each of these players (most of which I found to be pretty solid):

1. Kevin Youkilis (1)
2. Grady Sizemore (used once or twice, lost in finals)
3. Mike Fontenot (3)
4. Brian Roberts (1)
5. Mike Cameron (never used)
6. Aki Iwamura (used once, that was enough)
7. Shane Victorino (4)
8. Chris Iannetta (never used)
9. Xavier Nady (never used)
10. B.J. Upton (2)

and for the Furcal haters (4).

If these are the underachievers, what I want to see is your OVER-achiever list!

:D

[Evil Brew]

I agree with just about everyone one of those guys on the top 10 list. The exception for me is Upton. I take him whenever possible and park him at the top of my lineup. He's always among the league leaders in runs, obp, and steals. Throw in D and arm and I'd say he's actually undervalued.

[AeroDave10]

[quote:09456f549b="Evil Brew"]I agree with just about everyone one of those guys on the top 10 list. The exception for me is Upton. I take him whenever possible and park him at the top of my lineup. He's always among the league leaders in runs, obp, and steals. Throw in D and arm and I'd say he's actually undervalued.[/quote:09456f549b]

Not always, but more frequently than not, players in my leagues and I seem to run into problems with players that have decent OBP despite low batting averages (e.g. JD Drew, Chris Iannetta, Adam Dunn, BJ Upton, Carlos Pena). I think this is because SOM puts a high price on OBP, even though walks don't score runs as easily as hits.

[tcochran]

I won a title with Fontenot and Nady as my stars in Angel Stadium (although Upton was awful on the same team).

Likewise, Roberts was incredible, leading a team to 99 wins in Kauffman -- .402 OBP. .462 SLG, and 73 SB.

[Jerlins]

I limited myself to 12 teams this year, 4 of which were either theme or keeper league teams, so I have little to go with. However, there are players on the list I had a few times so I'll chime in.

Sizemore- While he shines in hitters parks, he did splendid for me at PNC considering what was expected in a pitcher's park.

Iwamura- Another player that did exceptionally well for me at PNC

Victorino- Had him twice, the first time I figured it was just my bad luck, 2nd time around he did worse for me. If I played in another league, he'd surely be on someone elses team.

And I love going toe to toe with J-Pav on certain issues. I'll have to toss around my thoughts concerning Furcal-like players in next year's Secret Formula :wink: :wink: