Pitching: How much? What kind? Finding the Balance.

[MARCPELLETIER]

Durantjerry is right, we should really talk about pitching+defense.

From my own estimation, a ss-1e10 is worth 3.5M (relative to a baseline of ss3e20). A stellar infield is probably worth 9M. A stellar outfield is probably worth 5M. So durantjerry has really spend some 25M in his "pitching/defense". And while his record is nice, I will argue that his record would have been even nicer if he had spend less on Green and more on a 3M/4M set-up reliever.

[durantjerry]

I agree that I the team could have been more balanced, but I was intent on fielding an all "1" rated defense. You don't get all that many chances to do it and the players were available so I forced it in.

[artie4121]

. . . what you are saying, luckyman, is that for almost equal money, Brooks Robinson at 1e14 is worth $5 million (X millions) more than 3e22 Jackie Robinson at 3rd base?

[gbrookes]

I have been playing strat-o-matic as a manual board game for about 40 years. I have been playing computer strat and online strat for just the last 20 months. It took me a while to get the hang of some things in online strat, and I have learned hugely from the experiences in the last 20 months. The more I learn about this game, the more I think the game is absolutely brilliant AND a good simulation of real life baseball strategy.

I also believe that a great infield can help your pitchers HUGELY. A 2 range fielder at SS is almost obligatory. I seem to get away with a 3 range at 2b in $60 mil cap leagues, but logically 2b should be a 2 range as well. Avoid really high e ratings for 2b and ss. IMO, 3b and 1b are far less important - avoid very high e-ratings and you are OK. Don't forget about the pitcher's defense - just as NB as 1b! At catcher, I have learned that a high e rating will cause a fair number of errors. I hate throwing errors by catchers, so I avoid catchers with high throwing errors. In the OF, ranges of 3 or lower are required, since there is a BIG increase in base hits at the level of a 4 range (or 5). What I like hugely in outfielders is a good arm - the increased baserunning rules (almost any single other than** or X chart) make a good arm absolutely necessary, IMO.

Matching your pitchers to your ballpark is hugely important, and something that I am still learning and experimenting with. As an example, I got huge results from Scott Kazmir in 2008 pitching at PNC. His main weakness - HR's to RH hitters - is really reduced by the dead zone for long balls to leftfield at PNC. By matching up in this way, you can get a LOT more performance from your pitchers.

With respect to pitchers themselves, I DO put a lot of value on them - this may be my personal style - but I do. For me, this means spending between $20 million and $33 million on pitchers (ranging due to cap size, ballpark considerations, and overall team strategy - e.g. one team was in Camden, and I spent more on my hitters for that team - at PNC I spent more on my pitchers I think, but I got Adrian Gonzalez and Aubrey Huff to be my lefty sluggers). I believe there is an art to getting the right pitcher for a particular team - sort of like finding the last puzzle pieces in a puzzle, that "fit" the team.

I wouldn't be so bold (and therefore not humble) in writing all of this, except that I really enjoy the online banter at strat and would like to share my thoughts with others as well, and that I think I have learned some good tricks - my 10 2008 teams made the playoffs 8 times, and won twice - I am very proud of that. And these thoughts come from those 10 teams. The ones that didn't work are probably the ones you learn most from! I think I will spend my whole life working out these perplexing but rewarding strategy questions!

ENJOY!

:)

Geoff Brookes

[gbrookes]

This is the link to the team stats for the season at PNC where Kazmir was so effective:

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/stratomatic/playoffs/team.html?stats=sim

A couple of other thoughts -
-the team did NOT have a big run differential - just a couple of runs. BUT it won a large % of the one run games. I attribute that to the good relievers, who were well suited to PNC - Downs and Capps in particular. Check out the 58 saves vs 8 blown saves for Capps, and their good ERAs. I think the lower innings for those 2 relievers is deceiving - they played in ALL of the close games.
-Note how the pitchers fit nicely into a PNC strategy, seeking to limit the effectiveness of left handed hitters. There are a couple of R balanced starters and an R balanced reliever to deal with RH balanced hitting lineups.
-A. Gonzalez and A. Huff were 2nd and 8th in the league in OPS - they benefited nicely from PNC. I called them my double-A batteries! - both hitting from the left. Despite being very R balanced, Gonzalez was still effective against LH pitchers. Where an opposing pitcher was significant L balanced, though, I WOULD sit Gonzalex for those games. I had a couple of L-balanced platoon hitters who could sub for Gonzalez, but as you can see from the stat page, they were probably less effective than Gonzalez himself on most nights. Which underscores once again the significance of the ballpark effects for players, whether lefties or righties, in an 'extreme" ballpark.
-I had a 1 at ss (Rollins) and a 1 at 2b (Iwamura). That MIGHT be overkill. I have really come to like (and benefit from) Reyes at ss in 2008 - he might be a better mix of offense and defense for the money. I have really had success with Kinsler at 2b as well (with other teams)- which is breaking my own advice - but illustrates the balance between defense (Iwamura) and offense (Kinsler).
-I also think baserunning is very important - esp. in a park with lots of ballpark singles, like PNC. OF arms are also very important in those parks.
-This team won their diviision, but lost the semi's in 5 games. I think that my later teams were better by striking a better offense vs. defense "balance". Iwamura and Rollins just didn't seem to generate much offense. Reyes is fabulous in a park with lots of ballpark singles, as his wheels just keep on going all the time (better even than Rollins, and gets on base more often)!

By the way - if you get in the playoffs often enough, sooner or later you will win a championship. Four things can siderail a good team in the playoffs - (1) - plain old bad luck (2) an opposing team that happens to be built in a way that takes full advantage of your team's weaknesses, (3) the dominant * SPs - 1 in the 5 game semi's, or 3 (!) in the 7 game finals, or (4) the opposing team has maximized its players values even better than yours did, and is in fact the better team! (Yep - it's happened to me - probably this PNC team is an example).

LOTS OF FUN!!! :) Geoff

[J-Pav]

[b:a34324d0f3]Geoff[/b:a34324d0f3]:

Your link is bad - go to the "statistics" drop-down below "Your League" (in green, at the top); under the league's name (where "Player Batting" is the default), click the "team" link. Find your team in Team Batting (or Pitching) and click on it. The link will end in a six digit team id number. This is the link to your team that you copy and paste into the post.

Your link (as viewed by us) takes us to our own teams (because there is no id number).

Less than 50 guys have won more than two rings in 2008 - you are definitely doing something right! Keep at it - inevitably you will experience the full spectrum:

* Having your 84 win team sweep a 100 win team in the semis
*Coming back from down 0-3 and winning a finals
* Going 7-0 in the playoffs
*Winning a wildcard in the last at bats of game 162
* And of course, being on the wrong side of all the above!

All of this happens in no particular order.

Good Luck! :D

[gbrookes]

Thanks J Pav!

Hope to see you in a 2009 league soon!

Geoff

[J-Pav]

See you in the RiggoDrill Challenge! :o