Why does this 1999 team s*ck?

[kimkrichbaum2]

I am in a special 1999 league, all starters must be under 2.00, and we use all hitter's parks. I was able to draft Pedro, who several people wanted, and just use him in LOTS of relief. And still my team is stinking, I went low priority on my starters, and thought having Pedro and a good closer would balance that out, but it isn't. I am second in the league in scoring, and last in pitching, I'd love it if you take a look at my team and give me some feedback.
http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/stratomatic/team/team_other.html?user_id=255922

[visick]

These kinds of leagues are really tough. Anything can happen.

You need to out hit and out slug everyone to win.

Your pen looks very good but you can't do anything about what happens with your SP. Maybe just quick hook them and use aggressive BP settings.

Hitting wise:
While Vizquel has a very nice card, it's alot of $ to spend on a guy with W power in a hitting park.

Maybe...
1. Stick with what you have, maybe just play with the lineups. Switch things around and shake things up.
2. If #1 fails, stick with your 5 best SP's, and reinforce the pen.
3. If #'s 1 and 2 fail, see if Vizquel can get u some better SLG.

My 2 shiny pennies...
visick

[novie]

I play almost exclusively in ATG, but what I can share is that whenever I have had to build teams around hitting and little to no pitching, I am successful when I get as many strong defensive players up the middle as I can. Appears that you have a 3 at 2B... if a 1 is around, go grab it! Play Santangelo in the OF, and get that +2 out from behind the plate. You need to help your staff out as much as you can by keeping runners at 1B and getting some DP's.

These type of leagues are usually determined by what you have that someone else doesn't as opposed to who has the better of the same thing.

[AeroDave10]

I think Pedro is a big waste of money. 10M and his ERA is over 3.50?! No thanks.

If other guys really want him, I'd deal him for a decent reliever at half the price, and some much better hitting. You also don't have any other relievers who are better against righties. Pick at least one more up, as you are currently facing more righties than lefties.


I also think you should a 5 man rotation of SPs (no SP*s), because, on average, a 1M SP is better than a 1M SP*.

[chasenally]

I am in the same league and had Tony Fernandez (5 23e) at 2B. He went down for 15 games and I picked up Easley a 2 10e. I have been winning ever since. 15-6 and moved into 1st place. I can't find the results for the defensive upgrade in the box scores except for errors and Fernandez only had 6 in about 60 games but I believe this move is what has made the winning happen. I also added some heavy right and left hitting balance and all 3 have OBP of over .400, mostly walks but I figured if you keep the inning going and with these pitchers a walk can be as good as a homerun. I have scored many runs with 5 or 6 walks in 1 inning and given up many runs on walks. I looked at your stats and mine are not much better in pitching. After Pedro you drop in RP and with that many innings going to RP that might be a problem but thier isn't much left in FA. I am looking all the time. I gave up Williamson for Foulke and that might have been a mistake but Foulke is pitching better. The HR's he has given up are amazing. Mike

[durantjerry]

I agree with the defense up the middle coment for these type of leagues. It has served me well. Also, where do you stand as far as rank in runs scored/allowed? That is usually a pretty good barometer of what is wrong.

[kimkrichbaum2]

Thanks for all the good feedback, the Defense, especially infield makes sense to me.
[quote:25bbb258b5]
Also, where do you stand as far as rank in runs scored/allowed? That is usually a pretty good barometer of what is wrong. [/quote:25bbb258b5]
I am second in runs scored, last in given up, My starters are a little weaker than most, but my pen is better than average. I think the defense might be the key.
I may or may not have time to do anything about this, if we are at 20% drop penalty, it may not be worth it, but at least I understand and have learned my lesson for next time. I don't mind losing, but losing and not learning anything from it is a waste!

By the way, in response to Chasenally, I lead the league in walks, or did til recently, that is not a problem!

[MARCPELLETIER]

litangel,

I had a look at your recent games.

In one game, Pedro came in the fifth with your team losing 6-0. Your chance to win that game was close to none.

That made him unavailable for the next game, in which you had a 6-2 lead turned into a 7-6 loss.

Yesterday, Pedro came pitching with your team losing by 10 runs.


The point here is that it's not worth having Pedro pitch 400 innings during the season if 250 of these innings are worthless---are being innings where you have no chance to win---or where you are certain at 99.8% to win even with a pee-wee pitcher.

300 of good leverage innings are better than 400 innings of mediocre leverage.

If you are to employ Pedro as a relief man, you have to limit him to situations where you win or trail by 3 runs or less. There is no point of having a 10M man in the 4th inning if your team is losing 6-0.

[keyzick]

Hey Lit...I'm in the same league, but a different division, so I'll weigh in. I agree with Marcus...if you don't already have Pedro marked as such, you should check the "Avoid Using in Blowout" box.

The main issue is, like you said, while your starting pitching is just a little worse (we can't use anyone over $2M afterall!), it's your defense that's giving up the extra hits from lack of range (not necessarily the errors).

And regarding Dave's comment about Pedro's ERA...that's part product of the theme (all the hitters parks), and part product of your defense. So I don't think there are any worries there. And like you say, your runs scored are 2nd in the league, so no worries there about having to plow more cash into your offense.