Newbie Help Please

[apolivka]

Hey noprob, I do my best to help anyone! I think your moves certainly improved your team. Would have liked to see a bit more offense at 3rd, but I don't know what was available. Kouz is certainly a ton better defender and a better park fit for you. O'Day is a really expensive R1 to match up with Bailey in Petco. You pay a lot for zero BPHRs and that's not really key at petco, but maybe your other parks will get some mileage out of that. But, all in all, 10 pitchers is much better, so you should be more cash efficient.

I would expect your team ERA to settle in around 3 to 3.25 or so, so I think you've really been pretty unlucky there. Howard/Pedroia/Granderson/Eithier will eventually hit. I might platoon Maier in CF against tough leftys who stay in the game long.

[Jerlins]

I doubt the first team's hitting will come around as mentioned. First off, Andrus won't hit at all, be it Petco or anywhere else. Having him in Petco is fine for defense, but counting on him for anything in the offensive category is futile. Next up we have Granderson, who is a hitter's park player only. If he hits anything above .150 in Petco consider it a bonus. Ethier is not much better in Petco, ditto for Kouzmanoff. This is not a lineup suitable for Petco by any stretch of the imagination. Howard, with his natural HR's is great for Petco, and Pedroia should do ok. The team might be competitive on the road, but at home, I don't see this team averaging but 3 runs a game tops.

As for the pitching side of things, no real worries other than the fact I think because having Bailey on the team, O'Day is a wasted commodity who's salary was better spent elsewhere.

[Jerlins]

On a side note, Michael (The Mahoots) plays Petco all the time, and most often fields an incredibly competitive team. I'm sure if you message him through the league he'd be more than happy to send you some links of his better teams and give you some pointers on Petco lineup building. He's a great guy to banter back and forth with throughout the season too.

[dalekeener]

Well then I am going to ask I guess a stupid question. What type of hitter is best suited for Petco?

[chasenally]

I have had many teams at Petco. Mostly because I don't get the homerun hitters at the draft. I go for OBP and defense first. If you plan to take Petco as your park you need OBP, speed, and defense up the middle for sure. You spend less on pitching and more on batting avg and OBP. There is no need for BPHR homerun hitters (#) as they just become long fly balls. An average pitcher can do very well there as they also give up long fly balls. Staters go deep in innings so less is needed to be spent on pitching all together. I do grab a great closer to win the close games. They are all close. The one thing about Petco is that the box scores are just not fun to read. 2-1, 3-2, 1-0 are the scores you see. Find guys that run, steal, H&R and Sac Bunt. I never give advice as to what players to pick up only how to play the team you have. Petco is special as everyone hates to play there. They also don't like the box scores. It is all about little ball and at the end of the season you will have great pitching stats and none of your hitters will even be close to the top 15. A. Gonzalez rocks at Petco for 40 or more HRs every time but he cost 10 mil and that is alot of cash spent on a guy that can't hit lefties. I get him everytime I play at Petco as my pitching cost much less for that park. No one hits well for power there. OBP, Def and speed is the way to go. It is like growing old Petco isn't for sissies as you will need to work for every win.

[Jerlins]

Personally, and contrary to what most say, if hitters are "fairly similar" I prefer BA over OBP in the middle of the lineup only because runs are scarce and a hit may bring in the runner from second as opposed to a walk. To me some of the ideal Petco type hitters include Coghlan, Span, Scutaro, Ichiro types in the #1's and #2 slots. Preferably, you'll need a bopper in the middle of the lineup, one with a few natural HR's as opposed to ballpark HR's, a Howard, Pujols, Gonzalez. You'll still have ballpark HR's on their card, but its mixed with natural ones in the more frequent dice roll slots.

I haven't played Petco this year, but in past years I have played in pitchers parks, and on some of those teams I've still been in the top 25% in runs scored, only because I'll rarely spend more than $20 on my staff. Others prefer strong pitching, either way can work, just a matter of preference.

Again, ask Mahoots to give you a couple of links to his teams. He prefers the strong hitting type Petco team I like as well. Then, at least you can get an idea of what might work in Petco hitting wise.

[apolivka]

When I say "come around", it's all relative.

Pedroia .100 .129 .150
Andrews .127 .143 .146
Granderson .173 .271 .250
Eithier .182 .211 .236

Trust me, they'll come around. 8-)

I wouldn't expect much of granderson at petco either, which is why you should try to platoon him. With your staff, a 3.76 home ERA is higher than I would expect long term with your staff and defense. If you're in a 20% drop league, I would wait wait it out or try to do some trading.

There are a lot of ways to win, that is what's the great part of this game. The way to lose, however, is to get impatient and start dropping guys 15 games in!

One thing, last night in game 2, you had Ron Mahay come in as the lefty specialist it a game you could have won. You really don't ever really want that. Set him to "quick hook", "avoid rightys", "max 1-2 innings", "don't use before 8th". Don't make him your lefty specialist OR mop up. Do the same for Roenike except avoid the other way. You want HAL to use (the overpriced for you) O'Day there, so restrict the other guys as much as possible. Probably set Coke for mop up. Set O'Day for "Middle Man". Optimize your relief so Bailey and O'Day get every possible relief inning, so put them every important role with Baily listed 1st. With your staff I might leave your righty/lefty specialist roles blank and see how HAL manages that way, or put O'Day as RH specialist and Coke as LH specialist. On nights here Haren isn't pitching, I might even go Aggressive bullpen because O'Day and Bailey are so strong, but that might be dangerous on the road if one of your starters gets shelled early.

[dalekeener]

It is a 5/10/20% Drop league so there isn't a huge penalty for making moves now.

Should I try to trade Granderson and maybe drop O'day and pick up someone else?

[apolivka]

At 5%, I would seriously think about it. Both O'Day and Granderson are pretty overpriced for Petco. Your #2 reliever doesn't need to be that good at Petco with Bailey as #1. Someone with some BPHRs is OK cause they don't really hurt you much. I would probably spend somewhere around 2.5M for that spot given your starters/park/defense.

I'd look for someone with lots of hits on their cards. Doubles and triples are worth paying for at Petco, but not really #BPHRs. Speed is another key factor, and you have pretty decent team speed, so I would try to keep it that way. But, find the best _player_ offensively for the money. Granderson, Kuz, Eithier are all candidates for an upgrade, but I certainly wouldn't do all of them--even at 5%. You need to win on the road too and making too many changes will be worse than being better optimized for your park at this point. CF is often a tough spot, so if you can find a better RF or 3b, I would go there. The rest of your guys (AJ, Howard, Pedroia, Andrews, Pagan, Meier) are pretty decent petco guys. Punto is a pretty expensive bench guy, but your ss and 3b are both 15 game injury guys, so maybe he'll pay off.

But, don't panic. You're 9-9 now with some really underperforming guys!