strat mystery game experts

[LMBombers]

This is a good example of why I don't let HAL set my lineups. If he plays a player who has a good year it is just dumb luck and not insightful on HAL's part.

[voovits]

I love this. The more people who get convinced [i:0850dfedc6]not[/i:0850dfedc6] to use HAL lineups, the better for me because I honestly believe I'm getting a competitive advantage by letting HAL set my lineups.

[ROBERTLATORRE]

I still think if you keep it at it's simplest level, HAL knows which cards you have and will make lineup decisions based on all of the cards on your roster.

There is definitely value in that. How much weight you put on that is up to you.

[franky35]

back to my question. Why would anyone bat Kingman leadoff? What does it tell me about his likely year. It being Kingman, his OBP varies from really lousy to barely ok; but all his years feature great HR power. So, why leadoff?

[The Senators]

Here's what I belive to be true regarding this subject (I'm probably wrong)
1. Hal favors defense over offense.
2. Defense being equal, or leaving the DH spot open, Hal will play the better year and readjust fielding positions.
3. Even though Hal may play the better card, he does not offer a strategic lineup. I have left lineups totaly blank and Hal will bat the same player anywhere from 1st to 4th to 9th which tells me that the program that picks the lineup has no "leadoff", "clean up" mentality.
4. When choosing late inning pinch hitters, with 2 outs Hal stresses good "clutch" card over seemingly better card which is a tip-off of the year you have.

But to answer franky35, you're statement that Hal used Kingman at leadoff reinforces my theory about Hal's lack of lineup strategy as Kong never was a good on base guy although it wasn't bad in '76 against a lefty in a home run hitter's park. But probably not the best on a given team either.

[LMBombers]

If HAL is so smart at picking who to play then why do we even bother with lineups, settings, etc, etc. :lol:

I'm not a believer.

[The Senators]

The Monkees were!

[voovits]

If nothing, HAL is consistent in his decision making. His choices of [i:569f3d8776]who[/i:569f3d8776] to start are not necessarily the best (especially at C) as he favors defense way too much. Having said that, all the valuable information comes from the batting order, which will lead me to answer Franky's question.

When analyzing lineups, I have learned to completely disregard the #1 and 2 slots. I'm sure there's some reasoning HAL uses to fill those slots, but I have noticed it's not always high OBP/Speed guys. It almost seems to me that HAL fills those slots in with whatever is left after filling 3-9, which brings me to the rest of the order.
Before I start a season, I take 2 guys who I want to start who I consider to be the 2 safest players on my team (80s/90s Butler, 70s Carew, 80s Murphy, etc:) and manually place them in the 1 and 2 slots. I will then let HAL fill in the rest knowing that offensively, 3 is better than 4, who is better than 5, who is better than 6, and so on.
After the first night , if necessary, I will switch up the guys I had in the 1 and 2 slots to see where they are placed.

So to answer the question, in all likelihood Kingman is on a lousy card. If he was playing on 79, he likely would have hit 3rd, but considering I have no reasoning for the choices in the 1 and 2 slots, I would not guarantee it until I saw where he his outside of those 2 slots.

[Rigged Splits]

Even though Kingman is a lousy leadoff hitter no matter what, it would help to know if he was leading off against a lefty or a righty and who else is on the team and where they batted. It could say a lot about what choices HAL had to use as a leadoff hitter. You might not have any good ones.

HAL usually favors OB pct for leadoff over speed and will put a power hitter there which means you must have more powerful hitters to put at 3, 4, and 5. If you were in a power park adding those BP homers can give him a much better OB pct. HAL may not use Kingman in a pitcher's park.

CONCLUSION: HAL is as stupid as I am and you had Kingman's 72 card in a power park against a righty with other potential leadoff hitters being bad or better suited (to HAL) for a pitcher's park because of Kingman HR potential. How's that for a run-on sentence.

As far as pitching goes I've never let HAL choose the starters, but in my latest 80s league I forgot and HAL skipped Denny to pitch a lower priced Bankhead and Farrell. Bankhead got destroyed. I put Denny in for game 4 and he also got clobbered. I don't know if it meant anything yet.

[franky35]

I appreciate all the responses. I especially Voovits explanation which really lays out a theory for interpreting HAL. However ...

It doesn't explain batting Kingman first. Kingman has only faced 2 lefties when I kept my lineup open. Against Gullett HAL put Kong in the leadoff postion. Against Kaat, Kong batted 3rd. Against righties, in a completely open lineup, HAL has placed Kong mostly at cleanup or 3rd, and when I fill in the first 3 spots, HAL puts Kingman at cleanup.

Based on OPS, OBP, or BA, there is no possible way that Kingman is anywhere near my best hitter against righties; but he might have the most home runs on his card.

As a side note, I don't recall ever seeing HAL put a worse hitter batting 2nd as compared to 9th.

Lastly, a Kong update. So far, he has 5 home runs and 6 runs scored. Exactly like Kong in real life.