A Minute Maid in a world full of Lefties...

[macnole]

some quick things...

if rickey is your leadoff, I would go with the 5L (I think 7.8) version in your situation. Still lots of OBA, but mashes lefties and is cheaper.

lukewarm on chipper here based on the rest of your team. Could work depending on rest of roster. But right now Your 2 highest salary guys are not optimized for your park--that's 20%+ of your salary cap. Will be lots of wasted BPHRs. I realize he has nat HRs vs lefties, and you have a few lefty parks in your div, but when facing righties he is a lot weaker and half the time he will be at home.

oneill...never used him

eddie collins is your most expensive hitter...you missed RH as you said...just dont leave it that way...

Harper--gotta be a better value against lefties...

[macnole]

sisler 7.67, terry, JJackson 7 mil, maybe the 9.28 musial if you have enough righty mashers and 1b or lf open, brouthers, cochrane, etc.

[ShakeyBoomer]

macnole - thanks for the advice. Here are a few things you didn't have complete information on.

1. I didn't AD Chipper - that was my second AD top pick miss trying to get Beckwith. Chipper is absolutely not being kept post waivers.

2. I didn't draft O'Neil. I got him in a trade. I traded the 10.42 Mays and I-Rod for the 9.86 Joe D and O'Neil. Joe D mashes lefties and is overall a much better offensive player then Mays. I-Rod, given my situation, is not a great fit and there are tons of good C's left in the FA pool.

3. I am in a quandry as to what to do at 2b. I am considering using the 7.25 Collins to lead-off and batting Rickey 2nd because he has the + signs and Collins doesn't. I am wide open to suggestions as to who else to use at 2b.

4. I am not sure why you are so down against Harper given his diamond dope metrics against LH pitching.

5. Sisler, Terry and Jackson are all unavailable. Brouthers and Cochrane have basically NO extra-base power. If I am grabbing an extra LH bat, that person needs XBH's on his card (Although if I keep Collins, that is already 2 LH's and I don't think a 3rd in Minute Maid is wise).

[Stormcrow2012]

[quote:2f64989676]3. I am in a quandry as to what to do at 2b. I am considering using the 7.25 Collins to lead-off and batting Rickey 2nd because he has the + signs and Collins doesn't. I am wide open to suggestions as to who else to use at 2b.
[/quote:2f64989676]

I think you have to lead off with Ricky Henderson, otherwise you will be wasting all those stolen bases. The (7.25) Eddie Collins' card is a great bargain, but his base stealing numbers are not that good in a league with a bunch of great catchers. I would have a decent backup at 2B instead of just a .50 guy because the only downside to Collins are those 15 game injuries. Bill Mazerowski mashes left handed pitchers, plays good defense and is only .85 million. Or maybe someone like Sandy Alomar can backup Collins for .66 million. He has good defense, decent OBP (for a backup) and lots of speed.

Couldn't it work to your advantage that you have the only park in your division that is much better for right handed bats? The rest of your division is loading up on left handed mashers who will not at all be tailored for your park.

This is just my two cents, pardon me if you knew most of this already. I will leave the real advice to the people who know this set of cards much better than I. Good luck and have fun.

[macnole]

- harper is fine in the right situation. I've used him. Maybe i just didnt see it here. who is the other side of the platoon?

- mays and irod are great for minute maid btw. Careful with DD...using the RC/27 or similar can be misleading. The Mays card has plenty of nat xbhs and simply always performs to card...Joe D is great, but mays and IRod vs JoeD and Oneill... Granted IRod has little power against LHP and that will hurt when away.

- if keeping Collins, then no to the other guys like brouthers...but you could make high OBA lefties work if your righties are dominant.

- rickey can be a run producer. remember to not consider HRs for a tablesetter. In that case, for leadoff, I like the 7.8 Henderson better. approx 50 on base vs righties and 60+ vs lefties. the 8 mil rickey can produce anywhere, but id only bat him leadoff with guys with high obp at the bottom of the order, i.e. in front of him. Thus, it becomes a quandary whether rickey leads off due to his power and gbA+s.

-If you are worried about stolen bases in MM...you have a problem indeed. Hence the rickey dilemma--paying for all those stolen bases, for what? that's why a couple n-power LH tablesetters are OK as long as not a lot of BPHRs.

[sdajr76]

i would drop ricky down to the '85 card, ditch the platoon and pick up clemente'64.

and you need to pick up a backup for 2B.

-steven

[ShakeyBoomer]

Thanks for all the input everyone...

Post-waivers there are 6/13 LH starters in my division. In the other divisions, there are 10/35 LH starters.

I'm pretty happy with the lineup right now. My concern, however, is have I not spent enough on my pitching?

Here is how my lineups break out at the moment:

Lineup vs. LHP -
1. Henderson, R. (R) LF
2. Collins, E. (L) 2B
3. Foxx, J. (R) 1B
4. Gibson, J. (R) C
5. Dimaggio, J. (R) CF
6. Harper, T. (R) RF
7. Torre, J. (R) 3B
8. Miller, E. (R) SS
9. Pitcher

Lineup vs. RHP -
1. Henderson, R. (R) LF (The 8.56 version)
2. Collins, E. (L) 2B (The 7.25 version)
3. Foxx, J. (R) 1B
4. Gibson, J. (R) C
5. Dimaggio, J. (R) CF
6. Heathcote (L) RF
7. Torre, J. (R) 3B
8. Miller, E. (R) SS
9. Pitcher


My starting pitchers are:

C. Lee 7.12 L 3R
B. Lemon 6.94 R 2L
E. Ruelbach 5.40 R E
K. Higbe 3.34 R E

Pen is Miljus, Shaw, Linzy, Hassler...

Updated link: http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/stratomatic/team/team_other.html?user_id=372123

Thoughts please?

[sdajr76]

i have never had luck with that ruelbach card.

i am still not big on the L handed part of your platoon in RF. i would look at v.hayes, b.baro, brunansky, s.poles, c.davis or p.bradley. many of these would require you to alter your line-up and bat rickey 3rd instead of 1st. which would be fine. no matter what you might as well move torre to the 6th spot to better utilize his pos. clutch.

i would bat them:

collins
henderson
dimaggio
gibson
foxx
torre
harper/???
miller

then use whatever cash i free up by replacing heathcote to upgrade ruelbach or another one of my starters or replace miljus with sutter.

-steven

[Stormcrow2012]

You might want to bat Torre either 5th or 6th because of his positive clutch?

You also might want a real good defensive backup 3B man to bring in for defensive help late in the game when you are winning big. And a decent pinch runner couldn't hurt (maybe you already have one)

Do you think maybe you should have one more left handed bat that does not rely on ballpark HRs (Collins seems like a perfect lefty for your park) or at least a switch hitter?

I know Higbe is supposedly the best value in starting pitchers but he is getting rocked in my league, of course that is just one league. I think you are spending enough on pitching, Miljus is sweet and will give you a ton of innings. I am not sure if Cliff Lee's card is right for your situation (I am not saying he is not right, I just don't know all the pitcher's cards as well as I know the hitter's cards), I am sure someone else can give a better opinion on your starting pitchers. But I do know you might be able to benefit from one more lefty reliever since your division rivals will no doubt be loading up on the lefties.

No offense to the above poster but I would not lead off with Collins, he can not steal like Rickey Henderson and you are paying for Ricky to steal so bat him lead off.

Good luck and have fun!

[sdajr76]

i would bat him second so he could hit a lot more 2 run HR's than 1 run HR's. and with that staff you will need the 2 run home runs.

-steven