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

[PJ Axelsson]

[quote:c6e77e1199]You're also a few injuries away from having a M*A*S*H unit (15 gamers)

visick [/quote:c6e77e1199]


[url=http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/stratomatic/team/team_other.html?user_id=345986]MASH units[/url] win too (this one did!)

Hey, someone's gotta self promote in Petro's absence! :wink:

[macnole]

shakey--Mondesi is not awful against lefties for 2 reasons here--(1) your park and (2) you're discounting the other side of the matcheup (the pitcher's likely card) which evens out his "putridness"
He hit .283/.356/.596 against LHP for me in a 100 mil.

Again--you shouldnt rely on a RC/27--it is not raw data--it's a subjective calculation.

Based on 17 uses at 100 mil across all parks...Mondesi nets a .544 win %...the fact is he's a good value. Im not saying you should use him, just saying statistically he's a good value and he will produce runs in a balanced lineup. And it's values you need to find in this game at each position--that gives the edge...as you alluded to needing for defense for instance. If it were just a matter of looking up a perceived RC/27, there would be complete parity.

He has a weaker lefthand card, but look this is a good illustrative point--his card is normed to 21% lefties from that year...will you see more than that? If so, then his card becomes less valuable. But the real point I was making is your platoon is a terrible value.

I guess I misunderstood your post--you asked for input but then went on to express you've tried to tailor to your park without success, so staying pat.

Tailoring to your park doesn't mean having pitchers with a 9R rating--but a couple reverse lefties and a couple strong neutral righties. You definitely don't want to make too many lefthanded lineups bat righty in your park by throwing a lefty slanted LHP--that concedes your advantage and cedes the advantage to your opponent in their park. So Vean Gregg or something, maybe so. Maybe even a bob veale if you really still wanted lefty slant.

You play half your games at home and many more than half in neutral to righty parks...all else is less than that. Not sure how you've tailored before...maybe they weren't tailored well?

[macnole]

good to see gibson back--that's huge. Look--your team doesnt look bad at all. Higbe is a huge value. so is Miller. and that Lemon card is ol reliable for many (again actuals and personal experience). like the gbAs.

good luck!

[ShakeyBoomer]

Ok I believe I am done now unless someone can convince me to take money out of the pen and put it into the rotation. I am not sure how BDWard gets so much utility out of all of those sub 2m relievers.

[sdajr76]

since you are using collins you might want a back up for him that won't get injured. b.richardson or i.hall cost about the same as maz and they can't go down for 15 games.

i would also be looking at sosa, d.murphy, c.furillo, w.post, etc... for RF instead of that platoon. if you do not care about def j.gonzalez is another option.

best of luck.

-steven

[ShakeyBoomer]

Everyone on this forum is so against using platoons. I understand Hal's limitations but in certain situations they can be used very effectively. If I were to ditch the platoon for Furillo, Mondesi, Post, etc... I will be begging the other teams to load up on the hard RH SP's against me.

[sdajr76]

the higher priced sosa and murphy are slanted to the L.

-steven

[BDWard]

[quote:3f6f57be6d="ShakeyBoomer"] I am not sure how BDWard gets so much utility out of all of those sub 2m relievers.[/quote:3f6f57be6d]

As far as pitching goes, I can't seem to shake the pre-1970s mentality of letting the starting pitching go as deep into the game as possible. While I usually don't spend a lot of money on starting pitching, I spend even less on relief pitching, as I want my money on the field, not sitting around in the bullpen telling jokes and checkin' out the chicks in the stands.

Yes, I've gotten a lot of mileage out of cheapo RPs and have been very lucky, but, like most managers, I try to tilt the odds in my favor by playing matchups with my relief pitchers and adjusting the settings for each night's games instead of having one stud reliever who gets inserted into the game regardless of matchups or situation.


[quote:3f6f57be6d="ShakeyBoomer"]Everyone on this forum is so against using platoons. I understand Hal's limitations but in certain situations they can be used very effectively. If I were to ditch the platoon for Furillo, Mondesi, Post, etc... I will be begging the other teams to load up on the hard RH SP's against me.[/quote:3f6f57be6d]

I started playing the board game in 1972 with the 1971 player set and started playing here about 3 years ago. While HAL's "logic" (if you want to call it that) has improved, it's no substitute for being able to manage live. My concern about platoons is that too many ABs are wasted by failing to have the right guy bat. With the outcome of many games being potentially changed by just one different dice roll, I want to give away as few ABs as possible. That being said, I agree that "in certain situations platoons can be used very effectively."

When I started playing the dice game, the prevailing train of thought in our group of managers regarding our annual draft was to try and snag a middle infielder who could hit and field, as they were in the shortest supply. Some managers have employed that strategy here as well, but the problem with such players, though not in short supply in the ATG set, is that they often are overpriced compared to players at other positions who generate more offense for the money.

I use Diamond Dope A LOT. While Collins is certainly a good value at 2B if you can keep him on the field, with Henderson in the lineup giving good OBP in the leadoff spot, I'd rather platoon at 2B with Serrell, Fox or Whitaker/Maz, Beckert or Rodney Scott and put a big righty stick in RF (Sosa?) for the money used now for Collins, as I believe you'll net more runs that way, especially at home, where you MUST win to be successful in this game. Or you can put Dusty Baker in RF instead of Sosa (or the like) and use the money saved to get better starting pitching. Baker will give you .260, 30, 100 playing in Minute Maid, while Sosa will give you .260 50 140 playing in Minute Maid. Collins will give you .300-320, 10, 70 in Minute Maid with OBP of .380-.390, while Serrell/Beckert will give you .270 10-15 60-80 with OBP .330-340, but for $3 mil less.

As our friend rburgh likes to say, this is a game of compromises and tradeoffs. Nobody has a monopoly on good ideas for putting together a winning team.

MIchael, if you're like me, you'd rather lose using your ideas than risk losing using someone else's ideas. We can only advise, but you are the ultimate arbiter of what works best for you.

I'll be following your team to see how it does, as I, too, am always looking for alternate strategies. Good luck!

[BDWard]

In the past I've considered using Eddie Miller at SS in righty parks. The appealing things about him are that he plays great D and will hit 25 HRs and maybe knock in 70-80 runs.

What has caused me to shy away from him is his horribly low OBP, which has the effect of turning the lineup over less. If a guy can't consistently win games for me with offense, at least I want him to keep the rally going by getting on base to give the big boys a chance to win the game.

[ShakeyBoomer]

BDWard - thanks a ton for your well thought out posts. I actually do agree with a lot of what you said. As far as Minute Maid goes, however, I respectfully flat out disagree. Here is why. The most important thing to me regarding putting a lineup together for MM is to get as many runners on base as possible in front of the 3-6 guys in the lineup. That means having excellent OBP players in the 1-2 slots. I would gladly sacrifice some of Sosa's slugging to make absolute sure that the bases are full when Gibson, R Smith, Dimaggio and Greenberg hit HR's/doubles themselves. A fair amount of Sosa's production in the 7th hole (because that is where he would hit) would be of the solo variety and IMHO not nearly as valuable as a 3-run shot by Gibson. Now due to the injury, you could criticize Collins at 2b, but in terms of his OBP skills, they are some of the best in the set at 2b. If instead, you wanted to swap and get a very high OBP player like Gwynn/Wheat/Youngs in RF and then platoon for power at 2b, that I would be much more amenable to.