Annual attempt

[Eddie E]

Last year I decided to try putting together a team of all 4's defensively in an attempt to see if it was possible to overcome a bad defensive team. I failed miserably going 67-95. I didnt feel as if I lost too many games due to my defense but instead ended up with one of the worst offensive teams in that league. I played in a moderate home run park.

I have decided to try this type of team each year and this year's version was just drafted. One change that I made was that I decided to draft only pitchers with good hold ratings and double figure doubleplays on their card. I am hoping that the additional doubleplays will eliminate some of the extra baserunners that my defense allows. My catcher has a -2 arm so most of my holds will be the maximum to eliminate or strongly curtail the running game as well as keep that runner on first in hopes of finding the doubleplay on the pitchers or hitters card. I also chose Petco this year.

I forget how to provide a link to my team but will do so if someone tells me how. I got everyone I wanted in the draft except for 2B (wanted Kelly Johnson) and LF (wanted Matt Holliday). Ended up with Rickie Weeks at second and a weak platoon of Lastings Milledge and Lucas Duda in Left. There was just zero available with a 4 defensively believe it or not and missed the only acceptable guy in waivers since I picked so low.

[visick]

I'd also look for SP's with low gBa's on their cards.

What good is a groundball double play if they can't get to it?

Grab some SP's with BPHR's on their cards.

To post a team link:
1. Go to the statistics page
2. Click on team statistics
3. Click on your team
4. In the address bar on top, right click on the link
5. Copy it and then paste the link here

visick

[Eddie E]

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/stratomatic/team/team_other.html?user_id=371909

Here is the link for my team. Somehow I dont think I made myself clear about the doubleplays. My fielders cant get to X chance double plays but gb a's in hitters and pitchers cards are automatic double plays with a runner on first and less than two out. I chose SP with 12 gba chances per side.

[AeroDave10]

I think your team will struggle because some of the players you have are "artificial 4s" in my book. Fielder, Weeks, McGehee, and Milledge/Duda are true 4s (i.e. 4 at their primary position with no other positions at which they defend better). Huff, Bautista, and Cairo are actually better at other positions, so you are losing money by playing them out of position. I also think you should go all SP* or all SP, not mixed. I used to use a combo rotation, but it never seemed to work. Lastly, I'd beef up the bullpen with another R2 that can eat up a lot of middle innings along with Venter. There may be quite a few short outings for the starters.

There really aren't that many true 4s or 5s that swing good sticks. I see:

C - Santana, Hernandez, Castro
1B - Ortiz, Fielder, Butler, Dunn
2B - Uggla, Weeks, Johnson
3B - Betemit, McGehee
SS
LF - Holliday, Braun, Scott, Willingham
CF
RF - Morse, Abreu


If you really want to test the value of defense while still putting together the best team for the value, I'd look to swap in a 3 at SS (Ramirez or Jeter) and CF (Wells or Kemp).

[Eddie E]

Aero Dave, thanks for the advice. You are correct as you usually are regarding it being best to get true 4's. As you said there arent many out there who can actually produce offensively. Although Bautista is a 3 at two other positions inflating his price, I really couldnt find a productive 4 CF. I didnt want to use 3's because I wanted to run all 4's out there (besides catcher where range isnt a big factor at all). All of the guys you mentioned are already rostered elsewhere as well. I dont usually like to mix up Starters as well but to get those dp's and afford money for offense, it was a price I paid.

I dont think this team is a winner but I hope to see if the change in pitching tactics helps me this time around. Last time I went with better pitchers to try and negate the defensive lapses but didnt score enough runs with the money I spent on pitching. This time I spent more on offense with the hopes that the low HR, high dp starters would hold their own.

[durantjerry]

[quote:2fb3961edc]Last year I decided to try putting together a team of all 4's defensively in an attempt to see if it was possible to overcome a bad defensive team. I failed miserably going 67-95. I didnt feel as if I lost too many games due to my defense but instead ended up with one of the worst offensive teams in that league. I played in a moderate home run park. [/quote:2fb3961edc]
1) I think you are wasting your money playing a team of all 4 rated defensive players. I am the first to try an against the grain type of team and I have played a 4 in CF and won and tried a 4/4 2B/SS combo and just missed the playoffs. My point is that it is very difficult to overcome those specific handicaps, never mind the remainder of the team also being 4 rated players.
2)I think failing miserably would be the norm and I also think you are deluding yourself if you don't think you lost a lot of games due to your defense. Luckyman and Quicksilver would be hard pressed to draft a winning team using all 4 rated defenders.
3)I think if you are going for that type of team, you should play in a big HR park. The smaller the park, the more each run and each fielding miscue will be magnified. I think you need to outslug your opponent.

[Eddie E]

Durantjerry, I am sure you are right about not winning. I am not doing this expecting to win but to see if it is all possible to field a competitive team under these circumstances. Interesting that you suggest a high HR park. I expected that putting extra baserunners on due to defense in front an extra 8 diamonds would be a recipe for disaster. In my head to head strat league anyone who played in a big HR park and didnt pay attention to their defense got thumped. The only team to make the playoffs in the past 11 years had a stellar defense playing in the Cell. In a small park, it would seem to me that those diamonds and bp singles are almost automatic outs which are sorely needed by my defense. Anyone else want to weigh in on preferred type of park?

[keyzick]

I agree with Durantjerry on the park. By fielding all 4's, you're basically saying you want your offense to carry your team. To maximize your offense, you'd want to play in a hitter's park.

The more you skew it to a pitcher's park, you're taking away from the only value your team provides you, which is offense.

[Mean Dean]

Given that these are "strict salary cap" leagues, everything is a question of value per dollar, no?

If it's impossible to win without a good defense, that's essentially saying that the pricing system has a huge, basic flaw -- the players' prices don't account sufficiently for defense.

If we think that the pricing system is a well-constructed system, then there would be no inherent reason why you couldn't win with 4s.

[Eddie E]

I am 19-26, last place in my division but only six games out. My run differential is a -4 My offense is third best in the league and pitching is 9th. I have been tracking (I know, too much time on my hands) x chances for my defense and everything is right in line with known percentages. I am giving up the number of hits that I expect to based upon the expected outcomes of the die rolls.

I have allowed 203 runs to date, of which 22% of them are directly attributed to X chance hits that have scored and/or driven in a run. Knowing this, I tend to believe that giving up a quarter of your runs on defense is probably too much to overcome.

My theory about getting high gba pitchers is working as I lead the league in turning double plays despite having fours in the infield.

In summary, if everything fell just right and that year's card set provided some stellar choices to fill out your lineup then you might be able to be successful but I tend to think its a one in ten chance.