Can I win with stud starters, great "D" and Papi?

[durantjerry]

67% of my games will be played in Jacobs(24) & Petco(81). 75% will be played in stadiums with LH HR 1-3 or less, so Vazquez should be decent. All "1's" with low "e" ratings everywhere except catcher & LF(2, e4).

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[T.Richardson]

I think you will be all right. The lack of a bullpen could hurt because you aren't going to scoring a lot. I went heavy pitching including the bullpen on this team but I am lacking in the def department.

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[durantjerry]

I like Peavy. I put him #2 on my team and didn't get him. He as looks good as some of the expensive guys. I think you have too much pen though, with those starters. You almost have a Coors Field pen. They won't get the work to justify the $$$ spent there IMO. I would downgrade at least one of them and probably two of them unless the pitchers were hitting.

[cummings2]

IMO the chumps will have a hard time. The offense, relies a bit too heavily on Helton and Ortiz, Though Ortiz's direct hit HRs are gravy if you take out all the # you'll find a very, very, very low avg for his salary and to center the offense around him. He'll get on base, as will Helton, but who's going to drive them in, with the low OBP elsewhere, who are they going to drive in. I liked the team better with Roberts.

The Dancers and the Mugs seem to be fairly set to neutralize your lefties...which in your case its pretty much your lineup. The nats you might matchup better against.

I think your OBP and AVG could be so low that even a team ERA of 3 could result in a loosing season.

Hope I'm wrong and that you're seing something I'm missing.

as always, all best of luck

[durantjerry]

Well, I dumped Roberts because I do think he is a little overpriced and I have Cora. I can afford Kennedy's injuries with Cora as a backup and Helton is quite a jumpo from Snow. I am lefty heavy, but 2/3 of all pitchers are RH and RH # power is almost meaningless in 3/4 of my games. I have a deeper lineup vs LH, as Lowell, Rowand, Ichiro, Pods and Kendall are all better vs lhp's. Ortiz waste's # HR's, but I need someone to hit a couple out. Three natural HR's vs rhp's is pretty good, as is his hitting vs lhp's. Kind of just for kicks anyway, but I always at least try to be successful.

[MARCPELLETIER]

durantjerry,

I think your team is quite worth the try. I am not sure if Roberts is worth all those millions, but if he is, it's gonna be in a team like yours.

----edit: apparently, you just released him for Helton. Not sure about this one....

I believe that Ortiz is a very strong value---obviously not fitting the Petco, but it's not a bad idea to have one big bat in the line-up. Investing in top SP is a sure way to win in Petco.

But I do agree with t.richardson that your are lacking a top reliever. With the quality of your SPs, you probably don't need more than one. But you have to consider that, with your SPs set on slow hook, if Hal makes a change, it will most probably be because your SP is in deep trouble (after allowing three hits/walks late in the game). So you need some one to step in, close the door right away, and protect the small lead that your (weak) offense will be able to build.

When I say a top reliever, I don't necessarily mean a 6.5M like Rivera. In my opinion, he should be someone who can close, with potential homeruns, but with very few rbis-allowing chances on his card---very few singles or doubles (Cordero would be in my opinion an ideal candidate).

Don't know where you should cut to have this top RP. One option, I guess, would be to cut Pods and Kendall and opt for cheap platoons (all players under 0.6M) in both catchers and lf---and this way take advantage of the new 24-players roster requirement. Another possibility is to trade Pettite for a 6.5-7M pitcher that better fits your stadium.

[MARCPELLETIER]

T-richardson,

In my opinion, you have the opposite pattern: way too much relief for Petco, given your rotation. Would release at least one and improve the offense. Besides, it is my impression that there are several outstanding values for Petco relievers in the 2M-3M range...

[goredsox33]

it seems to me that there are LOTS of excellent values with relievers in the 2006 game....................

[cummings2]

Fatty,

Keep an eye on your team's H&R and Bunting settings, you have an interesting H&R team all Bs an Cs (with the exception of Lowell) with the speed that you have I think HAL will try running the play fairly often especially with the throwing arms of the catchers in your division. There are some good HLD rates but not enough to slow you down...Problem is this: with Pods, Ichiro, Kennedy and Rowand you are bound to upgrade one of the Cs to a B and in that case HAL, even with a Conservative setting might run the H&R, and I don't think you want Ortiz, or Helton H&Ring, it's an interesting lineup I feel a bit more optimistic about it today than yesterday.

All best of luck, interested in seeing how your team fares H&R-wise, I think you'll do pretty good.

[glennglenn]

I've been trying that stud pitcher and ortiz strategy at petco- its working so far-though some of my hitters-i.e. abreu have been dismal...

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