Opinions on my first strat o team please?

[NFLed1]

I agree with the others, since you have 4 decent * starters already it's extremely important to get rid of Harden (replace with any 0.50 starter since you won't ever use that replacement) so that you can use the 7.33mil on hitting upgrades. That's a lot of money to be wasting with Harden since you already have 4 decent * starters. Just picking up Helton and cutting Hillenbrand would be a great improvement (that's just an example, there very well may be better ways to improve the lineup other than that). With only 3 batters who bat lefty against righty starters in your lineup that leaves you vulnerable to strong righty 3R+ pitching so I recommend getting at least one more lefty hitter in the lineup; that's not as important overall, though, as the issue with Harden in general.

[kingsx2003]

Wow thanks again for the help folks. Some good advice here so I don't want any of you to think I'm just ignoring you. The thing is I've heard Helton mentioned, I've heard Ellis mentioned etc. Is Heltons card worth 9 million? Is Ellis's card worth almost 8 million? They seem overpriced to pay that just for the sake of it.

I've also read a couple of places how valuable Heilmann is as a setup man. If that's the case why can't Harden be even better? Starters go their six or seven. Harden goes two or three and either Ryan or Street close it out depending on lefty righty. That seems like it would be an aweseome pitching combo.

I guess my question is would upgrading say Hillenbrand to Helton be THAT much of a boost to dump Harden along with Street or Ryan? Would seem I would then be banking on some pretty shady set up men to get me to my closer. All to get one guy who gets on base a few more times.

I'm not questioning any of you as you obviously have more experience than me. Just letting you know what I'm thinking. Am I way off base or what?

[kingsx2003]

Also, what is recommended to assure pitchers go the amount of innings their card says they can i.e. slow hook quick hook etc. In a perfect world I'd like my starters to go their six or seven, Harden to go his two or three and the closers to get their inning. How should I set the slow hook/quick hook to achieve this? Thanks again.

[cummings2]

O.K. good question.

In My Opinion, Street is good enough to close vs. R and L. If you set your bullpen to maximize closer and Ryan as closer vs. LHB and Street to close vs. RHB you'll end with a pretty low # of IP by Ryan especially. In that way you'll ge very low value for Ryan.

As a rule of thumb I usally make my calculations considering to get 430-450 innings pitched by my bullpen. If you consider you can get 160-180 from your setups and about 60 from a max. closer you are at about 380-400 IP.

In the setup you are refering to: Harden setting and Street/Ryan closing (if closer is set to max), Harden will get tons of innings, possibly topping 200, Street might get about 40-50 and Ryan might get 30-40 (rough estimates here, most likely a bit off). that leaves you with around 150 innings to fill with your specs...might not yoield great results.

I think the suggestions re: re-allocating your pitching budge to hitting are based in giving you max value for your investments.

As far as Ellis or Helton and their value...well, Ellis' defense would be a nice improvement and Helton's OBP might be gravy. You're right aout thinking twice on high salary players, they make it a bit tough to balance your team but the monster cards can also help make your team more dominant. Ortiz, IMO is a pretty good value, I'm not entirely sold on Ellis, but in your situation I might go with his better offense and D. If the choice is between having some cash sitting in the bullpen or playing everyday 2B then I'd go with the latter choice.

Just a thought though.

[cummings2]

Let's see...settings.

Well, I think there are many opinions on this, hopefully some of the old time vets will chime in.

Personally I leave my starters blank (no slow or quick hook) make sure the pen has enough arms, then I set the pen to aggresive and define the roles with closer to regular. HAL seems to make a good call when it come to pulling staters or leaving them as long as they're not fatigued. I've done it this way even with theuber studs Clemens, Santana, etc. However, I believe most players set their studs to slow hook. It'll be interesting to ge some other POVs

[Stoney18]

Kings, you're correct about Harden being great but the thing to remember is this game has a salary cap. The guys that win on a regular basis are the best at maximizing the value of their $$ as they put their team together.

Harden is a little overkill for a set up role.

[Hooverg]

I'm a long time SOM player, but in my first league on here, and already have picked up some good thoughts. Take it for what's it's worth, but:

1. I like premium starters, up to four as much as you can afford. You cant replace a stud like Pedro or Carpenter. Make em *

2. Get one stud mid reliever, and double up by making him an S5/R3--I like Escobar if he's available. That covers you on your fifth Starting pitcher, but gets you a premium relief/setup guy. Spend to get a low WHIP--it's definitely worth it.

3. Closers are VERY twitchy. I spent the jack to get Street, and HAL never puts him in! Of my 12 losses--six have come on ninth inning rallies when I had the lead and HAL didnt bring in my big time closer. If I'm sitting at the table--Street goes bang bang bang in the 9th and I am 27-6 at this stage of the league.

Past that--there is a definite line out there on big spend/value. I am a lifelong Cards fan and was thrilled to get Pujols in the draft. But after the first week, Randy Johnson was getting bombed on late inning dingers, and I needed a premium starter to replace him. I dropped Albert and the big unit, used the dough to get Pete, and still added Chris Shelton at 1B. The offensive dropoff was negligible, but Pedro to Johnson is like night and day. Big diff...

Good luck!!!!

Hoov