How to play Petco

[ANDYCOCHRANE]

I have done a few searches for information about how best to play Petco and picked up a few bits of information. Can anyone give me "the basics" of how to play petco? I understand it is high OB, few BPHR's if possible, good pitching and good D. Any other info?? What sort of players are ideally suited to play there and which are not?

[the splinter]

All of the features you mentioned are true....but the missing ingredient in pure pitchers parks is always natural power. You need 1 guy who can hit the longball without ballpark effects. A few that come to mind are Hafner and Clark. There are of course the elite players that serve high OBP,avg and pure power.

[geekor]

There are a couple of different methods to playing Petco.

1) Reverse Method - get cheap pitchers with low whip and high bp hr's (those will be outs in Petco) and then load up of good hitters with the extra $$

2) Balanced Attack - i.e. a basic setup. Get 1 great * sp with some mid range guys following, with a good closer and some cheap setup guys. Use the money wisely on good value hitters. Hardest approach IMO as you need to get the good value guys.

3) Strong Pitching - i.e. The Munich Man method. Get cheap hitters who have good BA/OBP. Forget about ever hitting a HR, but stack your pitching, especially the SP's.

Hitters that seem to work in this method (obviously in ATG there are MUCH more hitters that fit): C - Redmond, 1b - Casey, 3b - F Sanchez, CF - Duffy. Get some good def up the middle with those 4 and stud pitchers and you can fly!

[milezd]

I like petco like parks as well and I agree with what has been said

good quality pitching - inexpensive * pitchers who don't give up natural HRs, BP HRs are ok, pitchers with slightly higher whip are ok, as petco supresses any extra base hits, AJ Burnett, CC Sabathia, Brandon Webb to name a few

good defense up the middle (2B, SS, CF) - 2 or better at all of these positions if possible

good natural power hitters for your 3-5 spots in the lineup

some good natural HR hitters for 2006 - (L/R chances)
Tony Clark (2 injury) - 3.6 / 12.9
Andruw Jones - 7 / 10.9
David Ortiz - 5.6 / 10.8
Manny Ramirez - 7.4 / 8.4
ARod - 6.2 / 8
Derrick Lee - 7.3 / 7.2

these are "chances" on the card to hit home runs if the roll is on their card, these are the best of the best according to the SOM stats disk

[ROBERTVOZZA]

But my philosophy for Petco is to take the best hitters (High OBA and BA) you can get at the top of your card with Great Defense.) This year, a Roberts/Jeter combination is a great 1/2. Followed by your * Stud SP that you think you can get with a #3 pick.

After that, the best CF, C(O and D combined) and a good mix and match of lineup strategies for every situation.

Since everyone Pitches well at Petco...I would go with the best hitting i could find to maximize your possibilities for scoring at home.

06' is pitching rich with lots of good values under 5M. Great position players are definitely scarce. Getting as many as you can, gives you great hitting everywhere. While Petco enhances your midranged pitchers chances for low scoring - esp with good defense.

Last year in 05', with certain players who had lots of Natural HRs(Bonds/Glaus/Morneau/Arod etc.) you could take Bonds and Glaus with a lot of oBA in the 1-2 spot and decent pitching with a great closer and great interior D and win a lot of 2-1, 3-2 and 4-3 games at home, because very few other teams would be hitting hRs at Petco.