1st 80's game questions

[Sknsfan]

I'm about to hit send on my first auto draft team, and I was hoping to get some advice for an 80's newbie.

Here is the team I have set to draft:

SP:
Guidry, Witt, Hoyt, McGregor, Comer

RP:
Holland, Ward, Campbell, Howe, Burke

Lineup:
C - LaValliere
1b - Mattingly
2b - Randolph
3b - Pendelton
ss - Smith
LF - Rice
CF - Murphy
RF - White
DH - Durham

Bench:
Martinez, B., Presly, Owen, Sheridan, Bush, Castillo

Have I over spent, with the real possibilty that I may have to drop some people because I discover they are playing on bad cards?

Should I even worry about that?

Have I over Spent somewhere?

I realize that I won't get all of these guys on my team, but is this a reasonable set-up?

[bjs73]

Interesting draft card there. The question I have is what is your ballpark. I always draft my card up according to what ballpark I'm playing in. Knowing that could help in making suggestions.

I think your first card is decent. As to whether you overspent on any categories, I'd say that perhaps you went in pretty heavy on the bullpen. Don't get me wrong, I think that spending a decent amount of cash on quality bullpen guys is a [i:0f9fe8f5de]good[/i:0f9fe8f5de] thing personally. I just think that 3 out of the 5 guys you chose are overpriced underperformers.

Duane Ward, Al Holland, and Campbell can be downright disappointing for the money spent. I'll bet you a virtual Mountain Dew that those guys will be on your team no matter what since they are usually passed over in the initial drafts that I've been in.

Holland should be better than what he gives you and he does have some decent years and can produce well at say Royals Stadium. Ward is like his right handed little brother with a lights out season and a few seasons that don't pan out usually for what the card says that you'll get. Campbell is the pick you get when you don't get Goose Gossage and Steve Howe. LOL. :D :D :D :? :( I know that one for a fact since Gossage and Howe have been on my cards numerous times! And there is really nothing to brag about Campbell either.

Steve Howe and Burke are good bargains and both can be down right dominating. However, they are popular too and you getting them will depend on where you ranked them on your card.

Guidry is hit or miss but you'll know fairly quickly if you've got a good one. Witt is lightning in a bottle but fairly shaky in his off years. Hoyt is a fine bargain for the price. McGregor is usually passed over in the draft.

I like your position players quite a bit. They've got good balance througout with good D. Hopefully you get the good D. White. The others will depend on where you ranked them. I predict that you'll get White and LaValliere without much adieu.

Bench looks solid. A lot of those guys except for Owen are fairly popular. I predict you walk away with Presly, Bush, Owen, and Castillo without much incident while the other depend on your rankings and draft position.

[quote:0f9fe8f5de]Have I over spent, with the real possibilty that I may have to drop some people because I discover they are playing on bad cards?[/quote:0f9fe8f5de]

This is the best part of the 80's mystique. [b:0f9fe8f5de]The Mystery Card[/b:0f9fe8f5de] Some love to hate it while many hate to love it. (Myself included.) The 80's game is my expensive habit but I love it.

It is a very real possiblity that you'll be making some mid-year moves based on injury reveals, stats, and splits. It is a common thing. Try to exhibit patience on your studs like Mattingly, Rice, and especially Murphy. Those guys are worth keeping through the first deadline of cuts (if you don't get an injury reveal early that is) since stats and distributions are a very funny thing indeed.

Check out my blog next to my user name. I've put in a few pointers for 80's newbies and stats. Leave a comment there under the wild pitch section and I can do my best to help any other questions you might have.

Take it easy and have fun. 8)

bjs

[Sknsfan]

Thanks for the help.

I read the blog and it makes a little more sense now. Also, did a more complete read of the rules, so I saw that the penalty isn't as stiff as i thought it would be. (Used to the 20% hit you regularly get in the 200x games.)

I haven't sent in my card yet. Held off to see what people thought about it. I think I'll re-examine my poitching choices, before i send it in.

I orignially built this draft before i had the knowledge of the mystery cards.

[cplake]

Agree with bjs, plenty of cheaper relievers besides Soup, Holland and Ward. Burke is a good one but you'll want to put him a little more than half way up on your draft list if you expect to get him. He is pretty popular to raft and usually does well. Two others that come to mind are Dawley and A Lopez.

Good luck and welcome!

[Outta Leftfield]

[quote:2fdcdc4e43]I haven't sent in my card yet. Held off to see what people thought about it. I think I'll re-examine my poitching choices, before i send it in.

I orignially built this draft before i had the knowledge of the mystery cards.[/quote:2fdcdc4e43]

Good idea to hold on to the draft until you got some advice. The key to this game is drafting high value players (worth what you paid or a little bit more), avoiding low value players, and sorting the good from the bad player cards once the season starts. The fact that you get 95% back for dropped players through game 42 gives you a lot of freedom in the opening games. Everyone in the league is trying to figure out their good years and dump their bad ones--but if they dump too quickly, you can pick up some great players that you missed in the draft. For example, I once picked up Eddie Murray when he was dumped after six games, and he hit .353 for me with 45 HR. Somebody else dumped Grich that year and he gave me 38 HR and 107 RBI. It's fun to try to snag the choice offerings from the free agent pile. One current team of mine that's cruising into the playoffs with 9 games to go has 9 players on it who were dumped by other teams--all of them are producing for me.

Most experienced managers draft, at most, one reliever over 3M (I usually don't go much over 1.5M, myself). They fill in with high value cheaper guys. If you catch a cheap reliever in a good year, that RP can become your ace. For example, I once got a 9-1, 30 save season (2.60 ERA in 104 IP) from Bill Dawley, who costs .75M. Another year I got 7-5, 35 saves (1.90 ERA in 132.2 IP) from Terry Leach, who costs 1.01M. You can't count on that every year, but if you have a handful of cheap, high value relievers, you've got a shot with each of them. Then you can spend the money you save on SP and hitting.

Also, in this league, a bad draft isn't fatal. I've had the draft from hell a couple of times and managed to produce what turned out to be successful teams through waivers and trades, and for free agent pickups both before and after the season starts.

If this is your first time out, you might want to pick a fairly neutral park like Yankee/Memorial (same stats), Veterans, Olympic or County. The other parks--strong hitter or strong pitcher--can be fun but it's a good idea to have some experience before you try them. Anyway, I avoided them until I'd managed a few seasons.

This is a great game. Welcome and have fun! :D