Preseason Jitters

[DD Scotsmen]

Look and advise I think it is a ballanced team and will compete, but I would love a outside second opinion.

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/80s/team/team_other.html?user_id=75495

[Paul5757]

You may be wasting $750,000 by having Haas as your placeholder. You can have any ol' $750k starting pitcher hold down that slot, unless you have some plan to use Haas during the year. Not really sure there's a need for Falcone either. That's about $1.9 million right there. If you can't figure out what to do with it, it might not be a bad idea just to leave it in the bank. (The thing with the 80s, you're going to have to make transactions during the year, so it's not necessarily a bad thing to have a couple of mil in the bank at the start of the year.)

I haven't really used many of your position players. First impression is that you might struggle with OBP, unless you get lucky with some of the cards. I would also think you might need one more LH power hitter who would be impacted by the 5 split in Fenway too much. But I'm not sure what position you'd focus on. (Maybe LF?)

If one's available, I also might get rid of Allanson for a catcher that can throw better, regardless of offensively potential. (Use that CA as a defensive replacement for Simmons.)

[TheGoodDoc]

I'll preface this by saying that i have never played at Fenway, but this is what i would do if i was the manager of your team.


You seem to have built a solid SP pitching staff. If that was your focus, keep it see how it rides. Often though, i have seen teams with top pitching and atrocious batting which eventually undermines the team. the simple adage applies: you cant win if you dont score runs, you dont score runs if you don't get on base. Unless get alot of great years, you aren't going to get on base alot. OBP wins games.



I'd personally get rid of Simmons.. sure he can hit, but you might as well not even throw the ball when the other team steals. I'd opt for the likes of Whitt, Kennedy, Davis, or even the underused Bo Diaz.


Parrish seems a stretch for Fenway. he can slam but i think that you get full value at hitters parks.


Drop either Duncan or ramirez . or both They will be of little value to you.

Hass is too expensive for your 5th slot, given that stud pitching lineup you have. Pick up a .75 Starter or a reliever.

Dropping Haas,Simmons, and duncan will get you approximately $3 mil to revamp your lineup.

[AdamKatz]

Great oitching staff. You can save some money dumping Haas, but if there is nothing else to spend the cash on, bit bad to have in reserve. One of your pitchers will likely hit a bad card. I would still dump Haas. I would dump all youtr RPs other than Sutter and Howell. Sutter is expensive and too LH tilted for my tastes but he is good. Ive had alot of luch with Corbett and Lee Smioth lately Look for cheap RPs with one or two really good years to fill your pen. Hopefully, with your starters you wont need them that much.

Armas is in the wrong stadium. You are better off with a speedster in CF. I wuld take Pettis over Armas in Fenway. Same goes, to alesser extent, with Carter.

[Outta Leftfield]

Hi, Scots,
Welcome to the 80's game. It's great! Consistently fascinating. :D

I would concur with the concerns/suggestions made above. You've got a strong four man rotation there. Those *SP's like Clemens, Key, Scott and John can pitch every fourth day, so there's no need to spend 1.5M on Haas. If I were going to keep one of the Haas/Falcone pair it would be Falcone because he can also relieve. You'll get some value out of him that way and if you have to fall back on a five man rotation--as sometimes happens when some of your original pitchers bomb out--you've already auditioned a possible replacement in Falcone.

I agree that I would be worried about your OBP. That's a key factor in offense and the veteran managers are all keyed on it, so it's hard to keep up with them offensively if you've got too many players with low OBP. The players who would worry me here are--in ascending order of OBP-- Dunston, Armas, White and Parrish. That's a lot of regulars with OBP below .330, and Wilson at .337 is light on OBP for a leadoff man. Your other offensive regulars are all good, but I would try to replace some of the low OBP guys you've currently got, with priority on replacing Dunston and Armas. I'd keep F White. Not everybody likes him, but I think a 2B with great defensive skills and good power for 4.17 is not a bad package, even if his OBP is low. Another way to think of OBP is that it's hard to win in the league unless you draw more walks than you give up. You've got some great control pitchers on your team. If you have patient hitters, then you're probably going to win what I call the "walk battle."

Also, you're pretty light on LH hitting. You're going to see a lot of RHP and you'll want the platoon advantage against them as much as possible. So if you replace some of your hitters. Look for lefties. I'd suggest also reducing your total position players to 13 or 14. And in general, plow some cash into your outfield. You're going to be facing some all-star OFs and you need to counter them with some strong, balanced hitters of your own. Also, try to look toward platoon capabilities in your bench players. How might they compensate for a possible platoon weakness in one of your regulars.

A lot to think about, but that's what makes this game interesting. :wink: