Auto League 434496 Chat

Michael, let's see if I win in Coors first. Can't seem to break away from .500 by much. Lost three straight at home last night. I haven't played in Coors this year. I'm using autoleagues to try parks I haven't used yet so I'm not caught without a park in the Tour semis, assuming I get there. I'm trying Coors because I suck at pitchers' parks this year, which limits me. (I'm trying an AT&T team that I have hopes for now.)

As for winning there, it's kind of a crapshoot due to the pinball ballpark effects. But my team's built mostly like I want it to be except I'm real short on OB. That doesn't necessarily kill me at home, but it's a problem on the road.

Joe, I still can't believe your team. I keep waiting for the explosion to even things out.

Michael, let's see if I win in Coors first. Can't seem to break away from .500 by much. Lost three straight at home last night. I haven't played in Coors this year. I'm using autoleagues to try parks I haven't used yet so I'm not caught without a park in the Tour semis, assuming I get there. I'm trying Coors because I suck at pitchers' parks this year, which limits me. (I'm trying an AT&T team that I have hopes for now.)

As for winning there, it's kind of a crapshoot due to the pinball ballpark effects. But my team's built mostly like I want it to be except I'm real short on OB. That doesn't necessarily kill me at home, but it's a problem on the road.

Joe, I still can't believe your team. I keep waiting for the explosion to even things out.

I finished with the best rec with a Coors team with a live draft (Stratdraft board) team. I'll post a link when I get a chance

As for this team, I couldn't stand it any longer and made some moves. Mostly just replaced zobrist and Hernandez, but we'll see if it makes a difference.

Here is the Coors team. This is a very competitive Live Draft league with experienced managers. I think we got a bit lucky to win 97 TBH, the pythag has us at 86 wins, but it is what it is: http://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1453040

Well, what do you guys think of my moves? We won two last night, not that one series really means anything.

I've got Toles rated higher in pitchers parks than Zobrist, who I like for OB and playing both ways (v RHP, of course). But Smolinski will be great v. LHP and give you good defense too. Hopefully Toles will add some punch with his OB because that's what you need outside your park. As for Samardzia/Kennedy, I like them both in pitchers parks, and I like Kennedy more. It's just his ballpark HRs that kill you.

But it still seems to me it's your top 3 starters who need to get it together to keep you in games with a still fairly punchless offense. Of course the key is Votto. If he starts hitting like a stud, and he should, he can carry you.

My team faces the Pugs tonight in Marlins, and I'm just hoping not to get swept. Not a good park for my hitters.

And MBertolli rolls on.

Yeah, I don't like platooning at so many positions and that's why i dind't like Toles to begin with (plus he doesn't have 600 PA like Zobrist) but his OB is mostly hits so that should help us leave fewer on base. With this type of offense you need to have good timing on your hits which, clearly, we haven't had. Toles, Smolinkski and Gillaspie should give us more XB hits. At least that's the plan. We should have plenty of runners, it's a matter of not leaving them on base so much.

As for Kennedy and Samardzija. I just figured he couldn't be much worse than the way Samardzija has pitched and I needed the cap for the extra platoon player.

Thanks for your thoughts. I think there is still time to get into the race. I don't think AZ is as good as they have played so far and you other two aren't that far ahead. Just have to win some games in the division to make up ground. (Easier said than done!)

I wait until game 54, one-third of the way through the season, to first assess my teams, which is where we are now. These Oberlin Tigers are the third iteration of the team for 2016. The first two versions went 94-68 (+202; +95 run differentials) and won championships:

http://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1451967
http://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1458387

All the position players against RHP and LHP are the same, with only the DH changing (Joyce; Naquin/Semien; V. Martinez), and the backup 3B in this version being K. Johnson instead of M. Gonzalez.

Starting pitchers (after my early season adjustment) have been three high-end SP* (Porcello [3x], Arrieta [3x], Lester [2x], or Kluber), and one low-end SP* (Moore, Stroman, or Nolasco).

Among relief pitchers, Ryan, Smith, and Biagini have been constants, with Familia replaced with Kintzler (a result of initially having five SP) as closer on the latest team.

These teams were constructed based on the ratings of Marc Pelletier, which I started using in 2015 (three teams, three playoffs, one championship), after his article in the Ultimate Strat Baseball Bulletin. These teams tend to have low OBP but high SLG with OPS(AVG) of .795/.745 (third in runs scored) and .796/.735 (first in runs scored). Right now, Soto, Kipnis, Cozart, and Pederson are under-performing; in constrast, Polanco is over-performing. Overall, our OPS is .768/.742, which is considerably lower than the previous teams, even if we are third in runs scored.

Among starting pitchers, Lester and Arrieta (although he won tonight) are under-performing. Previous team ERAs(AVG) have been 3.56/4.20 and third in runs allowed; and 4.10/4.02 and eighth in runs allowed, with the difference primarily a function of the ERA of starters. Currently, we have a team ERA of 4.30/4.28, and rank ninth in runs allowed. I am a little worried about Nolasco.

Previous versions were 34-20 and 31-23 after 54 games, so I thought we would have a better record than 27-27 at this point, and I certainly didn’t expect to be in last place. I am slightly more encouraged by our run differential predicting a record of 29-25, but every team in our division has an even better run differential (and better record!), although we are currently 9-9 within the division. Perhaps more troubling is that we are only 18-18 outside the division, mostly against teams with negative run differentials. In any case, we are going to stick with this team and see what happens in the next two-thirds of the season.

lpezzeme,

Interesting stuff. I'll have to check it out a bit more when I get a chance.

Just thought I'd give a quick update. Our moves have left us 3-3 (yeah it's early) losing two to lpezzeme tonight with no offense in two games and too much in one. We left 9 on in game 2 and had a brutal stretch of 2 H&R singles plus an error by Smolinski (e2) in a 3-1 loss. Ouch. In the other game Tanaka got lit up, again, for a 4.48 ERA so far. We only left six on in a7-4 loss, but lpezzeme only left ONE!! Three HRs can do that for you.

On the pickups they haven't helped much:
Toles 2-13, with 1 2b and made an error which cost us a run.
Gillaspie 2-10 but with a 2b and a 3b and 4 RBI
Smolinski 3-12, all singles and the aforementioned error.
Kennedy pitched as well as could be expected and got a win in 5.1 innings.
Osich and Ellis haven't played yet (thankfully)

So, yeah, they haven't done much yet, but it's a SSS.

Blanton started the season well, but his ERA has ballooned over 3.50 with a 1.21 whip. We REALLY need him to be good. And six BS just aren't going to cut it. Our Pen is just brutal as Cahill and Cervenka are at or near 5.00 ERAs. I really have trouble believing how much has gone wrong with this team. Of course, when the other teams hitters are 51.5% on their cards and you're only at 49.2 on your own, that doesn't help much. And opponents are 40% on BPHRs and you're at 33%. I could go on, but I've probably already bored you. It's pretty crazy. One last overall stat, RHB are hitting .284 against our pitchers including .397 v Detwiler (granted he's not good v RHB, but.....) and .327 v Quintana.

Just hoping that things even out a bit for us. This hasn't been a lot of fun so far.....

Started playing here in 2002, when I lived in LasVegas. Don't remember my handle from that period.
Been moving around Texas since 2005. Have now setteled in Temple.
The Pugs are my sized team this year. No playoffs yet. Just play for the fun. Not a big ego person.
If a team wins, great. Losing season, no big deal.
Chris Davis has been a disappointment. Using him only vs RHP. Playing in Marlins Park, maybe the most I can expect.
Moved on to a couple of Strat football leagues. Something new for me.
This chat has gotten some action. Keep it going. R.Z.

lpezzeme, you are VERY good v LHP, not so much versus righties. You also much better in a hitters park. Given that you're in Yankee and you have two Miller's, that's a good thing. You have enough O in hitter's parks, but in a park like ours, you'll be lacking and hoping that your strong pitching (34 mil) carries you. We did something similar with the SPs, but about a buck less on each pitcher. We had Samardzija (about the same as Noalsco) but had to let him go for Kennedy to get a platoon OF. We spent about the same amount on RP, but we have more concentrated in one guy (who has been so-so for us).

Zeke, thanks for checking in. Good to get your thoughts. Pugs are doing well so far. You have really good pitching with almost 37 mil invested. Obviously it has paid off for you so far. You might have been better off in a hitter's park with your bphrs. Davis is going to struggle in your park, but he should hit some HRs and he should probably be better than your .50 2b which he hasn't been so far.

We squeezed out 2 tonight. Kennedy was good again. Go figure.