Strat-O-Matic Baseball 365

My first league s starting up and I've filled out tentative lineups. But I have no idea whether I got them right and whether I have a real shot of getting somewhere. The league is a DH league with a salary cap of $100M.

Here are my hitters by position.

C: Chris Ianetta, Chris Snyder
1B: Joey Votto, Mitch Moreland (Moreland also plays RF)
2B: Neil Walker
3B: Evan Longoria, Miguel Cairo (Cairo also plays 2B and 1B), Jerry Hairston Jr, (Hairston also plays SS, LF, CF and 2B)
SS: Marco Scutaro
LF: Johnny Damon (Damon also plays 1B), Jerry Sands (Sands also plays RF and 1B)
CF: Chris Young
RF: Kosuke Fukudome (Fukodome also plays CF), Ichiro Suzuki

I like Votto in the third spot and Longoria at cleanup. I'm thinking of batting Ichiro ninth and have him play RF full-time for his defense. Chris Young plays a better defensive CF but Fukudome is a better (though not great) hitter. I'm not sure whether to put Scutaro in the leadoff position. Ianetta apparently HAS to start at catcher because Snyder doesn't have nearly enough games (defensively they're a bit of a wash).

I have pretty decent pitching with Cliff Lee and CC Sabathia heading my rotation.

As I said, I'm new to building lineups, so what are my best options in the humble opinion of the experts?

A couple quick tips:

1. Remember that this game is based strictly on mathematical probabilities--not on famous names. The $ values are very accurate predictions of the direct impact a player will have on your ability to score runs or prevent runs. For example, Fukudome is a much better option in rightfield than Ichiro, despite Ichiro's name. This is because he gets on base and slugs much better, while having virtually identical defense (according to his rating, no matter what your personal opinion may be). This is reflected in Fukudome's value being more than $1M higher.

2. The key to building a good roster and lineup is efficiency. Unless you are planning to use a platoon or two, your backups in most cases should be very cheap (.50M to 1M). It may be too late to make changes now without penalties, but for future reference, having 2 high-priced catchers, for example, is a large waste of resources. You should dump one if it's not too late and use money elsewhere (And by the way, there's no limit on any player's ability to play games, unless he gets injured during the season. Snyder will get injured often, but there's no limit, as you suggest, to his "games.")

3. It's good to shoot for 60% offense and 40% pitching in your spending. You're a little short in your spending for your everyday lineup.

With those things said, I strongly recommend dumping some 2 or 3M players if possible (Moreland, Snyder, Sands, Cairo, Hairston, Scutaro, Suzuki) in exchange for upgrades or good platoons at SS and LF (Damon can be your DH, but his defense is off the charts bad...a no-no for successful teams in strat-o-matic). As you upgrade, you need to improve your ability to hit righthanded pitching as well. You can do this by checking out the balance (BAL) rating of each hitter. Having a 1R means you hit righties slightly better, while having 4R or 6R means you're much better against righties.

If you don't want to make roster changes, I would have your starters mostly as you list them, with Moreland as your DH against righties and Damon against lefties and Damon in left against righties with Sands there against lefties.

Generally speaking, you want to have good OBP in the 1 and 2 holes, your best 3 overall OBP/SLG guys at 3-4-5, and the rest filling in the the bottom 4. It's nice to alternate right/left where possible to force opponents into pitching mismatches or bullpen overuse. It's also nice to have low groundball A (double plays) results on your card for spots 1-3.

In the end, though, keep in mind that constructing a batting order is far, far less important than constructing a good roster. As long as you follow a few basic principles with batting order, you can't gain or lose much compared to the next guy if your players are equal. Where you make hay is in building a roster that is an efficient use of resources, matches your park well, and follows a plan to maximize the strengths you have.

Have fun.

Thanks. The waiver wire goes through in a few hours and I haven't put in any claims. Maybe I should, but I doubt I have time. I was originally going to waive Damon, but I couldn't find anyone in the same price range who looked like an improvement. I am concerned about his defense and may DH him full=time if he sticks around.

And now it's less than 45 minutes before the waivers are processed and I'm nervous about my attempted moves. Whether they can go through is open to question, as is what happens once they're finished. Can I pick up any free agents after this, or am I essentially stuck with what I have?

The waivers have cleared and I've made a flurry of FA moves. I don't know if any of them made sense (I was told strategy goes out the window in a $100M league, but I'm not so confident).

It's not true that strategy goes out the window, although it is a little trickier. Because there aren't enough top-notch players to fill in all 9 starters on all 12 teams, you have to be creative with using some platoons and extreme injury guys (inj 5 or 6) coupled with a quality backup. The key, as I mentioned before, is not to have wasted resources. In other words, if you see you have a $2-3M backup that's nothing more than a true backup (not a platoon), see if you can dump him and get something that you'll actually use against lefties or as an important injury replacement.

For pitching, I tend to load up on a good bullpen in $100M because offenses are so much better than $80M leagues and your starters will get shredded a little.

Well, it's clear after my 2-4 start that I hae a few things to learn. When is the point at which to panic?

Not even close to panic time yet. If you think offense is the problem then make lineup order changes. If it's pitching make sure your settings ensure that your best pitchers (whether starters or relievers) are throwing the most innings.