Strat-O-Matic Baseball 365

So my team is struggling . . . and specifically, I have three guys not getting it done at the plate. I know with these larger cap leagues, guys are going to underperform . . . but there three guys are woeful.

Roberto Alomar, .240/.345/.378/.723 (Actual .323/.422/.533/.955) (format is avg/obp/slg/ops)
Ron Santo .203/.313/.350/.663 (Actual .313/.398/.564/.962)
Billy Williams .247/.304/.330/.634 (Actual .322/.391/.586/.977)

Two of these guys are 300 points below their actual OPS. Alomar has come up a bit recently, he was almost 300 points below as well. This is through 57 games, so they've had time to come around. Williams has been particularly frustrating, hitting only one HR in 194 ABs (Hit 42 in 636 in real life).

I'm playing in exhibition stadium, so a fairly neutral park . . . There is one Lefty team in my division (3-3 against them so far) and another out of my division, and a righty team out of my division. We have the league's best ERA (4.13), but third-worst in Runs scored. I thought my team would come out of its funk, and most of my hitters have, but these three remain quite bad. Santo at least is a GG leader, while Alomar is the runner-up . . . but Williams? Wow . . . I did look at his card and see that he's a little weak vs. Leftes, but still . . . he's just bad.

I'm going to add a link to my team . . . yeah, there are some silly things here, but overall my starting lineup LOOKED solid...

http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/team/812641

Santo needs to be platooned at that cap and really Williams should be too because at that level he is really a fringe starter even against rightys. I would look to pick up a couple of guys to platoon with them. Alomar is never going to tear the cover off the ball at that cap but if you can get a.350ish on base out of him then he is fine.

Actually I looked at your team again and see you have kuntz who you should platoon with Williams and then you could drop driessen for a 3b that kills leftys. Plus Ed bailey could be dropped to a cheaper reserve at catcher to help free up cash for that.

None of the players discussed in this thread should be on a 140m roster with the possible exception of Alomar and then because you missed out on a good 2Bman and having to settle for a good D/no-hit #9 hitter.

Your #5 starter should be a .50 player. Your backups should be .50 players unless they are for a platoon. Your starters should look like they belong on a $200M team and your backups should be .50 players.

I'm finding Bachman and Kranepool have a rough time at 140M.

Okay . . . to be a little more helpful, why do certain guys not belong on a certain cap roster? Because to look at these guys, I wouldn't know. And trial and error on such a large player pool sounds pretty ridiculous.

2B doesn't have a lot of good alternatives, and 9+ mil should be more than a booby prize . . . Santo and Williams, at over 7 mil, I can see . . . but Only other 2b available are guys like Biggio, Chino Smith, and Bret Boone. Schmidt is available at 3B . . . LF has guys like Stargell, Foster, Eric Davis, and Joe Medwick . . . I wanted a LH guy with power to help against that LH specialty team in my division, but I don't know at this point if that's important, or if I should just go with the best player available.

Certain guys don't belong due to the cap size. It allows for better players to be on the team. If you see any experienced players in your league, what do their teams look like?

Medwick usually performs well as a hitter in LF. Alomar doesn't perform up to his card in higher cap leagues usually. Santo will not perform well normally either in higher cap leagues. Torre usually does perform well but his defense isn't very good. Beckwith, Boggs, Brett and Torre are better options for offense at 3B.

Your backups should be low cost players since they will not be playing very much, and it allows for you to put more of your salary cap toward your starters. In offense alone, you could have freed up around $7.40M by using cheap backups.

I also would only carry 24 players so that you free up a little extra salary. Too, I see you have 4 catchers. At most, you need 2 since the game engine will not injure your last available C if one is already injured.

I play mostly 140 caps. Alomar has been a bust every time I've used him. Alternatives at this point in the season may be hard to find.

If you can pull if off Medwick's 8M card is solid. Santo and Williams I wouldn't use at all. Looks like Duke is struggling also. Sometimes , no matter what you do players and teams struggle. Ballpark's play into that also. You have a decent SP staff going but your hitting thus far needs some help. Think it out before you start dumping or see if someone is willing to make a few trades.

So, that's a no on Schmidt?

And you think replacing Williams with Medwick is a good move, even though I'm losing a LH bat?

I'm aware of the C injury restrictions . . . Stahl is on my team as a backup OF in emergencies. Bailey, is on my team because 1)I'm a Reds fan and have been wanting to use him 2)I'm a fan of Tombstone and couldn't resist the name 3)I thought he'd be getting more use as a PH in this no-DH league. I'm willing to drop him, and the drop penalty is 10% right now, but I don't want to make any hasty moves and end up regretting it (like I did in my recent 80's league). Any other suggestions?