Strat-O-Matic Baseball 365

I'm curious, how many of you guys use Diamond Dope or some other simulator when creating and finalizing your teams?
I've been out of the game for a bit but in the early stages I was pretty much what you would call old school, I scouted the cards, went by my gut etc. and was very successful, even have a title under my belt. Then things like Diamond Dope came around or other simulators and I found myself struggling a bit. I personally don't use Diamond Dope or anything else and have been away from ATG for a couple of years and don't play as much due to time constraints etc.

I would liken this to the current situation of using Metrics vs Old School scouting I think. A few of you may remember me as being a competent opponent, others not, but I'm curious to hear the feedback on this. There is no right or wrong, judgement etc for using these tools, I'm just curious how much they are used or not used by managers.

I hope everyone is well during this difficult time.

B.B.

I Diamond Dope my team after the draft in every league I play. It helps me assess my team, identify holes and lineup possibilities, and helps to assess trade value. Diamond Dope is just one input though. I have developed a set of strategies through experience, reviewing other teams, and reading about over/under valued players. Plus I like to try new strategies/players. I don't strictly follow Diamond Dope. For instance Josh Gibson and Jeff Bagwell have great Diamond Dope numbers. But I tend to get the 30+ games lost to injuries from them instead of the 90 home run seasons. So I avoid them even if Diamond Dope says that is dumb.

How does that all work? Pretty good in the regular season, and then I like to get sweep in the playoffs! Still working on that strategy...

Thank you for the OOOHH-RAHH for fellow Marines. Still haven’t used Diamond Dope much because as we fellow Marines know the only thing we figured out is how to open a flip top can of beer, run long distances and count to four. 2020 Barnstormers here I come!!!!

Oh yeah, it’s about time I did one of my Garcia’s Blogs for ATG 9... 2 years AWOL!!!

Sincerely and Ooh-rahhh..
Delivery Boy....

I use Diamond Dope, and have created Excel files for all of the players for Hilltop Park '11 and Penmar Park to pick my teams. They are NERP files subtracting defense from offense. Use player pool to make my batting order for each ballpark and pitcher since HAL makes wrong choices if you don't make own lineup.

I used diamond dope to get all the card data from the player pool. I dropped that into an excel file, and then added formulas that I can use to analyze using the ballpark ratings. I can then tinker with NERP formulas by adjusting for higher/lower OBP, slugging, etc, as well as incorporating defense, all depending on how I think will best work in a given ballpark. I also use the ballpark data to analyze opponents lineups to set my pitchers.

I know it sounds like a lot, but after the initial time investment I put in to setting it up, and maybe an hour of time for each new league, it takes me less than 5 minutes per team each day.

I have a rating system I developed back in 1984. It's been tweaked through the years but relatively the same. Use it pretty much every team. Sometimes I play players my system doesn't rate high just for a change or to suit my theme.
No I am not Joe the Jet.

John

I get the Dope pool for each park I play in, but always check the card if I'm in doubt.

The pool only lists BR, not NERP. Is there a big difference?

centerfielder17 wrote:I get the Dope pool for each park I play in, but always check the card if I'm in doubt.

The pool only lists BR, not NERP. Is there a big difference?

I don't believe there's a big difference between BR & NERP--most of the time-- but I check the Dope page for NERP if it's a very close call between two players. I think NERP is a bit more accurate because it takes into account one potentially important factor not included in the BR rating. This is GIDP. Most of the time BR & NERP correlate pretty closely, but if a players has a lot of GIDP, or very few, there might be a meaningful difference.

Also, pitchers who have GIDP on their cards--and only the more recent pitcher cards do--can rate better with NERP because the GIDP shows up.