Strat-O-Matic Baseball 365

Hi to all,

I've played about 15 seasons with the All-Time Greats and have typically felt good about my draft and I've had many successful teams. The last three seasons I have finished dead last for the entire league and have had a large margin of "runs against." I look at my rosters compared to other teams, and I usually have one of the higher team batting averages, but even with picking pitchers who have done well in other seasons, my team ERA (especially in $200M leagues) has been awful, with a negative margin of HR's allowed vs HR's hit.

Would anyone be kind enough to share their strategy in $200M leagues with DH? Some of you spend very little on relievers. Some seem to look for good L/R platoon situations. Some go with big HR hitting teams. Some go with a 5-man rotation and others go solely with 4-man rotations who are eligible with less rest (which I typically do).

I must be missing something wrong but can't quite figure out what it is. I'd appreciate any insight.

Happy holidays.
Steve

200M is tough. You do need guys who hit a lot of dingers. OBA+HR. BA is meh in high caps.

And a few extreme platoons that are extreme the types of guys usually too pricey for any other league. Value kinda goes out the window at 200M. Like George Brett platooning type of stuff.
If not careful, you can get shut out of the highest tier cards at multiple positions and you'll be stuck with everyday (non platooning) players that have 9M salaries. Not good.

Pitching is always tricky and I can't say I have anything special to offer you except that usually for relievers this is where you load up on the high priced R1s who you are overpriced in every other cap. A stable of R1s is much better than a few very good R2s--you are getting much more lights-out pitchers for your money. Having strong SPs is a given. And if you can field a 5-man with 9-10M types,and maybe a one sided type, then more power to you.

Look at what players are on the wire vs players that are always taken and you will see a pattern. Then adjust your draft card accordingly. Because if you were happy with your drafts and didn't do well multiple times--then it is likely you shouldn't be happy with your drafts

200M is a whole different animal.

Hey Frankie T! Nice to hear from you!

Steve--cheers buddy

DME, the first lesson is to play at 200MM. In the league we are in you have made so many drops your roster value is 184.5MM. No reason to have dropped Nap Lajoie, especially playing George Bell 5.59 (441)in his place. You also dropped Gabby Hartnett for Salvador Perez, and Wade Boggs, playing instead vs righties 6.27 Vlad Guerrero at 3b (430). These are all material downgrades If you really want to mix up your roster, offer trades so you don't take a salary hit. But make sure to get fair value in return. You traded Josh Gibson and Billy Wagner and did not get fair value in return. There's a lot of experienced owners in that league. If you would have sent an in league message out people would have given you good advice.

Ah I didn't realize and should have asked for a team link.. Am out of practice.
George Bell is no substitute for Nap. Ditching Josh. Hartnett for Salvador. Ouch.

So it doesn't sound like underperforming. Ratioman--wow it sounds like a great league with how magnanimous you are reaching out. DME--use that league as a learning lesson and lean on those veteran managers who are there with you. No better way to recognize one's own blind spots by having them pointed out by competitors who are exploiting it.

It is how Petrosian/TheLastDruid/Bruce Steffek took me on years ago and honestly after a few leagues where he gave me an after-season clinic, my overall win % jumped from about .510 to just about .540 in ATG--but more importantly after that I could compete against the best, including him--not just the patsies. And I attribute it to his tough mentoring.

Take advantage of the offer by Ratioman and others if you haven't already! and good luck!