Strat-O-Matic Baseball 365

i know most don't like using roy thomas in the field, but i don't care he is an excellent lead off hitter at the price in 80-100 mil cap leagues. i am in a 100 mil team in forbes '57. a lot of small ball parks in my league and some LH leaning parks as well. only one hilltop for a change.


http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/team/807301

line-up:
lf - r.thomas ('02)
ss - l.appling ('36)
cf - o.charleston (nel)
2b - r. hornsby ('24)
1b - b.terry ('29)
rf - h.heilmann ('25)
3b - c.travis ('41)
dh - j.sewell ('26)
c - m.ruel ('24)

rotation:
p.martinez ('99)
j.pfiester ('07)
t.hall ('70)
a.donald ('39)
d.bennett ('67)
d.sutton ('82)

bullpen:
h.wilhelm ('65)
b.pleis ('65)
a.hassler ('82)
m.garman ('77)

i plan on going with a 6 man rotation and trying wilhelm as a super-reliever.
so opinions/ideas?

-steven

I never seem to have much luck with guys like Thomas and Max Bishop at the top of the order. I'd rather go with someone like McCosky, Sam Bankhead or even Lonnie Smith. I think your six-man rotation could work, but only if you can juggle it so Bennett and Sutton pitch only in appropriate parks, which might be tough to do. Otherwise, I kinda like your team, Steven. Good luck.

Maybe reverse Thomas and Heilman in the field so you get the advantage of the -2 in rf. And what do you do when the Sutton/Bennett spot comes up and your opponent tilts neither right nor left? How can you really plan for dealing with that without at least one * pitcher on your staff? Can you afford to change to the * version of Pedro?

Otherwise, what's not to like? Looks like a great team.

thanks.

thomas averages a +.400 obp for me with excellent SB numbers. l.smith is taken or else i would have used him. i plan on getting the most out of the rotation so some juggling is gonna happen. i am looking forward to this season.

-steven

i plan on flipping thomas/heilmann depending on the match ups.

i do not have the money unfortunately to upgrade pedro, but like the cylons i have a plan for the rotation.

-steven

I like the team. Tink it will do well. I like non* Pedro too. Best pitcher in the deck.

However, like others have pointed out, I don't know how you work the rotation. If you have a plan please enlighten us! I rarely use the non* rotations because of my lack of a plan. If you can help me out I'd be eternally grateful.

okay, well i figure the top 3 can pitch in any park, donald i don't want getting too many innings in none smallball parks which with 6 other teams playing in smallball parks as well as my park should be easy enough, and i plan on staggering bennett/sutton between the rest of the starts targeting the LH parks and the hilltop w/ my super reliever settings to pick up the difference.

so martinez, pfiester and hall anywhere and then some combination of donald, bennett and sutton staggered as needed.

it is a play it by ear situation.

i could always go with j.o'rourke in LF and upgrade pedro to his 2000 card. this would make him lights out and all i would have to worry about would be the inj risk which i feel i could absorb with my bench and bat him lower in the order.

or

i could go with a straight 5 man rotation and keep the same lineup. but that would greatly diminish my option for my 5th starter. he would have to be less than 1.90 mil. ideas?

or

i could leave it as is which is probably the best way to go...

what do you guys think of this idea?

-steven

Just curious why you're using the 12 million Hornsby rather than the 12.5 mil. Is there a good reason for using the cheaper version in Forbes? I ask because I'm going to be using him in a similar situation.

Good looking team. I (along with everyone else) love pedro but u gotta use the 9.28 version. He's amazing.

I'm kinda unsure about Heillmann as a 6 hitter. He's got way too much OBP for there but honestly I wouldn't use him, lotta money for walks and singles with no exceptional trait beyond that.

I don't really have an opinion on which Hornsby card to use because all 3 do the same MVP caliber thing BUT in way different ways. If there are a bunch of righties by all means use the 5R

-nels