Strat-O-Matic Baseball 365

Howdy,

90% of my SOM experience is '70s. I've decided to try a 90s team for the heck of it. I'd be delighted if any of you '90s pros could give me some pointers. For example, in the 70s, one generally (I'm painting with a broad brush here, ok?) one should spend around $20 mil on the starting rotation. Please chime in about the '90s!

Larry

I spend as little as possible on pitching in every game and rarely draft a SP very high. Once in a while in Shea or a pitching park I may go for RJ/Mussina/D Martinez, but usually draft someone like Fassero. There are middle of the road "*" SP's that will go undrafted such as Viola, Mike Morgan and Hamilton who you can get in waivers. There are also a bunch of cheaper
Non-"*" Sp's at around $3 or less who are half decent-Guzman/Schmidt(hit or miss)/Gubicza/Hermanson/Harris/Torres/M Davis/Mercker/Henry that you can go after you run out of decent "*" options. If you want the likes of Pedro, Maddox or RJ you have to be willing to use your top draft pick or list them at the end of your draft and hope you get lucky. DMart, Mussina, K Brown, Rijo, Schilling and maybe Cone usually have to be listed fairly high to ensure a decent chance. Of course their are exceptions to everything, but usually the "*" SP's are down to the Jimmy Key lever after the draft. Some of the big money drafted "*" SP's could be someones boobie prize for missing out, but it's likely all the guys > $6.00 are going to be gone. Even if most go for hitters, there always seems to be a guy who lists the top three "*" SP's as his first three picks.

Howdy,

Thanks, DurantJerry!

Larry

I'm currently playing a best of 90's team and I have a few All-Stars playing either their best year or second best it seems... Plantier, Griffey, Thomas, Mouton, L. Rodriguez, Nilsson. I am loving this team. It's definitely not perfect but for a Coors Field team in the 90's it's close enough.

And I finally picked up Greg Harris, the SP. He just pitched a shutout for me. So I'd have to concur with durantjerry about Harris the starting pitcher. There's a Greg Harris in this set that relieves as well.

http://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1426720

I think that the 70s and 90s play out pretty similarly. One of the differences for me is starting pitching. I think the top 90s pitchers make a difference and are worth the money if you can get them. I was in a 90s keeper league - I drafted Pedro #1 overall, kept him for 20+ seasons and was never sorry. But it is true, missing out on Pedro in the autodraft can leave you with an expensive and not especially great pitcher. I also think that the 90s has more players, so it is easier to find really good players at most positions. ARod and Garciaparra are consistently great and good values for the money. Overall, hitting is better in the 90s and if your pitching sucks, you could be needing a lot of runs to win.

There are a lot more cheaper and potentially good bats in the 90's than in the 70's. Way more, but I guess there is way more offense in the 90's than in the 70's.