Leaving Lineup Empty

I would like to know if it is a good idea to leave my starting lineup empty at the start of the season to see what players HAL suggests as my best lineup. I figure HAL knows what card year each player has and would set the lineup according to their skill level. For instance, if Hal puts a superstar player down near the bottom of the lineup you might then know you have a bad year for that player or vise-versa for a normally average player batting higher than usual. Anyone who's tried this please respond, I would love to hear how it went. Thanks.

There have been a lot of other posts about this, I'm not nearly as knowledgeable as others. Some use this as a strategy constantly at the start of the season. Others not at all. So, my advice is to try it for yourself and watch what HAL does. To me, it seems HAL prefers fielding so a player who is not in the line up might be in a good year if he does not field well. Experience tinkering and watching is the best way to find out. Others might have good advice for you.

Good point about HAL possibly having defense in mind when choosing the starting lineup. If that were true I definitely wouldn't want to go with his lineup because I already intend on playing Templeton SS 2e44 over Foli SS 2e22, Lopes 2B 3e20 over Remy 2B 2e18 and Madlock 3B 3e20 over Reitz 3B 1e15 because they are superior hitters.

What I am really trying to gain is where in the batting order he puts players, if it tips off how productive power-wise or clutch-wise that player may be.

Thank you for the input.

There are some that swear by this strategy. I do think there could be something to learn by using it for a series or two however when I try it I'm not smart enough to know what HAL is telling me (if anything). I also figure that I want to have the enjoyment of playing the game myself and not just sitting back to watch a computer manager run my team.

I ve done this many many times, the only thing I know I get from it, is that one awesome year from the 75 cent hitters and pitchers. Hal nails them everytime.

Does Hal do it for the def?

Does Hal do it for the off?

I dont know either.

I think he does it for the money saving actually. Does Hal sort best cards by clutch, or OBP, or OPS or Ave... That, is what we hafta start tracking I guess.

Hell, maybe Hal really is a super computer and he sorts OPS/cost? lol who knows.

The season starts for me tomorrow. I am leaning toward going with my own lineups this time around but would very much like to try leaving it empty for a series or two in a future season. Even if I do try it I would only use it to get HALS opinion and then manage the team myself after that.

All in all it is fun to figure out for ourselves who the better players are just as in real life. I'm sure the Angels thought Vernon Wells had more left in the tank when they took on his 25 Million contract but he hasn't lived up to it yet. lol

Thank you all for your input and I welcome more input from any other managers on this subject.

Take a look at this game 1 lineup where HAL filled in lineup slots 3-9.
http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/game/266295/1
Notice anything unsual in the Goofballs lineup? What year do you think Steve Decker is in?

Check this 80s lineup:
http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/game/266248/16
What year do you think Steve Kemp is playing on for the Crackheads?

Lets go a little more in depth

Lets see 2 lineups in an 80s league for the Protoss Templar. Lets start with the rightly lineup.
http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/game/222684/3

So here we see a lineup (3-9 - not interested in who is batting 1 and 2) of:
3. Baines
4. Teufel
5. Ripken
6. McReynolds
7. L. Smith
8. Carew
9. Stearns

Now the lefty lineup:
http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/game/222684/9
We see a lineup of:
3. McReynolds
4. Baines
5. Ripken
6. Teufel
7. Brooks
8. Stearns
9. Carew

First we're going to make a quick jump the the left side and make a quick elimination of Ripken 86. That card is a monster against lefties and it would definitely be hitting 3rd in this group. We can also make a quick elimination of McReynolds 85 and 90 because of how high he hit vrs lefties.
Now with the knowledge, we can eliminate Ripken 89 because he hits ahead of McReynolds against righties and that card would never hit ahead of any of the McReynolds cards we haven't eliminated yet.
So now we know for sure we have one of Ripkens better cards.
Now we have a minimum standard that we can go by for all players who hit ahead of Ripken in the lineup vrs righties.
With that knowledge, what cards do you think Baines and Teufel are playing on? of course that also means that the best of Baines and Teufel is not as good as Ripken 91 so that got eliminated as well.
On the flip side of things, what card do you think Hubie Brooks is using? if you said "I dont know for sure, but it's definitely not 86" then you're right. For him it doesn't matter, it's either 86 or bust, so he got dropped.
Similarly, we also confirmed Carew and Lonnie Smith are not on their best years either.

So how did I do with my figuring:
http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/team/801706

The system is not 100% perfect.
I did end up releasing 85 Scioscia and 78 Lopes at one point in the season, but I think the evidence speaks for itself.

Wow! Thanks for taking the time to post this. That is pretty strong evidence that HAL pretty much knows what year these guys have. And that it is not exactly perfect either (Stearns over Scioscia). Although Carew's card was actually pretty good I can see why HAL batted him last (lack of speed and power).

Its not as easy as Vootis' example. Even in his example, it would generally be hard to tell which year of McReynolds or Ripken you have. McReynolds 86 and Ripken 86 are obvious but many of their years are less so. I also dont think HAL would have necdessarilly put Ripken 91 ahead of Teufel or Bains best years.
The thing to take away is that it helps determine if you have Teufel's or Bains or Brook's good years. It can also be pretty good at letting you tell if you have anyone's worst year if they have a particularly bad year and 4 decent one. Also, you can't generally load your team with more than 3-4 one-year wonders or you can end up with a team full of nothing (except in the 90s game where it seems like every player has one steroid year against either R or L). That is why, I think, McReynolds was on Vootis' team in the first place. I am pretty sure he was not gunning for 86- that is a pretty expensive lefty platoon-McReynolds is justdecent value in 4 of 5 years.
Also, didnt check too carefully, but if Vootis would have had a couple of 1-3D at 1B and 3B, Teufel might not of ended up in the lineup at all. He wont strictly put the better fielder in but heweights fielding more heavily than I would.

Dont get me wrong, you can use HAL to get some information and I do it all the time, but it is flawed and you will make mistakes if you follow him strictly.

I do this very often but with an exception and that is if I have Yount and intend on using him at SS HAL has in the past put him in CF and put Guillen or a cheap SS in and benched my more expensive OF. I only do it for the first 3 games as I like to play not watch but as others have said I think HAL give little hints to .75 guys who may have good years to use in front of expensive players and to the degree of cards real value of your studs or duds which I seem to get more often then not. Good luck

rudy