Help for New Player

Hi all! This is my 3rd team and I have never had much success. Do any of you think that you can give me some feedback on my team? Small ball in Royals '80. Thanks! http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/team/814578

Hello,

Your starting pitchers are ok, but you have spent above 6 million too much on your bullpen. You should pick up a couple of sub 1 million 6R or 6L or more specialists in place of your relievers. Also Hornsby, while a great 2nd baseman is not best suited for your park. Is Collins, Lajoie, Morgan (10.23 version), or maybe Johnny Evers 6 million availablae. Another area for update would be your shortsop and Center field.

Hornsby's a beast. One of the few cards that can rake anywhere. In general, you want to put all your money into your SP, lineup and then a good reliever or two (maybe 3 depending on SP). Bench should be skimped on. Not that your bullpen should be "skimped" on but you're spending too much. Newer guys like Papelbon are almost unusable in strat (especially at lower caps like 80) as they are only R1's. I would definitely not pay such a huge amount of money for a reliever that's only gonna get used 40-80 innings.

I know that seems weird but in ATG, the only expensive relievers who are good/used are maybe R2's and R3's, R4's and R5's where they can get alot more innings. This is the super-reliever strategy which I'm not crazy about but in summary: don't use R1's. Anyways, too much money in too many guys in the pen. They won't be used enough to justify them.

When building a lineup, always consider what role each guy is going to play in it. Leadoff, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th. ALL of them. Having too many leadoff type guys or low OBP sluggers can kill a lineup. Specialization. Clutch is most popular in the 5-8 spots. 1-2 obviously need OBP and maybe even a little in the 9 spot depending on how much your 1-2 can potentially drive in runs. In a lineup, team OBP is king although don't give in to too many guys like Lu Blue who can't do anything but walk. Personally, i think Blue will dissapoint. I really like Henderson's 2 more expensive cards but I don't really like his 2 cheaper ones....

Welcome though and good luck!

Looks like you've got a good start.

nels

As a follow-up to the solid advice you've been given, if you are looking for some specific names to head your bullpen, I'll suggest looking at the following:

Dale Murray - at the high end of the RP only salary scale and usually hard to get but very valuable. Also Bruce Sutter is a good option at this higher cost level.
Dick Radatz - cheaper but will provide good numbers and pitch a lot of innings.
Wilcy Moore and Scott Garrelts - another notch lower on the salary scale but also generally solid performers that will eat innings.

Obviously there are many other options but these names will give you some ideas.

Bon chance!

I'm all for Hornsby regardless of park, but he needs someone to bat behind him with some threat. Papelbon is not anywhere near worth 5% of your budget. There are may things you can do by downsizing that pen, consider a platoon somewhere (I often platoon at DH or 1b to save cap money).

get some cash out of your pen and buff up the bats.

2.47 McClure (no BP singles) looks like a great fit for your park. Nelson, Face, Hall, Myers, Brandom, Hiller, Moore, Wolfgang.......there are a lot of good choices to replace Papelbon who will be able to churn out many more quality innings.

also, (and don't get me wrong, as I love me some stellar defense), but I suspect you will be frustrated at how non-productive Crossetti and Wilson will be.


Best of luck and do not forget to have fun with the process!

Not much experience with ATG, but the lack of offense may be a big problem

Like everyone else said, you have way too much spent on your bullpen.

In your rotation you should consider Herb Score and Ray Sadecki ($3mil version) for their lack of BPSI. The $10m Tiant also has no BPSI, but that may be more than you want to spend on one starter at your cap.

I'd also try to get more guys with higher BA in your lineup.

I'd consider at C Munson, Sanguillen, Ira Thomas, or Birdie Tibbetts depending on what you'd have to spend.

At First base Rod Carew, Cap Anson, Dan Brouthers, and Bill Terry would all hit.

At Second Lajoie 8.78 is the cadillac and Collins 7.25 is also great. If you want to keep Hornsby he will hit anywhere. It's just an awful lot for one player at your cap.

At 3rd you should consider Freddie Lindstrom 6.41. And after that maybe see if Lindstrom is available. Your third option would be Freddie Lindstrom. If none of those 3 are available I like Traynor or Torre, although he's a little expensive.

At SS Luke Appling is great. I also like 2.61 Fernandez. I usually go cheap defense at SS.

OF - If Cobb is still available you should grab him. Tris Speaker is great but also a lot to spend at your cap. The Phil Weintraub/Jesus Alou platoon works great in your park. Look at Ichiro too. Duffy Lewis is a good cheap OF that won't kill you.

I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot of guys but I've had success in that park or similar with the guys I mentioned. Good luck.

And slim down that bullen.

Welcome to strat! Go to Diamond Dope, an online resource put up by the Great Hero Adrian. Not up to date any longer but still extremely useful. http://www.diamonddope.com/lineups.cfm The lineups feature will help you see the relative value of players on offense in your park. It will help you understand why the guidance you are being given makes sense. $80m is a tough place. So many options. You can also see in the "actuals" section a dated view of player performance in your park. http://www.diamonddope.com/actual.cfm The card reader is great as well.

Your starting pitching is solid. Per the earlier advice, have seen a bullpen of Radatz, Wilcy Moore, and Gartletts win the whole shebang. Adding some SP 0.50 types with no R rating will round out your staff. In low $ leagues most players seem to carry 9 pitchers and 15 hitters.

Have fun - experiment!

- Scott

Welcome to strat ATG. You have too much money spent on your .... oh, if you haven't got the hint by now.

Seriously at 80 mil cap I usually recommend either spending on good starters or good bullpen with cheap starters.
There has to be better choices than Papelbon.

Something to remember about ATG as opposed to the 200x games. The closer rule is not used. That means Papelbon's closer rating of 6 is irrelevant. You are paying for something you will get no benefit from. Gotta be a good R3 out there at this cap level. Dump Brosnan. Use the money saved to upgrade some offense.

I'm all for Hornsby regardless of park, but he needs someone to bat behind him with some threat. Papelbon is not anywhere near worth 5% of your budget. There are may things you can do by downsizing that pen, consider a platoon somewhere (I often platoon at DH or 1b to save cap money).

get some cash out of your pen and buff up the bats.

2.47 McClure (no BP singles) looks like a great fit for your park. Nelson, Face, Hall, Myers, Brandom, Hiller, Moore, Wolfgang.......there are a lot of good choices to replace Papelbon who will be able to churn out many more quality innings.

also, (and don't get me wrong, as I love me some stellar defense), but I suspect you will be frustrated at how non-productive Crossetti and Wilson will be.


Best of luck and do not forget to have fun with the process!

Thanks for help everyone! Which Wilson do you mean? I have Chief and Willie