advice for franchise team / two super relievers?

I'm playing in a franchise league and have all kinds of problems. I'm stuck playing in Olympic Stadium, and my franchises are the Expos/Nationals and Marlins. I can use any player who ever played for these teams, with the exception of guys like Pete Rose and Tony Perez (who go to the Reds). My low-obp, high-power hitters are pretty terrible for Olympic; I was contemplating using this lineup.

C Carter (alternate: Pudge Rodriguez)
1B Galaragga 9R /Al Oliver 2R platoon
2B Rodney Scott/ ???? platoon
3B Cabrera
SS Hanley Ramirez (3 range, but at least he has obp, and the cupboard is otherwise bare)
LF Moises Alou
CF Dawson (I guess use the hard left card, which is okay against righties? The hard right card is useless against LHP.)
RF Vladimir Guererro (although tempted to trot out the old Ellis Valentine card, which was great in ATG1)

leaving Raines, notably, on the shelf.

Pitching is where it gets interesting. I could go with Pedro Martinez and Dave McNally as stud SPs, with Langston, Boyd, or Rogers filling the other two slots. And I could use both Murray and Radatz in the pen. Any thoughts on whether using two super relievers (and two stud starters) will be effective? Alternately, I could go with Pedro and the three 5 mil SPs and try to upgrade the hitting. Or I could just use Murray, no Radatz, and upgrade hitting. The big problem is that I don't have many good hitters to work with, esp. for my park.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Here's an Expos/ Mets franchise team from last year - obviously, I had a little more to play with as far as my second team, but it seems reasonably relevant: http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/team/382385

I don't think that the two super-relievers is an efficient use of resources. You've got good enough starting pitching (especially with Pedro) that you don't need to get 4 innings out of the bullpen every game. You would probably get two guys getting 125-150 innings each for a combined $10M.

You don't have a whole lot of options in the infield. The only platoon partners at 2B who came to mind are Delino Deshields (presume he's eligible for you), but he's only a 1R, and Dan Uggla, whose defense is dreadful.

Depending on the other parks in your division, and given that your park is suppressing power, I'd consider using Raines/ Grissom instead of Alou/ Dawson, and then upgrade to Walker (if you have access to his Rockies cards) in RF to get another lefty bat.

Unfortunately, I'm 95% certain Walker will be used by the Rockies franchise. Not many options with this bunch! I agree that Radatz is overkill.

Wait a minute, good enough starting pitching when limited to expos/nationals and marlins
When I hit the FA list and selected Florida pitchers were grayed out as in there none. Ditto for Washington.
When I hit Montreal there was Pedro and ...... next up was 5.51 mil Steve Rogers. Ugggghhhhh.
But you mention Dave McNally who was with Baltimore. I assume that means you can use anyone from other teams that are not used by the owner of those franchises. Is that correct?

By the way, you do not mention what your cap is. That might influence some people's advice.

Fun research as long as I am not playing this team-


Guys to consider using
1969 - Maury Wills was a bench player for the expos (speed and OBP - I've used him and seen him used well - and he needs no backup)
Ron Fairly (decent at lower caps) (possible platoon mate for Galaraga)
Felipe Alou was a utility guy on the 1973 Expos
1975 Jim Dwyer was an Expo - (possible platoon mate for Andres G).
1976 Gary Roeneke was an expo - his '83 6L card could platoon with Fairly in the OF
Cromartie as a platoon mate for Galaraga at 1b
Al Oliver 1974 might be another Galaraga platoon mate
1988 Graig Nettles was finishing a career with the Expos
IRod - Catcher for the Nats 2011 (it's an option)
Piazza - Catcher on the 1998 Marlins (would be a pretty DH)

I agree, the 2b situation looks rather Uggla

best of luck

I play a lot of franchise leagues and I'm in this particular one as well. I have used two high-dollar relievers in a few instances, but it is not an optimal use of resources. For instance, I am using Sutter and Willie Hernandez on a Cubs team right now, but if I had better offensive options available when setting the team up, I would have dumped Hernandez to add offense.