My First Strat Online Team

nice pitching staff! yeah Jones really earns his paycheck, as for Kemp I had other more pressing problems to fix and there isn't much left in the free agent pool in a 24 team league!

^ Garrett Jones is a beast for me and I have to play him in the field. He's a no brainer for DH. I platoon him with Casper Wells.

I came to online from a long layoff after playing the board game. My team is not so hot. I had David Price along with a terrible 5th starter and Price could never make up for that so IMHO, I'm not sure superstar SP is worth it if it's every 5th game. Maybe an superstar SP* is worth it.
http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/team/822393

I had Kemp but he was out for 12 games and then was about to be out some long time again so I just had to get rid of him with the 5% penalty.

You should of set a 4 man or less rotation -HAL would of started Price every 4th game. However, he sucked for me and I dumped him too.

Yeah, I still started Price every fourth game. Still ended up with Phil Freaking Hughes getting crushed.

So with only a 5% penalty, it made sense to spread the wealth with pitching.

Note: Colby Lewis seems like a good value. Admittedly there's a lot of randomness only looking at 100 games into my season. But he never walks anyone. Maybe it's just luck but he rarely gets rocked.

Kemp is a beast. Maybe I panicked dropping him but he barely played with all the injuries.

I really like the Lewis card, especially in a pitchers park. you're the first guy I've seen get good results out of Sale

I checked back on your team out of curiosity, and it does appear Arroyo is getting hit hard against lefties. Geekor is a pretty smart guy, but I'm not sure i agree with him about keeping an entire starting staff geared against righthanded hitters. Even if youre not in Progressive, teams will lay in against you--particularly against Arroyo. If there is a solid lefthanded or reverse righty * pitcher in the 3-4 million range, I would still suggest switching detwiler--who will not pitch in many games anyway-- and Arroyo for a solid lefty or reverse righty starter.


Anyway, your team is winning, and good luck on your season....even in proving me wrong..

Thanks for the interest and advice. I think for now, I'm going to try to stick with Arroyo and prove you wrong
I try not to pitch Arroyo anywhere but at target field, where he won't give up the HRs to lefties and otherwise is not horrible vs lefties. Detwiler is soaking up a lot of value, but he probably will end up with 100 IP, because I use him in the pen too. Somehow, I just feel like I ought to stay consistent; if my plan is to have mostly 1R-5R righties, I might as well stick with that for all of them.

Also, another question. It would seem to me that reverse pitchers, particularly slight ones, would be of increased value because you can make only one reverse lineup, and most hitters are not reverse, so one card in a given matchup is likely to be to the hitter's comparative disadvantage. However, it seems somewhat like the salaries reflect this. Is this true, or am I seeing something that isn't there?

I was checking in to see if your plan to stick with Arroyo and Detwiler actually worked out, and I just noticed I left your question about reverse pitchers unanswered.

I think you're right about reverse pitchers in one sense. Since most hitters are usually weaker against their same-handed pitchers, reverse pitchers increase efficacy against opposing-handed batters while maintaining a diminished advantage over most same-handed hitters. However, the fact that you only have one reverse lineup will not protect you against those few teams that can stack hitters who are strong against their same-handed pitching counterparts. Those rare teams are the reverse pitchers' kryptonite

While i obviously thought, and still think, using such a reverse-handed *sp (if not a lefty one) could have (and still could) provide better results than the 5-18, 5+ERA production Arroyo and Detwiler have given you, I do admire your devotion to your original plans.

Good luck on the rest of your season.

Well, so much for devotion to my original plans.
http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/team/1024669
After 50 very subpar innings, I've jettisoned Detwiler, figuring him a waste of value, and upgraded SS from Alex Gonzalez to Tulo in the hopes of bolstering my floundering offense. Arroyo will take the brunt in lefty-friendly parks, but hopefully my team can rally to the playoffs and get lucky with a tough lefty park....I think it could be done.

A question to anyone who wants to answer: Is my 4.22 ERA really a very good mark for SOM 2012, as it seems to be compared to the league, or is my league just hitter-heavy?

My first league has a league wide ERA of 3.77 after 120 games. But my second league has a league ERA of 4.48 after 40 games. The first one has 3 or 4 pitchers parks, 1 or 2 hitters parks and the rest pretty neutral. The 2nd has 7 hitter parks, 3 pitchers and a couple neutral. From my vast experience of 2 leagues it looks like ERA can vary depending on how the parks are set.

Even with the injury chances Troy Tulowitzki is a real nice bargain. Sure he will be hurt some but his card is nice.