Please rate this team

Newbie to Strat-o-matic (wanted to play, just never got around to it before). In a 12 team, $80M salary cap league.

My team:
Pitchers (10) min. 9, max. 12 (total min. 24, max. 28)
Name Salary
Richard, J.R. (1978) 5.91M
Welch, Bob (1990) 4.66M
Stewart, Dave (1988) 3.95M
Hudlin, Willis (1928) 2.78M
Coombs, Jack (1911) 1.97M
Rhodes, Arthur (2001) 4.51M
Fingers, Rollie (1973) 3.58M
Staley, Jerry (1959) 2.03M
Thigpen, Bobby (1988) .89M
Rommel, Eddie (1929) .81M


Hitters (15) min. 13, max. 17 (total min. 24, max. 28)
Name Salary
Cochrane, Mickey (1929) 6.03M
Kling, Johnny (1902) 1.25M
McGwire, Mark (1990) 5.33M
Collins, Eddie (1911) 7.25M
Bishop, Max (1929) 4.02M
Stanky, Eddie (1945) 2.95M
Weaver, Buck (1917) 2.08M
Aparicio, Luis (1959) 3.44M
Henderson, Rickey (1982) 5.32M
Canseco, Jose (1986) 1.53M
Coleman, Vince (1985) 1.13M
Pinson, Vada (1966) 2.50M
Gant, Ron (1991) 1.37M
Evans, Steve (1911) 2.45M
Freeman, Buck (1902) 2.14M

Can you give me some feedback? How did I do drafting? What kind of changes do you suggest?

Oh - my stadium is the Oakland Coliseum (1978). Not sure if that makes a huge difference?

I also have a few Waiver Claims out there:
Replace 1911 Steve Evans with 1962 Maury Wills
Replace 1928 Willis Hudlin with 1985 Mike Scott
Replace 1902 Buck Freeman with 1985 George Bell

Any comments you could make would be a big help. I didn't think I should spend 10% of my budget (or more) on any one player (that's how I normally play fantasy baseball too).

Thanks!

The stadium is hugely important ... having the right players for your park is the way to win. You're in a neutral park, which means you need to have both a couple of sluggers and guys with high obp. You don't want pitchers who give up ballpark homers (home runs designated with a pound sign). Among your current pitchers, I like J. R. Richard. Coombs might be a serviceable fourth starter. I would look to replace Stewart and Welch. You've got way too much money in your bullpen. Dump Rhodes. Fingers and Staley are both okay, although you might find better options in the player pool. Look for one 2.5-4 mil guy, a 1.5-2 mil guy, and get a couple of hard righty/lefty guys for less than a million. (Linzy, Garman, Clear are good hard righties. Sambito, Roberts, Hassler are good hard lefties.) Set them as quick hook RH/LH specialists. Your more expensive bullpen pitchers should be R2 or R3 (don't waste money on an R1, because they wear out quickly). Is Don McMahon available? He walks a lot of batters, but is usually a solid option for a neutral park, a lot of innings and decent performance in the 2-3 mil range.

I wouldn't spend too much money on a catcher like Cochrane (most catchers are susceptible to injuries). Go cheaper there. Try to spend 6-9 million on a couple of big bats for the heart of your lineup -- guys with good obp and extra-base power. Stanky is a great leadoff guy (esp. the more expensive version, but the cheap one can work too.) But you can find inexpensive leadoff-type hitters (look at platoons -- Kreevich/Bradley is a good obp combo in CF for under $4 mil).

DON'T spend money on backups. In fact, your backups should cost no more than .60-.65; they should take up no more than 4 million of your total budget. Make sure you maximize your money by putting it into your starting lineup.

Are you using the DH? If so, Gant can be a solid cheap option.

Also, you only need a 4 man rotation (as long as they are * starters). So you can spend .50 on the fifth guy, and he'll just sit on the bench. That gives you more money to spend elsewhere.

My revised team (if anyone's interested).

What would you rate it (before and after)? Think I've gotten some great advice, and made some nice improvements.

Pitchers (10)     min. 9, max. 12   (total min. 24, max. 28)
Name Salary
Johnson, Walter (1910) 10.08M
Dean, Dizzy (1934) 7.29M
Richard, J.R. (1978) 5.91M
Coombs, Jack (1911) 1.97M
Martinez, Dennis (1983) .50M
Fingers, Rollie (1973) 3.58M
Linzy, Frank (1972) .93M
Thigpen, Bobby (1988) .89M
Hassler, Andy (1982) .88M
Garman, Mike (1977) .79M


Hitters (14)     min. 13, max. 17   (total min. 24, max. 28)
Name Salary
Munson, Thurman (1978) 1.57M
Borders, Pat (1993) .57M
Greenberg, Hank (1940) 7.92M
Stanky, Eddie (1945) 2.95M
Backman, Wally (1984) .70M
Wiggins, Alan (1984) .68M
Mathews, Eddie (1953) 7.81M
Crosetti, Frankie (1937) 2.20M
Kress, Red (1929) .78M
Henderson, Rickey (1982) 5.32M
Coleman, Vince (1985) 1.13M
Gant, Ron (1991) 1.37M
Aaron, Hank (1957) 8.90M
Webb, Earl (1931) 5.00M

It is a vast improvement over the initial team, maybe as many as 20 wins more.

I don't know if you want to go to all of the trouble, but to make any suggestions to fine tune it, copy and paste the following 3 links:

1 - Link to the Roster Chart for the league in order to see what the other teams look like in your division.
2 - Link to the hitting FA's.
3 - Link to the SP* FA's.

I couldn't tell if this is or is not a DH league, please confirm which it is. With these 3 links it will be easier to give more accurate advice...I'll check back later to see if you've added the links.

Sure.

#1 - it's not a DH league

Link to roster chart:
http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/le ... ers/346551

Link to hitting F/A:
http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/league/freeagents

Link to SP F/A:
http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/league/freeagents

*Not sure that the last two links are going to work - shouldn't there be a unique link with the league # or something? I'm thinking this is how it would look to me, since I'm signed in, but not to someone else (not sure how to change that - sorry - been a REAL long week and my mind is fried).

The only issue I take with your set up at quick glance is drafting a 10 mil SP in an 80mil league, as opposed to a 10mil line up guy. SP plays once every 4-5 days, the 10mil spent in the line up plays every inning, of every game.

My two cents.

i would switch to the cheapest w.johnson it would free up a little over 2 mil and he is still great. then i would drop coleman for a .50 guy giving you around 3 mil to upgrade anywhere else. i would also look for another 3B backup probably beck. that league looks pretty easy to win with a little foresight. kress is a great pitch hitter. here he is on one of my most recent teams. http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/team/1105542 i would probably spend it to upgrade my bullpen if it were my team. you could use another 3 mil RP.

best of luck to you.

You could use some of the money you save from downsizing your top SP, and taking Coleman and Gant down a fwe notches, in taking a true CF. Webb is a defensive liability and if you take his salary and the money you save from downsizing Walter J (pitchers like Tannehill, Veale, Mungo, Glavine would also be good options) you could invest in someone like Ed Delahanty (the one who's a 1 in CF) or Lofton or Pinson or even the cheaper Duke Snider, depending on how much money you free up.
If you put a bit in the bullpen, McBean is a good innings-eater or Shaw or Howell, if you have a bit more cash left over.
Or Cadaret or Fred Green aren't bad options if you a looking for another relatively cheap lefty.