After waivers, my ATG team is:

Pitchers (10)     min. 9, max. 12   (total min. 24, max. 28)
Name T End. Salary
Walsh, Ed (1910) R S9* 10.79M
Drysdale, Don (1965) R S8* 4.99M
Kaat, Jim (1965) L S6* 4.47M
Coombs, Jack (1911) R S9* 1.97M
Martinez, Dennis (1983) R S5/R4 .50M
Marshall, Mike (1979) R R2 1.75M
Roberts, Dave (1979) L R3 .99M
Linzy, Frank (1972) R R3 .93M
Hassler, Andy (1982) L R2 .88M
Garman, Mike (1977) R R2 .79M


Hitters (15)     min. 13, max. 17   (total min. 24, max. 28)
Name B P Salary
Boone, Bob (1982) R C 1.63M
Borders, Pat (1993) R Backup C .57M
Mattingly, Don (1986) L 1B 7.51M
Fox, Nellie (1955) L 2B 3.97M
Beckert, Glenn (1970) R 2B Platoon .80M
Wiggins, Alan (1984) S PR .68M
Boudreau, Lou (1947) R SS 7.12M
Kress, Red (1929) R PH .78M
Brett, George (1979) L 3B 6.25M
Wagner, Leon (1966) L PH .95M
Simmons, Al (1925) R RF 8.61M
Alou, Matty (1970) L PH .66M
McGee, Willie (1985) S CF 6.57M
Webb, Earl (1931) L LF 5.00M

Batting Order:

McGee CF
Fox 2B
Brett 3B
Simmons RF
Webb LF
Mattingly 1B
Boudreau SS
Boone C
P

12 team league. My park is '57 Forbes. Thoughts on this team? The good, the bad, and the ugly, please.

Any advice I'd be more than happy to listen to, and try and incorporate your advice.

Link to my team:
http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/team/1107797

Link to the rosters of the competition:
http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/le ... ers/346734

Link to Free Agents:
http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/league/freeagents

I cant make the FA link work.

I always look at Forbes57 as a Hitter's Park. I think Coombs is gonna be overmatched. I like cheaper Hughson, Boyd, cheaper Tiant, cheaper Short, cheaper Langston.
Need a little more pen as well......

Fair enough. If I got the dimensions right, it's a shorter porch in right field (is there a site that shows the park dimensions?) which is partially why I have more lefty hitters.

Coombs was really good for me in my free trial league. 4-1 with an ERA of about 3.40. Any RP you can recommend?

I never know how much to allocate as a split between SP, RP, and my batting order.

I wanted Freddie Lindstrom and George Sisler, but someone snared them. I'll know for next time, I guess.

How about my hitting / bench?

The HR rating is 1 on both sides. Though Forbes did technically have a short RF porch, the Strat HR ratings are even (and very low)


I Want OBP and speed in this park......

I concur on upgrading Coombs. Also, you don't need two sets of specialists in the bullpen -- pick either Garman or Linzy , not both, and same for Roberts/ Hassler. Otherwise, they'll be left in to face a lot of hitters where they don't have the platoon advantage, and they'll get lit up. You'll want to upgrade your bullpen, and add a relatively balanced long/middle reliever (rated R3 - R5)

As far as the position players go, Boudreau at 7M isn't a particularly good value- it's a lot to spend for your projected #7 hitter at $80M. You can get comparable defense for less. You may want to switch out Webb for someone with better defense who also has extra-base hit power (such as Oliva, Felipe Alou, or Bob Meusel). Also, Wagner is too expensive for a pinch hitter, especially since his power is largely wasted in your park. If you keep Webb, you should swap Wagner out for a cheap defensive replacement.

Good luck.

Thanks for the tips. I dropped Boudreau for a cheaper SS option.

I'm going to drop one of my lefty specialists (Hassler) for more of a long/mid reliever.

I also dropped Wagner (I think I picked him up because he homered of me a couple time a couple times in my free season).

I also changed Mattingly to Hank Greenberg, moved my new SS to the leadoff spot, and dropped McGee to 7th.

I'm going to fly in the face of other reputable owners on here who have encouraged you to upgrade Coombs, I really like Coombs as your 4th starter.

Here are 2 scenarios to consider which I think would vastly improve your pen:

Option #1 This type of pen would REALLY improve your pitching and Chapman would have comparable OBA, just not the slugging of Webb, however, I think the bullpen upgrade would be well worth it.

Replace Webb with Chapman in RF
Replace Roberts with a 77 cent bench player
Replace Marshall with Regan
Replace Linzy with Witasick

New pen....Regan...Witasick...Hassler...Garman

this mitigates the havoc HAL can create on your pen's performance.

Option #2 - this pen is almost as good, but you keep Webb's bat in the lineup and Adams is going to do almost as well as Nellie in the #7 hole and defensively they are a wash.

Replace Replace Nellie with Sparky Adams at 2b
Replace Roberts with a 56 cent bench player
Replace Marshall with Regan
Replace Linzy with Selma

New pen....Regan...Selma...Hassler...Garman

I'm not a particular fan of the 10 man staff due to the fact that HAL tends to misuse bullpen guys and if you set up your preferences correctly Regan can give you 200 innings of sub 4.00 ERA in the pen which would be HUGE!

Thanks for the feedback.

I'm relieved that there's someone else who doesn't think I'm crazy for having Coombs as my #4 starter (he out pitched my 1934 Dizzy Dean and 1981 JR Richard on my 'test run' team).

Unfortunately, Selma's taken in my league.

Out of curiousity, which Regan were you referring to? Does it have to be the 4.93m one (or would the 1.18 one suffice)?

How would you recommend setting up my pitching / bullpen settings?

*Note - I changed from Mike Marshall to Scott Garrelts and from Hassler to Jerry Fosnow.

Thanks again. I will think more about the rest of the advice you gave; got the weekend before my season starts (can't wait)!

The 4.93 Regan if available is the key...His card is a monster for the money when in your type of park in $80 million...he's pretty well balanced, but when in a small ball park such as you have he's an exceptional value when ignoring those ball park homers.

Those other relievers you mentioned with all due respect are junk or should I say, their cards are junk.

I'd be happy to correspond to you on how some different ways to set up your pitching preferences depending on the relievers you decide to go with in private...feel free to email me at nomadbrad@sbcglobal.net