New ATG 7 team

Here is my team for the $100 mil round 4 of the ATG tourney. This is only my fourth team ever, so I'm looking to improve. I'm playing in Petco and my division mates have Wrigley '59, Ebbets '20, and Municipal '78.

Here is my pitching staff:

Johnson, Walter R S9+/R5 10.98
Mathewson, Christy R S8+/R5 10.55
Ford, Whitey L S7+ 7.56
Donald, Atley R S7/R5/C0 2.4
Dobson, Joe R S6/R5 2.48
Wilhelm, Hoyt R R4 5.36
Drabowsky, Moe R R3 1.28
Klink, Joe L R1/C0 0.98
Burgmeier, Tom L R3/C1 0.5

Here is my lineup:

Mackey, Biz S c-1(-4)e1 6.97
Galarraga, Andres R 1b-1e14 3.29
Huggins, Miller S 2b-2e22 5.22
Wagner, Honus R ss-1e24 7.92
Fletcher, Art R 3b-3e18 4.18
Kelley, Joe R lf-3(+2)e9 7.4
McGee, Willie S cf-1(0)e10 6.57
Gwynn, Tony L rf-2(-1)e5 7.68
Ruel, Muddy R c-3(0)e4, 0.76
Boswell, Ken L 2b-3e39 0.56
Ford, Hod R 2b-4e11 0.67
Groat, Dick R ss-3e41 0.53
Cater, Danny R of4(+1)e6 0.62

Any feedback or advice would be appreciated.

http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/le ... ers/346776

http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/team/1107513

IMO your staff is a bit suspect from the standpoint you have such a drop off from the top 2 SPs to the other 3, AND the fact you only have 3SP*, not sure what your strategy is there?

Your lineup looks to be too far balanced to face LHP.

IMO your defense is meh, especially in outfield.

I had to assemble the rotation in free agency because I lost out on my top two starters in the draft. Really, the draft didn't go well for me. The best starters in the 8-9 dollar range were gone, but two $10-11 studs were available. Whitey was the best lefty available in that range, and I thought 2 low priced non- starred starters looked better on the card than the $4 starred starter. My last two starters will get the same number of starts combined as my #1. I'm not sure what you mean about my lineup being too balanced for lefties. Could you explain? My team will face an even number of lefties and righties. I accept the outfield defense criticism. I wanted 1s up the middle but lost out in the draft.

You may run into serious problems with injuries at short and 2b. Galarraga doesn't fit your park as well, although the fact that he's a bopper may help on the road. But he's too injury-proner as well, and snagging Kuhel to replace him and use the extra bucks to upgrade your 4th starting pitcher should be an obvious move. You've got to win your division first and in Petco you need speed, OB average and solid defense to win. OF looks fine but I'd really worry about Wagner going down for 15 a couple of times, You might even want to downgrade your two best pitchers a bit for an upgrade there.

first. unless your division opponents are speed demons save money at catcher. o'neil and danning for around 3 mil hit lots of doulbles and play adequate D. ditch ford for a cheaper lhp. kaat, Bennett, mathis. not sold on Wilhelm. wilcy moore, brandom, gossage will do fine to save bucks. get rid of moe! try nahem, mcbean or Worthington. get an xtra basehitting lf with d including arm Dixon, flick, young. ditch huggins for dots miller. better fielder and hits in the clutch. go for terry, anson, brothers, etc at first. for 3b try to get delahanty or travis. at ss get visquel if u can. get back after these moves and lets see what cash is left.

Thanks for the feed back. Here is the adjusted lineup based on the collective input and the limitations of free agency:


Johnson, Walter (R, E) S9*/R5
Mathewson, Christy (R, E) S8*/R5
Ford, Whitey (L, E) S7*
Ruffing, Red (R, E) S8*
Drabowski, Moe R3
Wilhelm, Hoyt, R4


1 Kelley, Joe (1894) (R) LF 3(+2)e9
2 Gwynn, Tony (1994) (L) RF 2(-1)e5
3 Scales, Tubby (NeL) (R) 3B 3e41
4 Sisler, George (1921) (L) 1B 1e9
5 McGee, Willie (1985) (S) CF 1(0)e10
6 Stanky, Eddie (1945) (R) 2B 2e24
7 Trammell, Alan (1980) (R) SS 1e16
8 Mackey, Biz (NeL) (S) C 1(-4)e1


http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/team/1107513

http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/le ... ers/346776

I feel like I just shuffled deck chairs on the Titanic. My bench seems weak, and I think my offense is too anemic to win. On the bright side, half the ball parks in my league as 1s and 2s.

Thoughts?

is that your batting order? i hope it isn't. you are not optimizing your line up if that is how you are batting them.

What would you recommend?

i would recommend that you learn the proper way to read the cards if you do not know already. This will teach you how to maximize your line-ups and build better teams. stanky should only bat in the 1,2 or 9 spots in your line-up. i would look to bat them something like this:

mcgee
stanky
kelley
sisler
scales
gwynn
mackey
trammel

i also think you are spending too much at the C position.