Low budget players

i'm on a low budget!

what did you say?

What are the challenges that you have in a 60mil league as compared to a 100mil, or 200mil league? It seems to me that it would be less challenging since you have much more choice in players available. With so many more players available to use, you could let everyone else pick all their players and still you would field a team of equal talent to theirs no?

Where is the challenge in that? Unless of course that is the challenge? In other words the challenge isn't out drafting your opponent, but out managing him afterward?

Scott the Complainer

At $200M, you can just about choose anyone you want for most starting positions and then be forced to choose among some $5-6M options to fill the roster.

The player list is shortened by salary at $60M. Take Josh Gibson and Lou Gehrig to anchor a $60M team, and you have $2M SPs getting rocked and guys that never see the roster at $100M taking up the last 4 spots in your starting lineup.

If everyone else picked first, all the low $$ value players would be gone, leaving you to put together a team around Josh and Lou.
They'd blast a $60M pitching staff, but the 6+ ERA would leave a team struggling to reach .500, IMO.

So there are less than 12 position players at each position who are as good as each other and therefore not interchangeable? Assuming the league is a 12 team league. And if there aren't, there is no way to move up or down in salary to get a different choice?

What I mean is, if I cant find a good 3mil ss, because there are only 10 of them, why wouldn't I just choose a 5mil ss, then choose a 1mil 2b to even it out? Or is this a way to lose in a 60mil league? I am only asking because I never played in one b4 and always figured the biggest challenge is the draft itself, and a high salary cap would be the most challenging to be successful at since once a player is gone its difficult to replace him with a equal player and you cant compensate as you could with my ss/2b example above, because there is no higher salaried players to use in repalcement since those players have already been picked.

Scott the Complainer

I really enjoy playing the smaller caps. This is a team in a 45 mil league with several of the House of Glanny players.

http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/team/1128316

I just got tired of the slowpitch softball scores and stats of the higher cap ATG leagues. And Dale Murray and the other super relievers really turned me off. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed playing ATG for 5 or 6 years and still will in the future. But when I started playing the 60 mil and below caps it was the challenge of creating the roster that revved me up. I also spoke to a few veteran Strat players and got some really good advice. That didn't hurt.

I think the cheap Lou Brock card is a must in lower caps. His stats were incredible for this team. Played every game. Hit, stole, drove in runs. The 1.25 Don Sutton card surprised me here. 16 wins to lead the SP. I put McMahon on set up and middle. Quick hooked 3 of my 5 starters. Cullom and Sutton were not. Used Assenmacher as lefty closer and Neidenfuer as righty closer. Frisch, Jacobson and Weaver were good here too. Bowa or Aybar would be my SS choices but are usually snapped up in the first round.

That's the challenge at the lower caps. Putting together, than setting up your team. Long time Strat veteran Artie and I have been talking about setting up a $30 mil cap league in the future....now that would be a real challenge.

Snake

So there are less than 12 position players at each position who are as good as each other and therefore not interchangeable? Assuming the league is a 12 team league. And if there aren't, there is no way to move up or down in salary to get a different choice?

What I mean is, if I cant find a good 3mil ss, because there are only 10 of them, why wouldn't I just choose a 5mil ss, then choose a 1mil 2b to even it out? Or is this a way to lose in a 60mil league? I am only asking because I never played in one b4 and always figured the biggest challenge is the draft itself, and a high salary cap would be the most challenging to be successful at since once a player is gone its difficult to replace him with a equal player and you cant compensate as you could with my ss/2b example above, because there is no higher salaried players to use in repalcement since those players have already been picked.

Scott the Complainer

The problem is, some $3M SS play like $3.5M, and the rest like $2M, and there aren't 10 of the former, and it goes that way for the entire lineup as you try to assemble a team. If you look for $8M SS, there's enough for a 24 team league and everyone has a viable option. When you look for $3m SS, there aren't 12 cards you'd be happy with. If you've never played a lower cap, and you jumped into a 24 team $60M league, your roster would be full of guys you'd never heard of, never mind actually put in a line up.

At $200M..."I got stuck with Ernie Banks, and I wanted a 1 at SS."
At $60M..."I'm going to give Abbatichio a run at SS, and hope he hits .275 to make up for the 3 on D."

So to get an accurate picture of a 60mil league...

If I let 11 or 23 managers draft their team before me, I wouldn't be able to create a viable and competitive team with the remaining players?

I would need to see all the free agents left after the draft to see if that was true, but if you say yes Scott that would be your situation I would take your word for it as, like I said, I have never played in a 60mil league.

Scott the Complainer

Just one guy's experience:

I've been around for a while now with moderate success. I guess I'm best at 100m and 80m, but I've also done OK at 140m. I haven't played much at 200m but the lady few trams that I did performed pretty well, actually..so maybe I'm getting a handle on that as well.

But, every time I mosey on over to a 60m league, I get my ass handed to me. And every time I feel like my team is great and has a really good shot at the playoffs. Not a chance. I can't explain it.

I think every cap has it's nuances and challenges. I don't think any if them are appreciably easier or harder than the others. But for some reason, success at 60m continues to elude me.

Scott, everything you say in your posts makes sense. I thought all of those same things myself. But put to the test I've continually failed. Epically and miserably.

Give 60m a shot. Play a few teams. After all, it's only a couple credits. $20 bucks or so. Let us know how it goes. Hopefully better than me!

Friggin typing on an iPad...it's like riding in the back if a pickup truck. There's no way to do it and make it look good at the same time.

I'm not sure of how to test the theory that I could create a team that is competitive even if I let all the other managers draft their teams before me at the 60mil salary cap.

Scott the Complainer

I'm not sure of how to test the theory that I could create a team that is competitive even if I let all the other managers draft their teams before me at the 60mil salary cap.

Scott the Complainer

I'm not talking about testing theories. I just thought you should take a crack at a few teams and see how you do. You seem to think it's easier at the low caps because of the size of the pool. I don't blame you. I thought the same thing. Turned out I was a miserable failure.

I'm just curious if it would be as easy as you think. Hey, maybe it would be and you'd knock it out of the park!

*I know on these threads it's easy to think that someone is being a jerk or troll or something. I assure you that's not my intent here. I'm sincere. I just thought: "hey I've thought these same things that Scott is thinking but I've fallen on my face. I wonder how he would do." You clearly are at least intrigued by the cap otherwise you wouldn't be posting about it. I think you should give it a try.