Tue Aug 22, 2017 12:04 am
Druid and I both started out 2-1. I was at home against the other Minute Maid team in the division, Tiant took the loss allowing a couple of HR (both off the hitter's card, thanks). Curiously, with all my monstrous RH bats, the winning pitcher in this game was Ferdie Schupp, who I regard as one of the most overpriced cards in the set. Druid was on the road in Briggs 41 and lost to Ron Guidry. Mathewson got lit up in G1 (6 9 6 5 4 5 2) but his offense carried the day against Denny McLain. His 2nd win was against Gooden. So his 2-1 comes with an asterisk. It looks to me like JackofallParades is in for another bad LD experience. Going "all hitters" or "all pitchers" is a bad idea.
Unlike Druid and his impression of other managers, I have lists of players to take. I have been relatively inactive for a while, but a couple of the new cards and a revised methodology for evaluating cards at higher caps has raised my energy level for the game. I have added to the information I keep available on my lists recently, and I'm pretty sure this was my best LD ever. I still remember my first LD, back in ATG5. My first two picks were Hornsby and Eddie Collins, and my third was Honus Wagner. I still made the playoffs, though. I think I got swept in the first round.
I also enjoy battling Druid. He has taught me so much about this game. But we have entirely different styles - I am heavily analytic, and he is mostly a "feel" guy basing his decisions on his experience with various players. I am learning how to apply my numbers better by watching what he does. And although I slavishly evaluate every significant card for a number of ballparks, I violently disagree that differences between players on the magnitude of 1 WAR are significant when you consider how they fit into your overall lineup.
I am also amused that (a) people copy other managers' teams, and (b) that the other managers object. I had a stock team that I used a while back for several leagues, but I gave it up when I ran into such a weird set of opposing ballparks that I ended up changing my whole roster except for a couple of relievers and a backup catcher. I won a ring. This convinced me that in AD leagues, your AD card is simply a starting point for your final team. If you don't make changes based on the ballparks you will see and the opposing teams' personnel, you are doomed. Also of note - my Barnstormer's champion team only used about half the players I drafted on Dope.
I also disagree with Druid that the draft wasn't just about the two of us. For me, it quickly became that when my division mated all took RH hitters in the first two rounds (and Pedro). My limited ability to track what is going on during the draft causes me to focus almost entirely on who the teams in my division are taking. And in this case, I was clearly going to go with a lefty park and platoons, since that's the only way I can think of to get enough offense to survive in Minute Maid. Plus, it forces the other managers to adjust to me. I'm always happy to be the guy in the oddball ballpark. Curiously, I just won a ring in a league (sweeping Druid in the finals) where I was in Minute Maid and most everybody else was in a lefty park. (Druid was in my favorite park, Yankee 71. In my two finals games against him at his park, I scored 7 and 9 runs. In the two games at my park, I scored 2 and 4. Go figure.)
I usually look to grab Morgan, but I knew I was going to be platooning at multiple positions, and didn't want to give Druid the chance to whipsaw my lineups with his bullpen. He'll still do that, of course, but at least the scope for damage is limited by having Gibson, Caminiti, Larkin, and Barnes playing full time. And, like I said, 1 WAR is peanuts compared to the tactics of lineup construction.