Pitcher/Hitter card

As a rookie this game is a great puzzle that appears to have multiple paths to success. At times, though I draw a blank as to what are the tweaks I can make to improve. Focus on OBP, SLG, batting order, how much is dependent on pitcher vs hitter card, how big an element is the luck of the rolls, etc. etc.?

Just concluded season I kept track of pitcher vs hitter card rolls for starters thinking that would correlate with success. Tedious record keeping to conclude (though maybe too little data) that there is no trend there. You vets probably knew that already?

I would appreciate anyone willing to give me feedback on this last team. I had a plan before the draft and largely followed it during the season. A number of stats had me, on those items, 4th, 5th, 6th in the league with W-L results that were 11th.

https://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1650470

Many questions but due to this length will start with just one. My Hershiser puzzle.

https://365.strat-o-matic.com/player/29 ... 292/456591

Acceptable ERA, WHIP, kept HRs down all part of plan. Terrible record it appears resulting from a lack of run support. Lowest in league? Thought that was due to always facing the "star" SP of my opponent. So I changed that up...no difference. What would you have done?

Welcome Moses...

You were negative with your roll differential with your pitching staff as well as with your hitters.
Tough to win when the rolls are not going your way.
You could have a team with the highest salaried players at each position and still lose if the rolls don't go your way.

What you can do next time:

1. Shea '64 is a righty homerun park. You need at least 5 more likely 6 righty bats that are MAXED out with BPHR's (#).
You want them MAXED out BOTH ways, but at least MAXED vs. RH's.
You have Miggy and Petro.

2. Roenicke, Javier and Robinson are nice platoon partners, on the cheap. But they need to be platooned with righty bats that kill RH's.

3. IMO, I think you're using too many platoons for an $80m league. 1 is probably ok.
Next time, add up the 2 guys that you're considering platooning, and look for 1 player.
ie.Dave Henderson ($6m), Adrian Beltre ($5.88), Andre Dawson ($5.84), etc...

4. What was the deal with Lolich and Aguilera? Next time, grab a $.50 SP and put him in the 1 slot in the pitching rotation. He won't see the light of day unless there's a long extra inning game. Save $ and put it into your SP.

5. You wanna limit ballpark HR's in your park (righty). Hershiser is OK, your hitters just didn't help him.
Viola is NOT a good choice for your park. Lary is ok I guess, but like Hershiser, you didn't help him.
3 RH's are what you need for this park. Most likely all 4.

You gotta remember... you're playing 81 games @ home. You win 55 games @ home play .500 on the road, you're in the playoffs.

There's probably a few other things, but IMO, these are the big ones.

Moses,

I’ll give a nickels worth if you want it.

If you’re new to the game, the first place to start is the math.

In an $80 mil league, half the results come equally from both hitting and pitching. However, the x-chances on the pitchers card are reflected by the defense paid for on the hitters card. Therefore, 40% of the results actually come off the pitchers card, while 60% come from the hitters card. This is the source of a mathematically correct $32 million that should be spent on pitching in an $80 mil league.

Now, let’s say there’s an average 1450 innings by your pitchers in a season. If you manage to get 280 innings from each of your four *SPs (or 80% of your IPs), you could spend around $6.50 for each of your starters. That leaves you $6 to spend on four relievers. You can often calculate who will get the most innings, and let’s say you anticipate one guy getting 100 relief innings. 100/1450= 6.7% x $32 = $2.21 that you could spend on that particular guy. Spend a buck or so on the other three.

Sounds easy right?!

That’s basically it for step one. Steps 2-999 consist of maximizing your ball park dimensions, finding unrecognized value, and making an infinite number of tweaks that will only come from playing and seeing LOTS of teams.

That’s why when you look at a vets’ team, they rarely resemble four $6.50 *SPs and a $6 bullpen. But trust me, they ALL know it starts there. Get a handle on that first, then work your way through the various layers of cleverness.

No reason to worry about card rolls (no control over that) and no reason to worry about Hershiser (he was irrelevant to the overall results of this team). Focus on the things you can control (like the application of the mathematics) and you’ll start accumulating the knowledge you need to build good teams.

Here’s a team that if you squint just a bit, you see what I’m talking about:

https://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1611672

The concept was net hits in a pitcher friendly park. You can win with 750 runs scored, but you can NOT win with 800 runs surrendered by your pitchers.

[quote="visick"]Welcome Moses...

You were negative with your roll differential with your pitching staff as well as with your hitters.
Tough to win when the rolls are not going your way.
You could have a team with the highest salaried players at each position and still lose if the rolls don't go your way.


Thanks for all that! As for Lolich and Agui...started with Kaat as one of 4 starters, Agui backup. Kaat bad move felt I needed more “crossover” L-R. Never could figure out how to use Lolich well.

Appreciate your help.

Moses,

I’ll give a nickels worth if you want it.

If you’re new to the game, the first place to start is the math.

In an $80 mil league, half the results come equally from both hitting and pitching. However, the x-chances on the pitchers card are reflected by the defense paid for on the hitters card. Therefore, 40% of the results actually come off the pitchers card, while 60% come from the hitters card. This is the source of a mathematically correct $32 million that should be spent on pitching in an $80 mil league.

Now, let’s say there’s an average 1450 innings by your pitchers in a season. If you manage to get 280 innings from each of your four *SPs (or 80% of your IPs), you could spend around $6.50 for each of your starters. That leaves you $6 to spend on four relievers. You can often calculate who will get the most innings, and let’s say you anticipate one guy getting 100 relief innings. 100/1450= 6.7% x $32 = $2.21 that you could spend on that particular guy. Spend a buck or so on the other three.

Sounds easy right?!

That’s basically it for step one. Steps 2-999 consist of maximizing your ball park dimensions, finding unrecognized value, and making an infinite number of tweaks that will only come from playing and seeing LOTS of teams.

That’s why when you look at a vets’ team, they rarely resemble four $6.50 *SPs and a $6 bullpen. But trust me, they ALL know it starts there. Get a handle on that first, then work your way through the various layers of cleverness.

No reason to worry about card rolls (no control over that) and no reason to worry about Hershiser (he was irrelevant to the overall results of this team). Focus on the things you can control (like the application of the mathematics) and you’ll start accumulating the knowledge you need to build good teams.

Here’s a team that if you squint just a bit, you see what I’m talking about:

https://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1611672

The concept was net hits in a pitcher friendly park. You can win with 750 runs scored, but you can NOT win with 800 runs surrendered by your pitchers.

Thanks, it is a good reminder that this is to a degree a mathematical puzzle with a dollop of luck. Deciphering where and when to apply the math and where to accept the luck, or lack of luck, is the challenge. Easy as a newbie to see too many variables to manipulate and learn little. Strikes me that if not attending to the right variables one could be on the short end of Bear Bryant’s old quote. “Mark of a good coach is he takes his’n and beats your’n then can take your’n and beat his’n.”