The return team, small ball as always. Opinions?

Hello again.

So, after about a 8 year absence I have returned. Tragic news about The Last Druid. He was a legend and a very very formidable opponent. His absence will forever be felt.

So, a tad over 1/2 way through the season. I came in blind. Didn't even both to look for new cards. So, I used the old fall back draft card.

It has done me okay so far, but I must admit to being fascinated by the new card options.

Anyways, here they are. What would you have done differently? Strengths? Weaknesses (other than Wills)?
As always thanks for the feedback and I'll see you in the leagues.


https://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1705203

Team is doing okay. But, you definitely need to check out some of the new players. A lot of the old "standbys" never get used any more (for good reason). There is so much new talent to play with.

A ton of errors aren't helping you.

I miss the old days, when people would do this ... Post a team soliciting advice ... And people would always chime in willingly offering suggestions.

So I'll go ahead and do a deeper dive offering my two cents:

Not really enough speed to call it a small ball team, particularly base stealers. There are so many good AA/17 hitters out there in the set now, it's easy to fill our a lineup card full of speed demons. Ferris and Kell in particular are bad fits.

I can't stomach a 2 at SS for a small ball team either and Wills is making a ton of errors for you.

Too much money spent on your top 2 relievers. Put the money elsewhere and in a DH league get starters with an 8 or higher endurance rating so you don't need as much of a bullpen. And if you're gonna have two expensive relievers, you don't need the 4 slanted guys on the back end. Your relievers have thrown nearly 30% of your innings, that's way too much.

For my small ball teams (which is the majority of my teams), I want 1's up the middle for sure (preferably all 1's except 3rd base where it's hard to find a 17/AA player in a 1 range), Minus arms in the outfield, Minus arm at catcher, low errors, 17's on the basepaths and Minimum A stealer, preferably AA. I typically sacrifice at Catcher and just get a great, cheap defensive catcher or a cheap platoon, it's not worth spending big money behind the plate because there are no true base stealing catchers who can actually play great defense too. Bresnahan looks great defensively at first glance, but his sub ratings create a lot of passed balls and throwing errors. I've seen him have 30+ of each in a season and that is a killer.

Hope this helps a little bit anyways. If nothing else it was fun to revisit the old days of the boards for a few minutes.

Re: catchers.

See IRod

Here's a $60M team that may give you some ideas for cheaper options. Good luck!
https://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1699874