Thoughts on my First Roster?

Someone must have seen your post -- Parrish is taken apparently!

Unlike my contemporary league, which just went through waivers, I still have a day before my waivers in the ATG league clear. If anything, I'm a bit more nervous than I was before.

Few of them still are. I did put in a claim on Frank Robinson and dropped my claim on Murphy. I expect some unpleasant surprises when I get home from work, though....

Definitely upgrade your middle-infield defense. Is the expensive Albert Belle available (the one with 50 HR's)? He's usually great in a park like this. Sammy Sosa? Is this a DH league? If so, try Ron Gant-- he's a cheap source of RH power.

personally i would look to make my team something like this:

2b-e.stanky
cf-c.bell/w.mcgee - someone in that vein
1b-o.cepeda
rf-f.robinson
lf-a.belle
3b-m.williams
DH-r.gant
ss-d.thon
c-parrish/battey/simmons/yeager/etc...

those are the (type of) players i would target.

-steven

Oddly enough I did manage to grab Frank Robinson off waivers and, believe it or not, Orlando Cepeda as a free agent. I now have a lot more pop in my lineup.

Don't know what I'll do once the games start, though.

IS it all right to set a four-man rotation if all four are * pitchers?

IS it all right to set a four-man rotation if all four are * pitchers?

Yes- in fact, it's encouraged. You don't want your 0.50M pitcher to throw any significant innings -- and there's no need for you to carry two of them. You should turn one of them into a long-reliever (R4- R5), as there will be times when your starters are knocked out in the second inning. Also, some of your pitchers are not good fits for your park because of the ballpark homers -- in particular, Forsch and Drabowsky.

As for your lineup, you don't need both Bonilla and Oberkfell-- Bonilla doesn't hit lefties well enough to justify a platoon. Denny Walling/ Ray Knight is a popular 3B platoon. Or, you could turn them into one somewhat higher-priced 3B who has some pop such as the cheaper Santo. Alternatively, you don't have a real leadoff hitter, so you could go for Jim Gilliam, or if you want to spend a little more, Stan Hack as a mid-priced option. You should also upgrade your backup catcher-- Boone will probably miss 20 games or so (but you probably shouldn't spend over 0.8M or so, unless you decide to platoon there). Finally, I would upgrade Northrup (I like Conigliaro as a mid-range option in your park). Good luck.

As I recall, you aren't using a DH, right? So you've actually already got a good 3B. Dump Bonilla and Oberkfell for cheap backups (.50 or just a little more -- look for good pinch hitters like Jorge Orta, Dick Groat, Danny Cater, Jose Cardenal, Leo Cardenas). Then take that money and upgrade Killebrew (you already own him; just switch one card for the other). I would take the 1961 Killebrew, who has monster power against lefthanders. How many lefty starting pitchers are there in your division (and league)? The only drawback with him is his error rating at 3B, but if you face several lefties, the power will make up for it. Here's how he did for me in a recent league:

vs. L 174 56 6 0 26 58 70 50 .322 .516 .805
vs. R 378 94 13 5 30 81 54 91 .249 .343 .548
TOTAL 552 150 19 5 56 139 124 141 .272 .405 .629

Also, 30 errors. You just gotta live with it.

Also agree that you need to work on upgrading Northrup, preferably with a guy who can leadoff. If Buford is available (he usually is), he's a guy who will walk a lot, has good running speed, and hits the occasional home run.

One other thought: you have 25 players but only need a roster of 24. Dump Owen, don't replace him. That gives you another half million to work with. With that, your money in the bank, and money saved from Oberkfell and Bonilla, you have a nice sum to upgrade Killebrew and LF.

I hope I'm done tinkering -- I'm pretty much out of money. Upgrading Killebrew (which I did) was about the limit of what I could actually accomplish. I wasn't able to upgrade left and had to put in essentially a placeholder player.

One thing you could do is use the 5 million Cepeda, who is still pretty good, esp. in an 80 million league. And you need to just dump Singleton and not replace him. That would give you a couple million to work with. Also, you're wasting cash on expensive backups like Johnson and Tamargo (who has ghastly defensive numbers when Boone gets hurt). You should spend as little on backups as possible. Pour that money into a leadoff hitter. Who are some of the LFs available between 4-6 million? I bet you could find someone. A LF platoon that would work really well for you at leadoff is Phil Bradley and Gene Clines.