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Vols
Joined: 07/21/2016
Posts: 26

Norman Aces
IV.6

Broken Bat Baseball
I've been playing this game for a decent amount of time, and I was looking for some advice for my major and minor league roster(other than my lack of pitching). Thanks in advance.
FurySK
Joined: 02/07/2015
Posts: 299

Inactive

Broken Bat Baseball
Never be a decent hitter makes most of the players bad in every aspect outside of defense. You need to find guys that can replace most of the sub 10 hitters.

Be more active in looking for waivers help for pitching prospects. Can replace a few of your guys in the minors with waiver guys.
FurySK
Joined: 02/07/2015
Posts: 299

Inactive

Broken Bat Baseball
It's much easier to look at your lineup now that i'm home, and so here's an example of some lineup issues.

Versus righties, you have the following OBP 1/2/..../9

.242/.240/.321/.334/.342/.342/.329/.378/.280

Your leadoff hitter has an 8 in hitting and 4 in PD. Not even remotely close to good enough, and the player in general doesn't have the fielding grade for it to be acceptable in my view to play him as a starter. I would probably push him back to 8th in the lineup at least if you are set on starting him for the rest of the year. Ed jeffries is not much better in the #2 spot. I would 100% put miles in the #2 spot, and maybe live with Messina in the #1 spot at a .329 obp. This should increase the odds of the middle of the order working out for you. Valenzuela is your best power threat against right handed pitchers, while Waters is your top guy against lefties.

If you are going to run 17 players in your lineup, then you need to take full advantage of the lefty and righty splits. You have 3 guys in the lefties lineup, all left handed hitters, hitting under .190 against lefties.
Rock777
Joined: 09/21/2014
Posts: 9569

Haverhill Halflings
III.1

Broken Bat Baseball
That is good advice from Fury.

Here is my breakdown of your roster:

First I will caveat by saying that I don't think it is worth having anyone with less than "good hitter". Other people have differing philosophies and guys with no report can sometimes be good as well, so I won't comment on the lack of a hitting report.

Major Fielders:
As Fury mentioned, "He will never be a decent hitter" is usually the kiss of death. Gillespie has a lot of BC so he might do ok at LL-6, but his defensive build is below average for a catcher, so I don't think he is worth it. Keep an eye out for an upgrade.

Ibarra's defensive build is great for 3B. As a catcher all that Fielding is going to waste. His arm is at the bare minimum I would consider for a catcher. That said, he looks to become an incredible hitter. If you wanted to bit the bullet for a few years and suffer the poor performance at 3B, he could eventually become an all-star 3B. Either way he is a keeper. Optimally you find a catcher with a better arm and Ibarra slides back to DH/backup Catcher (if not 3B). But he should be passable at Catcher if you need to play him there.

Dimas has one of those defensive builds that makes him not quite fit anywhere. He is wasting a lot of SI on defense for a 1B. I'd look for more power at 1B. Still looks like a decent player overall so I'd keep him.

Hutchinson + "He will never be a decent hitter" = cut.

Messina will get old and die before you need to worry much about him. He is fine as a temporary gap filler. Easy to cut when you need the space.

Byrd has a good defensive build, but its overkill for 2B. Plus "he will never be a decent hitter". I'd cut him.

Higgins actually has a very nice defensive build for 2B. I despise "He will never be a decent hitter", but if you wanted to keep him around as a defensive replacement for a while. He is a lefty and his PD is shockingly good, so he might not have a horrible OBP. You can always cut him later.

Waters looks fine - I'm not going to go deep into anyone over 30, since they won't be with your team for too long anyhow...

Rosales has a nice defensive build for 3B. Hitting could be higher.

Jeffries is basically a bare minimum defensive build for SS. I wouldn't go below any of his current values, and really it would be nicer if he was one higher in all of those. Still, should be passable defensively. It can be hard to get he defensive build needed for SS, so I would say his offensive build is pretty average for SS. All around a competent SS. You can probably do a little better, but its hard to do with a 13 POT guy.

Bradley's Fielding is going to be a little low for SS. But a lefty at SS is nice. If his hitting progressed more he might be worth it, unfortunately his hitting development has been flat, which means he will get 9 hitting at the most. Coupled with that low PD, its hard to advice. On the upside, high BC, Power, and low GB/FB means he hits home runs well. Middle of the road guy. I am always looking out for good SS.

Concepcion would be great if he could hit. As is, I would look for a replacement. All that power is useless if he can't make contact.

Benson has a good build for a defensive RF or a strong armed CF. I doubt he will ever be a great hitter.

Allison, I prefer lefties in the OF, unless I am picking up platoon guys. Fielding is kind of wasted for both OF and 1B. He is ok, but I would rate him a little below average.

Day is a lefty which is good, but again, he has a lot of fielding. If he fielded righty, his build would be better suited to 2B. His hitting development looks pretty flat...

Minor Fielders:

Johns is probably not worth it. Bad fielder for 2B/SS, and not really going to be a good hitter either.

Urbina should not be a catcher. He has a good build for 2B if you want to convert him. Too early to tell what his hitting will look like. The lack of a scouting report means his Hitting and Power will be limited, but he should have pretty good BC and PD. If his Hitting gets to an acceptable level, he could be a productive 2B.

Basso's BC development is flat, which would be a concern for me. Defensively he would be better in the OF. I don't think he would be competent at 3B.

Solano has a nice build for CF. As a POT 14 he will probably be pretty good. His hitting development looks fairly healthy considering he has no report.

Stepp looks like a nice 2B prospect. His arm and range might be a bit light for SS, but its a good idea to try and get him that for a second position. Its always nice to have flexibility. Just don't let his 2B development linger too long. He looks like he still needs to develop a bit more there given his performances in the field.

Defensively it was a good choice to train Olivares at 3B. However, "he will never be a decent hitter" = cut.

Rivas + "he will never be a decent hitter" = cut.

Zwart needs to be promoted to AA. Catcher is the right choice.

2B is probably the right choice for Harper. Switch hitters are always useful.

RF is the right choice for Currier. But LF/RF is a pretty easy position to fill. I would look for a better power hitting prospect for the OF.

You will have to see how he develops, but Gaytan could be a very good SS. It might be worth training him at 2B for a second position. Definitely a nice sleeper pick.

Jordan has a pretty good CF build, but I personally would look for a better hitter. Still not a bad looking guy overall.

Quintanilla is yet another OF prospect (you have quite a few), and he is a righty. 12 POT, no hitting or power report. You can definitely do better than this guy.

Cabral might be ok at CF, but you have better prospects. As a righty with POT 12, I'd let him go.

Major Pitchers:
Going to skip everyone older than 30. They might be good, but they won't be with the team long term anyhow.

Parks looks pretty sub-par, but at least he performed well for you this year. Keep him until he starts to bomb or you have a better replacement.

Ham also looks pretty sub-par, but you can't cut these guys until you get some young replacements.

Huff has a pretty good build for a POT 11, but still pretty sub-par on performance. Too many of your guys under 30 are lefties. Righties are a bit more valuable. You want a couple lefties, but they tend to get hammered by RHB.

Greenwood looks pretty good. Should perform well for you.

Messina cold have a bit more control, but really 10 isn't too bad. He actually has a pretty nice build overall and his VLHB/VRHB splits are pretty good. Should be a competent starter.

Taking the jump directly from A, Endō will most surely stunt. The previous owners messed him up :( He has been doing pretty well though. Even stunted he might perform ok.

Minors Pitchers:
Gómez has no Velocity or Movement reports, and his CoS development is flat. This means he won't ever have any stuff. He will probably have a lot of control and stamina. I'm just not sure how well he will perform without any stuff. I don't think anyone has the solution for Pitchers, so maybe this is ok as a build. I wouldn't want a guy with no stuff though.

Wall is a POT 11 with lots of stamina and some pretty high defensive ratings as well. Doesn't leave a lot of SI for pitching ratings...

Amaya is wild. I generally tell people to avoid wild pitchers, just like fielders who will never be decent hitters. As a POT 11 he definitely doesn't have the upside to justify risking a wild pitcher.

Avalos is a lefty with pretty high defensive ratings and a lack of control. I usually stay away from "lack of control guys too". In fact I stay away from "below average control" guys as well, but sometimes those guys can do ok (like Messina). Avalos has shown a nice GB/FB ratio in his first year, but he has a few too many red flags for my taste.


A couple notes in general:

You need more pitchers in you minors system. You want to make sure you have enough guys to replace each position as well as pitchers. I would say 8-9 pitchers would be a good goal. You can flux some, but 4 is really too few.

On top of that, your pitching staff is old. I would look to bring in some 24-26 year old pitchers off waivers and FA next year. Usually folks give up on some of the guys who are behind in development. That is a good opportunity for you to "resurrect" a few of those 25-26 year old pitchers that others have cut bait on. Especially given your staff is below average (as you pointed out). Nothing really to lose by trying to develop some high risk, high reward guys.





FurySK
Joined: 02/07/2015
Posts: 299

Inactive

Broken Bat Baseball
My hitting requirements for my own team is about the same. I view hitting as

Never be a decent hitter = Cut worthy without regard
No comment = will not be a hitting talent for me in most cases, only defensive.
good hitting = typically run of the mill offensive talent at best.
very good hitting = can be anywhere from a mediocre offensive player to a great offensive player
great hitting = in most circumstances will do quite well from an average standpoint, and should unlock good numbers in a high percentage of players

I also set rules when looking for waiver talents. For example, i rarely look at middle infielders with under 13 potential as they require defense to play those positions and that defense can eat away 10 more SI than what i require at OF or C.

I also set control restrictions on pitchers for their potentials and control. I am ok with below average control if both velocity and movement are heading upwards, but have concerns with lower potential players with high stamina paths or great defense.

My restrictions for League IV through League VI talent would look something like this potential wise:

Hitting

0-10 potential = automatic cut

11 potential = reserved for DH only. I am picky and require said DH to have <25 defensive points expected at full build. I also require very good hitting and prolific slugging, with PD expected to at least fall within a respectable range. Basically hunting the 17/10/14/18/10.

12 potential = will look at solid builds at 1B/2B/OF/C/DH. In most cases SS and 3B will not have enough room for offensive categories after my demands at defense are met.

13 potential = all positions are unlocked.

Pitching

0-10 potential = automatic cut

11 potential = relievers with low defense can be quite useful. A 24 or less defensive skill pitcher with 5-6 stamina might only go 30 pitches, but will average 14.5 skill points per pitching area. if you target strike out pitchers, you can bring about players that have the builds to help you in lower leagues pretty easily once your starters exit. this is possible because you take total defense and divide by 2. each pitching skill costs 1.25 SI, but low stamina allows for added room.

12 potential = take the above math, and now relief pitchers get 16 average skill points per pitching trait. relievers setup in this area are really talented basically all the way up, and are easy enough to snag. Low stamina low defense starters are also in the discussion, as are bullpen long arms.

13 Potential = defense is less important now. high stamina high defense will still harm the players potential to be a great pitcher, but 14-15 stamina and 35-40 defense will still leave enough room at this potential

14 Potential = most players here are kept. I am still kinda touch and go about "Wild" control pitchers, but i have seen some work.

Potential and Minors Exit

Players that you might pick up could be quite far behind and never get close to the max potential. I tend to estimate that in the best of circumstances a player will have 3 full seasons of development time in the majors. This is probably not the case for some players, but for most is likely to be realistic. I feel like my data shows about a 6-8 SI increase on hitters per season with a solid amount of innings and plate appearances. So being with 24 SI of their potential cap means i should likely see the end of their build.

For starting pitchers, it seems like 10-18 is a good range per season. so i usually look for 32-40 SI margins from their cap. So with 103 cap as the most often cap on 12 potentials, i typically aim for 62-63 SI and up on callup.

For relievers, i aim closer to 7-14, and thus prefer on a 103 SI cap to aim 25-32 SI when i can.

So basically, what i'm saying is be careful of targeting or developing players that are already 23-24 years old and are at 35-40 SI. I don't feel like many of these players make it, so to make this a worthwhile investment you'd basically have to invest into 3 or 4 of them and get lucky once on one to make it viable. Thats just my opinion.

I think me and Rock think the same in quite a few ways, so i will also suggest that there is more than one way to run your team.

Updated Wednesday, November 23 2016 @ 12:33:11 pm PST
Rock777
Joined: 09/21/2014
Posts: 9569

Haverhill Halflings
III.1

Broken Bat Baseball
That is pretty good advice. One thing I would add. It is definitely possible to get good pitchers at 12 POT, while 12 POT fielders are generally going to be below average (unless they have a great DH build). "Sweet Pea" Bass is a good example of a 12 POT Starter who has maintained good performance all the way to Legends.

And 13 POT guys can be absolutely dominating even if they do have a lot of SI in defense. "Deadeye" Oono is a pretty good example of that.


Vols
Joined: 07/21/2016
Posts: 26

Norman Aces
IV.6

Broken Bat Baseball
I changed my lhp lineup to put players that have averages better than 200. I cut all of the guys who had "not a decent hitter". I did keep Johns and my 12 POT pitcher because Johns actually has 12 hit and I only have 2 pitchers so I will keep Alveros for now. I am most likely going to try to find 28 and 29 year old pitchers to replace my expensive and old bullpen arms. I will also try to look for prospects with high potential and good hitting players and prospects. Thanks for the advice.


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