I got into mlb89610, and started out 0-4. here is my lineup:'87 ozzie smith, 'oo luis castillo, '06 george stone, '68 pete rose, '85 willie mcgee, '69 pete rose, '51 ferris fain, 1890 denny lyons, '64 john roseboro. I platoon Roseboro with '64 chris cannizaro. Pitching: '15 Pete Alexander, '00 pedro martinez, '94 and '95 greg maddux. bullpen: '95 norm charlton ( the lowest OAV version), '88 elton chamberlain, '01 pedro martinez, and '03 eric gagne. My bench players are all limited use, high BA players, I am thinking that maybe I spent too much on bench players, and maybe I should have invested that money into my starters. Polo V, NY Mets version, is my home field. Any thoughts you may have would be appreciated.

how much did you spend on hitting vs. pitching? in general i think there is a lot to work with here, but the balance is off a bit. you've only played 4 games, it's a small sample size. you've allowed 17 runs and have a 3.55 ERA, for 4 games that's not bad at all. i like the platoons at the bottom of your lineup.

http://www.whatifsports.com/mlb-l/view.asp?lid=89610

you picked a bunch of guys with high averages and put them in a park that is -1 for 1B. you picked a couple triples hitters in a doubles park. you definitely drafted a few too many PAs and your lineup doesn't flow from high PA to low PA.

87 ozzie smith 706pa
'oo luis castillo 630pa
'06 george stone 716pa
'68 pete rose 692pa
'85 willie mcgee 652pa
'69 pete rose 728pa
'51 ferris fain 538pa (assuming he's playing with alexander 139pa)
1890 denny lyons 499pa (assuming he's playing with F-Lop 169pa)

i also think you did spend too much on your bench (dave anderson, roy cullenbine) and just didn't spend enough on your hitters. at first glance the only guys i'd start in a 140mil league are stone and mcgee. as a result you have 7 runs in 4 games.

your pitching looks good but not well balanced. assuming Alex and the Madduxes are your rotation then what is Pedro doing with his 217ip?

who is pitching your low leverage innings? the 118-ip Pedro isn't a bad LR. but i'll bet that the other guys still pitch in some 8-1 losses.

jfranco77, thank you very much. I picked PoloV because I really was kind of lost on the whole ball park selection criteria, and I picked that park because I felt it might help the pitchers. I might have been too optimistic about my offense. I felt I had a shut down pitching staff, I figured on a four man rotation, with Alexander picking up the starts when I would have to skip '95 maddux and'00 martinez. I suppose that was a bit too rose colored a picture...what ball park would you have picked? or is it more a case of too many hitters who simply aren't tailored to that park? I loved to 2 Roses, high BA, good OBP, switch hitters, and it seemed they would thrive in that park. I am dead last in the league in hitting. And while my pitching numbers aren't bad, I was anticipating much better numbers. I underestimated the overall quality of competition I would face in this league.

Without knowing how much you spent on pitching vs. hitting it's hard to say what park i would have picked. you've got 1550ish IP so in a 140mil league it would be tough to go extreme like Hilltop, but I might have pushed it for League II or Palace of the Fans. Maybe Municipal Stadium.

If you've got Alex in a 4-man rotation it will be tough to get him to his 400 IP. But if you use '00 Pedro as a swingman, mostly as an RP but occasionally spot starting him manually, that could work.

maybe I was panicking too soon. I am now 1-4. That first win was nice to see. Again, jfranco77, thank you for responding. At this point, I am leaning toward just staying the course, but I am considering hitting the waiver wire. I suppose if I selected carefully and patiently, I might get players who might be better suited to the league and the park.

I wouldn't hit the WW until MUCH later in the season if at all, simply because the 10% built in fee that you will be absorbing will ultimately leave you with a lower team salary. Even if you can find players who are a better fit for your park, each time you make a transaction, you will be a lower salary than your competition and that will leave you at a disadvantage in the long-run.

If you do go to the WW, I suggest dropping your high price bench players to pick up low $ guys. This way, you can bank some extra cash and potentially upgrade 1 of your hitters by a couple of million. By doing that, you are really trading your extra bench dollars for a player upgrade. That would be the only way I would hit the WW - otherwise, if you do multiple transactions, the 10% fee eats you alive.

That post hurts my eyes.

Have to agree with frazzman80 5 games in way way to early.Even if you put together the best $140mil team in History.Some time players start slow and some time just straight bad luck.WW last thing you want to do.But if so wait and find a GREAT up grade and dump some bench.By the way what is your batting line up with this team???

5 games is way too early to tell, but just looking at your team, i think you drated too many IP and PAs. I would also think that at $140M you need a good power threat, but then again, I don't play high caps often.

I once had a team that won the WS and TOC, at some point during the season they went 0-5...

Can't judge a team before they've played at the very least 20-30 games

well, My record is now 1-6, and '15 pete Alexander has been my weakest link, so I releasde him, picked up '09 tim lincecum and '09 babe adams, then dropped ferris fain and picked up Reggie Smith. I probably will regret it, but...I also have AAA players available, 6/2 AA. none of them look like real studs, but I demoted Luis Castillo, and promoted my AAA 2bman. We'll see.

unfortunately at 140mil you have a better chance of winning the lottery than getting an above average AAA player to contribute.

At this point, I am disappointed in myself, certain facts I should have realized that now seem so obvious. That said, this has still been a positive experience, thanks to some very fine people who offer their help. As I understand AAA classifications, the ratings of WAA to BA refer more to salary and usage than to the quality of the play of these players. I wouldn't have drafted them, but I have little choice but to see what they can do.

I like Tater Tots!

Tater Tots suck. They remind me of the lunch room in 4th grade. They are good for throwing, though.