Ok, I have a few questions. 

First, what is considered the right amount of players to carry at each position?  I do know that I will carry a five man pitching rotation but after that, it's unknown how many LR and closers to carry as well as positions players.

Second, I have so many players with stamina in the low 20's or lower.  What is the min stamina a player should have at the their respective starting positions. 

Third, I feel the need to simply clean house and start fresh.  Is this a bad idea or should I just start at the bottom and recruit players to fill the empty slots as each season goes by.

last one, what would be your top piece of advise for a newbie playing this game. 

Thx in advance for any imput, it is very much appreciated.

Shamu

There is a mentor list above pinned above this post, you might start there.

I usually use 13 pitchers. And on my bench I'll have one power threat, one defensive specialist, one Super Utility and one defensive catcher.

Stamina is a pitching rating, so you can ignore it for position players.

I'd never get rid of players, just to get rid of players. I wouldn't release anyone, because you are still on the hook for their salary even if someone picks them up. Waivers and trades are the way to go.

Top piece of advice, don't let a veteran come in and screw you in a trade. They will try. Probably giving you high overall guys who aren't very good, for a low overall guy who is good. Overall Rating is not always a good indicator of talent.

That's good to know!!  Yeah, I've got the mentor thing going and it's been real helpful.  I just wanted to toss out those questions to see what others say.  With so much to learn and the pace going so fast with work and all and not too much time at the puter, seems overwhelming. When did ya give up GD jonas? 

I gave it up probably 3 years ago, then I played for 5 or six 6 season earlier this year. I really didn't enjoy it. Everyone does the exact same thing.

LOL!!!  yeah, ND Box and the 4-4.  I think becuase I haven't even won a CC is the reason I still play.  I still actually like too so I guess that helps.  I take on too many rebuilds and never stay around long enough to reap the rewards.  HB seems like a real challenge with so much control for the owners.  I just have to get GD thinking out of my head when I am playing HB.  I look forward to staying where I am at in HB for a long time.  I know I've already meade a few mistakes in HB but thats how we learn right? 

My spin on jonas's comments.

I usually go with 11 pitchers: 5 starters, 1 LR, 3 setup guys, 1 closer, and 1 mopup guy to eat innings at garbage time.  If I have a low durability/low stamina reliever who's got high-quality stuff, he'll be a 12th guy on the staff.

That leaves 14 (or 13) position players.  Unless I've got a platoon at a position, my typical bench will consist of a 2nd catcher (defensive), a defensive specialist (85+ across the board), an "offensive" middle infielder, a backup corner outfielder with power, and the last guy could be anything.

If you're an NL team, you'll want a little more offense on your bench, assuming at least one or two guys PH-ing for the pitcher per game.

I only had 148 PH ABs last year as an NL team. And with an 12 man offense, only 8 of those ABs went to pitchers.

I always go 13 position players and 12 pitchers.  I play in the NL, so I've got 5 guys on my bench.  I always have one of them as a catcher, and I don't care if he's offensive or defensive.  The other 4 bench players will be a good, defensive SS (preferably with speed), a utility guy who can play multiple positions (must have at least a 2 good offensive attributes, ie power, eye, speed, one or two good splits), and 2 guys who can rotate in and play the corner positions.  Typically my bench players will be very good defensive players, as I strongly believe in defensive replacements.  It's not that uncommon that in the 8th inning my manager will bring in 5 players off the bench for defensive purposes.  Also, I like for 2 of my bench players to have good power, and 2 of them to have good speed for pinch running purposes.

As for my bullpen, it varies greatly season to season depending on the talent I've got.  I've run so many different configurations I've lost track.  Currently I have 1 LR, 3 SuA, 2 SuB, and 1 Closer.  I'll sometimes have an extra LR or mopup, and one fewer SuA or SuB.  At one point when my bullpen was really bad, I didn't have a closer.  The 3 SuA were my "closer by committee"

Posted by jonas1102 on 9/1/2010 9:41:00 PM (view original):
I only had 148 PH ABs last year as an NL team. And with an 12 man offense, only 8 of those ABs went to pitchers.

I checked my one NL team.  In 8 seasons, I've had a low of 204 and a high of 345 PH AB's.  But with a deeper bench, I've had more PH options available to hit for my pitchers.

Posted by tecwrg on 9/1/2010 10:01:00 PM (view original):

Posted by jonas1102 on 9/1/2010 9:41:00 PM (view original):
I only had 148 PH ABs last year as an NL team. And with an 12 man offense, only 8 of those ABs went to pitchers.

I checked my one NL team.  In 8 seasons, I've had a low of 204 and a high of 345 PH AB's.  But with a deeper bench, I've had more PH options available to hit for my pitchers.

Yeah, it's possible I missed some ABs by pitchers who hit instead of getting pinch hit for. But I still prefer bullpen flexibility over (maybe) 100 ABs from the 9 hole

I actually like to my pitchers to sit until the game after they hit 100%. I also like the ability to stick a Long Reliever in a starters role for a game against a bottom team, so that my ace will be ready for the better teams without worrying about wrecking my bullpen.

1. Pitching staff between 11-13, 2 catchers.  A good fielding utility guy is nice to have on the bench.

2. Worry about durability with position players.

3. Far too many people think they need to "clean house".   Play a season, get a feel for the game and then decide what you need to do.

4. If you're not sure, don't do it.  And you shouldn't be too sure of anything that will affect you 2-5 seasons from now.  You have a new toy and you want to play with it.  Just don't play so hard in the first 10 minutes that you break it.

"If you're not sure, don't do it."

+1

Figure out what a good player looks like before you give him a bunch of money or trade away a bunch of players for what you think is one.

All great advise.  Thx fellas.  One thing I have noticed is that when I promote a starting pitcher in the minors, they become LR or closers, not a SP like they were before.  Is there something that determines what makes a pticher  a starter or on the bench via the SIMS?

I spent a lot of time looking at past seasons in several worlds.

Look at the top 20 in every stat category to what ratings get them there.

Look at the bottom 20 in every category to see what ratings got them there.

Look at the Franchise Ranking report to get an idea what average ratings are on good teams and bad teams.

When you get trade proposals, watch out for pitchers with very low stamina. There are a lot of pitchers that can only throw 30 innings a season.

Look at the durability rating. There are a lot of position players with good ratings that will only be able to play 100-120 games a year. Might be a good fit on your team, but you'll need a player that can start 40-60 games at that position.

Very few players hit their projections.  If you are trading for a prospect, figure they will reach 90% of any projection. You'll get a lot of different opinions on the 90%. Just never count on 100%.

You're going to make some mistakes. You'll probably make a trade that you'll look at later and wonder what you were thinking. You'll get over it.

Posted by shamu on 9/2/2010 11:15:00 AM (view original):
All great advise.  Thx fellas.  One thing I have noticed is that when I promote a starting pitcher in the minors, they become LR or closers, not a SP like they were before.  Is there something that determines what makes a pticher  a starter or on the bench via the SIMS?

Good question... When you let the system handle your farm teams, it can and will do stuff like this. What I do for positional guys, I make their primary position the one I want them to play (usually that is the position I feel their potential has them headed for). The system will put guys at their primary postions for the most part. Keep on eye this though!!

The system LOVES stamina for starters!!! Not that is totally wrong, you don't want a guy with closer type stamina starting!! BUT the system will take stamina over quality... It will put a guy with crappy splits, low pitch quality AND questionable control (mopup material) as a starter just cause his stamina is really high..Even though there are far better avaibable. This where I step in and set the rotation etc myself. Guys who I feel have ML SP or even LR potential..I want them to be Starters..Biggest part of development is "PLAYING TIME", therefore get your ML prospect pitchers IPs. Even your closer prospects....under Manager settings on your farm teams I never say "Closer used only in Save...." I want them to get IPs and this might limit them (especially if the this farm team SUCKS)

Again keep on eye this...if you've set your farm teams to run mainly by the AI, still watch them!!!!!

Further note.. don't allow the AI to do any Promotions.