Advice for Newbies Topic

Well written, well organized and clearly explained. Always worth another read and highly recommended for WIS players at all levels of experience and skill. Props for the expertise and even bigger kudos for taking the time & effort to share it. Thanks, contrarian.
12/26/2018 8:05 PM
I don’t remember seeing the era of the hitter coming into play during the fielding process. I just thought it was Pitcher and Fielder. So with deadball pitchers, your fielders will make more errors vs having a modern pitcher.
2/21/2019 11:07 AM
Here I was just thinking it was a coincidence since old-timers just struck out less. That’s actually true! You get punished for OTHER PEOPLE’S decisions. That’s even less reason to use ANY modern players.
2/21/2019 11:47 AM
Posted by contrarian23 on 7/15/2019 9:51:00 PM (view original):
Bump...

Another very common newbie mistake... picking your favorite players. Winning in open leagues in 2019 is very difficult. Since the game has gone so long without an update, the players that have the best value-to-cost ratio are well-known. This doesn't mean you have to use exactly the same players that everyone else does, but it does mean you need a VERY well thought out strategy that finds value in some way. Putting a team of your childhood favorites in an OL and then complaining that they are not competitive...no one is going to have a lot of sympathy.
That’s totally unfair! We went to the World Series with Willy Taveras, Jason Lane, Morgan Ensberg, and Brandon Backe. They should go to the World Series H E R E !
7/15/2019 11:33 PM
AWESOME thread.
7/12/2020 8:17 AM
Posted by redwingscup on 1/7/2014 5:35:00 PM (view original):
Thanks for taking the time to help out the community, especially those newer to the SIM.  It's a good refresher for even old dogs like me.
October 2021 bump
10/17/2021 3:19 PM
Terrific refresher, thanks so much!
10/20/2021 11:19 AM
Hi All - New guy here. I just signed up for a full season and read the awesome Noob primer. Have a question about Plate Appearances. The original post mentions not to 'overdraft' plate appearances, and the players on my roster have cumulatively exceeded the total recommended number of Plate appearances. At the same time, I have players in my starting lineup who individually have a sub-optimal number of appearances.

Lets say I draft a first baseman who has, say, 525 Plate Appearances.

1. Should I assume that this player will miss a significant amount of time over the course of the season? If yes, when will he miss those games? In bulk or sporadically through the season?

2. Do I need to sign a backup first baseman to platoon? If yes, is there a strategy about how to draft platoon players?

3. How many PA's should the platoon player have? ~125? ~175?

Thanks in advance. This is a great website.
12/1/2021 10:07 AM
Welcome!

1. It depends on where you bat him in the order. If you're planning to bat him leadoff, he will be tired quickly. If you bat him 8th, he won't need much of a backup. He will miss games when he falls below his auto-rest percentage, so the games he misses will happen sporadically because after resting one game his fatigue percentage will go back up.

2. I would definitely recommend signing a backup at first base. The number of plate appearances or whether you platoon should depend on where you plan to bat him in the order. If this guy will bat at the top of the order and is a lefty, then a decent righty in the 125-200 PA range would be a good idea. If you plan to bat him 8th, you won't need anything more than a cheap scrub to come in to rest him at the end of blowouts or for the occasional rest day.

3. There is a lot of debate around exactly how many PAs are needed for a full season and how much you should plan on using fatigued hitters. Anyone giving you a definitive answer on the optimal number is probably too confident in themselves. I will say though that one frequent mistake people make is underestimating the number of PAs they will need in a platoon, because often the half of the platoon not starting in a given game will be used as a pinch hitter for the pitcher.
12/1/2021 10:23 AM
Thanks very much for the super quick reply. Really helpful. Looks I have a LOT more reading to do.

If I have more questions, is this the best place to post them or should I start a new thread?

Thanks!
12/1/2021 10:31 AM
No problem, I think it's fine if you post them here. If there's some good discussion contrarian might add it to one of the original posts.
12/1/2021 11:17 AM
Posted by Mbeldie on 12/1/2021 10:07:00 AM (view original):
Hi All - New guy here. I just signed up for a full season and read the awesome Noob primer. Have a question about Plate Appearances. The original post mentions not to 'overdraft' plate appearances, and the players on my roster have cumulatively exceeded the total recommended number of Plate appearances. At the same time, I have players in my starting lineup who individually have a sub-optimal number of appearances.

Lets say I draft a first baseman who has, say, 525 Plate Appearances.

1. Should I assume that this player will miss a significant amount of time over the course of the season? If yes, when will he miss those games? In bulk or sporadically through the season?

2. Do I need to sign a backup first baseman to platoon? If yes, is there a strategy about how to draft platoon players?

3. How many PA's should the platoon player have? ~125? ~175?

Thanks in advance. This is a great website.
1B is a bad example because anyone can play first. i never spend more then 4mil on 1B. Look for rc/27 that is higher then $/pa (aka 8.8 rc/27 vs 8,700$/pa ), they'll stink in the field but 1B errors and -'s usually only one base error.
12/21/2021 3:01 PM
I'm fairly new and I'm trying to maximize my relief pitching. I saw a post at one time that explained relief pitcher roles. Can anyone link to that or share when Sparky sends in each particular role? My biggest question is Setup B vs. Long A.
1/24/2022 9:34 AM
Setup B will come in before Long A in a late and close situation, Long A first in a blowout or before the sixth inning.
1/24/2022 11:32 AM
Okay quick question......in a theme league with AAA players i seen someone say before that there's a way to find out who the AAA player really is when they have fake names.....in my last league a AAA player hit 73 triples by himself and most games i lost because the AAA guys were jus on fire and their ratings werent even that good....how can you tell or find out who they are? And also is 73 triples in a season a record? Gotta be close. Lol
1/26/2022 1:04 PM
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