Alcides Escobar breaks DiMaggios record!!

[reflections]

All this talk of where to bat Escobar...

It is totally dependent on who your other players are.


Regarding the: do you build your team the way you want or use the players best question:

HGM is right, of course.

You start out with whatever team and try to use guys as best you can, as time goes by, it become your team with the players you want

Lol. Ok to rephrase the question.
If you are picking an expansion team.
What kinda team would you pick.

[HoustonGM]

Lol.
Touche, but if you were to say. Draft an expansion team. What kind of players would you pick?
I don't see you picking a free swinging team (ala the Detroit Tigers late 80's) or a speed demon team (ala The St Louis Cardinals late 80's).

A good team

I don't care what "type" of team it is. I would just try to maximize run scoring and maximize run prevention.

[reflections]

A good team

I don't care what "type" of team it is. I would just try to maximize run scoring and maximize run prevention.

Alrighty then.

[filihok]

Lol. Ok to rephrase the question.
If you are picking an expansion team.
What kinda team would you pick.

Defense and speed are cheaper (and easier to hold on to) than power. I tend to build that way

[modesto61ca]

Lol. Ok to rephrase the question.
If you are picking an expansion team.
What kinda team would you pick.

I go for speed and patience at the plate at the top, and speed at the bottom. that way my 3-6 players have a really big chance of driving in runs...

With an expansion though, I would seriously be looking into my pitching...

[Jeffy25]

Defense and speed are cheaper (and easier to hold on to) than power. I tend to build that way

me too, one or two solid power bats are good enough for any team to be a winner and stay cost effective.

[BINGLEBOP]

On the stolen base talk, I'd like to see his skills tab, because again, just because they have a high speed rating doesn't mean they're going to steal a lot of bases or have the ability to do so. Some players have a high speed rating, but a low base stealing skill rating. People forget about this sometimes (all those extra ratings on the skills tab). That high speed rating could result in a lot of triples, instead of stolen bases.

He's obviously not going to maintain this level of performance every year, but even with a dropoff and a slight improvement up to his peak, he could start on any team.

[Goldberg]

In an expension, I would go for a good mix of players rather than focus on one or two areas over the rest.

A veteran catcher (and possibly a young/prospect catcher to backup and start 50-70 games)
Good 2B and SS defensive players.
Two contact/high OBP players to hit 1st and 2nd
Two power players to hit 3rd and 4th.
Two veteran SP and two young/prospect SP to start now
Two veteran RP and two young/prospect RP to relief now.

Fill the rest with whatever best players you can find in the draft's later rounds.

And yes, looking at Rob Deer's career stats (mentionned earlier), him hitting 4th on an expansion team or 5th on a non-expension team makes sense to me.

As for Escobar, from memory only, I recall that there is a player like that in my current sim (not on my team and not edited). He has a 99 contact, similar speed of 83 and similar eye. After five or so complete seasons, he has a .340 batting average with a .390 OBP. He got three seasons of over 100 runs if I recall.

Another player like that, but in BM09, was Gorky Hernandez. In my sim, he hit around .330 and a .360 OBP. Again with similar ratings.

As for speed, its not just about stealing bases but running the bases when the guy behind you hits.

[gosensgo101]

For me, I would prefer to bat him 1st or 9th. The reason being that I like to have a 15+ home run guy in the 2 hole if possible. He would easily bat 2nd on a team where I lacked power though.

[BINGLEBOP]

In an expension, I would go for a good mix of players rather than focus on one or two areas over the rest.

A veteran catcher (and possibly a young/prospect catcher to backup and start 50-70 games)
Good 2B and SS defensive players.
Two contact/high OBP players to hit 1st and 2nd
Two power players to hit 3rd and 4th.
Two veteran SP and two young/prospect SP to start now
Two veteran RP and two young/prospect RP to relief now.

Wow... anything else? Maybe a few All-Stars or Hall of Famers while you're at it? I'm just kidding around. Most of the expansion drafts that I've conducted (manual ones last year and the expansion draft feature this year), you're lucky to get a couple of those items checked off your list. You can get some good star caliber players, but they're at the end of their careers and/or have low health ratings.

[Goldberg]

Personally, I find this list pretty short.

By two power players I don't mean 85 to 95 rating all-stars but maybe 75 to 80 of ratings with power to hit 20-25 HR a season. In my 93 expansion draft, I selected Pete O'Brien. He was like 36 yrs old. We won 77 games; not bad for an expansion. The point is to not get humiliated in the first season and build with prospects and free agents.

Also a veteran catcher of about 32 to 35 yrs old with good D; there are a dozen available in the first round. Ain't hard to find.

Same thing with the veteran SPs and RPs. When you start a draft in 93, a SP of 75 overall will usually get you 180 IP and about 4.00 to 4.50 ERA. Again, good enough to not get crushed and humiliated in your first season.

[BINGLEBOP]

Yeah, that's true. I concentrate on the guys with the highest health ratings. It's great if I have a pitcher that will get be 180-200+ innings, as long as he's healthy enough to get there.

[Goldberg]

I agree. Especially for starters.

SP overall of 95 with a 65 health
SP overall of 88 with a 90 health

For me, I would pay more for the 88 overall because of his health alone. I know he will be out there for 30-35 starts a year, no headache about it.

[BINGLEBOP]

Oh hell yes, depending on their actual skill ratings (control, movement, power), I'd go with a player in the high 70's or low 80's with a 90 health rating over the first one. There's nothing more frustrating than relying on this All Star pitcher to anchor your staff and having them go down with a significant, long-term injury that knocks their rating down anyway.

[RedsoxRockies]

Oh hell yes, depending on their actual skill ratings (control, movement, power), I'd go with a player in the high 70's or low 80's with a 90 health rating over the first one. There's nothing more frustrating than relying on this All Star pitcher to anchor your staff and having them go down with a significant, long-term injury that knocks their rating down anyway.

Bingle appears to have found a new Health obsessed friend