Mini-Whales Who are Your Best P's Under 200k?
 

I would love to throw enough money into the game to grab that perfect Cy Young or Walter Johnson, just can't bring myself to go that far. I have spent more than I care to admit even to myself. I honestly don't know and am reluctant to make a count.

That being said here are a few cards under 200k I've had a great deal of success in my rotation or as a reliever. Note: I'm not selling any of these in the AH right now.

Perfect Cards of Christy Mathewson and Dutch Leonard have been great. Both can be picked up for less than 120k a piece.

99 Greg Maddux, 98 Kevin Brown and 98 Roy Halladay. I can't praise these cards enough. Pretty consistent performers at the Perfect level. These three cards are typically more expensive than the aforementioned perfects but well worth the points if you have them. I don't know how much better the Perfect Maddux would be but it can't be worth the 300-400k extra. Of the seven seasons in the rotation, 99 Greg's worst WAR was a 4.9 and best a 7.8. Last two seasons - 23 wins each. What would the 100 Maddux have to do to compensate for the premium paid for him?

Perfect Eric Gagne, three PL Reliever of the Year Awards, and 99 Bruce Sutter have been solid in the pen. These cards are around 50-60k at the moment. Steals compared to the 250k Perfect Rivera I saw sold this weekend. Gagne got 52 Saves this year.

Some of you may have noticed that these are all groundball pitchers, so a respectable infield D is required.

Interested to read other success stories.

Edit: OK so maybe I need the Perfect Maddux. Just lost the seventh game of the AC Divisional series. 99 Greg? 5 runs in four innings. Congrats Cleveland Crushers. Good luck in the WS

We have pretty similar teams, although you are better in the postseason than I am. I have Maddux and Sutter, and I sing their praises as well.

I also share your aversion to spending 500K for a pitcher, but 300K is not out of reach for me. I would highly recommend the 100 Curt Schilling at that price, and I have seen it lower at times. In 7 Perfect seasons for me, he has three Pitcher of the Year awards, one MVP award, and he has been an all-star six times. His career record is 141-42 with a 2.23 ERA. His career WHIP is 0.94. He has pitched 1674 innings with 1519 Ks and 249 BBs.

Adding to your list of cheaper pitchers, I like 99 Walter Johnson. He has been solid for me and is running around 120K right now. A real bargain is 96 Roger Clemens (not the 97 as the hold runner rating is terrible). Clemens is always around 3-4 WAR for me and he only costs 40K.

On the offensive side, I would put forward 100 Hank Aaron. People view him as a platoon player because he does eat lefties for breakfast. He plays every day for me, and is super consistent. He has 4545 plate appearances in Perfect with a career slash line of .288/.377/.509 and he averages 5 WAR per season. His defense is about average and he steals 8-10 bases per year without getting caught much. He is on the AH frequently at 100K.

Disclaimer: I don't have any of these cards in the AH either, nor will I.

Thanks Orcin. I think you and I have been in the same League before but don't remember our head to head results.

Speaking of cheaper offensive players I keep trying more expensive options at SS and 3rd but keep bringing 97 Scott Rolen, gotta love those Cardinals, back into the lineup. 8-9 Gold Glove awards and he was a Series MVP for my team this year. Not super impressive offensive numbers around a .750 ops on average but will bring a decent WAR figure overall, 6.1 in 2027. I think you can find him around 40k.

I use 98 Frank Robinson as a backup to my outfielders. His defense is middling but after more than 10 years in Perfect a .865 average ops is not bad. According to my card his last seven day average is 55k.

I think you knocked me out on the way to one of those championships. Don't feel bad though, everybody does it. ;)

Ditto on 98 Frank Robinson... he has a career .802 OPS for me.

I looked around my league and the three top teams had Gagne, so I picked him up for 59K. Thanks for pointing him out.

99 John Clarkson (110,77,87) has been great for me (8 seasons, 6.8 WAR AVG). In his price range (115k all-time avg), he'd be my #1 choice, with 99 Walter Johnson and 98 Sutton (109,83,80) close behind. In the bullpen, 98 Brian Wilson (128,82,64) seems like a steal at 31k. 99 Eck (103,82,93) has been almost as reliable for me as Wilson, but he costs over 2x more.

I've been trying to get a Clarkson for awhile

Had really good success with the borderline 200k Pitchers: Perfect Grove and Perfect Clemens

Also had a lot of success with 98 Bob Feller - his control is terrible but his stuff/movement and my teams defense made up for it.

I'll second the Perfect Grove. 9.9 WAR for me last year! Absolute strikeout machine... 291 K for the second time in three seasons.

Picked up Perfect Matty today for 89999

Missed out on him the other day at 85k

It's interesting to see how the other half (the other quarter?) lives! I'm no mini-whale though - I doubt I'll ever be able to purchase a card for 100k. Maybe I need to start a thread for micro-whales!

Wow 9.9 is insane. Haven't seen that on my team yet. 99 Maddux netted me a 7.8 WAR and Dutch Leonard a 7.5. Did you have a four man rotation?

No, but I always start highest rested. It was just a season where everything came together. Naturally his first start this season went less than 5 IP with 2 HR allowed...

I have john clarkson too I got him in a pack

There is a team in my division in Perfect League right now who has Perfect Walter Johnson, Perfect Greg Maddox, Perfect Cy Young, Perfect Lefty Grove, and Perfect Roger Clemens as his starting rotation... Unbelievable! Plus his bullpen is full of Perfect Pitchers. He's dominating and should because just that starting staff has to cost him $1500 or more. I beat him 3 out of 10 games so far and I have a pretty good team. 7 of my 11losses are against that team. I have faced Johnson and Maddox twice... Johnson has pitched shutouts against me twice and Maddox has given up 1 run in two games... Lol. Plus Cy Young shut me out. I say good for him for having that staff and team but I can't get myself to spend that kind of money. Anyway, for me, I have Perfect Tom Seaver and he has pitched very well for me.

100 Dwight Gooden, 100 Sandy Koufax, 100 Nolan Ryan, 99 Walter Johnsom, 96 Bob Gibson

George Davis. More than 80% of Dahlen for less than 20% the price.

Johnny Pesky. For some reason he consistently raked doubles on my team beyond what his GP says, on top of being great defensively.

Eddie Stanky. Gets on base and great defense. I try to combine a lineup of high OBP and GP guys so maybe why Pesky and Stanky worked well, not to mention how well their names go together!

Buck Ewing. I use him as my starter even though he's probably better as a backup catcher, super utility, and pinch runner, which is just so weird.

LIVE Buster Posey. Basically free and does the job of a backup catcher very well. Just set him to start vLHP and he likely wont get vRHP starts. He can fill in at other positions too, which keeps him from collecting lint between vLHP starts. Combo'ing him with Ewing works well as their other talents keep them utilized even tho Posey is taking the vLHP starts and neither is often tired.

Funny, plus I think you may have the best moniker of anyone on the forums.

98 Dwight Gooden play well for my team. Maddux 89 are pretty decent too for an under 90 pitcher in perfect league.

The card I don't get is the diamond Guidry. If I put him in the starting rotation he cant get out of the 3rd inning. As a middle reliever he has been excellent. Is the small boost in stuff effect him that much?

The 97 Dave Righetti is that card for me. Terrible starter great reliever. Might have something to do with the 47 control?