Who are the Value Players?

[LeeD]

Yes, there are the metas, selling for a quarter of a million points or more. I'm looking for and compiling a list of Value Players, ones who provide solid production for a lot less than 100,000 PP. Great "bang for the buck" investments. Here are a few (note that stats will vary, and most of my experience is competitive at Gold and sometimes Diamond):

Catcher King Kelly (L10 of 45K). I've also tried him at 3B and his native position of RF, but it's general knowledge that he's best suited as catcher due to his bat, which produces a stat line around .290/.360/.440. He's also useful on the bases, with double-digit steals and a positive BsR. Upper lineup hitter who is well-suited to a righty-cheese build.

Shortstop PS1 Andrelton Simmons (L10 of 47K). Six straight Gold Gloves at Gold level and the best low Diamond card in the set. Similar in many ways to 98 Concepcion with the bat (a mediocre .245/.285/.335), but he'll add two to three wins a season with his glove. Nine slot all the way.

Left Fielder Hank Aaron (L10 of 28K). Well-suited to a platoon in left if not a starting spot. I have a Hank sitting on magical 715 HR right now. Competent defense, competent base running, and good for about 25 home runs in a full season. Still a useful middle-of-the-lineup slugger.

First Baseman Harmon Killebrew (L10 of 29K). Great Power and Eye value here, and he's playing reasonably well at third base for one of my teams. Middle of the lineup and good for about 60 XBH, 30 of them homers.

Center Fielder Paul Hines (L10 of 23K). An early-set defensive standout, Hines still holds his own at Gold level, although there are now a lot of better choices in center field. Lower end of the lineup.

Right Fielder Paul Waner (L10 of 28K). I'm always looking to replace him, but he keeps hitting (high Avoid K and BABIP). Good for a slash line of about .280/.340/.400 at Diamond level, although his defense is now substandard. Can hold down an upper lineup slot, but is more of a seven right now.

Starting Pitcher Tom Glavine (L10 of 48K, mostly due to inclusion in CC5) is still getting the job done at Diamond level (16-9, 3.69 ERA). Not bad for a 99 starting pitcher.

Starting Pitcher Jim McCormick (L10 of 28K). Best suited to bullpen use, but he's gone 43-11 as a starter (last three seasons) for one of my teams. Over-matched at Diamond, but good as a stopper or Number Four at Gold.


Any others?

[PunishedF2P]

Originally Posted by LeeD

Yes, there are the metas, selling for a quarter of a million points or more. I'm looking for and compiling a list of Value Players, ones who provide solid production for a lot less than 100,000 PP. Great "bang for the buck" investments. Here are a few (note that stats will vary, and most of my experience is competitive at Gold and sometimes Diamond):

Catcher King Kelly (L10 of 45K). I've also tried him at 3B and his native position of RF, but it's general knowledge that he's best suited as catcher due to his bat, which produces a stat line around .290/.360/.440. He's also useful on the bases, with double-digit steals and a positive BsR. Upper lineup hitter who is well-suited to a righty-cheese build.

Shortstop PS1 Andrelton Simmons (L10 of 47K). Six straight Gold Gloves at Gold level and the best low Diamond card in the set. Similar in many ways to 98 Concepcion with the bat (a mediocre .245/.285/.335), but he'll add two to three wins a season with his glove. Nine slot all the way.

Left Fielder Hank Aaron (L10 of 28K). Well-suited to a platoon in left if not a starting spot. I have a Hank sitting on magical 715 HR right now. Competent defense, competent base running, and good for about 25 home runs in a full season. Still a useful middle-of-the-lineup slugger.

First Baseman Harmon Killebrew (L10 of 29K). Great Power and Eye value here, and he's playing reasonably well at third base for one of my teams. Middle of the lineup and good for about 60 XBH, 30 of them homers.

Center Fielder Paul Hines (L10 of 23K). An early-set defensive standout, Hines still holds his own at Gold level, although there are now a lot of better choices in center field. Lower end of the lineup.

Right Fielder Paul Waner (L10 of 28K). I'm always looking to replace him, but he keeps hitting (high Avoid K and BABIP). Good for a slash line of about .280/.340/.400 at Diamond level, although his defense is now substandard. Can hold down an upper lineup slot, but is more of a seven right now.

Starting Pitcher Tom Glavine (L10 of 48K, mostly due to inclusion in CC5) is still getting the job done at Diamond level (16-9, 3.69 ERA). Not bad for a 99 starting pitcher.

Starting Pitcher Jim McCormick (L10 of 28K). Best suited to bullpen use, but he's gone 43-11 as a starter (last three seasons) for one of my teams. Over-matched at Diamond, but good as a stopper or Number Four at Gold.


Any others?

CS reward Griffey is down to 60K, he's a great option for CF or RF.
CS Roy Halladay is under 50K, great option at starter.

[LeeD]

I have Griffey on a couple of my teams, and he's doing well. Halladay hasn't done anything for me, which is surprising. He should be good.

[PunishedF2P]

Originally Posted by LeeD

I have Griffey on a couple of my teams, and he's doing well. Halladay hasn't done anything for me, which is surprising. He should be good.

Halladay has been good for me overall, but especially once I had him pitching a hundred innings in the bullpen. He just got replaced on my team with the addition of CS Pedro.

How do you run your rotation?

The secret sauce is to run 4 starters at 70 pitch-limit with 8 in the pen, or 5 starters at 80 pitch-limit with 7 in the pen. You'll get significantly better performances if you limit the pitch counts on your starters/put your other starters in the pen. Here's what that looks like (this is a screenshot from right now), and you can see how much better the performances are across the board:

[LeeD]

I haven't gone that far. I tend to run a five-man with limits of 89 pitches. There's certainly something to bullpen use, though. I've noticed that guys like Brown and Blue are noticeably better in the pen, and I've been running Alacantara there as well. Might have to move Halladay, too.

[bailey]

Originally Posted by LeeD

Any others?

The Negro League mission rewards are all very good and those missions are dirt cheap right now and can fetch you 3 perfect packs which can be boom or bust. The only really tough card is Jethroe --- expect to pay about 50-60K for that one.

[LeeD]

Originally Posted by bailey

The Negro League mission rewards are all very good and those missions are dirt cheap right now and can fetch you 3 perfect packs which can be boom or bust. The only really tough card is Jethroe --- expect to pay about 50-60K for that one.

Story time. I did a major shake-up to my Number One team three weeks ago, selling off every card that wasn't locked. This got me north of 300,000 PP, which I used to buy back the Griffey I sold (for 30,000 less than I sold it for) and complete the Negro League missions in addition to a couple of other purchases. I open the Perfect Pack I just got alongside Oscar Charleston, and it's Ted Kluszewski!


My team got back to the Diamond playoffs with Charleston in left, Griffey in center, and Kluszewski winning the MVP at first. Oh, and Pop Lloyd, who I use as an infield rover, won his second Gold Glove at second base. Overall, a successful rebuild late in the cycle after six straight losing seasons.

[willat0660]

I have King Kelly, Aaron, Killebrew, and Glavine out of that bunch. All do pretty well, except Kelly. I think his best BA was .271. I really was happy when I got him. thought he would do very well.
It seems that once in a while you get a player that is just kind of cursed, never performs the way you would expect.