Looking for upgrade advice

[JeffersonJim]

Originally Posted by Orcin

But does anyone play 68 Ozzie at diamond level?

Yep. Only in Def Sub/Day-off/Pinch Run scenarios as you would suspect. He got +1.7 WAR in perfect for me last week. He makes a difference (if you don't have elite cards) for a bullpen if you are "hiding" them until you get good pen guys. I would not recommend for anything else. Every week I try to get rid of him, but he still makes the squad. Maybe next week he'll get the boot.

[Orcin]

Originally Posted by JeffersonJim

Yep. Only in Def Sub/Day-off/Pinch Run scenarios as you would suspect. He got +1.7 WAR in perfect for me last week. He makes a difference (if you don't have elite cards) for a bullpen if you are "hiding" them until you get good pen guys. I would not recommend for anything else. Every week I try to get rid of him, but he still makes the squad. Maybe next week he'll get the boot.

I get that. What I meant was play as a starter, at 2B for example. I am still struggling to understand why a lot of people move Cano to 3B and leave a hole at 2B, when Cano seems to be a pretty good 2B. The only answer I got for who to play at 2B was 68 Ozzie, and that didn't seem to be a good solution for an everyday diamond level 2B.

If I train Cano at 3B, who would play 2B? Do you have to spend as much as a 100 Lajoie to get someone better than Cano? For example, the 40K Gehringer and Morgan cards don't really look to be better than Cano to me. Even the 70K 100 Whitaker doesn't seem to be a huge upgrade over Cano. Maybe I am missing something.

[daves]

Pitching and defense wins championships, but hitting earns more PP. As many in PT3.0 I also completed the live missions and it does put together a decent team. This week I lowered my park factors to utilize the pitching and defense strategy. Not only am I not winning more games, but I had ZERO all stars and very little P earned.

I suggest putting in great hitters, ramp up the park factors for maximum hitting and keep your defense strong up the middle. This should help earn more PP. (the only other way is to tank to rookie level, which is not allowed but I am sure we will find this is being done).

The other strategy is to create the best iron or bronze tournament team to earn packs, points and/or Cards. Since you did the live collecion you should have a decent gold live tournament team.

[Orcin]

Originally Posted by daves

I suggest putting in great hitters, ramp up the park factors for maximum hitting and keep your defense strong up the middle. This should help earn more PP.

Good suggestion, thanks. I am considering that for next week. I don't think I could do any worse, and I go back to silver if I do which isn't all bad.

[Bluenoser]

Originally Posted by Orcin

I get that. What I meant was play as a starter, at 2B for example. I am still struggling to understand why a lot of people move Cano to 3B and leave a hole at 2B, when Cano seems to be a pretty good 2B. The only answer I got for who to play at 2B was 68 Ozzie, and that didn't seem to be a good solution for an everyday diamond level 2B.

If I train Cano at 3B, who would play 2B? Do you have to spend as much as a 100 Lajoie to get someone better than Cano? For example, the 40K Gehringer and Morgan cards don't really look to be better than Cano to me. Even the 70K 100 Whitaker doesn't seem to be a huge upgrade over Cano. Maybe I am missing something.

Longoria - it's a good position change for both players.

[Orcin]

Originally Posted by Bluenoser

Longoria - it's a good position change for both players.

I am obviously dense, but I just don't understand this logic.

Longoria has a turn DP rating of 60, range of 76, and infield arm of 75. Cano has a turn DP rating of 83, range of 80, and infield arm of 76. So I think Cano will grade higher at 2B, which would seem to be the more important defensive position. Why would my defense be better with both of them playing out of position? (Offense would be the same if they both play their normal positions.)

I am trying not to be argumentative but I have to question this in order to comprehend what I have failed to see so far.

[moalkha]

Originally Posted by Orcin

I am obviously dense, but I just don't understand this logic.

Longoria has a turn DP rating of 60, range of 76, and infield arm of 75. Cano has a turn DP rating of 83, range of 80, and infield arm of 76. So I think Cano will grade higher at 2B, which would seem to be the more important defensive position. Why would my defense be better with both of them playing out of position? (Offense would be the same if they both play their normal positions.)

I am trying not to be argumentative but I have to question this in order to comprehend what I have failed to see so far.

In my opinion Cano is a very good 2B at diamond level (he is still on 2 of my teams) and only the very best cards are an upgrade. Unless you pull any of those there is no reason to move him as he is also decent defensively at a key position.

Pickings at 3B are slim and there is not much better than what you have unless you want to spend a lot of points.

At SS you should considered Ray Chapman who goes for around 12K. He has speed, hits for average and his defensive rating is deceptive because, apart for errors, all other ratings are better that Tulo's.

[Orcin]

Originally Posted by moalkha

Pickings at 3B are slim and there is not much better than what you have unless you want to spend a lot of points
a lot

At SS you should considered Ray Chapman who goes for around 12K. He has speed, hits for average and his defensive rating is deceptive because, apart for errors, all other ratings are better that Tulo's.

Yeah, I think I will just stick with Mathews at third base and sub in whatever RH utility player that I have on the bench. Maybe it will be Tulo.

Chapman looks like a nice affordable upgrade, thanks!

[spatrick4]

Originally Posted by JeffersonJim

Yep. Only in Def Sub/Day-off/Pinch Run scenarios as you would suspect. He got +1.7 WAR in perfect for me last week. He makes a difference (if you don't have elite cards) for a bullpen if you are "hiding" them until you get good pen guys. I would not recommend for anything else. Every week I try to get rid of him, but he still makes the squad. Maybe next week he'll get the boot.

JeffersonJim - how'd you train Ozzie up like that across the diamond? On days off, and when season is already decided?

[Orcin]

Originally Posted by Orcin

Chapman looks like a nice affordable upgrade

The 93 Cronin is interesting too. Tulo minus some power but without the platoon disadvantage and better speed.

I was also looking at 91 Terry Turner. Similar to Chapman.

[bailey]

Why do people move Cano from 2B to 3B? I was going to answer that question, until I looked at the data. It's a good question. Nearly the same IP at each position, but ZR is 54 to 1 in favor of 2B.



Back to Berra/Piazza as catchers. There are 2 of 6 division leading teams are using that combo, so it doesn't hurt, if you can find a better DH vL than Kendall bats as a catcher.

[Orcin]

Originally Posted by bailey

Back to Berra/Piazza as catchers. There are 2 of 6 division leading teams are using that combo, so it doesn't hurt, if you can find a better DH vL than Kendall bats as a catcher.

Kiner?

[bailey]

Originally Posted by Orcin

Kiner?

No, Kendall is pretty good vL .319 WOBA in my sample, but that's not broken down by handedness and I failed to add to the sample this week. I'm using Brouthers at DH now, but that's a pricey card. Even Frank Thomas is around 50.

[2tango2]

Originally Posted by Orcin

Kiner?

I've found Kiner hits in the .240's in anything above Bronze...my only year in Gold he hit a robust .222

[JeffersonJim]

Originally Posted by Orcin

I get that. What I meant was play as a starter, at 2B for example. I am still struggling to understand why a lot of people move Cano to 3B and leave a hole at 2B, when Cano seems to be a pretty good 2B. ... Maybe I am missing something.

Fwiw, I played 86 Nellie Fox at 2B (8-10k pp) as a starter for most of diamond-perfect. He a solid contributor, grounds into a few too many double plays, plays good Def, and gives you 2-4war per season. I bat him 8 or 9 usually. I recently upgraded to Monte Ward, and I moved Fox to 3B (98 def).

I never got Cano to work for me early on so I moved on.

[JeffersonJim]

Originally Posted by spatrick4

JeffersonJim - how'd you train Ozzie up like that across the diamond? On days off, and when season is already decided?

You got it, I waited until I either clinched early on or was out of contention.

[Orcin]

Originally Posted by JeffersonJim

Fwiw, I played 86 Nellie Fox at 2B (8-10k pp) as a starter for most of diamond-perfect. He a solid contributor, grounds into a few too many double plays, plays good Def, and gives you 2-4war per season. I bat him 8 or 9 usually. I recently upgraded to Monte Ward, and I moved Fox to 3B (98 def).

I never got Cano to work for me early on so I moved on.

Thanks for the info. It helps to know what others have tried.

[Charlatan]

This is a good topic! I hope people share interesting thoughts and don’t try to keep them under wraps thinking they need all the advantages I can get. Because there truly are so many teams in this exact same boat!

On the pitching front, I have noticed a number of teams in my diamond league have upgraded their starting pitchers and their bullpen consists almost entirely of the live mission reward pitchers. Maybe that only makes sense to me because I tend to neglect my bullpen in the first place… But it makes sense to me! Maybe you’d buy a stud closer but I think all the other roles in your bullpen could be filled by those SE guys you received as rewards.

As far as batters go, one of my first choices is to try to find a platoon buddy for Cano since he has trouble hitting left-handers at the higher levels. I have a tendency to immediately sell any of these rewards that have low contact ratings so I did not keep Longoria or Matthews for third base. Therefore, I moved Cano to third base because it seemed to make sense; the discussion here is making me rethink that strategy. I have also just started platooning Berra at catcher on one of my teams but finding a platoon buddy for him was a pretty low priority. As it turns out, both of my teams sold Piazza as a way to raise PPE for other collection, but I am thinking of buying him back for one of my teams.

One of the issues you pointed out is that since the SE cards are so plentiful on the auction house, you can’t really sell them and get good “value” for them. You’re going to pay more for a player that will perform equivalently. That’s what makes upgrading from these guys so difficult.

As for shortstop, I lucked out and pulled a 100 OVR Cal Ripken from a pack for one of my teams and that solved my short stop problem there. I’m still debating whether or not I want to sell it though because I could sell him and purchase two or three upgrades at other places.

[AdmiralTrey]

Originally Posted by Charlatan

As for shortstop, I lucked out and pulled a 100 OVR Cal Ripken from a pack for one of my teams and that solved my short stop problem there. I’m still debating whether or not I want to sell it though because I could sell him and purchase two or three upgrades at other places.

I'm not sure how long you've had Cal, but I'm just finishing up my 2nd season with him and here are his results so far:

2030 Gold League: .234 BA, 13 HR, 65 K's in 631 PA, 103 OPS+, 8.8 WAR due largely to 4.94 RF, 53.4 ZR, 1.195 Eff defensively

2031 Diamond League: .226 BA, 17 HR, 87 K's in 623 PA, 81 OPS+, 2.3 WAR, 5.01 RF, 7.8 ZR, 1.029 Eff defensively

The offensive stats aren't exactly team-changing, but 8.8 WAR in gold league overall was pretty nice! I'm not sure how viable he is going to be in diamond based on what he's done this season, but I'm hoping for a rebound.

[BigRed75]

Originally Posted by Orcin

The 93 Cronin is interesting too. Tulo minus some power but without the platoon disadvantage and better speed.

I was also looking at 91 Terry Turner. Similar to Chapman.

I pulled the 93 Cronin in my all pack team. He's...okay. But I didn't consider him for my flagship team (which bounced straight back to Diamond this season).

I've trained up Bill Mazeroski at SS to replace Tulo, who I can't stand on my roster. I also got lucky and pulled Arenado whilst still in Entry Pool back in March. Still looking to upgrade at 3B and SS, though.

I'm like you - I'd rather keep Cano at 2B unless there is a compelling reason not to. Say, for example, someone lists a 100 Joe Morgan on the AH for 20,001 BIN.