Season 16 (2035) General Discussion

[2tango2]

I've cemented Billy Williams as my DH against RHP and he has come through. Medwick is a bit of an adventure in LF but his bat is too potent to have out of the lineup. Greenberg out after a trial run, platooning Helton and Bags. Helton's output the 2 hole has been phenomenal albeit a small sample size.


Bobby Jenks got kicked to the curb after being an absolute disaster....I mean horrible...way worse than his card should be

[Morug]

its a little frustrating with some good upgrade my angels dont perform better. Trout, Bagwell, Wheat. Pitching staff is harder to build via packs.

[OMGPuppies]

Originally Posted by 2tango2

I've cemented Billy Williams as my DH against RHP and he has come through. Medwick is a bit of an adventure in LF but his bat is too potent to have out of the lineup. Greenberg out after a trial run, platooning Helton and Bags. Helton's output the 2 hole has been phenomenal albeit a small sample size.


Bobby Jenks got kicked to the curb after being an absolute disaster....I mean horrible...way worse than his card should be

Bagwell is a keeper for sure.

[waittilnextyear]

Hey hey, the Frogs won their 2nd diamond-level title last week, which created a forced promotion to the one/only/true Perfect League. That's the good news.

The bad news is actually trying to win games there. To be fair, my roster is probably good enough to be on the fringes of the Wild Card picture in PL. Too bad that I chose to outsmart myself and banked on a "righty-cheese" strategy. No pitch counts or anything, but an all-righty rotation and an all-righty lineup. Well, two switch hitters actually in 100 Ozzie Smith and 91 Devon White mainly in there for defense. That's right, the everyday lineup contains nary a left-handed batter. How could things have gone so wrong? We'll always have base running! There are 18 teams in my conference, fwiw.

I'd recommend using left-handed batters every once in a while and am looking forward to doing so when back home in diamond next week.

On the plus side, in addition to our massive 2500 PP earned so far this week, the SE Babe Ruth mission has been completed. That's a good thing because I was probably thinnest in the OF, commonly running some combination of 91 Gwynn/SE Ichiro/91 Pete Rose/95 Torriente along with deploying SE Joe Medwick to battle lefty pitching. If Babe is good, I might need to sell Gwynn or Rose. If he's not good, then I can make more PP by just selling him.

[2tango2]

The Dawgs will attempt to improve on their division leading 52-30 record in their first trip to Diamond by welcoming Honus Wagner (1909 Snapshot) to the clubhouse. He will be supplanting George Wright who did a surprisingly good job at the SS position with great D and hitting a respectable .270 for a 77 Silver in Diamond. Pesky continues to hold down the hot corner with his 113 rating there. Ozman 68 will continue to backup the infield and won the utility role over Wright due to his flexibility at 3 positions.

Hoping Honus settle in nicely with his new teammates and adds a little more pop in the lineup.

Carlton has lost his job in the rotation to Pettitte who rewarded the Dawgs with a 6 hit shutout/CG in his first start. Management likes what it sees so far from him and hopes it continues. Lyons continues to surprise at 12-3 while leading the league in complete games (6) and shutouts (5). Finally Kimbrel (Legend) was brought in to shore up the setup role and has not disappointed. Both him and Howry are providing a nice handoff to Ryan in the pen.

Dawgs are still looking for that elite LH RP for the pen.

[benderguy1]

The Green Dragons are currently holding down 2nd place in a bad division in Gold 313 with a record of 40-42. We're 6 GB in the division and 3.5 GB out of the 2nd WC. Rather than make drastic changes, I'm just going to chalk this one up to the RNG gods not being kind to us this season. This same team (with the exception of one bullpen arm) rallied last year after a very poor 12-31 start to take the 1st WC in Gold. This year, nothing is coming together. The Starting Pitching has been terrible (14th in the league) with SE Maddux and PEAK Seaver the only starters under an ERA of 5. The bullpen, on the other hand, has been excellent (3rd in the league). And I have to say, as a Mets fan, finding bullpen work for LIVE deGrom and LIVE Syndergaard and having them excel has been a bright spot for these two seasons in Gold.

The hitting -- we're 5th in the league in many categories, so I can't be too hard on the offense. We're certainly underperforming, with our most glaring deficiencies in BA and XBH where we rank 8th in both categories.

So bottom line, our biggest problems lie on the starting staff. After shuffling a couple of the bullpen arms back onto the staff and not getting much there, I've gone back to the original staff that began the season and I'm just going to let them work their way through it. This was a good staff last season in Gold, quite good, as a matter of fact. The only difference between this season and last is that this year the one whale is in my conference (but we held our own going 2-4 and losing a couple of close games -- and now we won't see them again unless we happen to sneak into the playoffs).


The DBT Heathens, my first FTP team, are also struggling this year in Iron 158. Currently sitting at 40-41 in 3rd place and 12.5 GB in the division. We're 3 GB of the 2nd WC. There's nothing much that I can do for them right now unless I want to blow everything up. We're PP poor so there's no new players on the horizon. We made the major off-season of the SE Bagwell card and he's been very good, not great. The underperformers on this team are LIVE Perfect Mike Trout and HH Mookie Betts (93). LIVE Jeff McNeil, who usually rakes at this level, is having an off-season too -- hitting .275 when he routinely hits 50 points higher than that. It's hard to play him when he's not hitting because there's nowhere to hide him on defense. This team also added LIVE Bryce Harper (94) through a pack pull -- and he has also been quite bad -- hitting below the Mendoza line and not even taking his walks, so his OBP is below .300. His WAR is currently at a -0.6. All in all though, this team is not doing anything particularly well. They've gone from Iron Champions two weeks ago, to also-rans in Iron. I'm going to have to consider blowing things up here and taking the PP to do the Live Missions, or at the very least buy some of the key SE Live mission reward cards outright. I'm considering making a Tournament team to start churning some points/packs, but that will take away from the Tournaments that I can enter with my main team.


And the highlight of my week is my first week FTP Theme Team -- the New York Mets -- who have made their debut in Rookie 57. This team started with ZERO New York Mets cards after the initial Starter Pack pulls, so all moves were made during Entry Pool week to transform them into an all-Mets roster by Opening Day of Rookie -- and I'm proud to say that not only did we meet that deadline, but I have a team that has taken off! We currently stand at 63-16, best record in the league, 22.5 games ahead in the division. We're churning the PP pretty well and it's already led to a couple of upgrades. But now we're at the point where the next set of upgrades will require patience and not spending the points on minor upgrades, but holding our bankroll for the best Mets cards available in the game. It will be a long road ahead, but for this team it's a labor of love.

Thanks for reading!

[Pineywoods OOTPer]

I didn't do any upgrades last week and chose to bank points...that might bite me in the end.

In Bronze .237, Longview Woodchucks are 37-45, 7.5 games out of the division lead and 10 games out of of the wildcard race. Batting is horrible, and pitching is not much better. Ugh.

In Stone .115, Nacogdoches Jacks, who made and blew the wild card last season, are 44-37, 4.5 games out of the division lead and holding on to the second wild card spot. Batting is once again, horrible, but pitching is kicking in high gear except for Chapman as closer, 6.11 ERA...YIKES!. Definitely some upgrades coming this weekend.

Stephanie's Neffin-neffs in Bronze .227, just came off a 12-game winning streak to get up to 35-47. Good grief, I am glad I didn't look earlier. They have no chance in heck of winning the division as they are 36.5 games out of the lead (the division leader is 72-11) and instead will fight to stay of regulation. A natural cycle has been achieved....which got me a few PP. Batting is middle of the pack, not great, but starting pitching is horrid. Same as above.

Sunday is going to be a fun day upgrading these teams.

[Westheim]

Completing all of the AL live missions has washed a few new players onto the roster for the Raccoons. Now I just have to start whittling down those 15 SE cards...

[Orcin]

The Colonels come out of the All-Star break in relegation territory at 43-54. The first half has been ugly but there is light at the end of this long tunnel.

We just acquired (finally) shortstop (100) Joe Cronin to solidify the infield and provide some much-needed punch in the lower-middle of the order. Of course, after 14 games, he is hitting .184 but I know how the PT gods love to toy with me so I am not worried.

I was so sick of newcomer Jason Schmidt in the rotation that I made him the closer, and so far he is perfect in save opportunities. Yes, it's a small sample of 2 but I need something to hang onto here.

So where's the good news, you ask? Well, the first half is over and it can't get any worse... can it?

[2tango2]

After speaking glowingly about the Port Dawgs and what a great season they are having...they have proceeded to shart their drawers.....after a big profile signing of Honus Wagner they have responded by going from 52-30 to presently 58-43. Don't need to be a math major see how bad a stretch they are in. There has been chatter of an upset clubhouse ever since Honus joined the team. Ted Lyons couldn't handle the added pressure of being praised by management and has gotten rocked beyond belief in his last 3-4 starts.

Howry, Kimbrel and Sambito have been bright spots but with the rotation being smacked around the last 15 games or so, their effectiveness just means less of a beating.

A players only meeting is set to take place today to try to right the ship. They will need it because the next team they face is crushing the league with 74 wins already.

Best of Luck Dawgs...management is watching

[Rookie80924]

I'm sure to be relegated back to Iron with a record of 31-75. I have moved so many pitchers back and forth to reserve, but many are having double digit ERAs.

I bought $10 worth of PP, but the card packs have been horrible, only to provide one good card, and a duplicate of a gold card.

As the saying goes, better luck next year.

[Westheim]

Adding new players yesterday instantly made the Critters crash after the All Star Game, 1-9.

Eddie Plank - 2-1, 0.87 ERA (!)
Juan Guzman (long relief) - 14.09 ERA
Robinson Cano - .193, 1 HR, 4 RBI
Carl Yastrzemski - .200, 2 HR, 3 RBI
Pete Hill - .200, 0 HR, 1 RBI
Ichiro Suzuki - .233, 0 HR, 4 RBI

The game just hates me, it's as easy as that.

[Westheim]

Completed the NL Central now (yay, more SE cards...); only five Phillies, five Braves, and seven Mets needed to complete the live missions.

And about 15k.

[2tango2]

Originally Posted by Westheim

Adding new players yesterday instantly made the Critters crash after the All Star Game, 1-9.

Eddie Plank - 2-1, 0.87 ERA (!)
Juan Guzman (long relief) - 14.09 ERA
Robinson Cano - .193, 1 HR, 4 RBI
Carl Yastrzemski - .200, 2 HR, 3 RBI
Pete Hill - .200, 0 HR, 1 RBI
Ichiro Suzuki - .233, 0 HR, 4 RBI

The game just hates me, it's as easy as that.

It hates all of us at times


My Honus Wagner has 4 RBI's since he was acquired ...4!!!!!!!!!

The guy he supplanted...72 Silver George Wright had 12 RBI's hitting 9th playing in less games.

Not really getting a good return on my investment

[benderguy1]

Putting the starting rotation back together after hastily shuttling them to the bullpen has paid dividends for the Green Dragons. Perhaps the message was clear that there were other people in the bullpen that would love a shot at the Starting Five and that nobody's job was safe. I woke up to find that the last game of the night produced this little gem out of the now 2-12 Don Drysdale. (He started 0-12, so he's on a roll now). Two errors away from a Perfecto.

The team has responded. We're not blowing anybody out, but we're winning a large portion of our one run games currently and it has vaulted us into 1st place in the division by a mere half game. So at least for now, the Green Dragons are in the playoff hunt in Gold 313.

[2tango2]

Piazza caught a no no?? Dang!

[benderguy1]

Originally Posted by 2tango2

Piazza caught a no no?? Dang!

How about that, huh? And he didn't even make one of the errors!

[Orcin]

Breaking News: Perfect Team economy crashing.

Prices on mid-level cards are down 15-25% this week. Must be the post-sale hangover. It's a good week to have some points saved. I picked up another starter today, RF Tommy McCarthy. He fits my contact/range/speed format with some power and eye thrown in. Nice card for about 25% less than it was last weekend.

[Marleigh]

Originally Posted by Orcin

Breaking News: Perfect Team economy crashing.

Prices on mid-level cards are down 15-25% this week. Must be the post-sale hangover. It's a good week to have some points saved. I picked up another starter today, RF Tommy McCarthy. He fits my contact/range/speed format with some power and eye thrown in. Nice card for about 25% less than it was last weekend.

Yeah, picked up SE Frank Thomas for a bargain price for oneof my teams

[2tango2]

Port Dawgs are in a free fall.....not only have they fallen out of first place for the first time this year,(only 1 game out with a lot left to play) but they are getting swept by teams that are 20-30 games under .500.

Their star acquisition Honus Wagner cannot seem to hit higher than .230 even with his near triple digit Contact, Gap and Power ratings. Meanwhile his silver 72 backup consistently collects a hit or 3 a game.

A inquiry to the league office has been made. League officials have no comment at this time.

The only silver lining to this "ahem" blip is that the rest of the division is dog shart and looks like nobody wants to be in first.