"Theme" Teams

[Thalion]

The thread about optimizing for left handed favored ballparks got me thinking about if people are trying to construct teams based on a preconceived theme or build.

So, if you are, what are you trying to do (not necessarily looking for specific players or such, but more an idea as to what other people are trying to do.

As for myself, my elementary school years were in the late 60's - early 70's so I grew up in the era of Mays, McCovey, Clemente and was enchanted by the stories of the guys who came before them. So, my plan is to build an oldies team.

So for me... excellent pitching/high contact/high speed & basestealing/excellent defense. Will take high gap over high power. I envision a team that is going to get guys on base, and be aggressive on the basepaths. (Yes, I believe that is contrary to statistical analysis, but that's the kind of baseball I enjoyed).

What I've done have been to look for shortstops with very high fielding ratings and turn some of them into the other infielders. Currently, Omar Vizquel is playing 2B, Luis Aparicio is playing SS, Dickie Thon is playing 3B and Bud Harrelson is backing up all of them.

I have finally managed to "purge" my team of my last 2018 Live player and am trying not to have anyone on my team post Y2K.

The only exception to the rule I have is that I am open to have Japanese players on my team (I'm Japanese-American), so Ichiro mans RF and I managed to pick up Koji Uehara for my bullpen. I have been on the lookout for Hideo Nomo but I don't think he made the cut for this player database.

I've managed to do extremely well thus far, finishing first in my division but losing in the LCS and am leading again in A-Ball. Will probably start to fall back if I get promoted more and start encountering stronger teams.

I'm having a great time building this team (and playing PT) in general.

Thanks to Markus and his team, as well as all the guys on Discord who try to explain to me how all these new Sabermatics type of statistics work.

So, anyone else got general themes?

[captainbuttercream]

On my secondary account I managed to pull a 97 Piazza on one of my first packs. My team wasn't that great so I decided to sell him and I'm currently making a team where every player has to be bronze. I'm selling all silver cards and up. Want to have an account dedicated to finding over performing cheap players just to see what I can do.

[Thalion]

I've got a second team so I'm looking for ideas as to what to do.

I may go all Mets or something like that.

[One Post Wonder]

I'm an 80's fan. I actually know next to nothing about modern baseball - since getting married and having a kid, I don't have time to watch games anymore and all this stuff with wild cards and the infield shifting all over the place and the constant pitching changes... just not my cup of tea.

But what's funny is that I love to read about baseball and baseball history despite not following the game anymore. I probably shouldn't say this, but I've got like 10 Bill James books in my bathroom closet and I'll pull one out whenever I'm hiding from the family in there.

Anyway, since I'm into the 80's I've broken my 'efficiency' mantra a couple of times and signed 2 players who I couldn't resist. Lenny Dykstra and Brett Butler. I was tempted to buy that '88 Orel Hershiser which was on the market, but he simply is too expensive for me to indulge myself that way.

With the team, I'm a worshiper of pitching and microscopic ERAs. So for the lineup I put defense first. I don't care what a guy hits. If he doesn't play above average defense at his position, I don't want him.

Offensively I look for balanced players. Those 60/60/60/60/60 types are ideal, you know? I feel like those guys can win in any park, using any style of game. But if I had to give up something, I'd give up HR power first.

Everyone wants excellent pitching but I insist on control. Since I'm putting a great defense out there, I have no use for guys that walk people.

I like speed, but it's not too important. I mainly want to avoid the double play and be able to take an extra base, not be the '85 cardinals.

The beta doesn't give me enough time to convert positions, but I'll definitely be doing that once the real game starts. I don't know who my 1b will be, but I guarantee it will be someone who started out at 3b.

I like discussions like this. Maybe one day I'll write a program which judges people's personalities based upon the type of baseball team they like to build. Definitely a niche market for that one.

[Thalion]

If you have players with good enough fielding ratings, it doesn't take that long to switch positions. I started the year with Vizquel having no rating in 2nd base. I made him the starter and now he's rated as 70 (on a 20-80 point scale) when I checked him at the middle of July.

[stl jason]

Originally Posted by One Post Wonder

Everyone wants excellent pitching but I insist on control. Since I'm putting a great defense out there, I have no use for guys that walk people.

.

your mileage may vary with this guy, but if you come across Hal Brown, give him a shot in your starting rotation. He's currently leading my team in wins (and only 1 off the lead league)... his stuff and movement aren't much to look at, but his control is killer... he's managed to stay in my rotation from day 1 (got him from a starter pack) while other higher rated pitchers I've picked up at auctions have come and gone.

[One Post Wonder]

I had him in my starter pack too. He pitched well above his weight for me. I was really proud of Hal Brown.

I prioritize SP far above anything else, so I outgrew him in the end. But only recently. My rotations OVR looked absurd for a while:

96
93
63 (Hal Brown)
88
89

And he still didn't do significantly worse than the other guys, even going up against behemoths. I hope in the full version I'm lucky enough to land Hal again.

[Fenixdown]

My ultimate goal is to build an all Texas Rangers legends team. Not necessarily of players that you could call legends with Texas per say, but that spent time in Texas and are legends as players.



Options I could see currently in game or added later would be as follows.


1B : Rafael Palmeiro, Mark Texeira, Will Clark, Prince Fielder
2B : Julio Franco, Michael Young
3B : Hank Blaylock, Dean Palmer, Adrian Beltre, Bill Madlock

SS : Alex Rodriguez, Elvis Andrus, Toby Harrah (he's listed at 3B in the game now, but he can play most of the infield)

C : Ivan Rodriguez, Jim Sundburg
OF : Juan Gonzalez, Otis Nixon, Jeff Burroughs, Frank Howard, Harold Baines, Ruben Sierra

SP : Nolan Ryan, Kevin Brown, Fergie Jenkins, Kenny Rogers (could also be RP), Yu Darvish, Bert Blyleven, Cliff Lee, Charlie Hough, Frank Tanana, Cole Hamels

RP : Jeff Russell, John Wetteland, Neftali Feliz, Tom Henke, Eric Gagne, Joe Nathan, Keone Kela

[Dogberry99]

From one Rangers fan to another, this is a solid list. However, there are some additional names that could be considered (though I guarantee I'm missing plenty myself):

3B Larry Parrish, 3B Buddy Bell, SS Dickie Thon (who I completely forgot about until I saw his card in game), OF Rusty Greer (a personal favorite), SP Gaylord Perry, RP Robb Nen

and if we want to value significance in spite of performance, then let's lobby for a David Clyde card :-D

[TheYonk]

I also grew up watching baseball in the 80's , am rolling with an all 1980's team this year:.

[Orcin]

My Evansville Batbirds (all Cardinals)… we were promoted to A this year.

[<Pion>]

Once we start over, I plan on having either an all-Dodger team or all California team. We'll have to see what plays out.

On my third team, I plan on using it like a sandbox team where I test out certain players to see if they will help on my primary team (which will be top performers regardless of who they are).

[Thalion]

Originally Posted by <Pion>

Once we start over, I plan on having either an all-Dodger team or all California team. We'll have to see what plays out.

On my third team, I plan on using it like a sandbox team where I test out certain players to see if they will help on my primary team (which will be top performers regardless of who they are).

Man, you can't mix Dodgers and Giants!

[<Pion>]

Originally Posted by Thalion

Man, you can't mix Dodgers and Giants!

I may be the only Dodger fan who does. My rule in the post season is to root for Dodgers first, Angels second, California teams third. So yes, the first couple of world series that the Giants were recently in, I rooted for them until I had Giant fans rubbing my nose in it, then I rooted against them.

It was EXTREMELY confusing in 1974 when the Dodgers/Athletics were in the series. We had family with A's season tickets, so I was fortunate enough to get to go to the WS in 72, 73, and 74. In 74, I had already rooted for the A's in two series, so I took two hats with me and wore the hat of whichever team was at bat. Years later, I now regret not having rooted for the Dodgers only. But I was young and stupid... and judging by my recent rooting for Giants when they were the only team left, I haven't gotten any smarter.

[One Post Wonder]

Originally Posted by <Pion>

I may be the only Dodger fan who does. My rule in the post season is to root for Dodgers first, Angels second, California teams third. So yes, the first couple of world series that the Giants were recently in, I rooted for them until I had Giant fans rubbing my nose in it, then I rooted against them.

I lived in the Bay Area in the early 90's, and I'd walk around in my Dodger starter jacket. It was one heck of a nice jacket. I got stuff thrown at me out of cars a couple of times, and I'd have been risking real bodily harm if I'd worn that to Candlestick. I'm surprised you've never really felt any of that hostility, because Giant fans take that rivalry a lot more seriously than Dodger fans do. Maybe people have lightened up now.

I've lived on the East Coast for a long time since then, and I happened to attend 30-40 Phillies games during their WS run in 1993. THAT was an exciting team to watch, and over time I've become a Phillies fan.

But even now, I'd root for the Yankees and Mets before I'd root for the Giants. If North Korea built a team, I'd root for that before I'd root for the Giants. I'd root for an asteroid that was about to hit the earth before I'd root for the Giants. Nobody should root for the Giants, man.

[<Pion>]

Originally Posted by One Post Wonder

I lived in the Bay Area in the early 90's, and I'd walk around in my Dodger starter jacket. It was one heck of a nice jacket. I got stuff thrown at me out of cars a couple of times, and I'd have been risking real bodily harm if I'd worn that to Candlestick. I'm surprised you've never really felt any of that hostility, because Giant fans take that rivalry a lot more seriously than Dodger fans do. Maybe people have lightened up now.

I've lived on the East Coast for a long time since then, and I happened to attend 30-40 Phillies games during their WS run in 1993. THAT was an exciting team to watch, and over time I've become a Phillies fan.

But even now, I'd root for the Yankees and Mets before I'd root for the Giants. If North Korea built a team, I'd root for that before I'd root for the Giants. I'd root for an asteroid that was about to hit the earth before I'd root for the Giants. Nobody should root for the Giants, man.

I definitely felt the rivalry in the 70's. I think it went away (from some Dodger fans) in the 80's and 90's because it seldom felt like the Giants were a threat (minus the time I think it was Joe Morgan who kept the Dodger from making the playoffs). At least for me, the rivalry felt much more one-sided coming from the Giant fans. However, with the three recent series wins, it has come back for me.

There is no team I'd root for the Yankees ahead of. My two favorite teams are the Dodgers and whoever beats the Yankees.

[Maddox]

Originally Posted by Orcin

My Evansville Batbirds (all Cardinals)… we were promoted to A this year.


Attachment 589422

I am doing this with my second team, which I will start when the game goes live. Thanks for giving me an idea of what players are available.

[zrog2000]

Originally Posted by One Post Wonder

I lived in the Bay Area in the early 90's, and I'd walk around in my Dodger starter jacket. It was one heck of a nice jacket. I got stuff thrown at me out of cars a couple of times, and I'd have been risking real bodily harm if I'd worn that to Candlestick. I'm surprised you've never really felt any of that hostility, because Giant fans take that rivalry a lot more seriously than Dodger fans do. Maybe people have lightened up now.

I've lived on the East Coast for a long time since then, and I happened to attend 30-40 Phillies games during their WS run in 1993. THAT was an exciting team to watch, and over time I've become a Phillies fan.

But even now, I'd root for the Yankees and Mets before I'd root for the Giants. If North Korea built a team, I'd root for that before I'd root for the Giants. I'd root for an asteroid that was about to hit the earth before I'd root for the Giants. Nobody should root for the Giants, man.

I lived in Philly during that time and went to 10-20 games in 1992 when they lost 100 games. Was so sweet paying $5 for 700 level seats and then ending up right behind the dugout by the 2nd inning. I went to a few games in 93 as well, but not nearly as many because the tickets were harder to come by. (it was kind of brutal to actually watch the games from the 700 level) I was in college, so I didn't have much money.

And yeah, I along with everyone else that year, predicted Mitch Williams was going to blow the WS by around June.