Favorite Players (Silver or lower)

[Stanley Kuppchaser]

Originally Posted by CurlyKarkovice

Any experience with the best lower cost utility infielder besides Aparicio. Ideally someone who can pinch run too? Thanks

I've had pretty good luck with Bud Harrelson and Mark Belanger on two separate teams. Both run well and seem to improve ratings at second and third pretty quickly.

[zrog2000]

Bobby Crosby is someone I've had a lot of success with as a utility guy. I kind of gave up on this season and put him in as my regular SS and he had 2.9 WAR in about 350 plate appearances which is probably way more than anyone can typically expect from him. But he's definitely an elite defensive SS (rated 94) who can also be elite at 2B and 3B. He's not a great baserunner but has an 80 steal bases rating.

[captainbuttercream]

1950 George Kell has consistently been my best player. He flat out takes and plays decent enough defense. He'll probably max out around 10 home runs but he'll hit .300-.300 with 60+ doubles pretty much every year. I've sold multiple gold and platinum third basemen because I'm so happy with him. Even Machado got moved to second.

[captainbuttercream]

Originally Posted by CurlyKarkovice

Same thumbs up for Jody Davis and Charlie Robertson. Had them and were Great in Bronze and OK in Silver leagues.

I've settled on a Jody Davis/Todd Hundley catching platoon. They've combined for 4-5 war for the past 3 seasons.

[zrog2000]

Originally Posted by captainbuttercream

1950 George Kell has consistently been my best player. He flat out takes and plays decent enough defense. He'll probably max out around 10 home runs but he'll hit .300-.300 with 60+ doubles pretty much every year. I've sold multiple gold and platinum third basemen because I'm so happy with him. Even Machado got moved to second.

My Kell had 84 doubles last season.

[Joshrapley]

Wasn't quite sure if this would have been deemed as cheating or not (it doesnt as you cant do it anyway) but I was using a 2nd Team as a Farm System to develop players at different positions to make them more versatile e.g. retrain an SS at 2B.

The aim would be then my main team purchase him from auction for full price (avg sale over last 5 sales). Therefore, neither team was benefiting financially. However, I get player who back up multiple positions. Unfortunately, upon trying this, the player in question lost his ability to play 2B once transferred over to main team which makes complete sense to be fair.

Jokes on me that since moving him back (for the same price) he now cant play for 14 days

Just making everyone that the above isnt possible!

[<Pion>]

Originally Posted by Joshrapley

Wasn't quite sure if this would have been deemed as cheating or not (it doesnt as you cant do it anyway) but I was using a 2nd Team as a Farm System to develop players at different positions to make them more versatile e.g. retrain an SS at 2B.

The aim would be then my main team purchase him from auction for full price (avg sale over last 5 sales). Therefore, neither team was benefiting financially. However, I get player who back up multiple positions. Unfortunately, upon trying this, the player in question lost his ability to play 2B once transferred over to main team which makes complete sense to be fair.

Jokes on me that since moving him back (for the same price) he now cant play for 14 days

Just making everyone that the above isnt possible!

Originally it was said that you could not ever put up a player for sale on one team and purchase them for another "not even by accident" was the thought. But then I saw that if you a) put it up at a reasonable price without lowballing the BIN and b) leave it up for sale so others first have a crack at the player (12 hours it was said), then they would not mind if you did it "occasionally". If you're not doing that, then unless things have changed, it would be considered illegal and could result in your team being shut down. I would think they would not look kindly to someone using a team as a farm system, but that's up to them ultimately to decide and rule on.

Edit - I'm also not sure why the player would not keep the rating gained. I purchased a Luis Aparicio that had been trained at 2B and 3B, so it kept the ratings.

[daves]

Suzuki - 69 by far
Kell 3b 76
Boone C 78 decent hitting defender
Garvey 1b 71 (Against lefties)
Simmons SS 79 (defense)

[mcdog512]

Originally Posted by daves

Suzuki - 69 by far
Kell 3b 76
Boone C 78 decent hitting defender
Garvey 1b 71 (Against lefties)
Simmons SS 79 (defense)

Simmons is excellent to train up at all three infield positions.

[daves]

Originally Posted by mcdog512

Simmons is excellent to train up at all three infield positions.

Yes, but SS is the most relevant defense position. Luis Apparicio is a great defender but lacks the hitting skills.

[mcdog512]

Originally Posted by daves

Yes, but SS is the most relevant defense position. Luis Apparicio is a great defender but lacks the hitting skills.

He's fantastic at SS....I'm working on getting him as a versatile defensive sub.....

[whobob]

Originally Posted by whobob

Jim Abbott (70) is an underrated card. I picked him up for my bronze team, he did nearly as well as Dierker. I had Paxton on my diamond level team, 5.00 ERA+. I thought Abbott could do that just as well, and a lot cheaper, too. He did as well as Paxton had, for the rest of that year-- but this year he has the lowest ERA at 3.06-- beating my Pedro Martinez, even.

This Jim Abbott card finished the year in Diamond as the ERA leader, and has helped pitch my 87-win 2nd WC team to the World Series.

[VARoadstter]

Tony Pena - C (79) - OMG what a catcher. 138 rating with a 107 Catcher Ability and a 111 Catcher Arm. Unbeatable. I use Jody Davis (67) as my bargain backup

Keith Hernandez - 1B (77) An ideal #2 hitter with a little pop (10-15 HR/yr) and a little speed (10-12 SB) and one of the best defensive 1st basemen in history with good contact and gap.

Rafael Palmeiro - 1B (78) Cheap power bat. OPS around .900 up to gold level. More power hitting lefties but better average and OBP hitting against righties. No speed, average defense. Will hit 25+ HR as a regular 1B in gold.

Steve Garvey - 1B (71) Usually cheap and plays great up to around gold level. Decent Power and BA. Could stand to walk more.

Steve Sax - 2B (74) Great bat for the price. Has a .750+ OPS even in diamond league. Doesn't hit for power and defense is only OK. Good on the bases.

Paul Molitor - 2B (74) So so defensively but a good eye and a decent batting average. Steals around 20 a year and has a good OBP.

Kelly Gruber - 3B (77) Good 3rd baseman who can also handle RF. Very good defense and all around decent batting numbers. Not a big power bat, though.

Kevin Seitzer - 3B (67) For a player you can get basically for free his defense is decent, Good OBP utp to Gold level. More doubles than bombs but ends up with a decent OPS. Not a base stealing threat.

Luis Aparicio - SS (64) The ideal utility infielder that costs almost nothing. Plays all infield positions with skill. He should always bat 9th but you'll see him show up in boxscores as a defensive replacement time and time again.

Bobby Crosby - 3B (77) For all those Aparicio fans out there (I am one also) Crosby will make you happy. He can be trained at multiple infield positions to a good/great level. He has some decent offense but doesn't excel at anything. Average can be a little light but still manages a respectable OBP.

Ichiro Suzuki - RF (69) I prefer his record setter card. Average, OBP, stolen bases, very good outfielder. Worth a shot as leadoff until you can afford an elite replacement.

Willie Wilson - LF (69) The lesser, left field version of Ichiro with a lower OBP. Steals a lot of bases and can play anywhere in the outfield.

Rick Porcello - SP (69) Solid back of the rotation starter in silver. Spotty in gold or above. Basically free innings eater at lower levels.

Kyle Freeland - SP (79) Sneaks his way onto leaderboards often. A no-brainer as a #5 starter up through gold level but no further.

[Matt Arnold]

Originally Posted by mcdog512

He's fantastic at SS....I'm working on getting him as a versatile defensive sub.....

I trained a tulo rookie card for one team. 110 at 2B, 98 at 3B. His offense has been pretty bad for me, but it's really nice having a nearly perfect defensive sub all around the infield.

Simmons one of his best advantages too is that he learns really fast. He played 53 games for me this last season at 2B and he's already a 91 there.

[Crash]

Originally Posted by daves

Suzuki - 69 by far
Kell 3b 76
Boone C 78 decent hitting defender
Garvey 1b 71 (Against lefties)
Simmons SS 79 (defense)

Boone has been awesome only half a season but hit .300 in playoffs as well. He'll be on this team for many seasons to come with that defense. pulled this card.

Had several different 69 Salvador Perez since Beta and he's been consistant .220 hitter but 30/80+ each season.

I overpaid for a Sunderland on my main team, he's poor hitting but great defense, but not worth 2700

[captainbuttercream]

Topsy Hartsel 1905 (I think that's the year) makes an excellent budget lead off hitter, especially against right handed pitchers. He's an OBP god, almost always over .400, can steal between 20-40 depending on aggression and is an adequate corner outfielder.

Any version of Paul Waner is worth a look too.

[Maddox]

5 seasons of 61 rated Otis Nixon at leadoff

[Morug]

Originally Posted by llcmac

For some reason, Matty Alou always sucks for me. I thought I found a diamond in the rough, and he does hit .310, but his defense is lacking even at the corners and always has an almost 0 WAR.

which level you played him? He is good for bronze and silver league, maybe gold for a batting titlle but after that he is easily replaceable. I only played him in bronze and silver league. My last season in a bronze league he had a 2.9 war and only 1 error at left field and a .341 batting average...I lost the batting title in the last game, that was bad, I needed some PP for this f2p team lol.

[dodger300]

Rod Carew, Ichiro, Topsy Hartsel, Paul Waner, Rocky Cullenbine, Nelson Cruz, David Cone, and Mark Langston.

[Joshrapley]

Originally Posted by Matt Arnold

I trained a tulo rookie card for one team. 110 at 2B, 98 at 3B. His offense has been pretty bad for me, but it's really nice having a nearly perfect defensive sub all around the infield.

Simmons one of his best advantages too is that he learns really fast. He played 53 games for me this last season at 2B and he's already a 91 there.

Did you start Tulio at 2B and 3B over multiple seasons or did he just develop over time as the backup?

I'm trying develop Ashburn and Crosby as my utility players of the future which means I am sacrificing this season to develop them in new positions as can imagine their defense is going to be awful whilst developing.