Looking For "Friends" to join "Our League".

[Argonaut]

Originally Posted by QuantaCondor

You can definitely find good pitchers 96-99 which are "reasonable" at 40-50k. But basically, aside from CC Sabathia and maaaybe Eddie Plank, it's crazy how 90-94 pitchers are consistently much worse than 95-99. The gap between 90-94 and 95-99 is about as wide as it is between 80-89 and 90-94. In fact, with the exception of the *absolute* top end, 100 rated pitchers are not much better than those more expensive 96-99 pitchers.

Yeah I agree, Eddie Plank was the only real exception I could think of. Sabathia looks pretty good too, along with a few finesse pitchers in certain situations. But other than that the separation of upper and lower Diamond pitchers is pretty huge.

[OMGPuppies]

Originally Posted by Argonaut

Yeah I agree, Eddie Plank was the only real exception I could think of. Sabathia looks pretty good too, along with a few finesse pitchers in certain situations. But other than that the separation of upper and lower Diamond pitchers is pretty huge.

Seriously. I have low level Diamonds and Golds on my staff. Sigh. Yeah, the good upper 90s Diamond pitchers always come with a healthy premium. I don't have 40 plus k to play with

[Charlatan]

I can think of a couple of exceptions (that I'm not going to name because I don't own them yet!) but I agree with you - the low 90s pitchers aren't all that great. Is there an alternative though? I think if someone in Perfect went with even high gold pitchers they'd get massacred (like Motown did last year!).

[revmcgator]

Originally Posted by allenciox

...but the only gold pitcher who can really come close to holding their own in perfect league is Maddux (89).

Maddux has been mediocre at best for me.

In other news, my non-OL team (it has LIVE players, but would be OL-compliant otherwise) got put in a Perfect League with a pod of whales. Just got swept by a team with FIFTEEN perfect cards. Their roster has only one card under a 96 OVR, and currently has a 40-6 record. {golf-clap}

EDIT: After losing seven straight, I finally decided to pull the plug and transfer all LIVE players off the active 40-man roster. This includes a 100 OVR Yelich. Unfortunately, having succumbed to the lure of Missions, Yelich, along with nine other Gold/Diamond players have been locked and cannot be sold. (Beware the Missions!) So building a competitive roster while playing in a whale-filled Perfect League should be...interesting.

The only ray of hope is that although I currently sit in 4th place, I am only 2.5 games out of first, due to the fact that the first place team is 4 games under .500.

[QuantaCondor]

Originally Posted by revmcgator

Maddux has been mediocre at best for me.

He's not shutdown, but he's at least passable. And also consider that pitcher performance is a HUGE function of the rest of your team composition and strategy. You can have big Walt pitching for you, it doesn't matter if your defense is subpar and your ballpark settings are pro-hitting (or just pro-lefties).

[Stanley Kuppchaser]

The Gamblers are again the front-runners, going 12-7 to hold the top spot, with San Pedro, 12-8, Mudville, 6-1, Antique, 10-7, and Amarillo, 9-4, making moves up the standings. Everett (this time I made sure) has been the most OL-centric team, having played 50 of 53 games in OL competition.

[stl jason]

Perfect league update:


Washington moves into the lead, with five other OL teams playing .600 or better ball through May.

[stl jason]

Iron league update:

Stephensville on top of a minimal OL schedule (only 3 more games remain between Stephensville and Gotham. No OL games for O'Fallon this season).


overall - Gotham only 1 game back of the AC Central lead; Stephensville (9 game win streak) and O'Fallon (10 game win streak) playing over .700 ball through May (perhaps one/two/all three OL teams can build on their solid regular season play and make a good post season run this round).

[Charlatan]

Grey Wolves maintain lead in Diamond but challengers are nipping at their heels

Chippewa stayed atop the Diamond OL standings this month, but it's a tight race still - Aukland, Cooper, and Annandale are in a pack right behind them, ready to pounce if the Grey Wolves falter.

[Diezwraths]

Philly Patriots out in front, albeit a limited number of games.

Woodinville has almost an entire month of OL games for June, should help shake up the standings a bit.

[allenciox]

You can definitely find good pitchers 96-99 which are "reasonable" at 40-50k. But basically, aside from CC Sabathia and maaaybe Eddie Plank, it's crazy how 90-94 pitchers are consistently much worse than 95-99. The gap between 90-94 and 95-99 is about as wide as it is between 80-89 and 90-94. In fact, with the exception of the *absolute* top end, 100 rated pitchers are not much better than those more expensive 96-99 pitchers.

So I think that is basically right --- there is a huge difference between the low 90s (90-94), and (95-100). However, there are notable exceptions in both categories.

95+ OL=compliant SPs to stay away from:

96: Ryan, Soto, and Vander Meer
95: Lincecum, Jenkins, and Cone

< 95 OL-compliant pitchers that can be ok:
94: Sabathia, Plank, Reuschel, Carlton
93: Schooler, Moore
92: Carlos, Maddux, Trout, Myers, Sad Sam Jones, Rogers
91: Astacio
89: Maddux


HIgh MOV is very important in perfect (about equal to CON+STU together). CON follows, STU is less important. CON below 50 is bad.

So what are the best values/deals <= 30k on OL-compliant pitchers, in my opinion?

#1, by a wide margin: Eddie Plank (94): He is much cheaper on AH (about 20-22k) than other pitchers at his level. Why is he so cheap? Primarily because his collection (Oakland LIVE) is so cheap to complete. It generally can be completed for 15k-18k. So that is a great <=20k option that just about anybody can do.
#2: Robin Roberts(95): I have no idea WHY he goes for less than 20k, but he does, consistently.
#3: Reuschel(94): around 25k, slightly worse than Plank
#4. Sabathia(94): Right around 30k... slightly better pitcher than Plank, but more expensive.

[stl jason]

Originally Posted by allenciox

HIgh MOV is very important in perfect (about equal to CON+STU together). CON follows, STU is less important. CON below 50 is bad.

.

probably can't stress that enough.... I have Willis Hudlin (83) in my bullpen (mov=90).... and while it's a small sample size (not like he's eating up 7+ innings as a starter), in my 3+ seasons at the Perfect tier, he leads my team in ERA+ with a 259; and had an ERA in the low 1.xx in season 1 and 3.

picked up Sad Sam Jones (another high movement pitcher at 88) late last year to finish up the mission to nab Smoky Joe Wood; so hoping Jones can duplicate the bullpen work that Hudlin has at this level....

[Charlatan]

Originally Posted by allenciox

HIgh MOV is very important in perfect (about equal to CON+STU together). CON follows, STU is less important. CON below 50 is bad.

So what are the best values/deals <= 30k on OL-compliant pitchers, in my opinion?

#1, by a wide margin: Eddie Plank (94): He is much cheaper on AH (about 20-22k) than other pitchers at his level. Why is he so cheap? Primarily because his collection (Philadelphia LIVE) is so cheap to complete. It generally can be completed for 15k-18k. So that is a great <=20k option that just about anybody can do.

Isn't he from the Oakland LIVE mission? I think people will be surprised if they do the Philadelphia LIVE mission and get Lenny Dykstra instead of Eddie Plank (not that Dykstra is a horrible reward - far from it - but he ain't no pitcher!)

[allenciox]

Isn't he from the Oakland LIVE mission? I think people will be surprised if they do the Philadelphia LIVE mission and get Lenny Dykstra instead of Eddie Plank (not that Dykstra is a horrible reward - far from it - but he ain't no pitcher!)

Sorry about that, you are right! Several weeks back I actually did the Philadelphia LIVE and Oakland LIVE missions simultaneously for my teams. You are right, Dykstra (91) for Phil LIVE, Plank(94) for Oakland. They are both great cards, though.

[Argonaut]

Originally Posted by allenciox

95+ OL=compliant SPs to stay away from:

96: Ryan, Soto, and Vander Meer
95: Lincecum, Jenkins, and Cone

I got Fergie Jenkins for pretty cheap and am giving him a chance. I like him a lot because he's Canadian (the only one in the Hall) and probably the best ever Texas Rangers pitcher.

So far he's not doing well in Perfect, but interestingly not because he's giving up a lot of homers (currently at 0.9 HR/9). He has a high BABIP at near .400. Some of that may be luck. But some may be because he's a Groundball Pitcher and my SS Ozzie Smith is "only" rated ~93 there. I'll keep testing him out, and maybe stick Aparicio in there to see if that helps.

[OMGPuppies]

Originally Posted by allenciox

So I think that is basically right --- there is a huge difference between the low 90s (90-94), and (95-100). However, there are notable exceptions in both categories.

95+ OL=compliant SPs to stay away from:

96: Ryan, Soto, and Vander Meer
95: Lincecum, Jenkins, and Cone

< 95 OL-compliant pitchers that can be ok:
94: Sabathia, Plank, Reuschel, Carlton
93: Schooler, Moore
92: Carlos, Maddux, Trout, Myers, Sad Sam Jones, Rogers
91: Astacio
89: Maddux


HIgh MOV is very important in perfect (about equal to CON+STU together). CON follows, STU is less important. CON below 50 is bad.

So what are the best values/deals <= 30k on OL-compliant pitchers, in my opinion?

#1, by a wide margin: Eddie Plank (94): He is much cheaper on AH (about 20-22k) than other pitchers at his level. Why is he so cheap? Primarily because his collection (Oakland LIVE) is so cheap to complete. It generally can be completed for 15k-18k. So that is a great <=20k option that just about anybody can do.
#2: Robin Roberts(95): I have no idea WHY he goes for less than 20k, but he does, consistently.
#3: Reuschel(94): around 25k, slightly worse than Plank
#4. Sabathia(94): Right around 30k... slightly better pitcher than Plank, but more expensive.

Great post. Let me add Borbon to that list.

[QuantaCondor]

Originally Posted by OMGPuppies

Great post. Let me add Borbon to that list.

This is a list of SPs, RPs are another matter entirely.

[Magus978]

Unrelated to the pitcher talk going on, the Blitzkrieg Boppers and the Green Lake Cowboys played a 3 game series in P414, with the Boppers taking 2 out of 3. They meet again for 4 on The Range in late-July.

[OMGPuppies]

Originally Posted by QuantaCondor

This is a list of SPs, RPs are another matter entirely.

I saw Schooler, so I thought RPs were included.

[QuantaCondor]

Originally Posted by OMGPuppies

I saw Schooler, so I thought RPs were included.

I guess the same arguments being made here are true somewhat for relievers, but relievers are less stratified and with more options for F2P at lower rarities. For example, it's well known that Borbon, Hersh Freeman, Howe, Fingers, etc. are totally passable relievers, but their impact on team performance is less important than it is for SPs.