So after ending last season around .450, I’m in first place in the league (B317) this time. No changes in the off season. Still fun seeing how my guys do, but not making any moves at all so far this season.
Put Sale on sale, with a high floor and a crazy high BIN. With no other Sales on the AH, its the perfect time.
I know most of you are out of Bronze now, but if anyone is in bronze and looking for a cheap bullpen arm that is really good. I would HIGHLY recommend 77 overall Tony Watson. He has been my closer for the last 3 seasons. He saved 42 games in the 1st season with 5 blown saves. He was 34/34 last season and he is 17/17 this season. So he has at least a 51 game save streak going, plus whatever his streak was at the end of the 2023 season. His aveage AH price is 275 right now. Maybe he’s just been really lucky for me the past 3 seasons, but he has been dominate
Thanks @pizzaddict, I’m in silver but my pen is facing suckage and you can never have too many cheap bullpen arms.
I promoted to silver this week and have been as much as 7 games under .500. I have now gone a full day without checking my team — so when I get home shortly, I will finally check. I’m braced for the worst. But, you never know…
The app can’t come soon enough. Or maybe not being able to check is a good thing.
EDIT: I’m back to an even .500! It pays to be checking constantly.
Spurred on by @Madmarcus, I’m going to try buying a pack.
Another recommendation for a cheap bullpen arm: Dominic Leone, rating 69 (nice).
He has been with me since the beginning as my full time closer and I’m in the second year of Gold. His ERAs over the past 4 seasons:
2.90 - Bronze
1.60 - Silver
2.92 - Gold
0.90 - Gold
I have no idea why he is performing so well, year after year; especially compared to other, higher rated relievers. Also have no idea if he’ll do as well for anyone else, but you should be able to pick him up cheap.
Scored another 2500pp for getting a question read during the podcast. Also sounds like they are going to use my suggestion and get rid of the closer/reliever position and just make them all relievers, or at least make it possible to see both in the auction house instead of having to pick one.
Also, finally got my first Maddux thrown.
I’m surprised you don’t get points for a grand slam.
Thanks, I just bought him for 70pp and threw him into my bullpen, displacing the struggling MadBum! It will be interesting to see if he performs as well as he has for you.
Who is everyone using at 3b? I’m not impressed with my Longoria and might want to make a change.
I have 1988 Gary Gaetti, who was a stud for me last season with a 5.3 WAR. I got him in my original set of cards, probably the best player from that batch. I don’t see him on the auction house. My backup corner infielder is Moustakas.
I’m sure it’s a symptom of how much I’m actually enjoying the game, but I wish there was a little bit more to do here.
Last year’s Silver team is now second in its division at the Gold level, eight games back from the team made up of Diamonds and Perfects despite the fact that I’ve done exactly nothing since setting the lineups on opening day.
I’m really really glad there’s none of the contract bullshit from FIFA’s FUT where I have to constantly buy my own cards back, but I’d love there to be something else to add another inch of depth to the pool. Opening packs is really my favourite thing to do in games like this, but the trickle of PPs is so slow that I’m likely to go this entire season without opening even one.
I suspect the scratch to this itch is to just play actual OOTP, but I already have Football Manager in that space.
I’m using Pablo Sandoval at 3B, who I got out of one of the original packs. He’s hit .291 for me, lifetime, with .330 OBP and 3.0WAR as a 162 game average, although he’s really one side and struggles with lefty pitchers.
His defence is good though, for infield range and arm in particular.
1971 All-Star Joe Torre has performed well at 3B for me so far, hitting .373 in his first season in the Bronze League for me. He’s led the team to a five-game lead in our division; we’ve won 8 games in a row.
The only downside is that Joe’s fielding isn’t exactly sparkling, to say the least. (Also, Jim Bouton, in his book “Ball Four,” declared that Torre was one of the ugliest ballplayers in the game, so there’s that.) I probably should move Torre to DH, but with 8 wins in a row, I’m not touching anything!
I’m playing Kell at 3b. He should be fine at Bronze level but he was bad in the Entry League and even worse so far this season. I figure I’ll give him one season to get going but 3b is clearly my offensive weakness right now.
I’m not sure I’d suggest spending points on packs but sometimes I just can’t face dealing with the horrible AH interface.
For the longest time I believe it was George Kell for my teams. I think I might have upgraded finally on my diamond team.
Is anyone actually playing the normal mode? There’s some weirdness that annoys the shit out of me. The main one being that on the lineup screen during the game, you can’t see anything other than the most basic player ratings or their stats (or their contract status God knows why) without clicking through to each player, so if you want a pinch-runner or a defensive replacement you have to check each guy on your bench.
Other more minor gripes: you can’t sort on the team totals page (the stats by team), the All-Star voting interface just has all the players alphabetically with their stats next to them but you can’t sort by the stats, either it’s too easy to steal or the other teams don’t try enough, I’m sure there are others.
Wade Boggs on my gold team. Haven’t had him too long, but not impressed so far. Line of .268/.325/.358 in 61 games this season.
Bill Madlock on my “small ball” bronze team. He’s doing great with the bat - .358/.420/.577 - but struggling in the field with a .916 fielding pct.
Robin Ventura on my “lefty” bronze team. Also doing well - .317/.436.492.
I too had Longoria for a while but upgraded due to his poor play.
Currently on my diamond team it is Charlie Gehringer, but he isn’t performing well.
My 3B is currently Yuli Gurriel, but he’s sorely overdue for an upgrade. My whole infield is now lagging behind a bit in silver, save for Andrelton Simmons. I think I might fully embrace the small ball this weekend and see how it works out for next season - I was already prioritizing contact over power when picking up new players so might as well go all the way with it.
When I get some pp I’ll have to see if I can find a better 3b or maybe move Torre back to 3rd and try to find someone for 1b.
So what I’m reading is no one is really happy with their 3b. I was actually looking at picking up that Boggs because it looked decent and because I was a big Wade Boggs fan as a kid. I did cave and open 4 packs last night, got absolutely nothing.