Basball Philosophy

[Dadawg_77]

It is a slow day and slow time for Sox news, but a great time to talk about baseball. So question what would your philosophy for building a team? Assume a limited player budget of 75 million dollars max.

I would try to get position guys who have a high OPB. Pitching I would actually seek opinions outside the baseball world. There seem to be ideas out there on mechanics and training in order to increase performance and lessen injuries. I would try to get good starters, with hopefully one great one. Build a solid and deep bullpen without a stud closer. To win in the post season you need a great bullpen and history tells us great bullpen don't need marquee names but a closer. IMHO, closer are not worth the money, so I would try to get a few pitchers who could close. Create a very strong minor league and player development system. One good enough to keep supplying majors with talent, since I probably will lose some 6 year free agents, since I would not sign to many long term contracts.

Also would hire management personal with a history in the AL, Earl Weaver would be a prototype. While I like to watch NL style of ball, I think the game is passing it up.

[duke of dorwood]

Our best drafts were when we hired from outside and got Larry Himes. Guys like Schueler and KW were known mgt. puppets.

To win consistantly, you must spend. That includes keeping a majority of players you develop. A team cant rebuild with white flag trades every 2 years.

That keeps players longer, and lets developed players progress at a slower pace.

[gogosoxgogo]

Build it around pitching. A strong starting rotation is an absolute must. A strong bullpen is a must if you want to win the World Series. A strong bench is always necessary. Your starting lineup needs to have a true leadoff man with speed, and should be built around OBP, however OPS would be preferable. For all players, solid mechanics, base running, and defense are necessary if you want to win even your division. That is the secret to a great team. And I completely agree with you on the closer comment.

[doublem23]

If I were to try and put together an "ideal" team, I'd probably end up with something that pretty closely resembled the Twins of today with a little more depth at pitching....

Regardless, there's one player I'd love to have...

http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/min/photo/ph_play_mugshot_150229.jpg

[ma-gaga]

you down with opb?
yeah you know me
you down with opb?
yeah you know me...

ladies!

[Dadawg_77]

Originally posted by duke of dorwood
Our best drafts were when we hired from outside and got Larry Himes. Guys like Schueler and KW were known mgt. puppets.

To win consistantly, you must spend. That includes keeping a majority of players you develop. A team cant rebuild with white flag trades every 2 years.

That keeps players longer, and lets developed players progress at a slower pace.

To win consistently you must spend wisely or have the New York market. The problem is spending for mediocrity will kill a team, look at the Tampa Bay. That is why you want a system where a team can replace the good but not great players every six years. The great player you would want to keep around. But most players hit their peak around years 5 - 9 in the MLB. Thus if you sign a FA you are picking up their declining years. While the great players will still be worth it, the good won't be.

A strong rotation isn't must, you just need a soild one. Unless you have two of greatest pitchers in the game currently, the bullpen is what makes you or breaks you, look at the Angles last year, the A's, the Twins, Yankees.

For leadoff men not sure how much speed is needed, yeah you like a guy who is fast going from first to third, but if how many obp points is that skill worth? An ideal leadoff man is Rickey Henderson, but those type of players only come around every so often. So I would give up some speed for OPB.