Need Help Deciding where to upgrade!!

[MWVO94]

So I’m fairly new to OOTP and Perfect Team OOTP 20 being the first game in the series that I have played and I pretty much jumped straight into PT without playing the regular game at all so I’m still learning the game and how things work. Anyways things started out surprisingly well in my first 5 seasons I made the playoffs 4 times and I won Iron Level Series in my second season. But ever since I made it to the Gold Level things have gone steadily down hill and I haven’t made the playoffs and I’m currently in my 5th season in Gold Level. Sa basically I’m just looking for any advice or feedback on what things I should change with my team like strategy and what not and also which players/positions I need to change or upgrade. Thanks in advance and any and all feedback is greatly appreciated!! Below I will list my current team and lineups. (I would have just posted screenshots but I’m posting this from my phone. I can upload screenshots later if that helps.)

Starting Pitching:
1. Live Series Clayton Kershaw
2. Historical Legend Peak 94 OVR. C.C. Sabathia
3. Live Series Walker Buehler
4. Rookie Sensation 89 OVR Jose Fernandez
5. Live Series Carlos Carrasco

Bullpen:
LR. Future Legend Taylor Widener
LR. Live Series Ryne Stanek
MR. Live Series Jordan Hicks
MR. Live Series Jose Alvarado
SU. Future Legend Sixto Sanchez
SU. Live Series Dellin Betances
CL. Live Series Felipe Vazquez

Batting Lineup:
1. Live Series Mookie Betts
2. Historical All Star 94 OVR Jose Ramirez
3. Historical Legend 87 OVR Rod Carew
4. Historical Legend 91 OVR Eddie Matthews
5. Future Legend Keston Hiura
6. Live Series Ronald Acuna Jr.
7. Live Series Fernando Tatis Jr.
8. Hardware Heroes 81 OVR Del Crandall
9. Live Series Victor Robles

Bench:
Live Series Gary Sanchez
Historical All Star Cecil Travis
Live Series Juan Soto
Live Series Giancarlo Stanton

[Morug]

Maybe upgrade your defense, this way your pitching staff will perform better.

[joehart]

1. Focus on players that make contact.l (80+).
While it is nice to produce HRs you will run into more and more top teams that will be even better in hitting HRs.

2. Add great defenders to 2B and SS and maybe even CF.
It really helps when you have players with 100+ Defense.
Example: Boudreaux, Cronin, Lindor, Rizzuto, Pesky, ...
If you have several positions with defense <50, expect to struggle in close games.

3. If you focus on making contact and less on HRs, adjust your park to match your team.
Example, you will typically play mostly against RHPs so if all your LHBs make lots of contact increase your ballpark for LHBs (1.030 is a simple start).
Then reduce the HRs (you can go as low as .900) if you don’t really have power hitters on your team.


4. Look at your pitchers.
While Stuff is great, it is vital to not give up easy HRs (low Movement) or fill the bases via Walks (low Control).


5. Help your pitchers by using a catcher with great defensive skills.
Example: LaValliere is a bronze catcher that can still start in Perfect league (use him against RHPs).


6. Take a look at your bullpen. If they are constantly exhausted (yellow), you may not have the right Starters to go deep into the game. While many teams have 6 Relievers (Closer, Setup, Setup, MR, MR, LR), you may need to add a 7th one until your starting pitchers consistently pitch well and don’t get pulled too early.
I find myself doing this more often in the lower levels than the higher leagues due to lack of talent on the teams in those early seasons.

[joehart]

7. Also, as you make changes, take a look at your lineup and depth chart.

You don’t want to make changes and suddenly have your top OBP guys hitting near the bottom. I have made this mistake a few times.
Make sure to adjust it for both (RHPs/LHPs) and find something that works best for you.
Example: Start with 2 players with high OBP, then 2 that can bring them home, repeat...


8. If you really have to start a guy with poor defense, take advantage of having a bench player with better defense.

In the strategy, you can set them to come in as early as the 7th inning with your team leading your opponents.
There are a lot of great defensive players that can be trained to all the Infield positions (it may take a week each time until they reach the max) so you can use a single player in a utility role for several positions.
Example: I have used the Non-Live Lindor to backup all Infield positions and play every 6-7 days so my starters are always fresh.


Also, enjoy the process of finding what works for you....don’t get too frustrated with not getting to the playoffs.

This is what makes the game great. You are in control of trying different things and find the players that match your style of play.

[justpatrick]

Cecil Travis is a real gem. He's got great contact and gap and trains up to a 72 at third, 83 at second and a 90 at first.

[OMGPuppies]

Originally Posted by justpatrick

Cecil Travis is a real gem. He's got great contact and gap and trains up to a 72 at third, 83 at second and a 90 at first.

I use Travis as my IF backup.

[justpatrick]

He was my back up as well until I put him at second after I suddenly sold off Nellie Fox during the Nellie Fox gravy train frenzy a couple of weeks back.

[MWVO94]

So there is a couple possible scenarios I’ve been going over I just wanted to get everyone’s opinion on which one would be the best to go with I’m getting toward the end of the season currently in second place in my division but down 12 1/2 games from first place so I’m most likely not gonna make the playoffs and even if I do I don’t see this team going very far mainly because of my defense... Keston Hiura has been killing it at the plate but is an abysmal -12.2 ZR at 2B but if I can pull it I would like to keep him in the lineup maybe at DH? Anyways here’s a list of a couple different players I’ve been looking at on the auction house. As always and input in greatly appreciated!!

Second Base:
All Star 87 OVR Joe Gordon,1947
Hardware Hero 89 OVR Roberto Alomar,1999
All Star 83 OVR Jim Gilliam,1956
Future Legend 85 OVR Garrett Hampson

Third Base:
Rookie Sensation 96 OVR Al Rosen,1950
All Star 92 OVR Troy Glaus,2000
All Star 92 OVR Evan Longoria,2010
Hardware Heroes 91 OVR Robin Ventura,1999
All Star 91 OVR Nolan Arenado,2017
All Star 89 OVR Robin Ventura,1992
All Star 83 OVR Adrian Beltre,2012
All Star 80 OVR Brooks Robinson,1968

Shortstop:
All Star 93 OVR Troy Tulowitzki,2011
Hardware Heroes 91 OVR Travis Jackson,1927
All Star 87 OVR Francisco Lindor,2016
All Star 86 OVR Johnny Logan,1955
All Star 82 OVR Dave Concepcion,1981

[Charlatan]

I have Gilliam and the 82 Concepcion on two of my teams (one on each team).

2B: Gilliam is money in the bank. He has consistently put up high WAR for me year after year. He doesn't hit great every year but his defense is excellent. He can probably be trained to play every position except catcher (he comes rated 84 in LF I believe). His WAR for the the last 4 years (in Perfect-Perfect-Diamond-Gold) is 3.2-3.2-5.0-4.0.

I am pretty sure the Alomar card has worse defense. Don't know about the other 2B guys though.

3B: Logan should hit a little better than Gilliam, but his defense isn't quite as good. I have him as pretty cheap, though I haven't been keeping up to date on prices since collections came out. I don't like the Brooks card, that 80 can't hit righties at all. I tried the 89 OVR Robin Ventura at 2B in Perfect and he could barely hit... I finally sold him because I couldn't take him any more (I now have 95 OVR Brooks Robinson playing there!!). I don't know your price range but a card I really like is the 93 OVR Ken Boyer. He's rated at 3B but I trained him to play 2B. He hits well and has really good power. Last 4 years in gold, his WARs are 3.5-2.4-7.3-3.4. The 87 OVR and 89 OVR Boggs cards are both well-established choices at 3B if you want other options.

SS: Concepcion has also been great. Just as with Gilliam, he won't hit a lot some years but the defense is always good. Last 4 years of WAR, all in gold: 2.6-4.3-3.9-5.4

Tell the truth, when I bought Concepcion it came down to him and Tony Fernandez (who I think is an OVR 80). Their fielding ratings are almost identical (Tony can get 2 more points out of playing 3B). Concepcion hits better though.

I have been playing the 93 OVR Tulo at SS on one of my teams - he barely hits in Perfect and his WAR values are pretty average.

One very underrated SS - 79 OVR Dick Groat. I got him for like 1800. he's generating 3.5-4.0 WAR values for me in Perfect. Great fielder.

There you go, there's a bunch of random thoughts on your players, and others!

[chazzycat]

Originally Posted by Charlatan

2B: Gilliam is money in the bank. He has consistently put up high WAR for me year after year. He doesn't hit great every year but his defense is excellent.

I'd echo this sentiment. Gilliam is one of my favorite cards on my SmallBallers. He's got enough contact+eye to put up a solid OBP even in perfect level, which when combined with elite defense, makes for very consistent production.

I would start by moving Hiura to DH and picking up Gilliam. Second base is a very important defensive position...I bet you see a difference right away.