Platoon Value

Thought I'd share some concrete numbers demonstrating the value of platooning when it works out well:

I'm in a '70s mystery league with a lineup I pretty much run out every day except for a platoon at third base with Wayne Garrett and Rico Petrocelli sharing duties. I think I've lucked into their best years -- they have a combined salary of $5.39 million and through 114 games total:

369 AB, 96 H, .260 AVG, 20 2B, 4 3B, 24 HR, 74 RBI, 60 BB

At the same $5.3 million, Graig Nettles averaged on his card:

575 AB, 147 H, .256 AVG, 22 2B, 2 3B, 26 HR, 89 RBI, 63 BB

At the same rate through 575 AB, Garrett and Petrocelli will have:

575 AB, 149 H, .260 AVG, 31 2B, 6 3B, 37 HR, 115 RBI, 93 BB

Those are very comparable to Mike Schmidt's numbers, and he's valued at $9.13 million.

Of course, this isn't a revelation -- Earl Weaver was killing the league with effective platoons 40 years ago. But seeing the concrete numbers helped me clarify the value of finding two effective halves to make a superstar whole when it can work.

I'd love to hear from others who benefited from powerful platoons.

Thought I'd share some concrete numbers demonstrating the value of platooning when it works out well:

I'm in a '70s mystery league with a lineup I pretty much run out every day except for a platoon at third base with Wayne Garrett and Rico Petrocelli sharing duties. I think I've lucked into their best years -- they have a combined salary of $5.39 million and through 114 games total:

369 AB, 96 H, .260 AVG, 20 2B, 4 3B, 24 HR, 74 RBI, 60 BB

At the same $5.3 million, Graig Nettles averaged on his card:

575 AB, 147 H, .256 AVG, 22 2B, 2 3B, 26 HR, 89 RBI, 63 BB

At the same rate through 575 AB, Garrett and Petrocelli will have:

575 AB, 149 H, .260 AVG, 31 2B, 6 3B, 37 HR, 115 RBI, 93 BB

Those are very comparable to Mike Schmidt's numbers, and he's valued at $9.13 million.

Of course, this isn't a revelation -- Earl Weaver was killing the league with effective platoons 40 years ago. But seeing the concrete numbers helped me clarify the value of finding two effective halves to make a superstar whole when it can work.

I'd love to hear from others who benefited from powerful platoons.

http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/team/1386314

Hershberger/Lum platoon in LF in a 60's Mystery league ($2.22 million total cost, both 2 fielders with -4/-2 arm respectively);

579 AB 62 R 158 H 16 2B 4 3B 17 HR 93 RBI 53 BB 68 K 1-1 SB 5 E .273 AVG .334 OBP .402 Slug

This cheap platoon, Tug McGraw with 5-1 record and 30 saves at $1.51 million with only 4 blown saves and Mudcat Grant hurling a 16-5 record as a starter with a salary of $1.08 million helped me win the title.

I think platoons are underestimated by most GMs. You can optimize your team greatly by using them carefully.

For those among you following the ATG Barnstormers, you probably know that BruceF and cristano are among the most succesful managers---Bruce F won it twice---and they've been in top 12 every year I believe since four-five years.

And the core of strategy is basically the same:

they pick up between 2-4 everyday players, especially in the middle of the field
they pick platoons at all other five-six positions
Together, that make up 14-15 players.

For example, in the following two teams, one, cristano's team, heading over 100 wins, the other, headed by BruceF, with 97 wins and a championship, both owners went with the same two players in the middle of the infield:
-2nd: Lajoie (8.78M)
-ss Wallace (2.95M)

BruceF fullfiled the rest of the roster with 6 platoons (league with no dh):
http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/team/1396800
Cristano (team with a dh) went with 5 platoons and also picked up Gibson for catching and Combs at cf.
http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/team/1410304

Another pattern is that, with one exception, they never spent more than 1.3M for a platoon vs lhp---but they spend as high as 4M for a platoon vs rhp.

Of course, the pool of players in ATG is so wide, it's easier to find the best platoons, but these two teams inspired me in trying this team, which combined platoons and injury-prone players:

http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/team/1408470

In that team, I had 5 regulars and 4 platoons (so 8 players) and two extras. So it wasn't optimal. My platoons were:
c-Jaso/Hanigan
1b-Lind/Ruf
ss-Gregorius/Romine
of-Seth Smith/Garcia


The team was successful, winning 98 games and a championship, playing all 14 games, but I have difficulties drawing strong conclusion about the success of platoons, because my offense didn't play as well as expected, and because this team was by far the luckiest team I ever had. At one point, my offense had 128 more favourable rolls, while my pitchers had 45 more fav rolls. My team had a net gain of 22 homeruns just coming from lucky rolls, and it had a 21-6 1-run record on top of that. After that point, when the rolls became more balanced, and the team went on with a 45-41 record.

So my conclusion is that platoons are useful, they are certainly an asset if you play in ATG, but in 20XX, it's harder to find the good mix of platoons, although I believe it could probably be as successful as in ATG with the right players.

It just feels like a different game. There was a player, Mike Kreevich, who is a cf2(0)e3 , gets on base over 40% against lefties with good double and triple power, is an A, 1-16 runner. He costs 1.09. Why wouldn't you platoon with players like that ? In our league I see these problems with platoons:

(1) Except for Walters I don't see too many good, cheap hitters against lefties;
(2) Platoon guys who are any good against lefties are bad defensively;
(3) if your team is injury-prone at all you going to wind up having your platoon play a lot on their bad side;
(4) Many managers like to use several relievers who are good against one side and I think it is more effective against a team using a lot of platoons, particularly since Hal is not great at pinch- hitting decisions.

Right now, I still wind up doing some platoons, but I really don't think the ATG strategy would work in our league. I really have not done it but I'm wondering if a low- injury, low-platoon team that minimizes bad at-bats is a better way to go. I am certainly going to take a new look at how to deal with platoons in the up- coming semi-final round.