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Subject: Echelon / Swirve: Lessons learned Posted by: blue hen - [524241121] Mon, Sep 18, 18:31 Hey Gurupies... You may be surprised to see such an analytical post from your faithful (and humorous) Blue Hen, but as you probably know, I can get very passionate about things. Unfortunately, I discovered my passion for Echelon Baseball about two months too late. I'd had a team (and a decent one) since the beginning of the season, but I neglected the need to constantly improve my team, and fell quite a ways behind the leader. While I've put myself in the top 2000 in the months that followed, I will fall way short of where I should be. If you haven't played Swirve (they changed the name earlier this summer), I urge you to visit the Swirve Baseball Site and read up on the rules. If you do play, you probably know most of what I am about to say, but perhaps you haven't thought about it in these terms. Beyond the obvious things like lock in cheap players early and try to finish the season with as little money as possible, I learn two basic rules... 1. Lock in any significantly underprice stars very early. I thought I was a genius for locking in cheap guys like Darryl Kile, Jeffrey Hammonds, Jason Isringhausen, and Mariano Rivera, but I neglected to notice that Todd Helton was entirely underpriced at $35K. In fact, you should be able to find a whole bunch of stars priced in that range, or slightly higher. If they're one of the best at their position (as I knew Helton would be), they will be priced around $50K for most of the year, and if you can get them for that much less, it'll help you quite a bit. 2. Rotate early and often, especially after the All-Star Break. I had Randy Johnson at $50K and held him for most of the second half, until I realized about the rotation. Since you have to hold a guy for four days, pick him up the day of his start. Then hold him until the day after his next start. Then pick him up the day after his following start. Let's say he starts every five days. If you hold him for his three starts, you pay for day 1 (start), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 (start), 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 (start). That's 11 days out of 11. If you drop him then pick him up, you pay for 1 (start), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 (start), 7 (drop fee), 11. That's only 8 days out of 11. At $50K a day, that's $150K you've just saved. Of course, the rotation works best for a guy who's high priced because the higher the price, the more you save. Also, you can sometimes lock in a low price. I locked Kile in at $18K, and when his price reached $36K, I had to pay the equivalent two days' salary, and then buy him back at the higher price. Unfortunately, this takes up a roster spot, and you only get 7 spots for pitchers. OK, those are the two main lessons I learned this year. If anyone wants to share some of their own, please do. And watch out, because next year I will be even better... | ||||||
| 1 | blankenshoot ID: 515202115 Fri, Aug 17, 12:58 | well did you get any better? | |||||
| 2 | Baldwin ID: 4261155 Fri, Aug 17, 14:12 |
I've held underpriced hitters locked all season... Piazza [underperformer] Helton Ortiz [ouch] Jeter [underperformed early] Soriano [yeah] Suzuki [yeah] Beltran [yeah] Vlad [underperformed early] Griffey, jr So as you can see I followed the rule to grab way underpriced superstars and also identify surprise new stars and comeback kids. Problem is I only managed to hold @125 with this strat and have the sneaking feeling the top 100 mostly didn't lock. Of course it is easy to look at each team and see if they locked hitters for the year but I was wondering if there is a concensus on which course is wiser. | |||||
| 3 | SteveO ID: 125402716 Fri, Aug 17, 14:52 |
Blue Hen, Unless I'm mistaken, there is no more drop fee like last year. Which just makes the rotation of pitchers even more appealing. | |||||
| 4 | Kings Fan ID: 157501417 Fri, Aug 17, 15:04 | I locked up all my hitters up about 1-2 months into the season, and it worked out well (except for Brogna). With pitchers, I actually locked up Morris and Sheets (oops) for under 20k, but now I wish I had left the slots open for rotation. | |||||
| 5 | Species Donor ID: 304521510 Fri, Aug 17, 15:15 | SteveO - this post was authored last year. Note the September date. | |||||
| 6 | j o s h ID: 3979178 Fri, Aug 17, 16:55 |
I read about half of it before I realized he was playing the efficiency format (even the part "they changed the name earlier this summer) scratched head when he mentioned "drop fee".... the only thing in swirve baseball that remains a constant, is the 7 pitcher rotation! | |||||
| 7 | blue hen, almighty Leader ID: 34937217 Fri, Aug 17, 19:41 | Actually, I've neglected my team this year. I kind of wish I'd played, because it sounds pretty good in retrospect. I'm standing by my sentiments from last year. They probably knew people would figure out the game and changed the rules accordingly. | |||||
| 8 | tduncan ID: 47616279 Fri, Aug 17, 20:00 |
well, my team is a sad story. I loked 7 out of my 8 hitters after the first day for very low prices (matheny, rotate at 1st base, todd walker, pujols, furcal, larry walker, ichiro, daryle ward) for the whole season, and rotated 7 pitchers. looked great at the begginig, even got into the top 30 after a few months, but then matheny forgot how to hit, furcal is out for the season, larry walker was injured for some time and todd walker was traded from coors field. now I'm around the 180 overall, and I expected to do much better. the lesson is to NEVER sign hitters for long contract (30 days max). you could ALWAYS find players who will produce for you, and the injury risk is just too much. the key for the new system in swirve baseball was (besides rotating 7 pitchers, without this there is nothing to talk about) to get around 150 points each and every day from your 8 hitters. to be consistent, and not having days of 40-50 points was to me the key. | |||||
| 9 | j o s h ID: 3979178 Fri, Aug 17, 21:58 |
blue hen,(ahem) almighty- learning the game and winning aren't exacly the same. I'm not sure why the entire format need be changed. There was one little rule regarding cost of dropping players;) that a few clever players learned a way around in their end games. Just quit shelling out free cash, and cough up free points. (if ya have to have free anythings) I'm hoping the format is switched back next year! | |||||
| 10 | kev ID: 36925310 Fri, Aug 17, 22:15 |
I dont mind the format in basketball and baseball, it brings the field closer together...you dont have 2 or 3 masters of the style of play (yourself included josh) that run away with the game. But in football, it sure does stink ;) | |||||
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