MLB Showdown Cards

#Shots Friday: Managers

It finally happened, one of our two stand outs from last year finally caught lightning in a bottle. @tomwyliehart scored the only shot of the day with Chris Davis going deep for him last week. That would be the first of the year for both people. I would like to remind everyone that he did go on a tear last year scoring 6 consecutive weeks with a shot. Hope everyone has their favorite work appropriate beverage handy while we release our final 5 manager cards for our first ever class. This is a 20 card class and we will be taking votes here in the next couple weeks for what you all think should be the changes to them before we set them in stone. Hope everyone enjoys while being unproductive at work.

Bruce Bochey- I like this card because you are forcing your opponent to try and score off your starter and could protect a weak back half of the bullpen. I think it is a hair weak though. I think it would be better if it was discarding 4 cards (instead of 2) or “if the opposing team has scored two runs or fewer). Maybe something in the middle? I would love some feedback on this one. Either way it is obvious you are looking for dominant starters to pair with this guy on a pitching heavy team.

Joe Torre- The premise here is simple. Joe Torre had Mariano Rivera. Mariano Rivera was amazingly good. The question is how to best use Joe Torre. I am still wondering if he is at all useable. Maybe with a low control, great chart closer. Obviously using him with a 6, 1-16 guy isn’t going to be as effective as a 3, 1-18 guy. This is obviously a pretty weak bonus and only useful if you are close to a win. Then again I have blown enough saves in my life to say that those ones hurt the most.

Bob Melvin- Moneyball at its finest here. Everyone has a chance to get +1 to their swing with 2 walks. Better yet very undesirable players get an even better chance to get +1. Obviously you are looking for a big 10 OB, 1B+0 like Prince Fielder. Then you are going to try and find at least 1 LF/RF+0 player and obviously in AL rules find another +0 fielder. The question is are there other desirable options here. Does Starlin Castro come into play? Can you stomach bad fielders at painful positions and hide them? Is the thought of having 2-3-4-5 in your order all with +1 to the swing after the 7^th inning appealing? Lots of questions I am excited to see answered.

Jim Tracy- A bullpen of three 6, 1-15 no doubles or 6, 1-16 out relievers all going all pitching tired for 3 or more innings. They can even come out of the bullpen fatigued as a 5 and still be serviceable. Of course they will fatigue and get worse but they won’t be punished by some of the better strategy cards like Out of Gas and Running on Fumes. More importantly I estimate you could save +300 points to place elsewhere on your team.

Ron Gardenhire- Alright there are some difficulties with maximizing this card. First you need a useful bench. Bringing in bench players will get you an extra bonus. You could also be creative and have 2 utility players which play the same position at the same level and have them switch (gaining +1 each) to get +2 fielding. You are going to need a lot of utility players to maximize this. I am not sure anyone will every actually field an INF defense of +18 but it would be interesting. How about an OF of +10? The problem is defenders can not switch positions before the 7^th. Ether way a well crafted line-up could do very well in this setting. Mauer/Posey/Santana from behind the plate to first?

Twitterboard

@Jamesmruffin:3

@Roktikitiki:2

@Markrom3: 1

@Eddiezone44: 1

@Tomwyliehart:1

Playerboard

Carlos Beltran:3

Mark Trumbo:2

Justin Upton:1

Pedro Alvarez: 1

Chris Davis: 1