Time Machine: Corner Outfield
Larry Walker (00):
One of the great outfielders. Much more impressive player then the
stats would show. The .379 batting avg. in 1999 is one of those great
years. 37 homers, 4 triples and 26 doubles is nothing to scoff at in
438 AB's. His card has a +0 fielding which is a crime. He is one of
the better outfielders in his day. Not the fastest player as a speed
B. A great base runner which again is hard to capture in a card game.
This 10 card has a nice small 1-2 out but also has a big homer of
17-20 and 15-16 2B. Hard to justify the 620 points. Always tough to
find +600 points for a player. More of an all star player then a
draft player at that points
Vladimir
Guerrero (01): One of the great
free swingers of all time. One of the best players in Expos history.
Not that that title is nearly as big of a complement as some it would
be if the team were anyone else but it is what it is. He is still a
great player. Top notch arm in the corner outfield which only earned
him a +1. Thought he may also deserve a +2 but who am I to judge. The
44 homers he hit from his shoe tops or the opposite batting box in
2000 were good enough for a 9, 17-20 HR, 16 3B, 14-15 2B. His big
stat is a 6 or higher for a single. Great RBI guy with all those
singles. He is only a speed B. He would one year hall only 1 homer
short of 40/40. Fun player to watch sadly on a lot of losing teams.
Manny
Ramirez (01): The slugger was
part of some great line ups in Cleveland. He was remembered even then
for having odd quirks. Known for his work ethic of running to Jacobs
field with a car tire on his back. He went extended stretches without
cashing his pay checks. He would earn plenty in his career if he ever
did cash them. In 2000 he batted .351 with 38 homers and 34 doubles.
He was basically slow his whole career and a poor defender despite
having a great short distance throwing arm. For 580 points he was a
10 with 17-20 HR, 14-16 2B with +0 fielding. He is only a 1-2 out
which is nice. He could hit on a lot of teams now in Showdown and no
one had to deal with “Manny being Manny” which would be coined
later.
Sammy
Sosa (00): Time to get t some
of the big boys. Slamming Sammy wrecked havoc on most of the National
League in 1998 and 1999. Chasing Maris in the summer of 1998 with
McGwire. Both put up impressive numbers in 1999. The two would hit
264 in 2 years. I have no idea what on earth the pitchers in the
National Central were doing for 2 years straight. Sammy had that big
smile and that trademark hop. He would have a falling out with the
public in years to follow. He would have a corked bat show up that
lead many to question some of his offensive numbers. I think that
would be a bit of an over exaggeration. The verdict may still be out
on performance enhancing substances. Ether way he was an 8, speed B,
14-20 HR (that is not a misprint to new players). For 480 points and
a +1 defence he is a fun card to play with. As cheap of power as you
can get. He gets my vote in any draft league where he is available.
For more points and on base you could always go with...
Barry
Bonds (01) Bonds would go on to
set great numbers in homers and OBP. Not so much RBI as you would
think, thanks a lot to his team mates. He may be the reason Showdown
was ruined. His 73 homers are easy enough to to put into card form.
Those un-godly OBP were so tough. He deserved more then an 11 on
base. His .609 OBP in 2004 was likely worthy of the 16 on base. They
should never have given it to him for the good of the game. They
should have never bumped everyone else up. He had other worldly years
and deserved other worldly cards. Each year was more off the charts
then the year before in some way. In 2001 he was still in the
stratosphere. He was only a 10 on base speed B for 650 points. His
chart is worth it but barely. 16-20 HR, 14-15 2B, 13 Single+ for good
measure. One of the best players every in Showdown. Useful for those
looking to home runs. Him and Sosa (00) are 2 of the 5 most powerful
players in Showdown with only McGwire (00,01) and Bautista (10) to
keep them company. McGwire at first, Sosa and Bonds in the corner
outfield with Bautista at third could be fun.
Awww yes, the old timer power in the corner outfield! I never liked Barry Bonds the person, but his 2001 card was nasty and he eventually did ruin the game of MLB Showdown with what I believe was 30-40 LBS of added muscle from PEDs. If we had been going by the 2000/2001 format for making cards, I say you give him a 13 for that superhero .609 OBP in 2004 and leave everyone else 11 and under. This begs the question: how many points would a 13 OB, 19-20 HR be worth? Would he be worth drafting?
ReplyDeleteGreat Question Eddie. Typically the rule of thumb is that for every additional on base, you add between 50-100 points to the price. A 13 OB with a 19-20 homer, depending on speed and the rest of the chart is probably 750+ Miguel Cabrerra in 2011 is a 11 OB 19-20 homer speed C and he is 570 points.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, the last sentence of this post got me all kinds of excited. That would be a 2,350 point murderers row from spot 3-6 in the line-up. If you had a Michael Bourn lead off at 270, Hanley Frias bat 2nd for 290, punted your catcher and found a serviceable 2nd basemen for 150 points or less- Orlando Hudson maybe? This would still fall under the perimeters of an extreme hitting line-up. I drool at that much power in a line-up. An 8 14-20, 9 15-20 and TWO 10 16-20's!!! Who needs to pitch with a line-up like that?
Thanks for the 13 OB input Kyle. 750+ points is a boatload, but it very well might be worth it. Even a picther with a 6 Control would have to roll an 8 or higher to get the advantage. The lineup would likely be a lot like the one in Frisco, where Barry didn't put up huge RBI numbers because of the weak talent in front of him.
ReplyDeleteAs for your second point, I think this is how I set up my batting order for a murderous row like that:
1-Bourn
2-Frias
3-Bonds 10 16-20
4-McGwire 10 16-20
5-Bautista 9 15-20
6-Sosa 8 14-20
7-Hudson
8-Pudge (50 Pts, 11 Arm)
This is the kind of lineup that would make me go broke on ice coffee!
I would likely split up the 10's. Mine would look like this;
ReplyDelete1. Bourn
2. Frias
3. Sosa
4. Bonds
5. Bautista
6. McGwire
7. Ellis from 2010- 130 points, 8 OB +5 fielding. Love him.
8. Pudge
9. Pitcher
Here is the logic: First of all, we would all be broke on ice coffee with this line-up and it would be well worth it! Now on to the reasoning. By the odds, all 4 of them hit with the same amount of power. With Sosa being an 8 in the 6 hole for you, all I have to do is bring in a crappy 6 control reliever to get through your 6-9. However, if you protect Sosa's 8 with two 10's, Frias and Bonds, now that 6 control, which we will likely still see, can get punished. For that same reason I split up Bonds and McGwire. I want them to protect Bautista, for what little protection he needs. Normally I would be worried about the large amount of walks in this line-up..but in this case it's actually a good thing because I have 4 chances to hit homers. If they walk in front of those guys, it's fine! Just tack on the runs baby!
Oh man.. I want that team.
Interesting logic Kyle. You bring up great points on the walks and how that contributes to you splitting up the 2 10s. It looks weird putting McGwire in the 6 spot, but I get it...you can't walk everyone and if you do, we're scoring runs! This lineup would kill starting pitcher's innings pretty quickly and leave the opposing manager hopeless. Maybe if I play in a newbie's league, I can pull this off!
ReplyDelete