Defense over a bat?

[Chiefpot]

I got altuve browsing the menus but thinking of keeping Cano for his defense, selling altuve and getting andrelton Simmons for SS, replacing my created player and a pitcher, possibly sale.

I'm just not sure if the defense will payoff. I really like the idea of Cano and Simmons up the middle but don't know if it's practical in the game we play. Should I even prioritize defense at 2B, is that stupid.

Will defense up the middle cut down runs?

[Orange Krush]

It's hard to judge for the game. When I played dee Gordon at 2nd, I can remember some really great plays he made showing off his range. Now I have Carew there and in not noticing much difference. He might be worse but it's hard to tell.

[jayb_270]

Bats>defense

[Byantz]

i have iglesias and escobar playing 2nd and short mostly for their defense, offensively they dont do much . i also got machado on 3rd becasue i was tired of carpenter not being able to make a throw

[Gambit1193]

Quote: Originally Posted by Byantz

i have iglesias and escobar playing 2nd and short mostly for their defense, offensively they dont do much . i also got machado on 3rd becasue i was tired of carpenter not being able to make a throw

I made the same change at 3rd base also. Carpenter got on my last nerves. Machado has been pretty good for me offensively (.285, 5 hr's, 13 RBI) and the usual beast defense with his cannon arm.

[BrianU]

If you are being hurt by steals regularly it's nice to have a solid defensive catcher on your bench.

For the catcher Bench and Berra are tops, but check out Robinson Chirinos http://www.daddyleagues.com/dd/card/...binson/history on the cheap for when protecting a lead.

I also keep Stephen Drew on my bench for late innings if I have a lead. Real baseball strategy!

[takki]

Honestly, there isn't a right answer. I prefer offense. This sounds silly but your opponent can't win if you outscore them. I rather have a great pitcher to make up for having an average defense.

For certain positions, defense helps. My catcher needs arm acc and str in the 90s to shut down the abundance of stealing online.

My first baseman needs to be left handed (to shut down people leading off) and needs decent fielding (so he doesn't drop catches in the dirt).

My outfielders needs decent fielding so they don't make errors on routine catches which will lose you games. My center fielder needs to be fast and have an arm so he can shut down someone going home on a ball hit to the outfield.

Other than that, defense doesn't matter to me. I'll take a couple more errors every other game and instead have hitting threats all the way down my batting order.

[Dag_BoomStick]

Since early on I had ellsbury in center and when I got WILLIAMS he has been in left and they have been my staple outfielders. Both performing very well with the bat. Both there defenses were subject though. While ells can track down most balls but his arm is worthless. Williams I'm just happy if he gets to a ball but his bat makes up for it. His arm isn't the greatest ever either. Through all this I had a rotating door in right. Had Stanton for a while but he struck out way to much. Then I came across puig. I still have him BC he is a monster with the bat for me and he was my first decent outfielder with an arm that could gun ppl down. I also had gomez at one point but I could hardly hit over .150 with him so I dropped him as well. At this stage I'm seeing ells bat dropping from hitting .305 to .280. Still not bad when your factor in his speed but if my struggles with him keep up I'm benching him for puig in center. I picked up al Kline and he's been better in all aspects then puig has for me. I really don't wanna sit ells bc of his speed and if I do my lineup will start to look to right hand heavy. Wish there was another good fielding lefty with an arm I could run out there in center but most ppl I've tried don't cut it.