Relief patterns

[PAULMINICUCCI]

I have an issue that I have not seen addressed, but please direct me to a strand if it has. It is what to do when HAL insists on choosing your worst reliever. I have a bullpen of Wagner, Hoffman, Rivera, Riske and leicester. I used up a lot of cash on the top three. I am offering Wagner in trade because I am in Fenway. I wanted him to take care of lefties because I am throwing righties and the other team responds by loading lefties.

Here is the problem. I have managerial strategy to use Wagner as the set-up and closer for LH, following the advice of another veteran. I had Wagner set to avoid righties, later changed even that. I have hoffman set-up and Rivera closer for righties. The Hoffman Rivera thing works okay. What HAL does however is to insist on using Leicester. He brings him in in the ninth inning instead of Rivera or Wagner. So I dropped all restrictions on Wagner hopin that would change, but no HAL still brings in my worst relievers who are getting lit up. I can't get out from under this because I need 5 relievers. It isn't a "rest" thing. I am talking about Wagner not getting chosen for five games at a time. In fifty games he has picthed in six. I have him set as the closer and not to picth before the 8th inning.

Question: Is there anything I can do? Wagner has pitcthed 6 innings in nealry 50 games. Leicester has picthed over 30 innings. How do I get HAL to choose my best relievers instead of the two cheapies?

[LANCEBOUSLEY]

if you don't want HAL to use him at all set him on MOP UP and do not use before 9th inning.. that might help.

[CHARLESBELL]

There is a reason it happens, but sometimes only HAL knows what it is. Getting wagner in the game only 6 IPs in 50 games does sound extreme, but you have also been changing your settings around so it is hard to pin down the issue. Do you know how many true save opportunities with a lefty at bat you actually had over that 50 games? It might not be that many, and as an r(1) and avoid RHH set he won't stay in that long either.

With wagner on avoid RHH and leicaster a 9R who is actually pretty good against RHH, it's no wonder HAL wants to use him in late game, non-save situations. In save situations he should be going with Rivera if available, but otherwise you are going to see leicaster, who is better against RHH than everyone you have except maybe hoff. But as an r(2), even with avoid lefties set, he will probably see way to many lefties against that horrible side of his. So if you really don't want to see him used then mop up is the right answer.

[PAULMINICUCCI]

Thanks for the Mop-up tip. I appreciate it. I have already done that settings. For context, this is a team where I spent a good deal of money on pitching. I have Zambrano, Clemens, Leiter , Hudson and Leiber at Fenway. Kennedy for the Shea stadiums of which I have several. My surprise has been how well Leiter picthes in Fenway. So I thought that with these starters and my good three relievers I would be doing well in picthing. It turns out I am secodn to the last, although if you take out my two dogs I would be middle of the pack.

I have a few other questions, if anyone would like to answer. (I am new at this)

How much does the manager strategy settings count versus the individual pitcher settings? That is, would setting conservative as a relief setting and setting my starters (who are pretty good) to slow hook help alleviate the situation? I already had "maximize" closer on.

The other question is what would happen if I set "do not pitch to LH" and "do not pitch to RH" for Leicester?

Good question on how many times was a LH save situation. Yeah, there were six save opportunities in 8th and 9th where a LH was due up. In some cases he left in Leicester who was appearing as middle relief. In three cases he did go to Wagner. The one that pissed me off, was Leicester was in his third inning of relief, 9th inning facing Thome and Wagner had not pitched in four games and he lets Leicester pitch and Thome hits a 3R HR to win the game. :o

I only changed the settings after Wagner was so unused. At first I thought trying to save him for close games in 8th and 9th and avoiding RH would have resulted in getting him selected for late inning saves. But it retarded HAL using hm at all.

I just noted that the same thing is happening in another team where I have Rivera as both set-up and closer on strategy and have Cal Eldred. In 12 games played there, Eldred has been in 6 games for 9 innings and has a 12.ERA while Rivera has yet to appear. The team is 6-6 and been in tight games so again I can't figure it.

This is Leicester's line. He actually had two good outings to start. I was surprised. His last 10 have been horrible.

TOTAL 29.0 116 40 19 17 6 .345 6.83 2.03 $.50M

Sorry for the long post. I just have to learn how to use the settings. I really appreciate the help. I have to say I am surprised at how helpful everyone is. It's great.

[hechojazz]

Well, if Leicester had both an R rating and a S rating, you could hide him in your designated rotation, and then make sure to select per game starters to set who would actually start your games. HAL would then treat him as hands off, which would be fine with the strength of your starting pitching and the other strong relievers in your pen. As he's only got an R rating, I'd drop him for another .50 pitcher who has both an R and an S rating, and hide him as suggested. You don't need that fifth reliever with the other pitchers you have.

[PAULMINICUCCI]

What a great tip. I would have struggled for days figuring how to hide him. I think you are correct. Now I have to make sure I do the designated pitcher line-up every night. I can't imagine a .50 SP. Talk about pouring gas on the fire.

[hechojazz]

You actually can set your per game starters way in advance, and you'll just need to remember to check now and then to make sure you're staying ahead of the game.