Archive of SportingNews.com's old SOM Baseball forum

I have lost two extra-inning games thanks to HAL's defensive moves. The problem involves Willie Harris and Nick Punto. When Harris has been brought in late in the game to pinch-run or pinch-hit, he has been left in the game at shortstop and Punto has been moved to centerfield. Can anyone tell me why 4e48 replaces a 3e12 at shortstop and a 4(+2)e16 replaces a 2(-1)e3 in centerfield when I have two players on the bench with better ratings at shortstop (4e17 and 4e22) and two players on the bench with better ratings in centerfield (3e3 and 3e6)?

Judging by the lack of response, I'd say no. You're all alone trying to slay the beast.

btw- You can't stop HAL, only contain him. :lol:

UNCtarheel - This "bloody nose" to your strat team is the height of karmic injustice. Makes me wanna duke, um, puke. :?

Wacky injury and defensive subs are a much-discussed bugaboo and the reason many of us have learned to avoid otherwise fine players like 2006 Brad Ausmus. Until they work it out in the code, you simply have to treat this is a basic fact of the game -- that anyone on your bench who is eligible to play any position can and will, without regard to defensive ratings -- with the solace that you're not the only one who has to cope with and plan around this.

Of course the best place to address the sub problem is just after you've drafted and are selecting among the cheap FAs to round out your roster. This is a sometimes overlooked part of the process of forming a winning team. Not only can you tighten your roster to avoid disasterous injury substitutions, but you can often find one or two cheapies to target some of the weaknesses of your divisional foes.

But none of that helps you. In your case, because the two players you menitoned are about as cheap as they come, I'd consider going against the conventional wisdom and -- if you have a couple hundred grand around -- taking the small payroll hit and dropping these two subs in favor of two players that HAL can't use to screw ya.

Yes, in an ordinary league it would be a rather simple matter to dump one or the other of these two players. Unfortunately, this is a $60M, AL-only format and the free-agent list contains a horrid collection of misfits who come with their own demons. I guess I will just have to have my GM work harder at swinging a deal.