Left handed Reliever?

[bravefalcon7]

I'm playing in my first league at Turner Field. I'm contemplating improving my bullpen by dropping Damaso Marte (9L) for either Steve Kline (8L) or Kent Mercker (6R). I would think Kline is a no-brainer, but Mercker is more expensive. Any thoughts?

[cummings2]

What is it that you need to improve? Are lefties pounding you? are righties hammering you? you need a better closer? another setup? a rubber arm middle guy?

I have never played Kline but the most effective way I've seen him used is a closer vs LHB.

what's the general balance of your division? will you face lots of lefty or righty batters?, are you playing in a division full of Sheas? Wrigleys? Petcos? Coors?...so many variables...so many questions...maybe a link would help :wink:

[bravefalcon7]

Good questions, but too many to answer right now. I was only considering upgrading from Marte because he's been a weak link and Pudge has been injured so much and I'm at .500 without him. But here is a link, if you have any suggestions:

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2005/team/team.html

[cummings2]

This link will take me to my team not your team. Try going to League -> stats. right click on your team ->copy shortcut. then paste it here at the end of the link you'll se an "id=###"


something like this (this was my speed team)

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2005/team/team_other.html?user_id=21266

[rgimbel]

i like marte a lot dont see a reason to change him for kline you have to use him closer vs lefties 9th inning only and avoid righties otherwise he will face righties and be pounded but same thing would happen to kline. unless your hard lefts and rights are pitching 8th and 9th inning only they will face the wrong side batters
guys you are using for middle innings should be even or reverse

[bravefalcon7]

OK, here is the link:


http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2005/team/team_other.html?user_id=37601

Any thoughts?

[cummings2]

hmmm...tough call. On the one hand I think your pen can use the help, I would try to get a good R2 like RG said fairly neutral, someone like Mahay. In my limited experience if I a going to use specialists like Fultz and Witasick I like to carry 11 pitchers so than HAL can use the specs only vs their strong side and still have setup otions available to bridge to the closer. But since you are going with a 4 man rotation you have 6 available arms in your pen... on the other side loosing Pudge's bat is a question given that your team can use the OBP and AVG help...who would you replace Pudge with? The biggest problem I have with I-Rod is his throwing but with your staffs exellent holding rates his arm will not be tested as often and he will inhibit steals.

I think it's abit early to make the change. I know Pudge has been injured but you should get a good season out of him.

If you want to make the change I suggest someone a bit more balanced. That can setup Smoltz when Rincon is not available. Even J. Cruz would do the trick IMO.

In offense I'd try improving your OBP so that your big boys have more men on base to drive in.

[mfsleeze]

I agree with cummings. You've had bad luck with Pudge granted but he hit .334, has positive clutch and is one of only two guys you have who has over 50 total bases vs RHP.

Your OBP is what's holding you back. You only have one guy with over 40 OB chances vs RHP, so no one is on for Pujols to drive in. I just compared that to a team I have in the playoffs now that led the league in runs and had 8 guys over 40, for $6MM less than you spent on hitting. I'd target Castilla and your whole outfield as places to look for more OBP. You can probably sacrifice Marte since you have Rincon and Smoltz to eat up innings and already have Fultz as a lefy specialist. Pujols and Giles ought to be enough to prevent teams from throwing lefties at you, so I think I'd look for some heavily righty-focused guys

[bravefalcon7]

OK, so who would you rather have in your bullpen:

Damaso Marte & Pete Munro (R3) (current situation)
Damaso Marte & Chris Retisma (R1)
Scott Eyre & Kevin Gregg (R2)
Chris Reitsma & TJ Tucker (R2)

How important is it to have an R3 or R4 pitcher?

[cummings2]

I'm not sure I understand the question but here goes what I think (which might be wrong for all I know).

The Rx rating refers to the number of innings the pitcher can go before fatigue sets in and those little @ become singles in the pitcher's card. Therefore the higher the R rating the more innings the pitcher can give you with a more favorable card. So you can look at the card and replace the @outs with SI** and see the kind of pitcher you'd have on the mound when tired. If you do this with, for example Wagner or Mike Gonzalez you'll see that even if tired their cards are pretty nasty, now if you do this on Donnelly you'll see that the extra SI** with his BPHRs could lead to trouble over the length of a season.

Now in a bullpen setup as yours I'd have Munro as my mopper and emergency spot starter. If he is pitching in games that are out of reach the longer he goes the better to save your pen for following games...if you are already loosing the game so badly that your mopper comes in I believe it's alright if he gives 200 runs...what I care is that he eats the innings up. But do make sure that he is only used like that : when the game is out of reach. Then you have your specialists to avoid their weak side with a quick hook. That leaves you with Rincon to setup Smoltz. So in my opinion you are pretty well set with the exception of middle relief.

Since it is likely that middle relief will be pitching often and more often than not for more than one inning it is that I suggested an R2...no other reason. The actual card is far more important than the R rating. Just like with specialist the card is far more important than the balance, Just because a pitcher has a 9L balance doesn't mean that he is good vs. lefties. Sometimes they suck vs their strong side and bite vs. their weak side!

As far as the frequency with which your pitchers are used in the best of my knowledge HAL uses the same rule for all pitchers regardless of their R rating when it comes to pitching in consecutive days.

The only reliever higher than R2 that I have used with success is Duchscherer (R3) he usually ends with tons of innings and a pretty good ERA.

Is Parrish available? he's been good to me in the past... Kieshnick has given me several solid seasons (but also two horrid ones). I've seen Gregg have some OK seasons.

I would look for a good middle relief guy instead of having two below average guys.

Hope I answered your question...of the pairs you mentioned the problem is that I wouldn't have any of them if the rest of my pitching staff was the same as yours.