by Denorien » Wed Jan 18, 2006 9:58 pm
'Mop-up' seems to be the catch all when there are no setup guys or closers left. After my first couple teams, I now spend the money to have three decent or better relievers in the pen. Honeycutt, Perranoski, and McMahon in Dunn, for example ($80M cap). I'll pay for a decent rotation (success with both 4 and 5 man staffs) and set my relief ratings to conservative and my best starters to slow hook. With this general pitching strategy, Hal rarely mis-uses my pen. I find that I win most 1 or 2 run games, most extra inning games, and overperform in the playoffs. But, only one season with more then 90 wins. Of course, my offense is almost always small ball and I am a little susceptable to blow-out losses. Career winning % about .520 with 6 playoff appearances in 13 seasons. Finals 4 times winning 3 of them - all without homefield advantage. Too small a sample to draw conclusions, I agree. But the general performance/results have been consistently decent.