Archive of SportingNews.com's old SOM Baseball forum

Based upon Bernie's comments about the fact that the more options you give HAL in the pen, the better he will manage the pen, I have begun playing around with different types of bullpens lately .....

I have been building deeper pens than normal, pens with 4-5 serviceable relievers, NO SCRUBS. And have noticed that if you have a pitcher set to avoid LH or avoid RH, HAL will often times use the pitchers for only 1 or 2 batters and will in fact adhere to your wishes. So long as he has a viable replacement in the pen.

Now, herein lies the problem, when HAL does that, you end up going thru your entire pen in 2 innings and then come the 9th inning, you've got no one left ............ :(

Here's a classic example:

Doug Sisk, who is set to not use before the 9th, picks up his 5th loss of the year:

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/atg2/league/boxscore.html?group_id=30894&g_id=366

Obviously, I need to find that delicate balance which is buried in the settings .......... :?:

(And YES, Sisk is pretty much a scrub, but you get the idea)