Relief Usage

[ANDYCOCHRANE]

Should I stick with my relief usage on Normal? I sometimes have 5 pitchers come into any one game, which i feel is far too many, but I don't want to restrict my pitchers if they are needed. What does Normal really mean in comparison to Conservative or Aggressive in relief strategy?

[hechojazz]

Unless your best relievers are very skewed balance-wise, you can get better control over the pen without changing the manager setting from normal by marking those relief studs slow hook, and not maximizing the closer setting. The lesser lights in the pen you can mark mop up and/or avoid righthanded or lefthanded batters if appropriate, and this should properly maximize the innings of the better arms. If your closer is a C4 or better and is a big $ guy, mark him to close and set up both ways too. You should see fewer games with your entire pen coming in to play.
:P

[ANDYCOCHRANE]

Would Kolb be able to Set up and Close? He is not top dollar but not cheap either. If a closer is put on Set up and Close, which is the best way to ensure my big set up man, Moreno, Mendoza or Gordon, for example, gets in before my closer? I want my best guys to be in as often as poss and don't want hal to mess it up.

[hechojazz]

Well if you have Gordon, he's more expensive and generally better than your closer, so definately mark him to set up both ways. I have Benitez, and had him marked to set up and close both ways, but found that my #2 reliever was often going unused for some reason in favor of my #3 guy. I then changed to mark the #2 guy to set up both ways and that's been working pretty well. In my last team that was never an issue, so I guess the advice is to set your settings in a way that seems good, and then see how it in fact works out and adjust if HAL is defying your expectations. But in my experience, having 2 good quality relievers and 1 decent reliever is all you truly need. Throw in a couple cheapies and you should be all set. Of course, if your rotation is filled with a bunch of sub-2mil guys, you would need a deeper pen...

[1crazycanuk]

I have Gordon set up both ways and Nathan close both ways and the rest are just mop up guys or whatever. Some people thought I'd be making a mistake because these guys would be coming in to games I'd already be losing. Sometimes that is the case but they hold the fort and many times I've come back to win.

You've got good advice here I really can't give anymore.