SP/Reliever as "Closer"?

[Larryrickenbacker]

Howdy,

I've decide to try a lightly used Starter/Reliever as my main closer. In his career he was primarily a Starter. Will SOM allow him to succeed in this endeavor or is it all up to the dice?

Larry

[LMBombers]

SOM doesn't care what pitcher you select as your closer. It is all up to the dice.

Generally you are better off with a R pitcher for the money than a S/R player that costs the same.

[coyote303]

[quote:274a0067ab="Larryrickenbacker"]Howdy,

I've decide to try a lightly used Starter/Reliever as my main closer. In his career he was primarily a Starter. Will SOM allow him to succeed in this endeavor or is it all up to the dice?

Larry[/quote:274a0067ab]

You didn't say what type of league you're in. If you're playing a 200x league, I don't think you'll do well. (I'm assuming closer rules are in effect for 200x leagues and your pitcher will have a poor closer rating.)

[Delbird]

Just curious, how does the closer rating work? I've been looking for a definition of the Cx code and I have not found it. I'm figuring a C6 is better than a C4 but what does that really mean?

[emm9230]

the # after the C is how many outs a closer could get in a save situation

[Knerrpool]

What is the difference between using a Cx versus just a regular Rx in a save situation? I'm assuming the guy with the closer rating will do better (since he's supposedly a closer) but how, exactly does he do better?

[AeroDave10]

[quote:0450094e7d]"R2" or "relief(2)" means he can be used in relief, and in general he can go 6 outs (3 x 2) before being susceptible to tiredness.[/quote:0450094e7d]

This is the definition of a relief pitcher posted on the "How to read a SOM Pitcher's card" link found on every pitcher's card.

The closing rating works similarly, in that a C6 can go 6 outs before being susceptible to fatigue (i.e. has reached his Point of Weakness (POW)). However, the caveat is that this only applies in "closing situations", which I found out the hard way is not the same as "save situations".

A closing situation is "whenever the defensive team has the lead and the tying run is at-bat or on-base from the 9th inning on. When this situation occurs then observe the following rule changes:

When bringing a relief pitcher into the game in a closer situation ignore his Relief Endurance rating. Instead use his Closer Endurance rating to determine the number of outs he can record before he loses his effectiveness.

Once this number of outs have been recorded, the pitcher will lose his effectiveness as soon as he allows a hit or a walk. If a pitcher is rated 0, then he loses his effectiveness as soon as he allows a hit or a walk. When a pitcher loses his effectiveness, he has reached his POW.

If the pitcher being brought into the game in a closer situation has a Closer Endurance rating of "N", then he enters the game with the loss effectiveness penalty already in affect (he has reached his POW). For pitchers rated as a "N", this penalty is always in effect starting with the first batter they face in a closer situation.

If the pitcher in the game has a Closer Endurance rating of "N", then he immediately loses his effectiveness (he reaches his POW.)

If the pitcher in the game has a Closer Endurance rating of 0 to 6, you should subtract the number of outs that he has already recorded in this game from his closer rating. This number becomes his Closer Endurance for this game. If the computed number is less than 0, then accept 0 as his Closer Endurance for this game.

* Once the closer situation rules have been implemented for a particular reliever they over-ride the normal relief endurance rules and cannot be canceled. DO NOT REVERT TO THE NORMAI, RELIEF ENDURANCE RULES FOR THIS PITCHER EVEN IF THE SCORE CHANGES AND YOU ARE NO LONGER IN A CLOSER SITUATION!
* Whenever you bring in a new reliever you are starting a clean slate. Use the current situation to determine if you should start with the normal relief endurance rules or the closer endurance rules.
* These rules do not affect the starting pitcher's POW in any way! This must be kept in mind when a pitcher rated to start and relieve is used as a starter. If he's used as a starter then these have no effect, but when used as a reliever you will follow these rules.
* Relievers effective inning are capped. The relievers maximum innings without reaching his POW is equal to his relief endurance plus 2. After that point, the pitcher may remain in the game but has reached his POW (all dots become SI**.)"



Here are a few reference pages worth reading about this topic. The majority of this post is copied directly from the second link.

http://somonline.bluwiki.com/go/Super-Advanced_Point_of_Weakness

http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/btf/pages/basesim/somrules.htm

[Knerrpool]

Thanks for the information and the links. I understand it now. The next question, then, is in a closing situation are you better off using a more expensive reliever but that does not have a closer rating (and so is fatigued right away), or a cheaper reliever but does have a decent closer rating? I guess there's no magical way to tell.....

[Valen]

With our super advanced max rules the penalty for being fatigued is more than just the @ rolls becoming singles. A tired pitcher in the computer game also gives up more doubles and home runs. Thus in my opinion if this is a 200x game you are much better off going with a cheap reliever who has a closer rating than an on the surface better reliever who has no closer rating.

I forget his name but early in the 2001 set there was a 0.50 reliever who had a C6 rating and I used him on several teams including at least one that won a championship. After the set had been out a while I could no longer get him in autodrafts.

I have had moderate success however using S/R pitchers as closers in the ATG game where theoretically the closer rules are turned off. Catch is though for relative quality these guys cost more than an otherwise identical R only pitcher. So you do not get value in a lower cap league. However in a 200 mil league I have done so though cannot say I had great success. So maybe you shouldn't.