Archive of SportingNews.com's old SOM Baseball forum

Hi, I haven't played in a while and will begin a season of "All-Time Greats V" on Monday. I am very knowledgeable with most of the settings but would like an opinion and or input whether it is a good idea to implement the "Don't Relieve B4" (ie F0-F9) settings or play without it. Any suggestions and or personal experiences with using or not using this setting would be appreciated. Thanks in advance for your help. :D

Well, you probably know that the F-rating supersede any other instructions, except perhaps "avoid lh/avoid rh".

Once a pitcher reaches F0, he's becoming pretty bad, so I would use the F-rating very carefully. So unless your bullpen is extremely weak, I wouldn't have any confidence with any low F-rating.


Actually, even if you select a high F-rating, say F7, it can lead to danger. Basically, by selecting F7, you tell HAL to not "think" about removing the pitcher before he reaches F7, but this does not mean it will remove the pitcher then, particularly if you have also selected "slow hook" or "conservative use of bullpen". In such settings, it will remove the pitcher only if he gets into trouble, unless the game is a 1-run lead down the 7th or 8th inning, in which case HAL will follow your bullpen instructions.

For my taste, Hal is always too patient with such instructions, particularly considering that I always have at least one good reliever in the bullpen. So the settings I preferred most for my best starting pitchers is to use a high F-rating, say F7 or F6, but set the pitcher on "quick hook". This way, Hal almost automatically removes the pitcher as soon as he reaches the F-state I defined, and does not allow the pitcher to get as much in trouble as with more conservative ratings.

What you said makes good sense. Thank you for the input. :D

[quote:0675dd90a6]For my taste, Hal is always too patient with such instructions, particularly considering that I always have at least one good reliever in the bullpen. So the settings I preferred most for my best starting pitchers is to use a high F-rating, say F7 or F6, but set the pitcher on "quick hook". This way, Hal almost automatically removes the pitcher as soon as he reaches the F-state I defined, and does not allow the pitcher to get as much in trouble as with more conservative ratings.[/quote:0675dd90a6]


I'm always learning from Luckyman. Thank you.

with strong relief, why not just leave the starter on F8 to insure that he doesn't get into trouble that might be avoided if he were yanked sooner?

Actually, if you have a strong relief, and if your starting pitchers are weak, you should stick the F-ratings to 9.

You start to play around with the F-ratings only if you wish to force HAL to keep the starting pitchers on the mound. But if your relief is stronger than your starting rotation, there is no need to remove the F9 rating.

so it would be counterproductive to lower my F ratings unless my relievers were weak and I preferred to trust to luck with my starters?

[quote:040a1112aa="hotcorner4444"]so it would be counterproductive to lower my F ratings unless my relievers were weak and I preferred to trust to luck with my starters?[/quote:040a1112aa]

Yes. The thought process is a weaker Greg Maddux is still better than a strong yet weak RP.

so if i understand this correctly my better starters should be like an F6 or F7 and weaker ones like F5 or F6 and a quick hook. My long relief should be like an F3 or F4 and a closer c6 could have an F2... Please advise if this sound right

[quote:f31b0bf6ba="Ubatuba"]so if i understand this correctly my better starters should be like an F6 or F7 and weaker ones like F5 or F6 and a quick hook. My long relief should be like an F3 or F4 and a closer c6 could have an F2... Please advise if this sound right[/quote:f31b0bf6ba]

Actually, with you're weaker pitchers do not select a setting--leave it blank. The lower the F-number, the longer the pitcher stays in the game. In fact, in the regular season, I leave all my pitchers blank.