Archive of SportingNews.com's old SOM Baseball forum

In the BS tour, I had this happen last night:

*** TOP OF INNING 7 ***
0 J.Blanchard 6-2 Strike Out b-0 F9
1 R.Hornsby 1-7 Home Run (CF) b-H F9
1 B.Ruth 2-9 Single (CF) b-1 F9
1 1 H.Greenberg 2-9 Walk 1-2 b-1 F9
1 12 D.Allen 3-3 Walk 2-3 1-2 b-1 F9
1 123 E.Banks 2-10 Home Run (LF) 3-H 2-H 1-H b-H bpHR 1-12 F9
1 G.Thomas 4-6 Single (RF) b-1 F9
1 1 J.Gentile 6-9 Fly Out (RF) b-0 F9
2 1 G.Roenicke 1-8 Ground Out (2B) b-0 F9


I have Andy Hassler set as LH Specialist, Quick Hook, Avoid RH. In a 7-5 game, he gives up a homer to Hornsby, walks Greenberg and Allen, a Grand Slam to Banks and a single to Thomas - all of whom are right handed.

Patterson and Bedrosian were both available, although Patterson had pitched 3 inn the game before. I can see pitching to Hornsby with Ruth on deck, but the rest of this? Sheesh. Cost me a game.....

Thanks!

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/stratomatic/league/boxscore.html?group_id=107565&g_id=63

Patterson wasn't avaiable, as he had pitched in two preceding games. Clear and Williams had already came in. Daley had a starting assignment and was thus not available for your bullpen.

Bottom-line: your bullpen is pretty thin. Bedrosian was then the only reliever available, and it's quite early in the game, 7th inning. ; It's hard to blame Hal from not bringing the very last man available that early.

By the way, Hassler came in to face Gentile, a lefty bat. So Hal respected your instructions: the "avoid rh" only applies to the hitter that the pitcher will face as he comes into the game. But once the pitcher is in the game, the "avoid rh" does not apply. What does apply then depends on the level of aggressivity of your bullpen, the quick hook, and of course the availability of your bullpen, which was the problem at stake here.

Yeah, I guess I see how a combination of events stacked up against me here, but can't see how any rational mgr would have played it that way. I know that 'avoid' only means the first hitter, but that is pretty silly IMO.

If the bullpen was so thin, why did Clear only pitch to 1 hitter?

Bedrosian is checked to use in the 7th. I'd have rather taken my chances with him and a 2 run lead.

[quote:9c09b5fb60]If the bullpen was so thin, why did Clear only pitch to 1 hitter? [/quote:9c09b5fb60]

Good point. Sounds to me that Hal plays accordingly to your bullpen settings (aggressively, if that's the bullpen strategy) up until there is one reliever left in the bullpen, (or unless it's too early in the game). Then, Hal becomes very patient. But like you observed, Hal doesn't think ahead. So that is why it is important, when you use a bullpen in an aggressive way, that your bullpen goes deep. My own experience is that you need 6 relievers in the bullpen to make an aggressive bullpen work optimally.

I have a team with only 4 relievers, including Okajima (an extreme left-handed specialist), set up at quick hook, avoid rhp, etc...40 games so far, and three times he's been used in the way Hassler did, sometimes in critical situation. Thanksfully, it cost me only one game so far, but I'm playing with fire.

I have another team with 5 specialist relievers, including one S6/R3, and a closer, and good SPs that can go a long stretch. Season half way. And to my knowledge, no specialist was "forgotten" on the mound in critical situations. Veras has a bit more innings, but because he was used as a mop-up.

So 6 relievers seem to be a required minimum to having Hal play safe, and then again, I have a really solid rotation. 7 relievers would probably be required with a weaker staff.

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/stratomatic/team/team_other.html?user_id=261673

Dr.Wilby,

I appreciate you taking the time to help me think this through! My team link is here:

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/stratomatic/team/team_other.html?user_id=276637

My settings are closer - Max; relief usage - Normal

Richard and Bedrosian are set to Slow Hook, Clear, Williams, Hassler and Daley to Quick Hook. Hassler and Daley are avoid LH, Clear is Avaoid RH.

Bedrosian is set for every role (Close, Set up, tied and late, etc...); but Clear is RH Spec and Hassler LH Spec.

Any suggestions?

Thanks again!

Jim

[quote:02fd6fc11f="marcus wilby"]Patterson wasn't avaiable, as he had pitched in two preceding games. Clear and Williams had already came in. Daley had a starting assignment and was thus not available for your bullpen.

[/quote:02fd6fc11f]

This got me to thinking......

I have seen RP's (Mostly Closers, to my imperfect recollection) pitch as many as 3 consecutive games. Is there a rule of thumb for what HAL will do here? Does the fatigue factor play into this? (R3, 4, or 5 likely to come back more than R2?)

Also, I did not expect Daley to be available that game, 3 days after a spot start. But, it got me to thinking. If I have Daley teed up for a spot start, say 9 games in the future, will HAL totally ignore him in my BP? Or, will he just ignore him for a couple of games ahead of time?

I remember that there is a rule for how long a starter needs to rest after an outing, depending on how many innings he goes. I'll have to pull out my old board game to see how that shakes out.

I think your settings are fine. I would just make sure that Daley is available for long-relief. I would use him as mop-up. But if Clear and Hassle are not used as much as you would like, I would consider putting their roles higher in the list of instructions.

Thanks for the help!