Late-season pitching advice

[bjs73]

Sanderson is the only one worth looking at - maybe even Bannister too.

However, I don't see a huge pressing reason to get rid of Sabes at this point unless you're planning for the playoffs and your potential adversaries are sporting mostly RH lineups? Put him on a max of 6 or 7 innings, avoid righties and turn it over to your adequate bullpen.

The league average ERA/WHIP is 4.28/1.38 respectively. But what's even more telling is that the standard deviation for ERA in your league is 0.37 Runs.

Basically 68.2% of the league's pitchers are operating between a 3.91 and a 4.65 ERA. That's .74 runs difference. Unless you hit pay dirt with Sanderson and he starts turning in numbers significantly better than a 3.91 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP, it wouldn't be worth it. The devil known is better than the devil unknown at this point - especially after you listed the candidates available for replacement.

All I'm saying is that the league conditions show tight groupings amongst all of the pitchers for the league. In order to be significantly better than Sabes - the replacement will need to be below the figures I just stated.

Now if Sabes salary is a burden and prevents you from making other necessary moves - then I'd look at dropping him- perhaps. But I don't think you need a whole lot. Looks like a good team-just might have to ride the storm with your horses like what has already been suggested.

Just my 2 cents.

[yak1407]

I've never used him, but I've seen people have success with.
But just to add to bjs73's advice, all you really need in that four hole is a .500 pitcher.
So you need to decide if Saberhagen will give you that or not.
The dilemma with the pitchers you've listed in that even at their best, they may not be as effective as Saberhagen. You could have one of his three seasons where he gives up less hits than innings pitched.
One thing I try to practice is that if my team is doing well, don't make changes unless you are relatively certain it will make your team better.
The point bjs73 is making is just that. Unless you are certain that making a move on Saberhagen will make your team better, you may want to stand pat.
Another thought is to see if someone else in your league has a topline pitcher, someone comparable to Saberhagen, who is posting similar numbers and underperforming.
But look for wins. A 6-6 pitcher with high ERA and poor WHIP who is with a .500 or less team could be just what you need.

[SCOTTZIMMERMAN]

I am not expert by any means in the 80's on here but I had played strat 80's with the cards all through college in the 80's. I also have had a decent amount of success on here with the 80's teams and is by far my favorite seasons offered by TSN. My opinion is I would never use Guidry or Saberhagen on my teams. I had them both once on here and going back to the old card days I played them they were never outstanding. When I see somebody pitching them against me I get excited as it usually means my hitters are going to have batting practice.

That is just my opinion and experiences with using them and facing them. Overall for the money they cost there are plenty of cheaper pitchers out there that can do what they can.

A good pitcher that I tend to get tons of milage out of has been Vern Ruhle. He is not great but is by far bad and has performed very well for me down the stretch.

[YountFan]

Skip a start for them to recharge the batteries. It's a long season, give them a turn in the rotation off. I believe that SP 'tire' between games 108 and 135.

[DosCarlos]

I think you've convinced me to keep running with Saberhagen. He was pitching respectably earlier in the season, so there's a chance he'll pitch at least .500 going forward, and a good chance that anyone I pick up in his place won't be substantially better. I'll go ahead and wait 'till the transaction deadline; hopefully he'll put a couple more decent starts together before then.
BJ--One question about pitcher settings: how does the "avoid righties" setting affect starters; that is, will HAL pull the starter, issue IBBs, etc.? I've used those settings with relievers before but not starters. I had switched Sabes to a max 7IP this morning.
Yak--Thanks for the help. I will look into trade possibilities, but I'll take your advice and not force any moves.
Burghers--I'll keep Ruhle in mind in case I decide to make a move and for future teams as well. I've used his 1980 card in the actual card-and-dice game and I've been impressed. As far as Guidry and Sabes go, they both started out really well; it's just the last third of their starts that they have been remarkably inconsistent, with quite a few "batting practice" games.
Thanks again for all your help. Again, most of my worrying is just paranoia about being in first this late in the season. It's great that you veterans are so helpful to the less experienced of us.

[DosCarlos]

I wasn't aware of such a phenomenon, although it makes sense. I've used the same four pitchers the whole way. I'll give that a try.

[bjs73]

[quote:be6e13eddd]BJ--One question about pitcher settings: how does the "avoid righties" setting affect starters[/quote:be6e13eddd]

I don't have proof of this or anything but I use it to try and force HAL's hand on a bullpen decision later in the game. If I have a pitcher set to avoid RH then I'm hoping that HAL will see it as a flag later in the game to do one of two things: Intentionally Walk a hitter or Pull the Starter and replace with an appropriate reliever.

I don't know that it works conclusively or not but it does seem to help HAL make that Intentional Walk decision easier throughout the game if I am using aggressive IW settings.

And usually I'll tweak the IW settings series by series.

[DosCarlos]

I've decided to stick with the rotation I have, as they seem to be doing better now. I'm working on skipping starts for each of my main four guys. I can't say for sure that's the difference, but Sabes has pitched especially well since skipping a start and fiddling with his settings. I've pulled to a six-game lead with twenty-four to go. Hopefully my boys can hold it together for the duration...

[1st Command Commando]

I agree with YountFan. Seems right around game 115 stud pitchers get a bit tired. I try to skip them a turn or two, and that usually rights the ship. I have no clue if that type of fatigue is really hard-coded into the game.
sog