Starting Pitching and strategy settings

[STEVEPONEDAL]

I m having a devil of a time with my starting pitching. All have ERA's above 3. Three have ERAs above 5!! My homefield is Dodger Stadium. Is there something magical in the player's setting that I can set to remedy this?

Your thoughts are most appreciated.

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2005/team/team_other.html?user_id=26881

[hechojazz]

Observation #1: 54 games into the season you shouldn't still be carrying almost 2mil in unused salary! It appears you've already done some "fine tuning" with your lineup, what with Buehrle having pitched only 12 innings for you so far.

Observation #2: With three *SPs, you can play the matchup game with your remaining non-*SPs, in order to squeeze the value out of the *SPs, but some of that cash probably should be devoted to giving you a better set of matchup options every 4th start.

Observation #3: You're carrying too many hitters, and many of them are pretty much lightweights. You should consolidate and try to field 9 good hitters - why have Davis AND Wilson backing up at catcher? 13 hitters is really all you need, though lately it appears as though you've suffered more than your share of injuries!

Observation #4: As far as pitching settings (your question here), Penny, Buehrle and Clemens should be set at slow hook for sure. I also like to set manager settings at aggressive for IBBs, and then mark your best pitchers' cards to "IBB less" - this shouuld allow HAL to issue intentional passes to some of the hitters your remaining pitchers don't match up against well. In Dodger, those occasional extra baserunners shouldn't come back to hurt you too much. With a pitcher of Foulke's worth, you should mave your manager settings set to mark him for closing and setup both ways. You probably don't want Lima being used in relief, so make sure he's listed in your rotation, but then use the pergame starters page to set who it is you really do want to start (something you're already doing I am sure if you're playing the matchup game).

Hope some of this helps... :P

[STEVEPONEDAL]

Hechojazz,

Thanks, Yes I have a lot of injuries, so I added some players. I had Mueller out for 14 games the day after I bouht him and something similar with Molina. Yes my plan is to jettison some of these guys, once Mueller is back.

[CHARLESBELL]

You can use slow hook on your top SPs if you want, but with your pen I don't see any real need to do that. Other than that, here is how I would set them up:

Marquis, quick hook
Wells, quick hook, avoid lefties
Lima, quick hook, mop up (keeps HAL from using him in relief except in mop up situations, assuming he is not in your starting rotation)
Foulke, avoid using before 8th
Kline, avoid righties, max 1/2 IPs
colome, avoid lefties
hammond, avoid righties

I'd leave closer and setup blank, relief use to normal and closer use to aggressive. If foulke is set as closer he will be less likely to used in late inning situations that are not closer situations, and I'd want to see him in there in the late innings regardless of closer situation. When there is a closer situation, you have several that could fill that role depending on who's available.

You don't really need both kline and hammond, so if you need the cash one of those two could go.

I'd set your starting rotation as clemens, buerhle, penny, marquis, and use per-game starters to for your matchups. I'm using a 4 man rotation so that if you forget to do the per-games, clemens and buerhle will still start every 4th game.

[STEVEPONEDAL]

Charliewb

Great. This helps a lot. In the managerial setting there is a field that asks in what inning to start bnringing the infield in. Is there something good to put in here in order to stifle the opponents run production?

Thanks

[ANDYCOCHRANE]

I was also interested about when best to bring the infield in. I just leave it at 3rd but would gladly change it if someone knows a better time to bring it in.