Quick Question

[neilyng]

I am a newbie. We just drafted for our league. I ended up with five starters who all can start with three days rest. Can I use one of these starters in relief roles and start them ocassionally? I want to use a four man rotation and then use the fifth starter as a reliever and start him on an as needed basis. Can I do that and how will the computer know to use him in relief??

[Mean Dean]

The quick answer is "probably not."

If the pitcher doesn't have the R rating that enables him to relieve, then the computer will avoid using him as a reliever, unless it's completely burned out all the other relievers (usually only in very long extra-inning games.)

If the pitcher does have an R rating, then you [i:4882c684b9]could[/i:4882c684b9] use him out of the pen... but if he's also a three days' rest starter, then you are probably paying a lot more for him than you would an equivalent reliever-only guy, which is wasteful financially. I [i:4882c684b9]have[/i:4882c684b9] used expensive starter/relievers in both roles in the past ([url=http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2002/team/team_other.html?user_id=13838&stats=sim]here was the team[/url]), but I can't claim it was brilliant strategy. And again, those guys (Duque and Wakefield, back in 2002) did have the R rating that allowed them to relieve.

So, chances are that you'll want to drop one of the starters.

[neilyng]

Thanks -- it is Juan Marichal in the 70's league. His salary is not outlandish -- only $3.37, so I might hold on to him. My other starters are Catfish Hunter, Don Sutton, Gary Nolan and Mike Cuellar. So I feel fortunate to have a strong starting staff.

My relievers are good too -- Joe Sambito, Eddie Watt and Roger Nelson.

I'm interested, would you still drop Marichal and get someone else?

[Mean Dean]

None of those five pitchers can relieve, so no, it doesn't make sense. All you'd be doing would be paying Marichal $3.37M so that he can cost the other guys starts and make [i:4b45234247]them[/i:4b45234247] worth less than you're paying. If you spend $3.37M on a reliever, that reliever will have a better card than Marichal, so I'd go that route, or at least re-arrange the money some other way.

[LMBombers]

When you go with a 4 man rotation it is always best salary management to get a 75¢ (cheapest player) starter and put him in your Rotation setting so that he will almost never pitch.

You pay slightly more for 3 day rest SP than you do for the exact same SOM card that is only a 4 day rest SP. You also would pay more for a S/R than you would if the exact same SOM card was only a R. Therefore you would get more for your money if you spent it on a R only pitcher rather than a S/R when looking for a RP. Of course in the mystery card games you could always get lucky and get that pitchers best card and it really wouldn't matter if he was S/R or *S or R. The prices are based on the average of those 5 possible cards.