Intentional Walk Settings

[rick martin]

Anyone figured out how these settings are put into play? Playing vs. a very powerful club, I'm thinking of setting it to "very aggressive" - hoping Hal will not pitch to sluggers with 1b empty. Or - is this too much? Is Hal responsible enough to know with the "normal" setting?

[apolivka]

Hard to say. I tend towards conservative or even very conservative when facing a team of a bunch of high priced sluggers. If the team has 2-3 big money stars and the rest are average or below average offensively, then I would go more towards normal or (VERY rarely) aggressive.

So, for me it has to do more with offensive evenness than with how powerful the club is. If you are facing a team with 7 or 8 big sluggers in a bomber park, I don't want to put _anyone_ on. A two run homer is a lot better for you than a three run homer.

One exception I might make is when you are facing a team with tons of gb(A) rolls on their cards. Then, it might make sense to put guys on 1st base more frequently to get those double plays.

[the splinter]

this I do know....

if you set to very conservative and set your entire staff to IBB less...you can produce less than 5 IBB's all season...easy.

I just completed a season with 2 IBB's issued the entire season

[gbrookes]

Here is my opinion for what it's worth. I don't mind issuing walks or IBB's. I don't like hits, and home runs even less. I always set IBB to aggressive.

This strategy has worked very well for me in non-HR parks. The team ERA is often among the top3 in the league. Also tend to be among league leaders in DP's. Favorite parks include Fenway, PNC and Kauffman.

I have yet to find the right strategy for homerun parks. Can't seem to get that right yet. Need to keep working at that.

[the splinter]

I am typically extra conservative for these reasons

1) I like to draft pitchers who give up walks instead of hits as well but I don't want to compound those free passes by giving up any extra. All my pitchers are set to IBB less.

2) Using my very own fuzzy math(meaning I have never actually extrapolated this theory) I think I give up less runs by not IBB'ing then I do by pitching to guys in tight spots. In the league I cited above I IBB'd 5 hitters. The league leader issued 62 free passes! Thats 57 more base runners! I seriously doubt that if he had pitched to those 62 guys he would have given up more runs than by IBB'ing them and facing another hitter with more runners on base..

Of course Hal plays a huge role in this too. He does use his pen settings well....even better if given good and plentiful options. In a IBB situation he will pull the least favorable pitcher for a better match up thus making it even more likey that the threat will be put down without the need of the IBB.

[rick martin]

thanks all for your takes. Nothing definative, but I understand the logic of each. I'm gonna leave it up to Hal - normal.