Me, the GM . . . HAL, the manager . . . tanking??

[apolivka]

I'm bumping this thread, since I think it might be an interesting team to watch. So far, the team is 12-15 and in last place. It's been outscored by it's opponents by about 20 runs.

I think in general, HAL is managing the lineups and rotation pretty well. The bullpen is another matter. HAL is displaying his propensity to give everyone in the bullpen fairly equal time. If it were my team, I would try to funnel about 40-50% of all my relief innings to Vargas and Bell. Currently they have 30% of the relief innings. But, the main problem with the pen so far is that Bell and Walker are getting hammered. and that could easily turn around.

[The Jerk Store]

I put on my GM hat yesterday and swung a deal (HAL is still the manager).

I gave up:

Jon Lester and Aaron Hill

I got:

CC Sabathia and Orlando Hudson

I agree that HAL so far is doing a good job with the rotation and daily lineup. I don't yet know about his bullpen management . . . I think some of Mota's innings should be going to Vargas.

[apolivka]

Looks like some pretty stupid bullpen moves by HAL last night, but they worked out pretty well. Why he is using Mota in those key situations is beyond me, but he's 4-0 with an ERA under 3, so apparently HAL is doing something right. Maybe he's going with the reliever who is "hot" rather than your best arms.

I think it was probably a fairly smart quick hook of Weaver against a strong left handed lineup, so you can probably thank HAL for that win.

6 blown saves seems like a lot this early in the season, and that looks to me like HAL's biggest downfall as a full-up manager. I wonder how different he would manage a bullpen in a salary cap league where the difference between the best and worst relievers would be much greater.

[The Jerk Store]

Bumping for an update. I'm currently 7 games back, and HAL is still at the helm. I've made a couple of drops/adds and a couple of trades (so I am still the GM, just letting HAL make the on-field calls).

The only real beef I have with HAL's managing is his use (or lack thereof) of Vargas. He seems to opt for cheaper relievers in key situations rather than Vargas. Other than that, I'm not really sure this team is that much better than what HAL has lead it to.

I'm thinking of just outright dumping a reliever in hopes of Vargas picking up some of those innings.

[gbrookes]

For what it's worth....

I find that HAL makes pretty good batting lineup choices. However, I find that my own personal preference is to be OK with catchers with +1 throwing arms as long as they don't make too many throwing errors. HAL seems to put a very high emphasis on catchers with good throwing arms, and will more often sacrifice hitting at the C position to get the good arm. So I will sometimes use a partial lineup with the catcher among the designated starters. Other than that, I am pretty good with HAL's batting choices, and I find that the changes in lineup and batting order within the same night work to my advantage most often.

On the other hand, I have had the same experience as you are describing with HAL's choice of relief pitcher appearances, and not using the key RP in key situations. As a result, I almost never leave the bullpen settings blank. Marcus Wilby wrote a superb discussion of bullpen settings. It was recently bumped, so it should be possible to find fairly quickly on the "strategy" bulletin board. This well-written post by Marcus is required reading!!

BTW - has anyone heard from Marcus lately? He posted on a PC board thread that he was going into the hospital - I sure hope he is OK!

Geoff

[gbrookes]

Here is the URL for Marcus' very good post on bullpen settings (!):

http://forums.sportingnews.com/viewtopic.php?t=613465

[The Jerk Store]

The season ended, and HAL the manager ended with a 79-83 record. That was 5 games better than the Exp W/L. The team I drafted just wasn't very good . . . I think HAL did a pretty good job.

Side note, my team finished with a better record than the person that accused me of tanking by letting HAL manage. I thought that was pretty funny :)

[Ragnarokpc]

Thanks for the update. I'm surprised you went the distance without taking the reins . . . I like letting HAL do some stuff for his opinions, but I'd rather not let him do it all like that.

As for the tanking issue . . . if you had been dead last and doing nothing to improve, then you'd be guilty. Overall, it sounds like you had a slightly disappointing season, but nothing disastrous. Good luck in the future.

[apolivka]

Most amazing stat on that team is that your two R2 guys (Vargas and Mota) were a combined 21-5-7. Two bad HAL didn't reverse the number of innings pitched between those two guys. Your closers-by-committee didn't do nearly as well, unfortunately.

If you would have gotten decent performances out of Bell, Prince, and Rollins, you might easily have been over .500.