strat mystery game experts

[scorehouse]

i've seen posts where in the mystery games, managers, in the opening couple of series, let hal set their lineups and pitchers. some swear by this, others have said hal just takes the most expensive players and starts them. especially pitchers. any thoughts or experience with hal on this?

[kenhutchings]

First of all, while I may be a veteran, I am no expert. I believe that HAL chooses the pitching rotation based on the salary value of the pitcher in the order of their salary. If you have four * pitchers, he will use a four man rotation consisting of those players, even if you happen to have a better non * pitcher in your rotation.

With regards to the lineup, it seems that HAL will generally choose the better player for each position. I was once involved in a theme league where my team consisted of Expos players, and unfortunately I ended up with Gary Carter's stinker card for that league, and HAL chose Barry Foote to start over GC. However, as with anything dealing with HAL, he's never consistent.

I will sometimes let HAL choose my lineup, and at other times I'll do my lineup. Sometimes I will set just one of the lineups (vs. RHP, for example), and sometimes I will use just a partial lineup. It has been my experience if I use a partial lineup that HAL will not allow the use of blank lineup positions; if in a non-DH league, I left positions 6 and 7 open, then he'll move my number 8 player to the number 6 position and then choose the other two.

[scorehouse]

matches what i thought exceot hal will sometimes go by the better fielder.

[sphilipp8]

Probably shouldn't be responding to this since I'm in your league...

I'm pretty sure HAL picks your SPs simply by salary. Doesn't matter whether they are * or not. Highest salary guy available to start will get the nod.

I find letting HAL choose your lineups is a very valuable tool in determining a players card. For example, on my last team, I had both Bagwell and McGwire. I figured HAL would start Bagwell at 1st and DH McGwire. Instead HAL started McGwire against righties and sat Bagwell. HAL started Bagwell against lefties and sat McGwire. Turns out both guys had their bad years - McGwire 94 (2R) and Bagwell 92 (2L). It's a good indicator but not always definitive.

Good luck with your victorian nineties and Magadan. Boy I hated giving him up...

[ROBERTLATORRE]

HAL favors fielding a little heavier than I would have expected when picking between players.

[YountFan]

I like to manage my own team. When HAL ponies up the 25 bucks he can make out a few lineup cards, until then it is my way or the highway

[ggrover15]

I do let hal pick the first series. And a second series if i did not face a RHP or LHP. if i faced both then Hal is done. If I pick up a few guys I will then allow hal to pick again to see where he hits these new guys. Hal is not always right and I have cut some players on good years...

[voovits]

It's good to let HAL make lineups if you use it to get a general feel of what you have. However, there is a lot more than you might think that goes into his lineup making decisions. Until someone cracks the code completely, you can never trust HAL 100%.
What I like using HAL lineups for most is in helping determine those 1 year wonder players, and the 90s game especially has many of them.

[The Senators]

The only time I will let moves and transactions be determined for me is when Hal uses an otherwise bench player to pinch hit at the end of a game for a high priced regular. That's when I figure something is up and I start to examine the cards. Unless Hal is just screwing with me, I figure there must be a reason.

[franky35]

70s question.

I left my lineup completely open vs. lefty pitching. Just let HAL fill in all the slots. HAL put Kong (Dave Kingman) batting first. First? I would think that HAL would put a high OBP batter first and put a slugger 3rd or 4th. Am I just old fashioned? What is HAL thinking?

For those of you young folks unfamiliar with Kong, he never was much of a table-setter. Sometimes he'd hit it out of the stadium and into the parking lot, but usually he'd take 3 giant upper cut swings and get ready to pass the time in the field. He was the worst major league fielder I've ever seen. In 1974 he committed 12 errors in 59 chances at third.