by MrHacktastic » Mon Dec 19, 2011 5:39 pm
I think clutch does matter in my limited experience. I have scoped through cards where in clutch situations a guy can lose up to 15 possible out comes that normally wouldn't have resulted in outs that would in clutch situations.
It depends on what type of team you build. If you build a slap hitting team in 1986 for example I think clutch matters big time. In the steroid era I don't think it matters very much.
Look at Jose Canseco's card in 1986. If you put him on a high OBP team and bat him 5th or 6th he will have a lot of at bats over the course of a season with two outs and runners in scoring position. Vs RHP he gains 13 out of 108 possible dice rolls where he would now get a hit when he would normally be out. A OBP bump of .120 in those situations is huge which is why he had 117 RBI's that year. If you look at his card without the $ he would be terrible other than occasional HR's. There are players that are the total opposite of this which lose 15 or so dice rolls and go from decent to Harold Reynolds caliber in clutch situations.
Most good players seem to have limited impact from the clutch and if your guy only has one $ per side and it isn't on a 6,7, or 8 then I don't really enter it into the equation. If I want a guy to bat in the middle of my order I don't want guys that have any 6,7, or 8 $'s.
I didn't understand the $ before this season but after watching how often my slap hitting team has RISP and two outs with the middle of the order up I sure will next time.