by bernieh » Mon May 01, 2006 6:56 am
franky35: You're not being entirely fair here. Here is your entire pitching staff and the reasons why you didn't have an available "fully rested bullpen."
Ron Reed: started the game
Wally Bunker: in the rotation
John Gelnar: still tired after pitching Game 144
Pat Jarvis: in the rotation
Luis Tiant: in the rotation, no relief rating
Ken Brett: no relief rating, still tired after pitching Game 143
Diego Segui: your Setup [i:4f2c362733]and[/i:4f2c362733] Closer vs. R
Wilbur Wood: Avoid using before 7th inning
Pat Dobson: your Setup [i:4f2c362733]and[/i:4f2c362733] Closer vs. L
Jack Aker: [b:4f2c362733]the only arm fully available[/b:4f2c362733]
Al Worthington: Avoid using before 9th inning
While a human manager such as you or I would have bended the rules a little bit to deal with the unfortunate injury to the starter, the computer acted well within what is expected of it, given the instructions it was given. I find that most complaints about situations where the bullpen is allegedly "fully rested" are actually cases like this, where the manager's settings dictate otherwise.
That said, your example does effectively raise the suggestion that the manager settings be 1) clarified and/or 2) made more flexible. With my extensive recent work with the computer code, I've uncovered things like the "Avoid using before 9th inning" control means literally NEVER use before the 9th inning. For now, I believe the wording should be changed to "Never" for clarification, and for the future, maybe an expanded option should be introduced to "Avoid unless necessary".
Thanks for your example. I'm still committed to making your managerial control as easy to understand and as powerful as possible.
(Detroit-Tigers, I'll look at your example next)