Stoney18 wrote:So we get to critique the draft now?
Interesting the GB, DJ & Zim have mixed *SP and non *SP
.
I am a fan of having one - occassionally 2 - *SP starters mixed into a 5 man rotation. I realize it's not efficient from the point of view that you pay a salary premium for the *SP starter. But I like the ability to use the *SP starter to get the best matchups, for the handed-ness of the pitcher, or (less often) his L-R balance versus a particular opponent.
I especially like this for a *SP starter who is a lefty, like Gonzalez. What this means to me is that, with a few days planning in the per-game starters, I can have Gonzalez avoid a particular opponent that kills lefty pitchers. I can either slip into a pure 5 man rotation, or accelerate 1 or more starts to every 4th day, to achieve this. So a rival that has 2 or more lefty killers without an offsetting righty killer(s), I might rank as 14 L or 20 L or higher. I will try to avoid any starts by Gonzalez versus that opponent. Since there are never any back to back series, this is a little easier than it sounds, except I'm sure that this group can quickly see how that would work. For obvious reasons its less effective if your division is full of lefty-killers. But overall I think the strategy works well, and more than offsets the * premium in his salary. I haven't proven this mathematically, but the strategy is very appealing to me.
As you'd expect, the strategy also works best if the SP* lefty is the only lefty on staff. The strategy is not necessary if there are no lefty killer teams in your division, since there is no need to schedule his starts to avoid any teams.
On the last team, I picked Harrel mainly because I just liked him as a starter in Yankee stadium. However, the *SP righty also helps a little for avoiding unfavorable starts for the other pitchers who are lefties , or extreme balanced pitchers - like Detwiler or Paulino last year. But the *SP effect is far more effective for this strategy when the avoidance relates to the *SP starter himself. When I don't have an *SP starter, I actually determine how many starts each of the rotation spots gets against each division rival for the whole season, and assign them rotation spots based on the number of starts against each divisional rival. But most schedules are somewhat balanced that way, and so that strategy is limited to more unbalanced schedules, in terms of rotation spots vs each division rival.
Having the *SP starter means you can plan it as you go a little bit more, and maybe get a few more of the good matchups, and a couple fewer of the bad matchups.
Thu Oct 24, 2013 2:13 pm
