Mon Jul 18, 2016 2:44 am
Finding the right balance between starting pitching and relief pitching is kind of an art. If you got Arriete, Greinke, et al, then Wade Davis is not going to pitch a lot of innings. I'll just make some observations about what I think I've learned:
(1) if you set your starting pitching to quick hook then as early as the 5th inning he will be yanked if he gets into trouble. That tends to put a lot of pressure on the relief staff. If I had a really cheap staff where I wanted to have good relievers then I want at least two goods R2s plus a good closer. The thing about Strat is you can't have holes in your staff. A starter has to be good enough to make it to the 5th (and this depends on your park and defense) and you need enough relief to come in for your starters. If you don't have enough relief your pitching staff will get lit up like a Christmas tree. Of course, you don't want spend to almost 6 million on Wade Davis and he only gives 50 innings, but I would rather have too much relief than too little. A good starter like Arrieta you're going to put F8 (do not relieve until he hits F8 fatigue, it starts at F9). Pitchers that aren't quite as good maybe you put F8, quick hook. I assume that tells Hal to remove the SP as soon as he gets fatigued. If you got a great closer, maybe you're worried that in the 8th and 9th starter is not good enough but Hal will keep him in because he hasn't got fatigued and he winds up losing the game while your ace closer is on the bench. So you put in setting max of 7 (or 6) ininings. Those are just judgment calls learned through getting burned--where that line is drawn probably differs for anyone. All I am saying is figuring out when you want to get your starter out of the game and what settings to TRY and do that is a major part of strategy.
(2) I tell you a little trick to get a guy like Wade Davis or Andrew Miller to pitch a lot of innings. I put them as both closer and set-up and tied late--NO ONE ELSE. This means they can come in the 7th inning and there is a decent chance they can make it all the way. 3 inning saves are nice. Of course you need someone in your bullpen can also close if they get tired, but if you do this setting you're going to get a lot more than 50 innings--I have one team where Davis has 70 innings in 63 games. I think it is a somewhat lucky and just the way my team set up but I think you will get a minimumof 80 and not 50. If you have a guy like Givens and put him at set-up or tied late he is going to take some of those innings. Basically, I have told Hal "listen buddy if you need a reliever from the 7th on and Davis has a pulse he goes in--no one else."
(3) on one team I have Givens at middle, behind and late, 9th inning plus, and mop-up (that's actually questionable but wait until you have Hal pitch your .8 guy late when you have a 6 run lead and you lose the game and then you'll understand). Miller is closer, tied late, set-up, 9th inning plus. No other settings, I'll let Hal figure what to do when my top guys are not available. But if I start putting others guys in (like left-handled specialist) then I'm afraid that Hal will decide that .7 lefty is better for that situation then my 4.57 guy. So I worry about maximizing my top two guys--I'll let Hal figure out what to do when they are not available.
(4) I am really not a big fan of the cheap guys who get one-side out. It will work and then you will get a situation where a guy is stuck in his bad side or you run out of them because Hal goes through them quickly. My preference is to have 3 million plus guys for the 7th Inning and on. I want enough good relievers to cover those innings. I don't want my Franklin Morales facing Mike Trout because Hal throws up his hands and says that's all he's got left. I can't tell how much I've suffered in the 60 million tournament league watching my crappy relief trying to bob and weave their way to the bell (well, I just have suffered in that league in general)
Anyway, my two cents. Feel free to differ; everyone else does
