Strat-O-Matic Baseball 365

Thanks in advance for even reading this. And even more appreciation for anyone who will take the time to reply--I appreciate it!!


Q1. If you get 4 quality starting pitchers with significant endurance, who have the asterik * which allows them to go on 4 day rest, why doesn't everyone simply get a .50m fifth starting pitcher and simply go with a four man rotation?

The game info provides this: "...there are no set usage limits. However, pitchers who are overused will get tired, and they won't pitch their best until they are rested." What kind of use will make them tired? Can I know and track their level of tiredness? I'd like to optimize my use of my starters...


Q2. I don't quite follow the Free Agency penalty concept. Does it apply during the waiver period?? What about during the drop/add period (after the draft but prior to the season starting)?

A1. That is exactly what most veteran players do - use a minimum-wage 5th starter. You could also opt for a decent S/R guy that pitches in relief and can be used as your 5th starter as/if needed.

A2. Penalties for dropping players do not start until the first game is played.

Thanks Risden. That is very helpful.

Just to follow up--if go w/a minimum wage 5th starter I might be able to upgrade elsewhere (including my main 4 starters). What about tiredness among my main 4 starters--will this be an issue?

Chompsky, your 4 * starters will not be affected as long as they get their 3 day rest. Many of us use the 4-man rotation at times. Just remember, a $4M starter with no * is generally a better pitcher than a $4M starter with a *. The * gives a player at least 40 starts which adds a lot of salary to his card. However, that quantity of innings doesn't equal quality of pitching.

Good luck sorting it all out.

Kev

Chompsky,

Here is a link to a whole bunch of advice/info geared toward new players.

http://forum.onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/archivesn/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=9842

Thanks Risden, Knerrpool and Kevinehle! Great information/suggestions, and I did check out the link. Very informative.
I had my first three games last night and went 1-2. Doing the replay this mornign at 4:30 am was SO MUCH FUN!


New Questions:

Slow Hook, Fast Hook or neither?
I use a 4 stud starting pitcher* rotation, with 2 very good relievers, and 4 minimum wage pitchers rounding out my stable of arms. I'm used to the computer game (but not online) where I would simply take out my starter (assuming he was not getting knocked around) when he approached his fatigue limit. My team is oriented around good defense, modest offense, and good pitching in a pitchers ballpark (Olympic Stadium in Montreal).


Pitch Count?
http://somonline.wikia.com/wiki/Pitch_Count_Fatigue The wiki is helpful. How low do you go with fatigue, as the manager, when arranging the pitcher settings?


Any comments, notions, precautions, advise, etc, would be very appreciated by this newb. You guys are great--I appreciate how sporting people are.

Slow hook for your good relievers, quick hook (and max 1-2 innings, avoid the appropriate RHB/LHB) for your $.50 relievers. If I have a real stud pitcher (starter or reliever) instead I usually set him to some "do not relieve before F" number - usually 3 or 4 but sometimes to 0. Some people, however, don't like using that setting as it is absolute - he will pitch at least until he hits that number. You obviously want your higher dollar pitchers to throw the most innings. Using the bullpen roles (i.e. setting the same reliever as Middle Man, Setup, etc.) you can get a fair amount of innings out of particular pitchers.

Bump for the new online players!

I usually do not do this in 200x games. But in ATG where the player pool is deeper and more options available I almost always make that 5th starter a matchup guy, especially when in leagues with a lot of unbalanced stadiums. You can get some mileage out of a 6L lefty S/R using him as a lefty specialist and spot starter if you have several Dunn type fields in the league.

key is in recognizing from what is in your league whether having such a specialist is worth it and which leagues you are better off with just a minimum wage placeholder.

How low do you go with fatigue

This is an excellent question. Difficult thing about having a good answer is that other than the lower the F rating the worst a pitcher pitches is all we really know. So hard to really say objectively how much worse F5 is than F6. The old @ turns in to a single when tired was easy to understand and analyze if willing to forge ahead. The impact of the F? rating is more vague and black boxy.