Strat-O-Matic Baseball 365

Veteran Managers,
I need some help. My relievers have pitched a total of 26 innings through 21 games. My #1 reliever is Rollie Fingers and he has only pitched 1 inning. I have him set as my closer, and even in closer situations HAL is not using him. I lost last night 8-6. Had a 6-4 lead going into the 9th inning and HAL choses a different pitcher to close and he gives up 4 runs in the bottom of the ninth for the loss.
I invested $4 million in Fingers and he is never used. It seems like my bullpen roles are set up for him to at least be used as my closer. Do I need to use him for all my bullpen roles to make sure he gets used? The rest of my bullpen has been terrible.
The only problem I see is the fact I have left and right hand specialists assigned and that might take precedence over the closer role.
Any suggestions?

Dont really know what to say honestly. I think there have been some programming issues regarding bullpen usage since the site switchover. My relievers are not being used the way they used to since the switch. My designated closer/setup man would normally get over 100IP per season. Since the switch, we're looking at maybe 30-40IP using the exact same setup.

Ikes wrote:Veteran Managers,
I need some help. My relievers have pitched a total of 26 innings through 21 games. My #1 reliever is Rollie Fingers and he has only pitched 1 inning. I have him set as my closer, and even in closer situations HAL is not using him. I lost last night 8-6. Had a 6-4 lead going into the 9th inning and HAL choses a different pitcher to close and he gives up 4 runs in the bottom of the ninth for the loss.
I invested $4 million in Fingers and he is never used. It seems like my bullpen roles are set up for him to at least be used as my closer. Do I need to use him for all my bullpen roles to make sure he gets used? The rest of my bullpen has been terrible.
The only problem I see is the fact I have left and right hand specialists assigned and that might take precedence over the closer role.
Any suggestions?

Question: Do you have any values for your starters in the "Don't Rel. B4" column? Even a setting of F8 will keep a pitcher in the game regardless of the situation as long as his fatigue rating stays at F9.

I do have ratings on my starters...
#1 is an S8 and I have it set for F8
#2 is an S8 and I have it set for F8
#3 is an S7 and I have it set for F7
#4 is an S7 and I have it set for F7

I'll post a couple of quick notes here. I don't think the F system means what you think it means. F9 means a pitcher is unfatigued, full strangth. F0 means he is exhausted, and a lot of outs are going to turn into hits. Therefore, telling HAL not to relieve before F7 means you would rather have the starters stay in when they are starting to tire, rather than use the bullpen. Unless you have great starters, that may not be the case. You did say your bullpen was struggling . . . I'd stick with F8 (if anything) to basically say "I don't want to pull the starter until he starts to get fatigued. I never use those settings at all personally, but that's just me. I tend to use the Quick/Slow hook ones more, and max IP/start in extreme cases.

Make sure your closer setting is "Maximize". Also make sure that Fingers in your closer role is at the top of the list of your defined roles...I am pretty sure HAL goes through your assigned roles in order, so make sure the most important ones are at the top. I would think your closer would always be top priority.

All very helpful.
Thanks for clarifying the fatigue numbers.
I do have closer role set to maximize and Fingers has been the prioritized at the top of my list of bullpen roles.
I made a few adjustments and we will see what happens.
So if you don't use the Fatique numbers--how does Super Hal come to a conclusion in terms of how long to leave someone in as a starter?

Ikes wrote:I do have ratings on my starters...
#1 is an S8 and I have it set for F8
#2 is an S8 and I have it set for F8
#3 is an S7 and I have it set for F7
#4 is an S7 and I have it set for F7

If you want Fingers to come in for saves, you should leave these setting blank. Otherwise, he won't come in unless your starter is starting to show some fatigue.

Very helpful guys. I made the suggested changes and Fingers made relief appearances in 2 of 3 games. First game situation came when I was tied and late in the eigth. He got the win.
Second situation came when I was tied and late in the ninth and he took the loss. Gave up solo shot in the bottom of the ninth. But, he was definately the pitcher I wanted in the game in that situation.
I appreciate the help.