Fri Jul 19, 2013 6:47 pm
Figuring out which year a pitcher has is more art than science. I look at how they do against righties versus lefties, walks, strikeouts, hits, homeruns, and WHIP. But in this land of all-star teams ($80 million-and-up leagues), even a good pitcher can have a long stretch of bad games, so you can never be sure he really has a bad card. But if you wait too long and he does have a bad card, you hurt your team's chances.
I'd say I am probably too slow pulling the trigger sometimes, but I've seen a lot of managers who are way too quick in giving up on someone.
I highly recommend if you have one of those pitchers who doesn't have a bad card, then don't lose sleep over which year he has and don't cut him even if he's doing badly. For example, Glavine started slowly for me. However, I decided, in my ball park, even his worst card was acceptable. So, I kept him; he ended up having his second best card; and he went 23-9 for the season.