Now catching . . . Delmon Young

Funny things happen when your team is down to only 9 healthy hitters.

http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/game/347508/272

In the bottom of the third, he made his X out.

Why would S Perez DH ???

Young should be DH

My guess is S. Perez is his DH and he doesn't have his subs listed at C. If that's the case then the game engine won't remove Perez from DH. Simple solution is to list Perez as the C back-up and the game engine will put Perez at C and the first sub at DH at DH.

As a side note... Pacheco has a C rating as well.

As I understand it Hal will not move a player slotted to start at DH out of the DH slot.
So if Perez was listed as the starting DH then the computer will not move him out of that slot.
Too bad if he is your last catcher. Hal will grab someone else.
This is a good reason not to use a player you want to use as a backup for another position, especially catcher in the DH slot.

The following is from one of John's blogs.

The only exception to this is that the computer manager does not move a player off of the DH role.

Sample depth chart
1B: Paul Konerko (backup 1: Lance Berkman) (backup 2: Miguel Cairo)
DH: Lance Berkman

For example, let’s say I have Konerko listed as my starting 1B, Berkman as my backup 1B and starting DH, and Cairo as my 3rd string 1B. If Konerko is injured, the computer manager will keep Berkman in the DH spot in the lineup and skip him when choosing a new first baseman, which will be Cairo. If I wanted Berkman to start at 1B I would need to move him out of the DH role.

Having only 9 healthy players, I did not adjust my lineups. What's the point? They will all play somewhere.

To my surprise, though, HAL started Delmon Young at catcher for all the games in last night's three-game series. (Once again, Salvador Perez was the DH.) Also of note -- Carlos Quentin returned to 3B and played all three games there.

Starting against righthanders, 3L Young went 4-for-10 with 2 runs, 4 RBI, and HR in the series. As a catcher, he made all three of his X-outs. He was 0-for-4 throwing out basestealers. Quentin badly failed his one X play. He was 4-for-10 with 4 runs, 4 RBI, and a HR as a 3Bman, though, so he can give back that single & error and still be a contributor.

The team won all three games.

http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/game/347508/290
http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/game/347508/296
http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/game/347508/302

We played two righties (first two games) and a reverse righty (last game).

In the righty lineup, I have these options selected, in this order (I am skipping the healthy spots):

DH: I-Lowrie, I-Pacheco, Perez
C: I-Brantly, I-Pacheco, Perez
1B: Trumbo, I-Pacheco
3B: I-Longoria, I-Pacheco, Trumbo

Delmon Young is nowhere listed on the lineup.

In the reverse righty lineup, I have, in this order:

1B: Trumbo, I-Pacheco
3B: I-Longoria, I-Pacheco
DH: I-Pacheco, I-Lowrie, Perez
C: I-Brantly, I-Pacheco

Again, Delmon Young should be riding the pine. He does not hit righties very well.

Here is what I think is happening --

It looks like HAL goes down the lineup and fills the card one person at a time. Trumbo plays first because he's in the lineup ahead of the 3B slot. No one is available for 3B so Quentin goes in there. Carlos Quentin is probably about as good at playing third as Trumbo, playing it out of position, so who cares. Perez is the third choice at DH, so he plays there. When we get to catcher, HAL appears to be looking only at players who were not previously assigned. So Delmon Young dons the tools of ignorance.

Brantly and Longoria are due back from their long vacations in the hot tubs, so I don't need to worry any more about this. That said, it looks like the only way I'd persuade HAL to start Salvador Perez at C would be to make Young the third option at DH, or bat the C spot above the DH spot, with Perez listed as an option.

Edit: Valen's explanation, from John's blog (which is ???), appears to be compatible with my theory. Note that Perez was listed as the third option at C in the first two games. I can only guess he's not assigned there because he was the third option at DH, and the DH position is settled first, being higher in the lineup order.

My guess is that HAL will not adjust the DH spot unless the DH is injured, period. Anyone else know if this is true?

My guess is that HAL will not adjust the DH spot unless the DH is injured, period. Anyone else know if this is true?

I think so unless you have the DH listed as the backup for an injured position player and a backup DH listed,

For science I will test my theory on the last day of Brantly's injury time. I put Perez as the second backup for catcher (as before). Both Brantly and the first backup and injured. I dropped the DH spot (where Perez is the second backup, with both the starting DH and first backup injured) below the C spot. My prediction is HAL will put Perez at C and find Young for DH. We'll see what happens.

What Scumby said just above is correct. HAL "WILL" put the DH at another position. That's why we lobbied for DH backups. If yall remember we didn't have DH backups when we origiannly changed over.

I would put Perez as the 1st sub at C and he WILL be inserted there when the other C is injured. Make sure you have a sub listed at DH also.