Avoid LH/RH settings

We can already designate pinch hitters against LHP and RHP so the avoid option is mostly redundant. To me having the option to designate which starter to be ph for the late innings would be valuable.

Designating pinch hitters against LHP and RHP does not make the avoid LH/RH option "redundant." Making a player a pinch hitter against LHP or RHP only tells HAL to pinch hit him against LHP or RHP. It would not (in any way) tell HAL to avoid pitchers of the other pitching arm otherwise. The added Avoid LH or RH functions do do this. And while the function is not perfect--like many SOM functions--it does usually do its job.

I'm with DJ. I happily use a lot of platoons because they see about 90% of the side I want them to. HAL does not always PH when or for whom I'd want, but often he does. And if you think listing PHs is enough, I agree with durantjerry that you clearly didn't play before we had the 'avoid' options.

I made a very different use of the "Avoid" selection boxes in a current 2013 league.

The Duggar Bulldogs had reserve OFs Scott Hairston and Rick Ankiel, as well as reserve 2B Jonathan Villar. Perfect, right? Set Hairston to PH against lefties, Ankiel to PH against righties, and Villar to pinch-run.

HAL was selecting VILLAR as the PH in almost every situation! Always quick on the uptake, I selected both "Avoid LH Pitchers" and "Avoid RH Pitchers" for the offending Villar in the Hitter Preferences, after only TEN appearances as a PH...sigh.

Well, it did work. The "avoid all pitchers" strategy turned Villar into a modern-day Herb Washington. Villar ended up being part of a trade, much later. But he never PH in a one-run game (with a runner on-base and two outs) again!

Regards, MarlinGene!

Here is an interesting team to look at when evaluating how well HAL will respect your wishes for a platoon:

http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/te ... ight/79136

This was experiment league we did a long time ago, but the results are still enlightening. The objective here was to lose as many games as possible. So, I picked the worst possible offensive players, but many were heavily slanted to the left side or the right side. So, I instructed HAL play these guys their BAD way, and to specifically avoid their good way. So, HAL probably had some real tough times when games were close and relievers were brought in and I was specifically telling him to do something really idiotic, and fundamentally opposed to the general spirit of the game.

But, I have to say, he really followed my directions VERY well. Take a look at guys like Wayne Krenchicki (a 6R), but only faced right handed pitching 13% of the time. Tom Lawless, an awesome card vs. LHP (9L) batted .458 vs. the anemic left handed pitching he did face, but only faced them 15% of the time. And yes, they did pinch hit their bad way all the time.

So, platooning works, and HAL will do what you say even if what you say is stupid.