Bullpen Roles

Let's say I drafted a killer bullpen of Urbina, Murray, Burke, Kimbrel, Smoltz....what happens if i do not set bullpen roles?

What happens is ... You waste a lot of money on your bullpen. Of course, that's assuming an 80 mill league. In a large cap league that pen would be fine.

How many good relievers would you recommend and roles to use them then?

How many good relievers would you recommend and roles to use them then?

Cap size and DH or no DH will change the answer to that question.

80 mil no DH

80 mil no DH

Depends on the makeup of your team and starting rotation, but in general (under ATG 8 reliever rules), I would be content with one high-priced stud reliever ($4-5m-ish), one mid-tier backup guy ($2m-ish), one mopup guy (about $1m, maybe a bit more), and, if you want, a couple of bargain lefty-righty specialists. So maybe around $10m committed to the bullpen?

It's all going to change...a lot...when ATG 9 comes along if the changes are like those happening to 20XX.

I think it's possible to overspend on the bullpen at 80M. And that means less money for everything else.
One recent team of mine at the 80M level won 101 games with Narleski (1.85 M), an R3, and LaPalme (1.77 M), also an R3, as my two main relievers. I had a 5 man rotation. My other two pure relievers were a .56M guy and a .5 M guy.

My total bullpen expenditure was 4.68M, or just under 6% of my overall 80M budget. And the results weren't bad. Narleski pitched 182.2 innings and LaPalme pitched 93.2 innings. They combined for a 21-11 W/L and 39-22 saves. The two cheapo relievers combined for 69.1 innings, a 3-1 W/L and 3-1 saves. I got a few relief stints out of SP/RP starters.

The rest of the money on this 101 win team went into starting pitching and offense. My hitters scored 1065 runs--which they couldn't have done if I'd lavished money on a bullpen where the #3 & #4 guys pitched just a few innings. My run differential was +250.

https://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1533409

There are plenty of ways to construct a winning team--and the cost of bullpens in this particular league ranged tremendously— but in an 80M league I wouldn't spend to much on the bullpen unless I was loading up on super-relievers who I was planning to ride for 40% of my innings.

Update: I just checked the league and found it had another 101 win team. That team expended 2.32M on its bullpen, so my bullpen expenditure was profligate by comparison. Again--there simply isn't one right way to construct a team, let alone a bullpen. But it's good to have a plan for how your team is going to cover its 1,400 innings for the season.

My thoughts were to KC Royals, or Yankees the bullpen. By getting one stud SP and quick hook the others.

I am just beginning to play this game and it is very intriguing. I was just trying to experiment and see if my plan could have the sort of impact I had hoped. I know the game is really about the cards and fitting them together well.

Thank you for your input I really appreciate the advice and would love to hear any other ideas anyone has.

80 mil no DH

You should NOT spend over $32 million on pitching in $80 cap....

So subtract the $alary you spend on starting pitching....and that is the MAX you should spend on your pen.