Wed Mar 08, 2023 5:36 pm
PITCHING:
In a small ball park (Petco, Braves 38, Forbes 09, Griffith 41) you can go different directions, I've lead the league in pitching with $5-$6 mill starters because of my home park and the defense I put behind them. The key is getting pitchers who's price is artificially lower because they give up a lot of BP HR's.
In DH leagues (my preference), I do prefer all S9* rated pitchers, but will settle for the right S8*'s or even S7*'s. In a DH league where they won't get pulled for a pinch hitter, S7's will pitch many complete games if set to F0, F1, F2 or F3. The better the pitcher the lower the F rating I use. If you can't tell just by looking the cards over, sort to the pitchers with the lowest WHIP. Or use Diamond Dope, choose your park and download the player pool into an excel spreadsheet and sort by Batted Runs allowed.
In DH leagues, I will have 4 Reliever Only and typically spend no more than $4 mill on my bullpen. If my starters are all S9's for example, I will have 2 9L's and 2 9R's , set them to quick hook, max 1-2 and avoid opposite side. I set NO roles. Let HAL make the choice and more often than not, he will do okay.
In Non-DH League, I am not as worried about the fatigue rating because I know many times a starter will get pulled for a pinch hitter. So I'll live with S6's, S7's and S8's. It's not worth spending the extra cash on an S9 who might only go 6-7 innings anyways. Set the starters fatigue ratings the same way, or even lower so they don't get pulled and ONLY get pinch hit for. (F0, F1 or F2).
In Non-DH leagues, I typically carry a 5 man bullpen, 2 9L's and 2 9R's and one guy around $2 mill who is pretty solid (Turk Lown with -6 hold is a great example, super tough in Petco), set NO ROLES for this pitcher and HAL will choose him first almost every time. I also look for pitchers with a good hold rating. But if your catcher has a -4 arm, you can get by with guys with a + Hold rating. Still I like to get my combined pitcher/catcher ratings as close to -5 as possible (-5 is the best you get, anything better than that is overkill).