Coach Rich/EGVRICH's Last Hurrah League

I think bullpen V.3 is just fine. I took Rich's advise on how to structure the pen and HAL is doing a terrific job.

Glad to hear it.

Always a pleasure competing against you Rich. You're advice is always sound and given freely. You will be missed by all sir, all the best to you.

Always a pleasure competing against you Rich. You're advice is always sound and given freely. You will be missed by all sir, all the best to you.

So you were the one person who asked for my advice ...

Thanks for the kind words. I will miss the people far more than I will miss the game.

I think bullpen V.3 is just fine. I took Rich's advise on how to structure the pen and HAL is doing a terrific job.

Glad to hear it.

Please share!?

And of course, sorry to hear you are retiring from Strat.

I'm telling you guys...

We should have an online petition to have HAL, the big boss, hire RICH to head a team of computer scientists to fix all the discrepancies, glitches, bugs and annoyances that piss us all with this game...

AND to make it the FANtastic game it could be or better SHOULD be...

I think bullpen V.3 is just fine. I took Rich's advise on how to structure the pen and HAL is doing a terrific job.

Glad to hear it.

Please share!?

And of course, sorry to hear you are retiring from Strat.

I can't speak to anything recent Rich has learned or shared privately of course, but the standing discussion since BP v3 has essentially been, at top level:

Don't set roles (except maybe mop up)
Set avoids (L-R)
Set quick hook as appropriate

Essentially many have determined that setting roles can give worse results because it ties HAL's hands with bad options, especially when going with a cheap bullpen of one-siders. Give HAL options in order to avoid being held hostage by the unknown v3 business rules...4-6 one sided guys if you don't want to spend a ton of money.

But I am all ears too if something new has surfaced, even though since taking this approach I have been happy with HAL BP choices for a couple years.

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).

thanks a bunch!!!

Considering the attention and (adoration?) of the manager in question, could we have a link to peek in? Seems like it would have been a bunch of excellent managers!

Happy to oblige
https://365.strat-o-matic.com/league/464182