What generally is a healthy ML roster makeup?
 
How many pitchers?

I am assuming 2 catchers, 5 OFs, 5 IFs, but what say you vets?

My typical roster: is 14 position players and 11 pitchers. 

The position players will be a primary starter at each position (including DH) and 5 bench players.  If it's an NL team, then I have 8 starters and 6 bench players.

The bench will consist of a second (usually, a defensive) catcher, a defensive shortstop, and a couple of utility guys who can play either IF or OF.  Ideally one of those utility guys will have a decent bat.

My pitching staff will consist of 5 SP's, 4 set-up guys, a long reliever and a mop-up guy.  If the mop-guy is good enough, I'll designate him as a second long reliever.

I typically don't designate a closer unless I have a have a guy with exceptionally high DUR/STA who I can get a lot of IP's out of as a closer, or I have a guy with exceptionally low DUR/STA who'se going to only give me limited innings that I want to leverage as a closer.

Don't look at it like IF/OF. Look at it like ARM/RANGE

ARM: SS, 3B, RF, CF, 2B, LF, 1B
RANGE: CF, SS, 2B, 3B, RF, LF, 1B

That is how I look at it. I keep two catchers, and at least 2 guys who can play SS. Then I find the best bat who I feel I can reasonably play a position. And when players need rest, I move them up down the defensive spectrum.

It's the lineup that your personnel is best suited to. Most questions about this game, other than technical processes, do not have a simple answer.

"How many pitchers" could be 8 or 13. Depends entirely on the DUR/STA of your best pitchers. There are numerous threads explaining how to determine that.

"Healthy roster makeup" could be 1-3 C, 4-6 MIF/CF, 5-7 CIF/COF, DH, PR. You put your 8 best players (unless you're holding someone back to lose games) in a lineup, and fill them with in-game replacements (PH/PF, Defense) and enough DUR to get you through the season. How you do that depends entirely on what you have available.

Agree with all the above.

I usually carry 5 guys who have the range to play SS, CF, or 2B, and another who can play 3B.  You need 2 catchers.  For me the rest is totally variable.  In general, your bench players should have roles; they should do things your starters don't do.  Platooning is an example of that but there are others; if your starting SS is a good hit, marginal field type, carry a defensive SS on the bench.  

I didn't mean to over simplify the question. Clearly I am trying to have guys with defensive capabilities, health, durability, and stamina.

To add more context, here is what I am trying to do:

Have a 5 man rotation, but an 11 day rotation (ie if there is no off day, every other rotation cycle, go with a 6-max), 2 catchers where my primary plays 2/3 days, and DH or 1B when/if appropriate. I also want to give the majority of players 1 day off per week, though if I have good balance which it is looking like I will, I want to essentially have my reserve play 4 days per week in both IF & OF.

I hope this makes sense.

Everyone is making it too complicated.   You have your starting line-up, including platoons if you're using them, a 2nd catcher if it's not a platoon spot and your best 10-11 pitchers.   That's probably going to take up 22 slots.   I usually use the 23rd for a utility guy that can field every position.  He can give rest and/or play a spot for a short term injury.   Then the next two spots are filled by the players/pitchers who can help me most.   Sometimes they are hitters if I feel a weakness in a spot, sometimes they are pitchers if I don't think my DUR/STM of the first group will work until roster expansion and sometimes it's 1 hitter/1 pitcher.

Posted by joshkvt on 7/28/2015 2:57:00 PM (view original):
It's the lineup that your personnel is best suited to. Most questions about this game, other than technical processes, do not have a simple answer.

"How many pitchers" could be 8 or 13. Depends entirely on the DUR/STA of your best pitchers. There are numerous threads explaining how to determine that.

"Healthy roster makeup" could be 1-3 C, 4-6 MIF/CF, 5-7 CIF/COF, DH, PR. You put your 8 best players (unless you're holding someone back to lose games) in a lineup, and fill them with in-game replacements (PH/PF, Defense) and enough DUR to get you through the season. How you do that depends entirely on what you have available.

Can you point me to one of those threads on how to determine roster makeup?  I almost always carry 13 pitchers and 12 batters but I tend to use starters with 60's and 20's for stamina, which puts more pressure on the bullpen.  

In the playoffs I'll adjust to 10 pitchers, maybe 9 for the first 2 rounds.  

jamier, I'm pretty sure you just posted in one of those threads explaining how to determine your roster makeup...

Posted by jamier2003 on 7/29/2015 5:02:00 PM (view original):

Posted by frymaster99 on 7/29/2015 4:50:00 PM (view original):
jamier, I'm pretty sure you just posted in one of those threads explaining how to determine your roster makeup...

I'm not very scientific and I like to see how others determine their roster.  I'm open to listening to others that are smarter than I am and I'll adjust.  I can't find my post so if someone else has it handy then great.  

I've noticed a lot less 13 pitcher rosters.  

I am certain most rosters are determined the same way - your 25 best players. If you're in the NL it's likely you'd try and assemble a deeper bench to account for the pinch-hitting opportunities presented when hitting for the pitcher. 13-man pitching staffs are fairly rare in real life, by my quick skim of rosters there are only 6 or 7 teams in the entire MLB that carry that many pitchers. When you add in most MLB staffs having a mop-up/garbage time guy plus a lefty specialist, there are two more pitcher spots not usually filled by HBD players.

13 hitters, 12 pitchers. Plan on making use of all 25 players on your roster. Baseball is about much more than just your 8 starting position players and starting pitcher.

For pitchers- 5 SP, 3 Setup A, 2 Setup B, 1 LRA, 1 LRB. I aim for three of my five setups RH, two of the five LH. One RH and one LH long-relief. SP handedness does not specifically matter unless your home park is asymmetrical (ie Honolulu). If I have 4 or 5 RH SP then it's probably slightly better to have more LH relievers. Also, I can get away with 4 SP esp early in season because of higher off-day frequency, but I can go all season long on 4 SP if all have 30+ dur. If I go 4 SP then I can go 3 LR (mopup is pointless) or I can carry a 6th bench and pinch-hit / double-switch more aggressively

Hitters- Platoon effectively. in NL you'll have 8 starters and 5 bench, make the most of the 5 bench. On my teams, I consistently get every position player at least 150+ at bats for the season. Note that this does not always mean that I will carry the 25 best OVR 

Rostering 2 C is mandatory unless you have a rare guy like Alex Mota who has 95+ DUR and hits vL and vR ... on that team I can get away with carrying 1 C all season long and can use the extra roster spot on an extra side-specific PH or an extra UTIL fielder. Since most catchers have low-to-medium dur, plan to assemble a complementary platoon. Find a starter who is strong vR, and his platoon-mate can be the def-replacement and start vL.

Rostering a 2nd SS (80+85+85+85+) is a wise move. Because most SSs are R/R, most of them hit better vL and thus it's much harder to find the starter aka the "good half" of the platoon who hits vR. Sometimes the vR SS can add value as a leadoff hitter but usually the vR SS sucks offensively. Carrying the extra SS (or two) also allows for more liberal pinch hitting because simmy can sub a good fielder back into the spot.

The third bench can go to a 2B/CF tweener (R/R) who can fit roles for pinch-running, def replacement in LF or 2B, or under-fielding CF for player rest when you're winning big or losing big.

The fourth bench can be a DH type even if you're in the NL. Those pinch hit ABs add up over the course of a season. Helps if player has LF or 1B or C eligibility to eat some innings in the field for player rest

Fifth bench can be roster-context specific. 3B / RF types can be useful for def sub / player rest purposes, also will probably add value as pinch hitters vL (most 3B are RH) batters), could also be yet another fielder to help with SS/CF/2B def rep duties. 

Yeah, definitive answers are almost always wrong.

Try again.