I need help building a good pitching staff any tips to help me out.

thanks guys, but I'm trying to figure out if pitching 3 starters would be better or if 4 would be better

Read the "Filler Innings Strategy" thread that is about 10-12 threads below this one.  It gives a lot of excellent advice.

ignore the W and SV stats....they don't mean anything

And ERA.

Posted by dahsdebater on 8/2/2012 5:58:00 PM (view original):
And ERA.

The more I play the more convinced I am that WIS — irrationally — uses ERA to a degree in determining extra-base hits. The same seems to be true of HR/9. In both cases it would be more logical to use the + or # numbers (and ignore ERA for ERC altogether), but I don't think that's the case in these two instances.

Posted by joshkvt on 8/2/2012 11:12:00 PM (view original):

Posted by dahsdebater on 8/2/2012 5:58:00 PM (view original):
And ERA.

The more I play the more convinced I am that WIS — irrationally — uses ERA to a degree in determining extra-base hits. The same seems to be true of HR/9. In both cases it would be more logical to use the + or # numbers (and ignore ERA for ERC altogether), but I don't think that's the case in these two instances.

They used to rely heavily on ERA for XBH, but an update or two ago they changed to effect of ERA on XBH. It's now based on a number of factors (including ERC and HR/9), though ERA does still play a role (I'm told it's minimal, but I don't know the exact formula, nor what all is included).

i have some more questions not entirely involved with stats. How many starting pitchers should i have

2, 3, 4, 5, or 6, depending on how many SP and overall innings you draft.

I know that is so vague as to be useless, but there is no magic formula.  I've won with 2-man rotations, and I've won with 6-man rotations.  Neither is inherently superior.

Posted by joshkvt on 8/2/2012 11:12:00 PM (view original):

Posted by dahsdebater on 8/2/2012 5:58:00 PM (view original):
And ERA.

The more I play the more convinced I am that WIS — irrationally — uses ERA to a degree in determining extra-base hits. The same seems to be true of HR/9. In both cases it would be more logical to use the + or # numbers (and ignore ERA for ERC altogether), but I don't think that's the case in these two instances.

They're up-front about the fact that ERA factors into doubles and triples allowed.  As J4M said, that was changed not terribly long ago such that I think now that it's a comparison ERA+ to ERC+ that's the primary factor - if ERA+ is lower than ERC+, the XBH rates of the pitcher will be depressed relative to their year, whereas if it's higher they will be raised.  All of this is only of very minor importance, however, given that by far the biggest factor in terms of how many doubles a pitcher will allow is his season.  Deadballers give up more than modern guys because double and triple rates were higher during the deadball era.  Also, the pitcher's direct impact on doubles and triples is very low, I think about 15%.

This chart taken from the slides from a few years ago in the recently bumped thread, I find it highly unlikely these numbers have changed:

	HBP/PA	BB/(PA-HBP)	H/AB	K/(OUT)	HR/HIT	2B/HIT	3B/HIT
Pitcher%	47.8	43.5	46.7	45.6	39.7	15.2	11.6
Hitter%	52.2	56.5	53.3	54.4	60.3	84.8	88.4

This chart taken from the slides from a few years ago in the recently bumped thread, I find it highly unlikely these numbers have changed:

	HBP/PA	BB/(PA-HBP)	H/AB	K/(OUT)	HR/HIT	2B/HIT	3B/HIT
Pitcher%	47.8	43.5	46.7	45.6	39.7	15.2	11.6
Hitter%	52.2	56.5	53.3	54.4	60.3	84.8	88.4