got it, thx!

I believe in the 12 man pitching staff: 5 starters, 2 long relievers, 4 setup guys (2 righties and 2 lefties) and a closer.
For my bench I go with a catcher, a shortstop, a guy with bigtime speed to be used as a pinch runner, and then the 1 (AL) or 2 (NL) best available guys I can find to round it out (preferably one of them being a guy that can play 3-4 different poitions at least, like a 2B, 3B or CF).

Posted by aginor on 9/2/2010 12:55:00 PM (view original):

Posted by shamu on 9/2/2010 11:15:00 AM (view original):
All great advise.  Thx fellas.  One thing I have noticed is that when I promote a starting pitcher in the minors, they become LR or closers, not a SP like they were before.  Is there something that determines what makes a pticher  a starter or on the bench via the SIMS?

Good question... When you let the system handle your farm teams, it can and will do stuff like this. What I do for positional guys, I make their primary position the one I want them to play (usually that is the position I feel their potential has them headed for). The system will put guys at their primary postions for the most part. Keep on eye this though!!

The system LOVES stamina for starters!!! Not that is totally wrong, you don't want a guy with closer type stamina starting!! BUT the system will take stamina over quality... It will put a guy with crappy splits, low pitch quality AND questionable control (mopup material) as a starter just cause his stamina is really high..Even though there are far better avaibable. This where I step in and set the rotation etc myself. Guys who I feel have ML SP or even LR potential..I want them to be Starters..Biggest part of development is "PLAYING TIME", therefore get your ML prospect pitchers IPs. Even your closer prospects....under Manager settings on your farm teams I never say "Closer used only in Save...." I want them to get IPs and this might limit them (especially if the this farm team SUCKS)

Again keep on eye this...if you've set your farm teams to run mainly by the AI, still watch them!!!!!

Further note.. don't allow the AI to do any Promotions.

You can set it to allow AI to do promotions?  That's a scary thought.  Oh, are you referring to having Sparky manage the disabled list?

I'm actually actually running a ten man staff this year, but all four set-up guys can pitch 3 innings if needed. Even so, I anticipate I will need to go to an 11 man staff by midseason. I like to platoon so a minimal pitching staff allows for extra platoon options. I have found platoon combinations can be a fairly inexpensive way to provide top quality splits. Don't be afraid to look at the guys with very high splits against one hand if you can find a platoon partner.

Exactly... I handle the DL myself for ALL levels (this is where the AI can promote etc).. Sparky can and will promote to fill a spot caused by an injury. Especially if he feels there is nobody on the roster who can play the position well enough (like SS, 2B, CF or Catcher).

What I've seen good old sparky do is promote a SS to fill in for a injury then when the other guy comes back, he'll put the promoted guy on the Inactive List... Well what if this SS is one of your blue chip prospects!? He's sitting in the press box instead of getting playing time and developing. This happened to me a LONG time ago. Even since then.. I HANDLE THE DL!!

I'm all for doing the DL.  Seems like a bit much to take on but it's sink or swim for me.  I keep hearing about "platoon".  what is that exactly?

Actually overall it's not that bad really..but at first it seems like HOLY &^%$.

Platooning rather simple.. playing 2 guy at the same position.. One vs RH Pitching and the Other vs LH Pitching.  If you look at the split (hitting RH & LH) some have rather lopsided values here.  Their RH maybe low but his LH maybe really high (or the reverse).  So you play the guy against the type he hits better against
OR
If you have a player who has a low durability rating and will need to take a fair # of games off.. You may play him vs RH and put in somebody else vs LH.

It's along those lines.

i get it, i always thought that if you sub one guy at one point during a game, that guy is no longer availble for the rest of the game.  Time to back and reread the rules of the game.  Thx aginor.

Posted by shamu on 9/2/2010 9:17:00 PM (view original):
i get it, i always thought that if you sub one guy at one point during a game, that guy is no longer availble for the rest of the game.  Time to back and reread the rules of the game.  Thx aginor.

You don't get to bring him back in.  He means one guy starts and the other is on the bench.  If the opposing team changes pitchers, it's up to you to set your pinch hitting hierarchy if you want to make the appropriate substitution.  But if you do make the substitution, then the guy can't come back in the game.

there you, that makes sense.  thx man!