I had this exchange with CS this week -

1/31/2011 11:29 AM	burnsy483
Just wondering why Stafford pinch-hit for Wood in the 9th inning of this game. Wood is ahead of Stafford in the pinch-hitting hierarchy in both "needs contact" and "needs power." Thanks!
2/4/2011 10:05 AM	Customer Support
Christopher, When it comes to the PH hierarchy, the manager doesn't stop when finding the incumbent. He'll continue looking until he finds the first available player. Then, he'll compare the player with the incumbent for the situation. While both are strong hitters, the PH had the advantage in this situation.

My assumption (obviously wrong) was that if I thought someone was better suited for a particular situation, that CS wouldn't override my thoughts with their idea on who was better.  I'm bringing this up only because I'd guess this info is not well known, and I wanted to see what others' views were on this.

If you don't want a starter to be pinch-hit for, uncheck that box on the Player Settings page.

But what if you don't mind him being pinch-hit for, but just by someone above him on the hierarchy.  Seems reasonable.

And what does CS mean by, "...the PH had the advantage in this situation."  You specified, through the settings, that the player already in the lineup had the advantage in both contact and power situations.   Hmmmm...

Wait...so it finds the first available player in the hierarchy, then "compares" that player to the person coming up to bat?  So the purpose of the hierarchy is now to determine which player will be compared to the player coming up to bat, and the results of that comparison is up to simmy.  Doesn't seem right.

That's it, exactly, I want him to be pinch hit for sometimes.  He's left-handed, if he's facing a lefty, there are definitely guys I'd be ok pinch-hitting for him. 

Yeah that is screwed up. Basically it barely matters how you set your PH settings because you could hit "Save Recs" and get essentially the same results in game situations.

I'll ask CS why the system is set up that way, and will update when they respond.

The response:

Chris,

The PH hierarchy allows the manager to rank his hitters for certain situations. The goal is to always compare the first available guy on the list with the current hitter. It's not setup to reach the current hitter and bail out. It's designed this way so that the better hitter for the situation (in terms of stats) is always used in the proper situation. 99% of the time, it's also going to be the hitter the user wants. So, the user ranks the hitters, but the manager is always doing the statistical checking based on all the factors at play.

The corollary to this hierarchy is that the manager can always flag hitters to never be lifted for a PH in the player settings page.



They didn't answer my question of "Why can't I make my own decisions."  I guess that's just the way it's got to be set up.  Just very odd.  Maybe it's set up this way because it's harder to code if they don't? 

And I'm assuming by stats they mean ratings. 

You can make your own decisions but they have to be based around how the system works.   They can only program for so many situations.   VL/VR PH isn't one that is programmed.   IOW, you can't say "PH for him if a lefty is on the mound and let him bat vs. the righty."

Mike, I'm OK with him being pinch-hit for in general, against both lefties and righties.  I just don't want him pinch-hit for someone who is lower on the hierarchy.

Well, from what I'm reading, anyone lower on the hierarchy won't be used unless he's a better option.    I'm sure that doesn't work exacly how any of wants it to but that's just a sim thing.

I used to have similar problems with D-Replacements.   The best guy would be first but the 2nd/3rd option would get subbed.  So now I only have one option at the key defensive spots.  I'm not sure there's a "work around" with PH but that's what you'll have to find.

Yea, I guess it's just one of those things.  And if the sim knows exactly who is more likely to get a hit in a specific situation, then who am I to argue.

I had pinch-hitting set to 4 because I platoon at a few positions and always wanted to get the best matchup. And since I play in the AL, and only have 11 pitchers, I feel like I can get away with that. Maybe I'll just bring it down to 3 and see what that does. I was more annoyed about this yesterday than I am now.