How many closers do most successful managers use per season?  I find that in Sim, it seems as if you are more successful saving games if you use a committee of at least 2 or 3 relievers to close out games.  Probably the most unrealistic aspect of this game I've noticed thus far.  It also seems that you don't necessarily have to draft a closer for that role either.  I have pitchers who close games for me who were setup men in their real season.  I also use starting pitchers on ocassion as setup men depending upon who is rested in my pen.  It seems that one aspect of managing in Sim is thinking outside the box in regards to what the player did in real life. 
2/28/2011 8:12 PM
Well, closers get no benefit from being the closer in real life, so thinking outside the box is a good thing. Many of the best closers were actually starters who only got a few starts (Northrop, Niggeling, Rincon, Carlos). 

I almost always have 1 closer. I find with 2, either one of them doesn't get enough innings or one of them is bad.


2/28/2011 9:20 PM
I use one closer, with a low cost, low IP guy as closer B on those occasions when my usual closer is fatigued.   My closer is usually s a RL IP/162 of <50 (+/-).  In certain themes, it may make sense to grab a  couple of 25-30 IP, low OAV, low HR/9# guys to share the light. There are many ways to win in the SIM, and an equally umlimited number of ways to manage your staff
2/28/2011 9:31 PM

I have always drafted at least one guy with ~50 ip that could be a closer, tho I don't always use them that way.   

2/28/2011 9:47 PM
Zero. I typically have several high quality setup guys. I don't want them passed over just because it's the 9th inning so I don't designate a closer. Except in some themes where one guy is significantly better than everybody else.
of course he can be a Starter. I've even used Grag Maddux as part-time Setup/Closer and part-time Spot Starter against key opponents.
2/28/2011 11:45 PM (edited)
Usually I have no designated closer.  Typically, I try to draft 3-6 quality set up guys and whoever is holding the ball at the end of the game, then so be it.  Also, we are playing with 130 years of baseball history, the term "closer" didn't have much relevance until the last 30+ some years.  So I don't get the most unreal aspect of the game opinion.  If you are only looking at this game based of the way the game is played today, then you are bound to be disappointed.    
2/28/2011 10:48 PM
That's true... BUT.

For a lot of the first 100 years of baseball, the non-closer era, managers matched their best relievers to the highest leverage situations. Those situations may not have come in the 9th inning. This would be the "fireman" role - 2nd and 3rd, none out in the 7th, better bring in Goose, Firpo or Joe Page.

Unfortunately there's no sim settings to match your best relievers to the highest leverage situations. 

I used to be a "no closer guy" because I don't want my best pitcher pitching with a 3-run lead in the 9th. But I thought about it some more and I realized that even though it's not ALWAYS a high-leverage situation in the 9th, there are probably MORE high leverage situations in the 9th than any other inning. So, to get Sparky to come close to using the best guys in the most crucial situations, I need a closer.

That said, I might use a Gagne or an Eck as my Setup A and someone *slightly* worse as my closer. But not much worse.
2/28/2011 11:10 PM
rbow923, houseofbayne and I are now a threesome.

Strike that.  Let's go with "triumverate".

No designated closer, at least 3 relievers I'm comfortable using at the end of games.  Make 'em all Setup A, pay attention to Inning Available, PC and pull setting, and let Sparky handle it.

I don't mind having one of my three best relievers on the mound to close out a 6-3 game.  Let's not screw around.  Let's secure the W.
2/28/2011 11:27 PM

RBOW, has the strategy of just designating setup guys and not designating a closer worked out well for you?  It's funny you mentioned Maddux as a part-time setup/closer and spot starter...I actually use him the same way and I sometimes start him in tandem with a lefty too.  Maddux seems to be good no matter where you pitch him in the game.

Certainly there is a big part of me that wants to run my pitching staff much like teams do today with a closer who can hammer down the 9th inning for the win.  But, I'm finding Sim is just a different ballgame.  AND...Sim is different depending on the salary cap of the league and perhaps other parameters set forth for each league.  {It seems that in an $80 million cap league, speed and gap hitters are more important, but in a $120 million cap league, you see more of a switch over to power being the more successful strategy.)  Thanks to all of you who are willing to help out.  I hope to one day be able to put a winning team together and really I find a lot of what you all say to be very beneficial. 

2/28/2011 11:30 PM
Real life managers have to deal with things like players egos, and owners who want the player(s) they are overpaying in higher profile roles. We simulation game players have no such limitations. We can look at what players actually did, and use (or ignore) that player appropriately. Therefore, many RL closers never even get selected for a team by any of us, and a player who had a brief, but outstanding partial season becomes a "must have" player for us. Often, players have had incredible careers, but  they have no season good enough for us to use. Sometimes, all we can do is accept that the game is what it is, we are what we are, and it just isn't going to be as realistic as we might like it to be. But perhaps, the truth is that the game is more realistic than we can accept. We want to believe that our heroes could have been just as heroic, no matter the competition. At any rate,  I use a closer who I hope will be able to close every game in which a save situation develops. I also am optimistic enough to think I might win games on a regular basis, and that cat ain't gonna have enough stamina to record all those saves, so I draft a player or 2, like milacki, o'brien, or mcdowell, and use them as closer b(s).
3/1/2011 12:29 PM
I don't use a closer.  I use several good relievers and set the all as Setup A ... it works very well.  I also take a LOT of time tracking pitch counts and usage and pay a lot of attention to fatigue.
3/1/2011 1:26 PM
I usually use a designated closer, but my best 3-5 RPs I have in setup roles, my closer is basically the best of what's left, I usually spend somewhere around 700K-1.2m for a closer with between 40-50 IP/162. and typically spend about 2-4m for each of my set up pitchers with between 40-100 IP.
3/1/2011 11:06 PM
I too am of the 'bullpen by committee' school.  I usually have a few relievers that can rotate into the role a needed; rarely have a reliever with more than 10 saves, but  just about everyone in the pen has 3 or more.  A stud closer in the 9th doesn't do you any good if you lose the lead in the 7th.
3/2/2011 1:44 AM
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Posted by pinotfan on 3/2/2011 1:44:00 AM (view original):
I too am of the 'bullpen by committee' school.  I usually have a few relievers that can rotate into the role a needed; rarely have a reliever with more than 10 saves, but  just about everyone in the pen has 3 or more.  A stud closer in the 9th doesn't do you any good if you lose the lead in the 7th.
Amen to that!
3/2/2011 11:48 PM

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