I have a pitcher coming off the DL and it seems that the first appearance by a pitcher when they've been off for a while is not as good as usual. Does anyone else think that and do anything special, like start them with limited pitch count? In the majors, they would come back first in the minors but MLB doesn't have demotion penalties like HBD does.

There's no such thing as a "rust factor" in HBD. Just use him as you would for any other start.

Quote: Originally posted by tecwrg on 1/23/2010There's no such thing as a "rust factor" in HBD.  Just use him as you would for any other start.

+1

Agree with tec.

I've actually seen a few situations when a pitcher was uncharacteristically bad prior to going on the DL, then returned to form immediately after returning from the DL, even with a small ratings hit.