In the relief pitching topic somebody there said that using a closer isnt the best RP strategy.  Do you all agree with that?  If you do agree what is your fav RP setup?

currently I have 1LR, 2SUAs, 3SUBs, and 1 CLA.

I have so many SUs because none of them have particularly great dur/sta, only one of them has 90+20+ and a few of them are closer to 50/15 then I like.  In general my SU staff is doing pretty well, and I certainly do not need another LR.

Quoting zbrent716 from that same thread:  "In HBD, I reserve the closer role (when I use it at all) for the RP that isn't good enough to log many IP for me as a setup man."

I agree with zb-- my closer is a guy with otherwise top ratings but stamina in the 20-30 range.  If my best relievers all have higher stamina, then I use no closer.  I use my best 2-3 relievers as SuA, and the rest generally as SuB; if my SP are bad or have low stamina I'll designate an LRA.  If I have enough DUR/ST to cover nearly all my innings with 10 pitchers I'll make the 11th a mopup.  Also, I like the low DUR/ high ST relievers better, as with carefully set pitch counts a 16/55 can pitch as many innings as an 80/30 but with less in-game fatigue.

Finally, to save MikeT23 the trouble of posting this, there is no right answer to bullpen set-up; this is what I try to do, and others may have success with very different approaches.

I find that my closer often does not get as much IP's as I would like, which seems like a bit of a waste since he is often my best RP.  In one of my worlds, I've moved my closer to SuA, and now use a number of SuA's in a "closer by committee" approach.

On my fav team I have 1 awesome RP who 2 seasons ago converted 50 of 52 save opportunities.  He has decent dur/sta numbers, enough to pitch 2 innings every other day.  I have always used him as a CL because he is so dang good.  Though I am thinking maybe I should use him as a SUA.  I have 2 other very good SUs, 1 that has very good dur sta and not quite as good skill ratings as the first guy.  And another SUA that has not good but not bad dur sta that is slighly worse then the 2nd guy.  I am almost thinking I should have this 3rd guy be my CL and have those 2 better RPs be my SUs...  One can be the 2 inning SU 1 day, and the other can be the 2 inning SU the next day, and pretty much pitch every other day...  I might not convert quite as many SV opps as what I currently have, but I will likely give up less leads in the 7th and 8th.

I only use a "closer" when I have a 44-DUR/15-STA guy with lockdown stuff.

Guys with good DUR can pitch far, far more innings (and higher leverage innings) in Set Up A.

I will take the contrary position on this debate.  It can be very effective to have your best RP at closer as you are effectively shortening the game.  If you set the inning available to 8 and the pull rating to "1" you can still get 100+ innings out of a high durability pitcher.  That said, its easier to find a low inning pitch closer than a stud set up-a type. 

These are all good points, but I like to try to rack up the hardware, so I use my best RP in the closer role.   Saves seem to be the only way to earn FoYs and to potentially get HoF consideration.  I'm absolutely sure that this guy could get at 140-150 quality, high leverage IP as a SUA, but I have him as a two inning closer so that he can rack up the stats (and hopefully the accolades), although he only gets 85-95 IP.  This is only made possible by the fact that I also have this guy and this guy that can rack up important late game innings.

I always seem to find that you can get effective closer innings from a rather mid-level RP.  If this guy I have didn't get injured he would have been my closer for years to come, and to think I got him in a stupid trade.

Reference this guy: http://www.whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=862672

Posted by new on 11/1/2010 3:53:00 PM (view original):
I will take the contrary position on this debate.  It can be very effective to have your best RP at closer as you are effectively shortening the game.  If you set the inning available to 8 and the pull rating to "1" you can still get 100+ innings out of a high durability pitcher.  That said, its easier to find a low inning pitch closer than a stud set up-a type. 

I spent a long, long time doing this, too.

It's a really solid way to run a staff, especially in the playoffs.

It's also very good when you only have 1 top notch RP.

I'll take my 2-3 closer-quality guys who can each pitch 2 innings at a time, and set them all to available for the 6th.

Same idea to shorten the game, I think...?

Bi Gal, I think you can thank the seattle ballpark for those stats.  Those splits are scary when the game is on the line!

I do not use a closer, ever. I run with 1 LRA (maybe a LRB, but that's rare) and then divide my remaining RP between SuA & SuB (by effectiveness, meaning my best RP are SuA). The "Closer" role is too limited for me, I want my best RP in when the situation calls for it, and often that is not when a typical "closer" would be used. Especially when my better RP are usually the type that can go 2-3 innings. The guys I posted in the RP thread (Woolf & Wayne) are the type that can easily get 150-200 IP. Why waste them as a "Closer"?

Posted by shobob on 11/1/2010 4:37:00 PM (view original):
Bi Gal, I think you can thank the seattle ballpark for those stats.  Those splits are scary when the game is on the line!

details ;-).  Seattle does seem to help a lot in terms of RP...

Although, who's to say the game isn't on the line in the 6th, 7th or 8th?

I had some success with one of my teams using two pitchers in the closer A role. The one with higher stamina (in the 30's) was set to enter in the 8th, and the other was set for the 9th, if the first reached his pitch count.