So was just curious to get some opinions on what makes a good closer in HBD?  Does Temper or Patience factor into it at all?  Thanks!

No.   High splits, control, pitches, velocity and GB make a good closer. 

Would be kind of fun if there was some rating.  "Man, this guy has the stuff to be a Closer, but his Nerve rating just won't allow it."

Also, high durability helps if you want him to be able to pitch in consecutive games.  High stamina (30 and over) is kind of a waste for a closer, since he will have trouble maximizing his innings even if you have him set to come in in the 8th inning.

Whatever makes a good pitcher in general makes a good closer.  I've seen elite starters used as closers.  I've seen declining elite starters be great closers.

I don't use closers at all at the big league level though, so there are other options too.

I've pretty much moved away from the closer role on my teams.  Just use a mix of SuA and SuB RP's.

The traditional closer, who tends to have the best stuff, also tends to get fewer IP's than lesser quality setup guys.  Seems like a waste.  Unless you like to accumuate stats.  I'll take the quantity of quality IP's over stats any day.

The reason I don't use closers is for the same as tec mentions. 

1.  Closers don't get the most high-leverage situations
2.  The number of innings they pitch is limited
3.  The role, as it exists in real life, is the one that is essentially there based only on a statistic (a nebulus one at that):  the almighty "SAVE"

My better teams almost always have 3 sharp bullpen guys.  Saves are typically scattered throughout the staff.  For example, on this team:  Hardball Dynasty – Fantasy Baseball Sim Games - Richmond Barking Spiders Franchise Profile, I have four quality relievers that all could be used as the "Mr. Magic Closer".  The bullpen  as a whole has 46 wins and 62 saves, and no one even has 20 saves individually.

I think in real life, if the role had not evolved as it did, you'd see more bullpens constructed and used this way.  In fact, I personally think the save should awarded strictly by scorer's discretion.  If your "8th inning guy" comes in and stops a rally by knocking down the opposing team's best hitters,  I don't think the glory stat should go to the guy coming in in the 9th with a two run lead and nobody on base needing to pull 3 outs from the bottom the order....Just my own preference.

There have been several discussions about this since I've been a member of WifS.   Real life not HBD.

The "problem" with the idea is routine and warm up.  Almost every player will say they prefer the same routine day in, day out(Schilling recently opined that the Cubs routinely underperform because of the unique day/night schedule they have).   Of course, I imagine that players could develop different routines but there's still the issue of warming up.   Using Rivera as an example, he starts a stretching regimen as the game winds down because he knows, in all likelihood, he'll only pitch in the 9th.  So he can start it at the same point in every game.  I suppose you could tell him "Mo, you're pitching to the top of the order when it comes up" and let him figure it out.  Then, if the opponent rallies, he may have to come in early(disrupting his routine) or not at all(also disrupting his routine).   Finally, if he gets blasted, the manager will get fired for screwing up the routine of the best RP ever.

It's easy to say "This is how it should be" when you're not losing your job for showing everyone how it works.

Well, it's also ego right? HBD players don't care if 4 guys in the bullpen end the season with 8 saves each instead of "the guy" getting 32.

It's any number of human factors that we don't have to deal with in the sim.

I think the biggest one is this, and it's basically been hinted at - if you don't reserve your best reliever to "close", you're going to blow some number of extra 9th inning leads. You may more than make up for that with the extra leads you protect by bringing that guy into more high leverage situations earlier in the game, but that's going to be a hard sell to the media and the average fan, because losing a lead in the 9th feels worse than losing it in the 7th or the 8th. And the reality is even if you're going to try and make the sell on how many extra leads you protect earlier in the game, one season is still a small enough sample that the numbers may not wind up backing you up.

I certainly think the save stat has had a major hand in developing current convention, but I don't think removing it or changing it would lead to any real change in the convention at this point.

I'd like to think it's less about ego and more about negotiating power.  At least earlier in a career.  I don't think you could take Rivera and say "This is how we're going to use you for the rest of your career" with the expectation that he wouldn't balk.   But, in my mind, if the Yankees started working their bullpens differently in the minors, the next generation wouldn't have ego problems.   But they'd have negotiation problems until the statnerds figured out how "high leverage stops" or HLS could be calculated. 

As for what AC says, there's is a bigger issue with losing a game in the 9th.  Fans, managers and players have become accustomed to Rivera(who I keep using because he's the best closer) shutting down a team in the 9th.    That allowed managers to manage differently and players to play differently.  It was just assumed that the one run lead in the 9th was safe. So they could play/manage for or against that.   And, regardless of what anyone says, it's tougher mentally to lose it in the 9th than it is to be losing in the 9th. 

Posted by MikeT23 on 5/12/2011 4:29:00 PM (view original):
No.   High splits, control, pitches, velocity and GB make a good closer. 

Pretty much what makes a good pitcher in HBD.

this guy closes for my fisk team, you wouldn't think he'd be that good, but he is for some reason lol

 Hardball Dynasty – Fantasy Baseball Sim Games - Player Profile: Gregg Rhodes

I'm a believer in having the guy with the best stuff pitch the ninth in HBD; it's a huge letdown to have him throw two brilliant innings heading into the ninth, only to see a lesser guy blow the game.   I do like to have a very good set-up guy or two to pitch the 7th & 8th, but I want my best guy preserving the W.  Pitching fewer innings will mean he's fresh and available more often for the close games.