I am curious as to how you guys would use this guy that is close to ML ready on a team that I just took on.

Player Profile: Ike Gailey - Hardball Dynasty Baseball | WhatIfSports

Based on his development so far, I'm thinking he'll wind up STA just below 60 and DUR over 90. Only 2 pitches but both pitches are great.

Some possibilities:
- Use as an opener to throw 60 pitches every other day (the rest of the rotation is not great)
- Use as first (Setup A) out of the pen, 40 pitches target/50 pitches max
- Use as a closer but available starting the 7th inning

Thanks for your help!

My two cents, I'd use him as a SuA practically every day. Using him too long, the splits might catch up to him, but he should be good in short bursts.

Using him as a reliever - if he's effective - means he does the job of two or even three RPs. You can use those roster spots for other things.

I'm with damag in that I'd use him as a SuA. I'm not sure if I'd keep his pitch count as low as he's talking about though. Particularly if the rotation is weak it could be useful to keep him in that 40-50 pitch range where he can eat 2-3 innings pretty effectively every other or every third day. Also I don't use closers anymore, so if I have guys like him who are cruising along and still below their pitch threshold they don't get pulled.

He's not likely to end up as a world-beater-- handled correctly my guess is his ERA will be just a couple of tenths below park-adjusted league average. He's a SuB or SuA, with pitch count around 35/45. He can pitch 300 innings, but you won't want him to if you're planning on winning a championship. Mostly I'd want him to eat a ton of mid-leverage innings so I didn't have to carry a terrible mopup, hoping to win more than my share of 9-8 games.

While in the minors, I would probably keep his pitch count lower and get him as many games as possible as that helps with his progression. As others have noted, I would probably do a PC of 30-40 once in the majors to be an innings-eater out of the pen. You can see how he does before trying him in the rotation at a 70-80 PC.

Agree with others that I would use him as an innings-eater out of the bullpen. But I might set his PC a little higher, and set his pull setting at 4 or 5. At this point, it is hard to tell how effective he will be in the ML. His GB/FB rating concerns me a bit. I'm not too worried about his splits. I have had many very good pitchers with mediocre splits but high pitch ratings.

Posted by keithjs on 11/1/2021 11:48:00 AM (view original):
I am curious as to how you guys would use this guy that is close to ML ready on a team that I just took on.

Player Profile: Ike Gailey - Hardball Dynasty Baseball | WhatIfSports

Based on his development so far, I'm thinking he'll wind up STA just below 60 and DUR over 90. Only 2 pitches but both pitches are great.

Some possibilities:
- Use as an opener to throw 60 pitches every other day (the rest of the rotation is not great)
- Use as first (Setup A) out of the pen, 40 pitches target/50 pitches max
- Use as a closer but available starting the 7th inning

Thanks for your help!

One of two ways:

if you have a leftie with similar stats you could do a tandem and have him on a quick pull, or have the leftie pitch first on a quick pull to have favourable matchups.

or as Damag said I’d have him as a SuA. He should be able to pitch every day and get between 140 and 200 innings.

I would pop him in at LRB to start the season. As the season progresses, if he is having a good year, I'd move him to LRA or SUA. He has two good MLB pitches that will allow him to perform well. However, I'd only let him reach 200 IP in years where he is dominant and he'll only be dominant in his "up" seasons.

I would use him as a SUB to start to see how his splits play. It's still possible he gains another point or two for splits. If he is effective....he is a huge asset in that SUA roll. I don't think it would be too much to expect 180 innings out of him. If you get to the playoffs with a couple of good starters and him.....you could possibly run all the way with just 5 maybe 6 pitchers. I don't think GB/FB is any concern at all.

My idea is based on experience with one pitcher kind of like this, he was one of the best DiTRs I ever had. Won the ROY, appeared in over 100 games, because that season he was ON. The rest of his career was diminishing returns and I eventually let him walk in FA. Maybe because this pitcher isn't a DiTR he might be more consistent, I don't know. Probably some seasons when he's ON, others when he's "why isn't this guy doing better?"

There is a little trick I do with all of my Setup guys in the bullpen. (I don't use closers) set everyone to a pull rating of 5. If they are on, they get to keep pitching, if they are off they get pulled. That way with a guy like this, he can let you know if he deserves to throw 200 innings and you don't have to guess.

(There are two big asterisks I add to this strategy. 1) I usually run 13 pitchers in a pitchers park in the NL so it helps me from running through every player. 2) My long relief and mopup guys are set to a pull of 1. Helps make sure i'm not resorting to starters when my bullpen gets low in long games.