I'm no rookie to HBD and had decent success in my early seasons. Here recently, though, I've struggled and have decided to reconsider my entire approach to the game.

My question is this: how do you suggest structuring a ML pitching staff? Should I go with 5 starters? If so, what should their durability/stamina ratings look like? What about the bullpen? How many long relievers? When should the ideally be set to come in? Setup A types? Setupu B types?

I'd love everyone's opinons on setting up a solid ML staff.

My typical pitching staff is 5 starters: I want a minimum 20 DUR and 75 STA, preferably higher. I am willing to put one mid-60s STA guy on my staff, but never more than one.

I use a 7 man bullpen. Two long relievers (min 20 DUR, 60 STA, preferably more), 2 Setup A, 2 Setup B and a closer. None of the short relievers will ever have a STA under 15 (unless absolutely incredible in which case I will allow one and only one such guy on my team). I will on occassion use a guy with good stuff but low DUR/mediocre STA in a setup role on a short pitch count instead of in long relief. I have used starters in setup or closer roles in the right situations or in the playoffs.

My long relievers I like to give pitch counts in the 40s/50s, set to come in any inning. My setup guys I generally use the recommended unless they have a starge DUR/STA and set to come in in the 6th. My closer is on 20/20 or 25/25 (depending on DUR/STA) and set to come in in the 9th.

I will use closers in non-save situations (that check box off). I will use a specialist on occassion IF a guy has a real dropoff between his 2 splits AND he has been getting roughed up in a regular setup role.

I don't use Mopup pitchers in the big leagues, except maybe after roster expansion.

Get the best pitchers you can, and try to maximize the IP you get from them.

How you do that depends greatly on the DUR/STA of your best pitchers.

On occassion I will expand to an 8th guy in the bullpen, but only if I am in rebuild mode and my pitching staff is taking lumps. Basically, if I see that my bullpen is getting overworked, I get them more help. Also, if the season is a rebuilding one and you have fatigue issues in your pen, lower the Call Bullpen on your starters. They will take more lumps but at least they will eat more innings for you.

5 starters. I do not care about their DUR/STA, as long as I can get at least 80 pitches out of them.

4 long relievers. I HATE trotting out any pitchers less than 100%, so I always have someone available.

2 setup men.

1 closer.

How you structure your staff is totally dependent on the players you're able to acquire.

My current staff came about because I was able to land a bunch of 30/80 guys, so I could run a 4-man rotation. Then your best pitchers after that are Setup A, then Long Relief A for players that have some decent dur/stam and Setup B for others.

If you have anyone that has huge splits, you can run them out as a Righty/y specialist, but the logic used for specialists is pretty questionable from when I've had it used.

The big key is to shoot for at least 6-7 guys that can start, one or two that would only need to start in a pinch.

Five SPs, two LRs who can spot start, a mop-up guy, three Setup guys and a closer.

I go for the highest quality possible, even if it means having SPs who DU/ST of, say, 23/66. Essentially, I'd rather have seven high-quality guys who can start, than have a mix of quality and innings-eaters.

I also try to have a couple of guys at AAA who are major-league quality and who have an option, so that as necessary, I essentially have 14 guys available to me throughout the year.

My team generally has the best, or if not a Top 3, ERA and WHIP each season.

I'm pretty surprised so many people took this question seriously. Usually you forum bums don't like general/vague questions.

FWIW, I don't think you should try to acquire players that fit the mold you want to run. For example, you might pass over a good reliever because he doesn't fit the profile of what you like (durability or control too low). Instead, I think you should get the best pitchers you can and set their pitch counts and such based on each individual player. An exception this is if you already have 2 or 3 pitchers on your staff whose durability is lower than your normal standards, then you might not want to add a 4th. But never say to yourself "I don't want that pitcher because his durability is 55 and I require a 60 minimum."

Hopefully that makes sense. Sometimes I have in my head the idea I want to get out but have a tough time articulating it the way I want.

I'm very, very new, so take it with a grain of salt, but in real life as in HBD, I'd be more concerned with the aggregate stamina of my rotation than the individual stamina of my 5 SPs. If my top-3 are going to be horses and eat 7+ innings every 5th day, I'd be a lot more willing to roll with a pair of 50-55 stamina guys with good stuff at the back of my rotation (i.e. what most people would call really good LRAs), on the assumption that I can use up a very high % of my bullpen innings on those 2 slots. On the other hand, if my top 3 are great pitchers, but more of the 6-inning variety, I'd be more inclined to live with a little worse stuff out of the 4/5 slots to give me a consistant 6 innings. Additionally, I would try to split my lower-stamina starters apart in the rotation, rather than pitch them on back-to-back days, so that your best relievers are more likely to be fresh on the days where there are likely to be the most bullpen innings available.

I also have a situation where a LRA is my best RP. So I list him as Closer A, with my real closer as Closer B. I then give him a very low TPC (20ish), but a very high MPC (80ish), and set him as available any time after inning 5. He eats a high % of my bp innings this way, and often in high-leverage moments. I could make him my SP #5 but I think I get more productivity out of him this way.

Two things I have found with RPs:

-- RPs with three pitches, even when the third pitch is 40-50, are generally better than RPs with two pitches.

-- RPs need at least one high-quality pitch (80+) or they need very good splits (70/70+). I have had little luck with pitchers who don't have one or the other.

I find the 24DUR/46STA guys tremendously undervalued as SuA pitchers. I generally find 3 SP with "good" DUR/STA combos (25/75) and then two with excellent ratings but mediocre DUR/STA (17+/60+). LRA is key - find a guy who can rescue an SP having a bad day. I go with 2 LRB, guys who can throw 30+ pitches every other day, regardless of quality.

I don't use a closer. Just set the best SuA guy to throw 30+ pitches and enter in the 8th or later. Always keep one quality RP in the SuB (meaning a 70DUR/20STA) slot to help minimize fatigue and serve as the "back up closer" because SIMMY goes there before he goes back to the SuA set to enter in the 6th for some reason.

Quote: Originally Posted By soxfan121 on 11/24/2009I find the 24DUR/46STA guys tremendously undervalued as SuA pitchers. I generally find 3 SP with "good" DUR/STA combos (25/75) and then two with excellent ratings but mediocre DUR/STA (17+/60+). LRA is key - find a guy who can rescue an SP having a bad day. I go with 2 LRB, guys who can throw 30+ pitches every other day, regardless of quality.

I don't use a closer. Just set the best SuA guy to throw 30+ pitches and enter in the 8th or later. Always keep one quality RP in the SuB (meaning a 70DUR/20STA) slot to help minimize fatigue and serve as the "back up closer" because SIMMY goes there before he goes back to the SuA set to enter in the 6th for some reason

yup

Quote: Originally Posted By gjello10 on 11/23/2009
I'm very, very new, so take it with a grain of salt, but in real life as in HBD, I'd be more concerned with the aggregate stamina of my rotation than the individual stamina of my 5 SPs. If my top-3 are going to be horses and eat 7+ innings every 5th day, I'd be a lot more willing to roll with a pair of 50-55 stamina guys with good stuff at the back of my rotation (i.e. what most people would call really good LRAs), on the assumption that I can use up a very high % of my bullpen innings on those 2 slots. On the other hand, if my top 3 are great pitchers, but more of the 6-inning variety, I'd be more inclined to live with a little worse stuff out of the 4/5 slots to give me a consistant 6 innings. Additionally, I would try to split my lower-stamina starters apart in the rotation, rather than pitch them on back-to-back days, so that your best relievers are more likely to be fresh on the days where there are likely to be the most bullpen innings available.

I also have a situation where a LRA is my best RP. So I list him as Closer A, with my real closer as Closer B. I then give him a very low TPC (20ish), but a very high MPC (80ish), and set him as available any time after inning 5. He eats a high % of my bp innings this way, and often in high-leverage moments. I could make him my SP #5 but I think I get more productivity out of him this way.

You are right on with that. If my starters as an aggregate can eat more innings, I will go with more relievers that may only be able to pitch to a couple of batters but have abetter shot at getting them out, or even drop down to a 6 man bullpen and add an extra bat. On the other hand, if my starters are only 6 inning guys, I need a lot more DUR and STA in my bullpen.