Another questions for the knowledge out there. Thanks again and in advance for the help you give myself and other newbs.

My question today is regarding pitch counts for the bullpen. Pitch counts for starters IMO is pretty simple. Obviously you can play it more or less aggressive but in the end you have a stamina rating and you pretty much use all of it every time out.

However, when it comes to the bullpen, things change. I know its not ideal but right now my closer only has 23 durability and around 50 stamina... So can he pitch two nights in a row about 20 pitches? Or should he be back to 100% before he pitches again? Should I put a max PC around 20 so that he recovers quicker and can pitch more often?

He has great ratings so I dont see him letting too many get away from him however if he happens to have a little trouble I dont want him leaving with two on and two out in the bottom of the 9th cause he reached his twenty pitches. I also dont want him staying on for additional pitches if he blows the save...

Simmy suggests TPC of 20 and MPC of 20... Would it maybe be better to do TPC of 20 and MPC of 40?

This question works for most of the short reliever types in the bullpen but overall I guess I am just looking for some strategy on how to set these guys. I have a few guys with good stuff that just dont have the durability to throw their stamina and still pitch 2/3 games. (AKA sucky durability). I have about three of these guys so I would love to see them pitch innings 7,8,9 respectively as needed.

Also,

I have noticed that Simmy will put in a SuA over a SuB if a SuA has already pitched? I have two A's and two B's and in my first game an A pitched and then a B pitched even though the other A was healthy. We were behind by 5 runs so would this effect it? If so should my best guy be SuA, and second best be SuB with my other two on rest?

Thanks again!

I'll explain to you how I set up my bullpen and perhaps it will help you with yours. In No Quitters, my bullpen with PCs are as follows:

Mopup: Louie Katou Only coming in when up or down big. No pitch count, pull rating of 1.

Long A: Shayne Butler Since he is also my sixth starter (I try to keep a 5-man rotation, but am aggressive with pitch counts, so he had to make 8 starts last year), I leave his PC for what it would be as a starter, purely so I don't have to switch. TPC = 80, MPC = 100, Pull = 4.

Long B: Samuel Fetters Long B is only going to pitch low-leverage innings, or extra inning games where everybody else is done. So I just have him set to go 2 innings. TPC = 40, MPC = 50, Pull = 1.

Setup A: Andrew Fassero In AA right now but will get promoted to AAA and called up after 23 games. I'll set him to TPC = 20, MPC = 30, Pull = 3.

Setup A: Vinny Lim. TPC = 20, MPC = 30, Pull = 3. Fassero and Lim are set to come in 6th inning if necessary and their PCs should at least make them able to get it to the 8th.

Closer A: Andres Nieves Since he is my best reliever, I put him at Closer, 8th inning and set to NOT only come in for save situations. I set him to TPC = 55, MPC = 55, Pull = 1, because I want him to be able to pitch 3+ innings if he comes into an 8th-inning game that stays tied.

1) Pitch counts for starters IMO is pretty simple. Obviously you can play it more or less aggressive but in the end you have a stamina rating and you pretty much use all of it every time out. I don't agree with this. I and others (tecwrg in particular) have noticed that a pitcher pitches better if he is at 100% for a full HBD day prior to his start, and I think (but can't prove) in-game fatigue is an underrated part of pitcher performance. I would consider this in setting up SP pitch counts.

2) ...my closer only has 23 durability and around 50 stamina... So can he pitch two nights in a row about 20 pitches? Or should he be back to 100% before he pitches again? He may well be able to pitch back-to-back at 20 pitches, especially if he has had a full day at 100%. But I set most of my pitchers to auto-rest at 97% to avoid the effects of in-game fatigue. For this particular guy, at 23/50, you also have the option of letting him be a 2-inning closer and setting his pitch count to 30/35; he'd be able to go 80 games at those settings.

3) I dont want him leaving with two on and two out in the bottom of the 9th cause he reached his twenty pitches. I also dont want him staying on for additional pitches if he blows the save... You could play with pull rating to get the desired effect here. Maybe higher pitch counts and a quicker (higher) pull rating... I use relatively low pitch counts and relatively low pull ratings for almost everyone, allowing pitch counts to govern almost all my pitching changes, but that's my idiosyncrasy.

4) I have noticed that Simmy will put in a SuA over a SuB if a SuA has already pitched... we were behind by 5 runs so would this affect it? Yes, the margin is why the SuB came in. Keep the better pitchers SuA; in close games after the 5th inning they will come in when rested preferentially to the SuB (in my experience).

And in Happy Jack:

Mopup: Yamil Ramirez Same thing, No pitch count, pull rating of 1.

Long A: Howie Ward TPC = 40, MPC = 50, Pull = 3.

Long A: Joshua Davis TPC = 40, MPC = 50, Pull = 3

Setup A: Nick Reed TPC = 25, MPC = 35, Pull = 3

Setup A: Joe Flores TPC = 25, MPC = 35, Pull = 3

Closer A: Alejandro Figureoa TPC = 30, MPC = 40, Pull = 1


So as you can see, I set up my bullpens in very similar ways. The other difference is that, in Happy Jack, Figureoa doesn't have quite the same stamina as Nieves, so he's bumped down a bit and Reed and Flores are bumped up a little. My starters are also handled with stricter pitch counts, so I don't usually need a 6th starter. Also, in No Quitters, Butler is clearly better than Lim. But for my Happy Jack team, Ward and Davis are more comparable, so I set them both to Setup A and let the sim pick.

The sim puts your bullpen guys in according to leverage. Mopup will enter the game if you have that set in your manager settings.

Long B will go in for the least important situations and generally earlier in the game.

Closer A will go in the most important situations (assuming you have him set to come in not just in save situations) and I believe the sim checks to see if his stamina is likely to finish the game. If you have his MPC set to 15, I don't think sim will bring your closer into the 8th inning. Setup A is the next most important guy and if the score is within 3 runs, they seem to always get the call unless you have somebody set as a closer. Closer gets priority over Setup A

I haven't figured out Long A and Setup B totally just yet. I know that Long A will come in if the score is close in the 5th or 6th innings. I now Setup B will come in late in games if you are up or down by 4 or more. I'm not positive if, in a close late game situation where you have no Setup As or Closers available if the sim will bring in Setup B or Long A first. I believe Long A.

But that's why I just don't use Setup B. Makes it easier for me to figure out.

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Quote: Originally Posted By dedelman on 6/07/2010
I and others (tecwrg in particular) have noticed that a pitcher pitches better if he is at 100% for a full HBD day prior to his start

I was told this when I first started out as well, but I have seen no evidence of it whatsoever. Last season in Pine Tar I had a 5-man rotation with 3 great pitchers, and the only time I used either member of my bottom 2 was when none of my top 3 starters were projected to be 100 for that game. If a top guy was in the 80s one day but was going to be 100 the next day, I made him my scheduled starter for the next day (the first day he was at 100).

The outcome was that my top 3 starters were the top 3 finishers in the Cy Young voting last season. Their season ERAs were 2.41, 2.87, and 3.05, respectively, in a neutral park. I have no way of knowing if their ERAs would have been lower if I had always waited until their second day of being 100% before pitching them again, but I feel safe assuming there is no real difference between waiting and not waiting.