I have a team with a very good offense and likely elite defense, especially on the IF. The starters are all quite solid, though there is no clear ace. I have 4 SP that pitched 225 innings last year, and one that was more of a swing starter that was a valuable bullpen piece the rest of the time. My bullpen is a clear weakness on this team, and the league's salary cap makes it unlikely that I can address that hole until mid-season at best. So the goal is to limit the number of innings the bullpen has to pitch.

Without going into full details (though I can if someone thinks it will help give a better answer), would it be better to go with a 5 man rotation with max pitch counts and the lowest call bullpen or 4 man with lower pitch counts and using the 5th starter as the main SuA role to get to my closer (who is very good)? The first 4 starters all have good Durability, so can go with a 4 man rotation if that is the best route. The #5 SP (or swing starter) has lower Dur (though plenty to be a 5th starter), but had the best statistical season of the 5 last year.

SP1 - 255 IP, 1.21 WHIP, 3.67 ERA 32/81 Dur/Sta
SP2 - 225 IP, 1.25 WHIP, 3.41 ERA 32/70
SP3 - 239 IP, 1.30 WHIP, 3.81 ERA 29/83
SP4 - 227 IP, 1.29 WHIP, 3.96 ERA 27/73
SP5/SuA - 129 IP, 1.22 WHIP, 3.22 ERA 22/62

I am leaning towards 4 man, using the 5th guy as a SuA to get to my closer. I think there are challenges either way. Another more creative option is going 5 man, but semi-punting the 5th starter role so I can get max IP out of the good starters while still having 2 guys in the bullpen I can trust instead of just the closer. Thoughts or recommendations?

Most of us don't use closers. You really limit his innings and, if he's that good, there's no reason to do that. Just set him for 8th inning availability as a SuA.

I'd probably handle it similar to how I run my playoff staff.

Lowest number of acceptable starters(3 in playoffs)
Best regular season SP not starting as LRA
Best RP(s) as SuA
Rest of staff as LRB and SuB

Mike, so in the regular season, do you set your bullpen in a similar fashion? I've always used a closer, but this is enlightening. In the regular season, I usually run 5 starters, a mopup, a LR, and 1 SuA, 2 SuB and a CL. I was able to do this because I had 5 starters with high stamina, and it allowed me to have plenty of pinch hitters/runners, which is useful in the NL. But, if I understand correctly, you merely use the "inning available" to pre-determine the order of personnel at the back end of the game?

Correct. 5 SP, 2-3 LR(A and B depending on effectiveness), 3-5 SU(A/B on effectiveness). If I have a pitcher I want pitching late only, he's available in 8th. I don't use a mopup either because, if that's all he can do, I'm not wasting a roster spot.

The downside, if you're big on saves, is that they'll be spread around. Brignac is HBD Rivera but I have him set for 7th inning.

Player	G	GS	CG	SHO	W	L	SV	SVO	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	OAV	OBP	SLG	WHIP	ERA
Bump Cooke	64	0	0	0	8	3	15	19	105.1	81	41	38	15	26	78	.211	.279	.360	1.02	3.25
Ralph Lee	60	0	0	0	8	7	9	15	77.2	88	48	48	21	26	56	.287	.349	.524	1.47	5.56
Gail Brignac	82	0	0	0	1	0	6	7	86.2	59	15	15	6	23	102	.189	.251	.253	0.95	1.56
Reagan Iannetta	48	0	0	0	9	3	4	7	59.0	48	27	25	8	16	49	.217	.285	.353	1.08	3.81
Andres Castilla	36	0	0	0	4	5	3	4	45.0	45	20	20	7	16	36	.260	.323	.416	1.36	4.00
Delino Reid	43	22	0	0	15	4	3	4	181.2	154	65	57	16	57	123	.227	.293	.345	1.16	2.82
Will Mahoney	36	18	0	0	8	4	2	2	122.1	84	39	35	14	43	97	.191	.272	.309	1.04	2.57
Harry Melendez	37	6	0	0	3	2	2	2	83.2	107	56	55	15	29	57	.308	.364	.496	1.63	5.92
Rollie Floyd	23	0	0	0	4	5	1	2	30.2	41	29	28	11	15	22	.325	.407	.675	1.83	8.22
Will Hart *	5	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	2.1	2	2	2	1	2	1	.200	.333	.500	1.71	7.71

Basically, Brignac can pitch an inning+ every other day. Why would I want to leave him on the bench because it's not a save situation when he's 100%? I may not have one of those for 4-5 games. If he gets 60 innings, I've throw away three games of innings from my 2nd best pitcher.

This is a really interesting challenge... I'm not sure I know how to make this staff work unless you get another very good 100 IP reliever, or a respectable SP5.

What I think I'd do-- and I'm not sure-- is just take my lumps with Felix Suzuki as the SP5, making sure you drop him every time you have an off day. You'll lose more of his starts than you'd like-- but you'd have a huge edge in all other games, with a very good SP 1-4 and 4 strong relievers in the pen, of whom you'd only need one when Rosa and Lange were pitching. If you make the playoffs your staff shortens perfectly.

If you don't acquire a better back end of the staff you'll have to turn off pinch-hitting since you're in the NL, or see your back-end relievers in more key situations than you want. Neither of those are a trivial disadvantage.

I was able to add a couple bullpen pieces. Probably still going to go with the marginal 5th starter, but should be able to have solid innings across the board now at least.

Update: Here is how the season ended statistically. Went with no closer and used a 4 man rotation with random spot starters as needed. Won 106 games and earned a bye for round 1 of the playoffs. Going to use a 3 man rotation with Lange and Blackley starting for sure. The question is the lower WHIP of Sanders or the lower ERA of Rosa for the 3rd starter. The back-end of the pen with Edmonds, Guerrero, Jackson, and Fukudome looks solid, so most of the others shouldn't throw an inning in the playoffs.

Thoughts/preferences?

Player	G	GS	CG	SHO	W	L	SV	SVO	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	OAV	OBP	SLG	WHIP	ERA
Gerald Fukudome	6	0	0	0	2	0	1	1	8.2	7	2	2	1	2	9	.219	.265	.313	1.04	2.08
Bo Edmonds	66	0	0	0	7	2	19	24	73.2	54	23	22	5	19	65	.204	.264	.302	0.99	2.69
Allan Blackley	35	35	1	0	21	7	0	0	228.2	194	77	71	22	51	224	.225	.275	.329	1.07	2.79
Boomer Lange	38	38	2	1	26	4	0	0	265.2	209	91	83	27	65	237	.212	.269	.326	1.03	2.81
Pedro Guerrero	42	10	0	0	5	5	10	11	115.0	101	46	36	12	33	64	.237	.294	.366	1.17	2.82
Wayne Jackson	85	0	0	0	1	5	8	14	82.2	62	29	28	10	26	67	.207	.282	.321	1.06	3.05
Alex Rosa	35	35	2	1	20	11	0	0	228.1	224	107	97	31	70	186	.257	.316	.407	1.29	3.82
Cy Sanders	34	34	0	0	12	5	0	0	202.1	180	96	93	31	58	170	.236	.299	.394	1.18	4.14
Del Perez	31	7	0	0	5	2	1	1	95.0	97	47	44	8	24	58	.255	.307	.371	1.27	4.17
Al Moreno	50	0	0	0	3	11	6	8	83.0	80	51	44	14	38	70	.241	.323	.410	1.42	4.77
Alfredo Mendez	24	0	0	0	2	3	3	4	31.0	45	22	18	9	10	23	.336	.392	.575	1.77	5.23
Ricardo Unamuno	26	3	0	0	2	1	0	1	46.0	53	37	31	8	23	33	.272	.356	.441	1.65	6.07
Tyler Barney *	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	8.1	19	12	12	4	4	6	.452	.511	.810	2.76	12.96
Team Totals	162	162	5	2	106	56	48	64	1468.1	1325	640	581	182	423	1212	.237	.298	.372	1.19	3.56

They look the same to me, ratings-wise. I'd start Rosa, who has more stamina; then, if your top bullpen guys are well-rested, lower his pitch count and raise his pull rating so you can get to your pen. But if your pen is fatigued Rosa can go an inning deeper without in-game fatigue being a major issue.