The Expensive Bullpen Strategy: Does it Suck?

[bigmahon]

And remember, fatigue is not automatic. It is contingent upon a quota of baserunners allowed in any inning (or two) after the endurance rating has been reached.

[1crazycanuk]

I'm just confused...in the past FIVE MIL was too much to spend on an R-ONE. :shock: :?

[bigmahon]

Well, I can get 100+ great innings out of Gonzalez, and to me, that's worth the $, especially since I surround him with other strong relievers. I think the problem you run into with an R1 is when you ask him to do too much.

[geekor]

Gonzalez is one of the few exception. I've had nearly 200 great innings out of him. As was said above, his card is so good, even fatigued he's better than most pitchers.

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2005/team/team_other.html?user_id=5629

[MICHAELTARBELL]

[quote:3f3ea20b10="1crazycanuk"]I'm just confused...in the past FIVE MIL was too much to spend on an R-ONE. :shock: :?[/quote:3f3ea20b10]

There is an exception to every rule, as they say, and Gonalez appears to be an exception in this case.

Has anyone tried THREE stud rp's, with NO specialist. I have a team currently in Shea, had a terrible draft, pitcher wise, and no really great lefty (like santana) to anchor the staff, and slim pickens besides. So am going with 7 SP's, and 3 RP's. Lidge, Gonzalez and Ryan....thoughts??

Here is a link....

[url=http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2005/team/team_other.html?user_id=52801]Herewegoagains[/url]

[geekor]

look at my team posted above

IMO, you need to put any s/rp into your rotation so as they NEVER releive. only then will it work.

[bleacher_creature]

[quote:3622ceb09a="mtarbell"][quote:3622ceb09a="1crazycanuk"]I'm just confused...in the past FIVE MIL was too much to spend on an R-ONE. :shock: :?[/quote:3622ceb09a]

There is an exception to every rule, as they say, and Gonalez appears to be an exception in this case.

Has anyone tried THREE stud rp's, with NO specialist. I have a team currently in Shea, had a terrible draft, pitcher wise, and no really great lefty (like santana) to anchor the staff, and slim pickens besides. So am going with 7 SP's, and 3 RP's. Lidge, Gonzalez and Ryan....thoughts??

Here is a link....

[url=http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2005/team/team_other.html?user_id=52801]Herewegoagains[/url][/quote:3622ceb09a]

It's frustrating when you get NO PITCHING in the draft.

My big question for those with experience is, does HAL do well with this three very expensive bullpen pitcher approach? As we see in this thead, M. Gonzalez and of course T. Gordon lovers abound.

I just won two extra innings games (game one went 10; game two went 18!), vs a guy with Gordon, Wagner, Gagne, and R. Mendoza, against my cheap specialists plus Benitez.

My sense is that (as someone else has posted) that HAL know EXACTLY what to do with a hard lefty or righty. Even reverse R or L. Keeping in mind all the settings are checked to maximize performance.

On the other hand, my last team had Ryan/Nathan. I tought I was pretty well covered from the 7th on, if not the 6th. I was pretty disappointed with ERA's (especially Ryan) over 3.00. This was in SAFECO!

For some reason, it appears that when you ask most expensive RPs to go 2-3 innings night in and night out, eventually the ERA will climb.

To me, it seems better to consider match-ups and not so much the pitcher's price tag, keeping in mind: HOLD/HR/BP-HR and depending on his specialty: OB/TB vs-L or vs-R.

Bottom line: I'm CONVINCED that certain relievers are worth every penny and more, but I am not convinced that HAL is able to maximize results with 3 relievers worth $5M+. I mean, does this really offset a starting staff that spots the other guy 2-4 runs a night by the 4th inning?

[geekor]

Well there are a couple of problems with the cheap sp/expensive bullpen approach.

1 is overuse of the the bullpen. Eventually, they will all be pitching fatigued if they don't get a breather. So as I stated before, it works best if you have 1 stud * sp at the top of your rotation. This gives them a break every 4th day, enabling them to stay fresh. If not you better have rp's that pitch well fatigued (like MGon, Wagner, etc)

2) Having HAL use them correctly is also rahter hard. What I've had to do is set the majority of my sp's on quick hook, avoid bad side. I set relief to conservative, slow hook all my rp's. Set my closer to avoid before 8th, my setup to avoid before 6th, and leave the 3rd blank (cept slow hook of course). Obviously it will NEVER work 100% correct all the time, and it still needa a good sp performance to rest them. You just hope you get it from a cheapie sp every now and then. If you don't, it still won't work in the end.

[geekor]

like in mtarbell's team, I'd set Lidge to slow hook, avoid before 8th, and as setup and closer vs both. M Gon would be set to avoid before 6th, slow hook, and Ryan would be just set as slow hook. This should cover all cases well for HAL.

[bleacher_creature]

Nice post geekor. Explaining those setting helps me see how it could work. Here's a game from my league (not my team):

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2005/league/boxscore.html?group_id=10343&g_id=420

Essentially 3 pitchers combine for a "Quality Start" (6 IP, 3 runs allowed). F-Rod and Lidge finish them off 7-9 inn.

I'd like to see a 90 win team if not a champ with this "big 3 in the "pen" approach. Anyone?