YET ANOTHER RELIEF PITCHER USAGE QUESTION???

Valen, your wish is my command ...

Here is the team:
http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/team/1403899

Settings:
Arroyo, Giusti & Klippstein have NOTHING checked.

Minarcin, Avoid LH, Quick Hook, Max 1-2, Don't use before 8th

Burgmeier, Avoid RH, Quick Hook, Max 1-2, Don't use before 8th.

(Disclaimer: I may have added that 8th inning check after the game in question, can't recall for certain)


And yes, we did have a huge lead to start the inning, but HAL's lack of "common sense" nearly cost us the game despite the huge lead.

did HAL's lack of common sense keep Maxwell on the mound for the opposing team?

did HAL's lack of common sense keep Maxwell on the mound for the opposing team?

Exactly.

Of course I have no clue what the other teams pitcher settings were, but .... I'll take 9 runs in 2 innings for Maxwell over 7 runs in 1/3 of an inning for a guy set to avoid Righties and Quick Hook.

Or put a different way. Maxwell's ERA for that game was a whopping 31.50. But that pales in comparison to Burgmeier's ERA for the same game at 188.00.

Settings:
Arroyo, Giusti & Klippstein have NOTHING checked.
Minarcin, Avoid LH, Quick Hook, Max 1-2, Don't use before 8th
Burgmeier, Avoid RH, Quick Hook, Max 1-2, Don't use before 8th.

Ok, We are making progress. Now we also need to know the roles that have been assigned to each pitcher.
We need to know if your team settings are aggressive or conservative for all the pitching settings.
And last we need links to the previous 4 games so we can evaluate whether there was carryover fatigue that influenced the decisions.

Can you provide that?

Game 16:
http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/game/427172/91

Game 15:
http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/game/427172/86

Game 14:
http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/game/427172/80

Game 13:
http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/game/427172/74

Team Settings:

Relief Usage "Normal"
Closer Usage "Regular"

No Relief Roles Assigned.

game
13 minarcin arroyo guisti 2 burgmeier
14 klippstein
15 arroyo 5 minarcin 2 giusti 1
16 minarcin giusti 2 burgmeier klippstein

You do not say but I suspect you have minarcin set in your rotation to try and avoid him ever being used. So for practical purposes of bullpen discussion he does not exist.

Here is what I suspect. Arroyo going 5 innings in game 15 left him unavailable.
Giusti going 2 in game 16 after also pitching in game 15 made him undesirable.

That left a choice of burgmeier or klipstein. Burgmeier brought in since Gardner is a left hand bat. With a huge lead and limited options Hal tries to get multiple batters/innings out of Burgmeir. Remember at this point Hal is having to also try and have someone to pitch later innings. After 5 hits and 2 walks retiring only 1 batter Hal is forced to turn to Klippstein. Hal gets as much as possible before Klip tires to F3 forcing the use of Arroyo even though he went 5 innings in game 15 and could have been considered in need of rest.

I know these are only cards and they do not have real arms to fall off but since this is a simulation of sorts Hal is likely programmed to make some choices as if they were real people. And a real person after 5 innings would not have been available again after just one day of rest.

So it boils down to not providing enough options in the bullpen for Hal to choose from. Not spending on a full bullpen and spending that money elsewhere, like more offense, may lead to more wins in the long run. That is probably a separate debate. But the tradeoff is going to be the occasional game like this where there are no good decisions to be made.