This is a looooooooong support ticket exchange with customer service.

The ticket was prompted by a game in which

A) I was winning a blowout game, in the 8th inning or so.
B) I had at least two pitchers available & rested--the two of interest were my closer, and a mopup man.
C) "Use Mopup Only When Losing" was checked (in other words, I must seemingly be losing for mopup to enter).
D) "Use Closer in Save Situations Only" was NOT checked (in other words, the games didn't have to be a save situation for the closer o enter).
E) Closer's 'available inning' was set to "Any."

Based on those settings, the closer should have entered the game at a pitching change, right? Wrong. Sparky chose the mopup man, overriding my settings (IMO).

Furthermore, mopup man's "call bullpen" setting was 3 because I assumed he could only enter in a blowout I was losing (based on my settings). In that case, I don't care how many runs he gives up, because I've lost the game, anyway.

In this game, mopup got bombed, the closer didn't appear until it was too late, and I lost the game.

(I am aware that mopup can pitch when all other pitchers are unavailable, but that criteria was not met in the game).

If you were using the same settings described above, who would you have expected to enter the game--the mopup or the closer?

Here's what WIS had to say (I will post any future responses--I think they're tired of me by now). 

I would expect Closer A to enter the game.

WHERE IS THE VIDEO UNCLEAL!!!!!!!

That scenario, and many others like it, or WORSE, happened to me so often I just don't use a mop-up anymore. Totally unreliable "managerial" setting that more often than not back-fires on you.

I don't feel like the person I've been talking with understands that the FAQ defines a pitcher set as mopup to be eligible to pitch in one of two scenarios:

A) When it's a blowout (regardless of score), OR
B) When no one else is available.

The setting which I've been arguing about is only valid when A) is met--in a blowout. The setting has no meaning when it's not a blowout, because the mopup role, as defined in the FAQ, is used to designate a pitcher to pitch in a blowout. When it's not a blowout, the mopup will not be used, making the secondary 'only when losing' option irrelevant.

Any further settings regarding mopup use cannot override that fundamental fact-- the pitcher is only available in a blowout, or when no one else is available. If no one else is available, the setting is meaningless, because mopup must pitch, regardless of the score--no one else is left.

That leaves one time when the setting should be evaluated--in a blowout, regardless of the score.

Setting "Use Mopup Only When Losing" should reduce the eligible times mopup can pitch from "blowout, regardless of score" to "blowout, losing only." That's what the damned setting says!

WIS' general response has been along the lines of, "It was a blowout. Sparky put the mopup in because that's what mopups are for..."

So, uh, the setting is simply not used, as far as I can tell.

They need to either honor the setting, or remove it if it's not used. One would think that out user-defined settings are used as Boolean tests in their code, but apparently this one is not (which is mind-boggling, to say the least).

If it's not used, it should be removed because

A) It's misleading.
B) It influences other settings, e.g., "call bullpen" setting of said mopup man.

It is exasperating.

Based on the scenario you've described here, the mop up should not have been brought into the game. 

I strongly disagree with WIS-imposed "baseball logic" when the user has clearly set up his team to be managed a certain way.  We're paying to be the owner/manager.  Let us sink or swim on our own.  

Here is the boxscore.

www.whatifsports.com/slb/Boxscore.aspx

Joe P. Coleman was the mopup man. He came in to start the bottom of the eighth.

Note that the closer, Hooks Wiltse, came in after Coleman got dominated. Wiltse came in at 100%.

The last pitcher, Reggie Grabowski, was also a mopup--I actually had two mopup men on duty that day.

Grabowski (rightfully) came in because no one else was left--Wiltse had reached his pitch count setting, and the rest of the 'pen had either been used, or were below their auto-rest fatigue.

Looking at that boxscore -- if I were an on-field manager in that situation, I go to Coleman to start the 8th, knowing that there's *no way* Wiltse goes 2 innings staying under his pitch count. Now, given that, Coleman still would've been yanked earlier.

HOWEVER, I would not have removed Jack Quinn from the game in that situation either. Instead I would have called for a squeeze bunt with him up in the bottom of the 7th.

The point, though, is that we define the 'on-field' settings in adavance of the game simulation.

My 'on-field' settings, IMO, explicitly state that Wiltse should have entered the game, and not Coleman.

Coleman/Grabowski likely would have been forced to pitch anyway, since Wiltse had a PC of ~ 20, and was the last non-mopup guy available. It's highly unlikely Wiltse would have gotten 6 outs in his 20 pitches.

That being said--Coleman/Grabowski should not have entered until Wiltse was spent. That's what the FAQ, in conjuction with "Use Mopup Only When Losing," instructs the engine to do. Sparky ignored my setting and put Coleman in. Losing the game is not that big of a deal, but having my settings over-ridden is.

Furthermore, Coleman's 'call bullpen' was at 3 because my settings indicated that he could not pitch unless I was losing blowout-style--that's why he was left in "too long." That setting of mine was honored. When he could pitch was not.

I like your team name.

Posted by inkdskn on 7/20/2010 11:23:00 PM (view original):
The point, though, is that we define the 'on-field' settings in adavance of the game simulation.

My 'on-field' settings, IMO, explicitly state that Wiltse should have entered the game, and not Coleman.

Coleman/Grabowski likely would have been forced to pitch anyway, since Wiltse had a PC of ~ 20, and was the last non-mopup guy available. It's highly unlikely Wiltse would have gotten 6 outs in his 20 pitches.

That being said--Coleman/Grabowski should not have entered until Wiltse was spent. That's what the FAQ, in conjuction with "Use Mopup Only When Losing," instructs the engine to do. Sparky ignored my setting and put Coleman in. Losing the game is not that big of a deal, but having my settings over-ridden is.

Yeah, I was describing on-field management, as in, if it were a real game.

We all know that the SIM is not real baseball. Close, but not quite.

Real baseball and I don't bring Quinn in to face 1 batter in the first-place knowing he might come up and I'll only have Wiltse and mop-ups left. But the SIM is pitch-count obsessed and that requires that one do weird stuff that doesn't make pure baseball sense. And because of that, WIS saying there's "baseball logic" behind it isn't smart. Because this isn't quite baseball (yet), although they won't admit it.

"You're asking for more control -- and we get your point. We are in the early stages of a redesigned game and the plan is to introduce some more advanced settings for users such as yourself. The update isn't until early 2011, but it's coming."

This was the most interesting thing support had to say.