Hello all! I've played Sim Baseball and love drafting, but I pretty much suck no matter what team I put together in any situation. The offense I understand, and I know the basic pitching strategy, but the fatigue thing and some pitcher performance really is sort of an enigma.

For starting SPs: I always try to get at least one 350+ inning guy, maybe more and maybe even the 400-500 inning Cy Young types. I stay away from the 1800's guys (no paticular reason) and try to run a 5 man starting rotation. The question here is, why is it an 15 million $ or more pitcher can get shelled repeatedly (provided your defense is at least decent and your park is at least somewhat fitting)? I know in high salary cap theme leagues a Walsh, Matthewson, or Koufax, etc is pitching to a stacked HOF caliber lineup, but then again they are HOF pitchers. Wouldn't there be some balance? Any advice on this? You don't have to give away individual names or secret weapons of yours of course, I'm just interested in the why/how beyond the obvious factors.

For Relief: Innings pitched seems so important, so the ace with 43 total IP will get fatigued way too fast and burn out, even after just one or two appearances. That makes sense. But I've tried the reliever situation in so many different ways and combos, and fatigue (even with different role setting so the A.I. doesn't just pick one guy repeatedly) always sets in way fast.

The one measure I've tried to pretty much no avail is to have either a 70's Mike Marshall type reliever with over 100 IP, or in high cap leagues to have the 150-170 IP starters in a relief role (say, a John Tudor type from certain seasons). Why would a pitcher in a relief role with over 150 IP get fatigued so fast? I don't think the system has penalties for using a "starting pitcher" in a relief role.

Anyway, the answers may be more complex than I thought, and maybe I just always pick the scrubs or the wrong years. Any general advice would be greatly appreciated, though, as I want to know if the relief guys have to be relief and so on.



Thanks so much and have fun shelling my guys if your in my league!

It's quality pitching not qty's. A lot of the high $ pitchers get that way because they pitched a lot of innings, not because they pitched quality innings. And it's pitches thrown, not IP.

I like OAV # and a couple of more, but everyone has their different preferences.

set up a few teams and play them live. that will help you understand how fatigue works in the game. makes a huge difference

I am no expert, obviously. But I have looked at a lot of teams, and I think I have some ideas that may help you. At least, maybe some of the HOF'ers will comment. If you read the forums carefully, the "cookies" will become apparent. beyond that, in leagues you are already in, look at the teams doing well, the pitchers they have, and by examining their box scores you can get an idea of how they are being used. That should help you figure some things out. numbers of innings are one measure of how much P you need, but you also need the minimum number of Ps to keep fatigue from destroying a team.

One of the things/tricks (if you will) in finding a good relief pitcher is to look at the RL IP/G. Many SIMMERs use real life starters with low inning counts, but high RL IP/9 figures, as closers. I've never used Mike Marshall, but given his low IP/G number, it seems as if it would be difficult to get his IPs in through a season. that being said, I more often than not use a 40-50 RL IP guy as my closer and don't have too many fatigue issues doing so. you will need to back him up with a closer B for those occasions Mr. A is fatigued, but there are many qualified contenders for that position that cost under $1mm.

Quality counts. The longer I play the more I tend to emphasize pitching and ball park fits. It's important to pick a park, analyze its' tendancies, and build your team around those attributes.

Like said above, look at the OAV#, BB/9#, and HR/9+. I also like comparing players by looking at ERC+ and, believe it or not (as it really doesn't factor into the actual playing of the game as far as i know) the ERC#.

Hopefully these thoughts help, keep having fun. You'll figure it out sooner than later.

Quote: Originally posted by redwingscup on 6/02/2010One of  the things/tricks (if you will) in finding a good relief pitcher is to look at the RL IP/G. Many SIMMERs use real life starters with low inning counts, but high RL IP/9 figures.   I've never used Mike Marshall, but given his low IP/G number, it seems as if it would be difficult to get his IPs in through a season.  that being said, I more often than not use a 40-50 RL IP guy as my closer and don't have too many fatigue issues doing so.   you will need to back him up with a closer B for those occasions  Mr. A is fatigued, but there are many qualified contenders for that position that cost under $1mm.  Quality counts.  The longer I play the more I tend to emphasize pitching and ball park fits. It's important to pick a park, analyze its' tendancies, and build your team around those attributes.  Like said above, look at the OAV#, BB/9#, and HR/9+.  I also like comparing players by looking at ERC+ and, believe it or not (as it really doesn't factor into the actual playing of the game as far as i know) the ERC#. Hopefully these thoughts help, keep having fun.  You'll figure it out sooner than later. 

I really have to agree with Red about this.Real Life low inning starts are some of the best closer.Pretty much the only thing I use.When I first started playing I picked ONE park and played all my teams there.Till I found out what worked for that park and why.I think that is a big help.

Lee128 -

If you can afford the types of guys you are describing, you must be playing in higer cap leagues.

The sim salary structure is designed for $80m open leagues. Learn what works in the $80m range FIRST, then expand to the bigger cap leagues if that's where your desire to play takes you.

In the current incarnation of the sim, the hitter/pitcher outcome is skewed in favor of the hitter. I think it's 55/45. The higher the cap, the more the skew becomes obvious, and the more hitting relatively overperforms against pitching.

Quote: Originally posted by redwingscup on 6/02/2010I also like comparing players by looking at ERC+ and, believe it or not (as it really doesn't factor into the actual playing of the game as far as i know) the ERC#.

I do that too. Those numbers are there for a reason, even though it's not used in the engine. It's a quick and dirty indication of how well WIS thinks the engine is going to treat these pitchers based on the things that *do* get factored in.

It's useful, if not directly applicable.

Quote: Originally Posted By biglenr on 6/03/2010
Lee128 -

If you can afford the types of guys you are describing, you must be playing in higer cap leagues.

The sim salary structure is designed for $80m open leagues. Learn what works in the $80m range FIRST, then expand to the bigger cap leagues if that's where your desire to play takes you.

In the current incarnation of the sim, the hitter/pitcher outcome is skewed in favor of the hitter. I think it's 55/45. The higher the cap, the more the skew becomes obvious, and the more hitting relatively overperforms against pitching.

You might also consider reading biglenr's advice for newbies thread (I've bumped it for you). It's a little dated, doesn't take into account some recent updates, but still pretty much gospel if you're struggling with understanding how the SIM works.

Some advice or comments:

1) A five man rotation with a 350+ ip pitcher seems odd to me. Most people draft 800-900 IP of starting pitching. If you draft one 350+ IP guy and have five starters, it leaves 110-150 ip per starter for the other guys in your rotation. Unless you really know what you are doing, that is hard to manage. I'd recomend (to start) trying a four man rotation that totals 800-900 innings where no pitcher has more than 300 ip.

2) It makes no difference if a player is a HoF or not. In any league at or below $100M, the game is about building synergies and finding values; it isn't about just finding the best players.

3) If you are buring out your relief pitchers, you probably have the pitch counts too high.

4) Unlike most others I recomend using RL relievers in relief roles. I believe pitchers listed as SP have some drop-off in performance when used in relief.

Thanks everyone for the quick replies! Great advice here. Clears a lot up!

By far the easiest staff to manage is

3 - 300 - 350 inn SP (you will have to use your AAA Sp a few times for rest)
These pitchers should cost 9m - 11m each with walks under 3 and pretty good oav#


Guys like 1903 Sam Leever, 1923 Pete Alexander, 1940 Bucky Walters make up a good 3 man rotation good for 140 - 150 starts with no fatigue problems

4 set up men 40 - 60 ip each costing between 1.5m and 2.7m (8m total) Set them to throw the 7th inn on (your starters can get you there no problem)

2 closers 26-40 ip each 3m total with settings on 9th inn only and only in save siuations

This should put you about 40-42m for your pitching. You can use your AAA pitchers to mop up and you should have little problem getting through the season. There are many ways to make pitching work in the SIM but this is one of the eisiest I have found to not have fatigue issues. Good Luck.