So heading into the postseason (offline/normal settings), Eric Wedge decided to put Charlie Furbush, a MR, to be a starter in my 5-man rotation, leaving Taijuan Walker, one of my normal starters, as a reliever.
Furbush has 3 plus pitches, but his stamina is shown as 5, while Walker's 3 plus pitches and 16 stamina somehow disqualified him from remaining in the rotation. Walker had won 7 out of 8 of his starting outings (7 straight) before being demoted to the bullpen. No injuries, or any other notable weird stuff in his 2015 game log.
As for Furbush, just like Walker, he just suddenly becomes a starter (with a poor stamina of 5!) and throws around 4-5 innings per start for the rest of the season, replacing Walker.
The screenshot below shows the basics, noting that both Furbush and Walker have been similarly successful during the season, my main concern is that although Walker's job is that of a starter, and Furbush's is that of a reliever, what in this game prompted the AI to believe that a reliever should be suddenly dropped into the rotation? I have tried to manually reset the rotation, but since I have my game set to have the AI set lineups, no change I make ever takes effect.
This brings up the deeper question: What really qualifies a pitcher to become a starter? In previous threads, I've learned that a starter needs to have 3 strong pitches, but doesn't stamina count for something? Is there a formulaic requirement not visible that the AI is relying on?
I doubt this is any sort of glitch in the programming, but it sure looks strange to send out a reliever near the end of a playoff intense season to start a bunch of important games.
Any thoughts?
