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The Otter · 03-26-2020, 02:09 AM

"Closer" vs. "reliever" is not a distinction which the game treats as significant, no. It's completely cosmetic. (At least in terms of results -- I think it might affect what the game does when asked to automatically set up a bullpen? It definitely does when setting up a batting lineup/depth chart, but I wouldn't know offhand for relievers.)

On repurposing relievers as starters or vice versa: most relievers don't have the stamina to start, of course. The ones who do may not have 3+ effective pitches, and the game penalizes them for that in longer outings. There are a few players marked "reliever" who could just as easily start, but not most of them.

As far as the reverse scenario is concerned, there's nothing preventing a starter from relieving, but as in the real world, it's not necessarily the best use of resources. Given a starter and reliever with the same overall rating, the reliever is usually going to have better stuff/movement/control stats. And if a starter is good enough to match up to your relievers in terms of short-term pitch quality, why wouldn't you want him taking on a full workload?

That much having been said, it's certainly not a problem to have one or two long relievers with good stamina who can pitch multiple innings. In my experience, it often makes sense to place a sixth starter into that role (particularly in PT, where high-stamina relievers are a little harder to find.)

Note also that the displayed "stuff" rating tends to decrease when converting a player's displayed position from starter to reliever -- again, this is because the game weights the quality of starters' third and subsequent pitches more highly than it does for relievers. That doesn't mean that changing the displayed position from SP to RP/CL changes the underlying numbers -- the pitcher pitches the same when given the same role on the pitching rotation/bullpen page, regardless of how his player position is set. The displayed composite numbers just change to reflect the results if the player were to be used in the role his set position would suggest.

03-26-2020, 02:09 AM	#3
The Otter Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 41	"Closer" vs. "reliever" is not a distinction which the game treats as significant, no. It's completely cosmetic. (At least in terms of results -- I think it might affect what the game does when asked to automatically set up a bullpen? It definitely does when setting up a batting lineup/depth chart, but I wouldn't know offhand for relievers.) On repurposing relievers as starters or vice versa: most relievers don't have the stamina to start, of course. The ones who do may not have 3+ effective pitches, and the game penalizes them for that in longer outings. There are a few players marked "reliever" who could just as easily start, but not most of them. As far as the reverse scenario is concerned, there's nothing preventing a starter from relieving, but as in the real world, it's not necessarily the best use of resources. Given a starter and reliever with the same overall rating, the reliever is usually going to have better stuff/movement/control stats. And if a starter is good enough to match up to your relievers in terms of short-term pitch quality, why wouldn't you want him taking on a full workload? That much having been said, it's certainly not a problem to have one or two long relievers with good stamina who can pitch multiple innings. In my experience, it often makes sense to place a sixth starter into that role (particularly in PT, where high-stamina relievers are a little harder to find.) Note also that the displayed "stuff" rating tends to decrease when converting a player's displayed position from starter to reliever -- again, this is because the game weights the quality of starters' third and subsequent pitches more highly than it does for relievers. That doesn't mean that changing the displayed position from SP to RP/CL changes the underlying numbers -- the pitcher pitches the same when given the same role on the pitching rotation/bullpen page, regardless of how his player position is set. The displayed composite numbers just change to reflect the results if the player were to be used in the role his set position would suggest.