Depth chart strategies

BeisbolFan · 07-15-2013, 10:05 PM

I am still relatively new to baseball, and I'm still struggling a bit with strategy for setting how often utility guys should play. I've tried looking at MLB depth charts, but they don't explain the logic of how often they rest starters and play utility guys.

Do you set up your depth charts so that mostly utility guys only play when the starter is tired, do you set up regular replacements (like utility guy 1 subs in for 1b every 5th game, and 3b every 7th), do you base your decision on whether to set the utility to start every X games on their stats, some combination of all the above, or something else?

What general strategies do you use in setting up your depth charts and determining how much play time starters vs. utility guys get?

maxkeitt · 07-16-2013, 03:44 AM

Usually, I have my starters play until they are tired.

If I have a young guy I want to get experience and an old guy I want to play less to lower chance of injury, I'll split time between them.

If I wrap up a playoff spot early, I'll play the backups, or if I get a massive lead in the division.

In individual fames, if we get a big lead, I'll pull my starters and get the young guys some innings to help their development.

Orcin · 07-16-2013, 09:52 AM

I like to make sure that my bench guys stay sharp. I have my backup catcher play every fourth day. I play my backup infielders and outfielders at least once a week. Down the stretch, I play my starters unless tired if I am in the race for a playoff spot.

RchW · 07-16-2013, 09:58 AM

Your bench guys should play as little as possible if there are no injuries or poor performance. It's also possible that a bench guy is no longer a bench guy if circumstances occur.

Charlie Hough · 07-16-2013, 01:32 PM

Personally, if I have the time and energy to micromanage, I watch my players carefully and rest anyone who falls below 100% in fatigue status.

If you don't occasionally rotate your players, it seems that they are much more injury prone. And a player who is at 96% won't be tired, but his chances of sustaining an injury seem to increase.

If your players are rated as durable for injuries, then there is less risk in playing them until they're tired. But I would try to rotate players who are rated normal and especially those who might be rated fragile. In those cases, I set the depth chart grid rotate them at least once every four to 10 games, depending on the differences between the starter and the backup along with what the rest of the lineup will look like for a given game.

Sometimes it's good to use your depth charts to occasionally get some better righty vs. lefty matchups. If one of your players is fairly weak against one or the other, you might consider using his backup every few games to get a better matchup against the starting pitcher. This assumes that the backup isn't good enough to start normally against a lefty or righty.

Syd Thrift · 07-16-2013, 02:44 PM

What Charlie Hough said, for the most part. There are a lot of different philosophies to use with depth charts. You can simply never rest a player, which is a decent strategy if you've got a guy with low injury ratings who is head and shoulders above whatever else you have at a position. You can only sub a guy if he's tired, which is nice except that you then have to deal with the fact that periodically you'll have 4 or 5 guys tired at once and your lineup might be severely compromised for a couple of days if your entire team is set to do that. You can set a player to be subbed every 10th or 15th day, which is just enough in most cases to keep them from being really fatigued at any one point but which does, as CH said, potentially open them up to more injury.

One thing I like to do with older and/or more injury prone guys is pull them once every 6 or 7 games, which is roughly once a week. This also allows you to keep your bench guys from getting too rusty (which is IIRC a thing in OOTP). I also, like CH, like to spell young kids every 4th or 5th game just to a. make sure that if they're not playing well, it's not because they're tired and b. it's a good way to keep a backup whom you might have to make a starter at any time fresh.

The final thing I do a pretty good deal of are quasi-platoon situations. For instance, maybe I don't want to turn a guy into a full-on platoon mate at a position so I'll have him start every 6th game vs. righties and every other game vs. lefties. This also works well for super-sub types - start a guy at one position every 3rd, another every 4th, and another every 5th, and that guy will end up starting somewhere around 2/3rds of the time.

1

ff
2: off
3: 2nd
4: 3rd
5: SS
6: 2nd (factor of 3)
7: off
8: 3rd
9: 2nd
10: SS
11: off
12: 2nd (factor of both 3 and 4 but in this instance the higher-up position takes precedence)
13: off
14: off
15: SS
16: 3rd
17: off
18: off
19: off
20: 3rd (see the note for #12)

Well, that ends up only being 55% of the first 20 games, but you get the idea. Just for the heck of it, let's add coming in to play LF every 7th game (note that putting him in every 6th game is nearly useless, as it only adds 1 game played to the above):

1

ff
2: off
3: 2nd
4: 3rd
5: SS
6: 2nd (factor of 3)
7: LF
8: 3rd
9: 2nd
10: SS
11: off
12: 2nd (factor of both 3 and 4 but in this instance the higher-up position takes precedence)
13: off
14: LF
15: SS
16: 3rd
17: off
18: off
19: off
20: 3rd (see the note for #12)
21: 2nd

So that turns into 14 out of the first 21 games, so there's your 2/3rds.

The one thing to look out for when you're doing this is if one start frequency is a factor of another (for instance, if you start a guy at one position every 2nd game and another every 4th game) the game will often never be able to bring in a player to start at the higher-factor position. To make this even more complicated: I think that when the game determines who will start on a given day, it starts at catcher and then goes on down the list. So if you have a guy who starts every 4th game at 1st and every 2nd game at 3rd, you should get someone who starts like this:

1: off
2: 3rd
3: off
4: 1st

However, if you go the other way around I think it'll look like this:

1: off
2: 1st
3: off
4: 1st

...and your guy will never, ever relieve the 3rd baseman.

07-16-2013, 09:58 AM	#4
RchW Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Toronto ON by way of Glasgow UK Posts: 15,629	Your bench guys should play as little as possible if there are no injuries or poor performance. It's also possible that a bench guy is no longer a bench guy if circumstances occur. __________________ Cheers RichW If you’re looking for a good cause to donate money to please consider a Donation to Parkinson’s Canada. It may help me have a better future and if not me, someone else. Thanks. “Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition …There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.” Frank Wilhoit

07-15-2013, 10:05 PM	#1
BeisbolFan Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Jan 2013 Posts: 20	Depth chart strategies I am still relatively new to baseball, and I'm still struggling a bit with strategy for setting how often utility guys should play. I've tried looking at MLB depth charts, but they don't explain the logic of how often they rest starters and play utility guys. Do you set up your depth charts so that mostly utility guys only play when the starter is tired, do you set up regular replacements (like utility guy 1 subs in for 1b every 5th game, and 3b every 7th), do you base your decision on whether to set the utility to start every X games on their stats, some combination of all the above, or something else? What general strategies do you use in setting up your depth charts and determining how much play time starters vs. utility guys get?

07-16-2013, 03:44 AM	#2
maxkeitt Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Apr 2012 Posts: 47	Usually, I have my starters play until they are tired. If I have a young guy I want to get experience and an old guy I want to play less to lower chance of injury, I'll split time between them. If I wrap up a playoff spot early, I'll play the backups, or if I get a massive lead in the division. In individual fames, if we get a big lead, I'll pull my starters and get the young guys some innings to help their development.

07-16-2013, 09:52 AM	#3
Orcin Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Indiana Posts: 9,861	I like to make sure that my bench guys stay sharp. I have my backup catcher play every fourth day. I play my backup infielders and outfielders at least once a week. Down the stretch, I play my starters unless tired if I am in the race for a playoff spot.

07-16-2013, 01:32 PM	#5
Charlie Hough Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 3,644	Personally, if I have the time and energy to micromanage, I watch my players carefully and rest anyone who falls below 100% in fatigue status. If you don't occasionally rotate your players, it seems that they are much more injury prone. And a player who is at 96% won't be tired, but his chances of sustaining an injury seem to increase. If your players are rated as durable for injuries, then there is less risk in playing them until they're tired. But I would try to rotate players who are rated normal and especially those who might be rated fragile. In those cases, I set the depth chart grid rotate them at least once every four to 10 games, depending on the differences between the starter and the backup along with what the rest of the lineup will look like for a given game. Sometimes it's good to use your depth charts to occasionally get some better righty vs. lefty matchups. If one of your players is fairly weak against one or the other, you might consider using his backup every few games to get a better matchup against the starting pitcher. This assumes that the backup isn't good enough to start normally against a lefty or righty.