Advice needed on pitching staff and handedness

[andyhdz]

So this is easily my weakest area. So much so that I usually forget all about it so it might be costing me games. What is usually the best setup for a pitching staff and handedness? How many lefties do you need for your starting rotation? 1 or more or can you get away with none? Does it matter? I'm guessing it matters more with your bullpen so how many do you need there and does the specific role matter? I'm asking in relation to a modern pitching staff. Thanks!

[chazzycat]

In a neutral park it really doesn't matter too much, I just go for best talent available. It's really not bad to have all righties or all lefties, that just means your opponents won't be able to rest players via natural platoons and might get you a few extra favorable matchups.

Park factors are the big thing to check. If there is a sizable penalty for hitters on one side, I prefer my rotation to be the opposite hand. So if lefties can't hit in my park I want RHPs. That way, my opponent has to face either the park penalty or the platoon penalty...never getting the double bonus of favorable park + favorable platoon.

[NoOne]

There are plenty of contexts where a lefty isn't necessarily a better choice than a righty... apply same break-even analysis.

look at their splits... have a good idea typical batter splits etc etc... but if a righty is much better, there's a good chance he is better even when adjusting for all these variables.

good lefty pitchers are rare... don't try to force a square peg through a round hole (where L or W = D, of course) Being a lefty doesn't mean anything on its own that can automate a decision.... too many other important factors with as large or larger portion of cause and effect to reduce it to such simplicity.

Other things to look at -- from a perspective that only contending years matter -- Who are you likely to face in playoffs? is the best team, beside yours i hope, heavy lefty battingn order? Something like that context may cause me to care more about having some lefty pitchers in rotation and pen.

[BBGiovanni]

This depends in part on whether you use the 3-batter rule. If so, you have to prioritize better pitchers like Chazzy said.

That said, I get some mileage out of lefties against lineups with multiple lefties in a row. I don't care about platoon advantage generally, my gut tells me OOTP programs it to be too important but I don't think there's a global setting for it unfortunately.

I prefer to have at least one lefty starter, and often will go with a lefty as 5th starter (they're usually kind of fungible). I also usually have one LOOGY-type guy in the bullpen and a long relief/swingman type guy as a lefty. For whatever reason in recent saves in v.21 it was easy to find long-ish lefty pitchers so I tend to keep two guys with decent stamina in the bullpen for mop-up duty.

In addition to the closer, I try to have two righties, two lefties, and the two long men (one R and one L). I usually carry 8 relievers in modern saves, in which case I try to have a setup/backup closer guy that is the opposite hand of the official closer. One of those guys usually doesn't get enough work but I prefer it that way than to have the bullpen gassed all the time.

[andyhdz]

thanks all. this helps a lot.

[Primary]

I don't even really consider handedness for starters as long as I have at least 1 lefty. for bullpen I like to have 3 LHP, at least one of whom can pitch multiple innings, and at least one who is also good vs RH batters and can pitch high leverage situations. sometimes it doesn't work out that way though and it's mostly fine until the playoffs, where a bullpen can really get exposed in the wrong match-up

[BBGiovanni]

Originally Posted by Primary

I don't even really consider handedness for starters as long as I have at least 1 lefty. for bullpen I like to have 3 LHP, at least one of whom can pitch multiple innings, and at least one who is also good vs RH batters and can pitch high leverage situations. sometimes it doesn't work out that way though and it's mostly fine until the playoffs, where a bullpen can really get exposed in the wrong match-up

I refuse to call it an "opener", but I've had good luck with the lefty long reliever coming in for a righty starter in the middle innings, especially against a platoon happy team or one that just has 5+ lefty batters.

[Biggio509]

Originally Posted by Primary

I don't even really consider handedness for starters as long as I have at least 1 lefty. for bullpen I like to have 3 LHP, at least one of whom can pitch multiple innings, and at least one who is also good vs RH batters and can pitch high leverage situations. sometimes it doesn't work out that way though and it's mostly fine until the playoffs, where a bullpen can really get exposed in the wrong match-up

How many guys do you carrying in the bullpen? I usually carry 8 so 3 is a pretty good percentage.

[Biggio509]

I have found '23 has a lot less lefties available and lefties are harder to find. Good lefties are very rare. In previous previous versions I have had all but one left hand starter just because they were best available.

The other thing to note is look at the ratings and splits. Just because a guy is a lefty doesn't mean he is good against left handed hitting. A lot of lefties seem to be about equal against right or left and a few are worse against left handed hitters. The assumption left vs. left is always better doesn't really hold.

A really good right hander might be better than mediocre or bad lefty even versus left handed pitching. I have only gotten about 3 years past the initial draft in my fictional league but lack of good lefties has made choose a righty who doesn't suffer against LHB instead of a poor left hander more often than not. Maybe as I sim more decent lefties will be available?