Bullpen Usage Model Suggestion

[Prodigal Son]

We're in the era of the specialist reliever. MLB bullpens have their closer, their "eighth inning guy," their "seventh inning guy," and their "LOOGYs" and "ROOGYs." Some of these roles overlap. Some managers are ok with using some relievers for more than one inning, others not. Some are fine with having several relievers pitch in a setup capacity if needed, whereas others don't have that confidence in more than one or two pitchers.

OOTP, in its current state, doesn't model this particularly well. What if a team has three or four pitchers it is fine using in setup roles? What if it has a lefty who it uses in high-leverage LOOGY situations, but otherwise only uses him in long relief?

Attached is my proposed model for OOTP bullpen usage. I hope it is as intuitive to you all looking at it as it is to me. The leverage bar on the left could even be adjustable with a slider, so you can move it up or down to indicate more or less confidence in your lower-leverage relievers.

The OOGY option can be selected if you would like that player to be considered / used regularly as a one-out platoon matchup specialist. The 2+ IP option can be used if you are ok with that pitcher throwing more than one inning with some regularity (I should have called it 1+, I suppose).

If the developers were then to code the AI to make use of this, I think it'd be a much better model to reflect modern bullpen use.

Edit: Just to clarify about functionality, the pitchers would have drag-and-drop functionality, so you would move pitchers in and out of your "bullpen" from your master roster, enabling you to leave your starters out of the bullpen assignments module and have the decision of whether to include any spot starters in bullpen assignments, and you could order pitchers in the module how you'd like, from lowest leverage at top to highest leverage at bottom. The values in the Preferred Inning Usage and Special Instructions columns would obviously be selectable / able to be toggled.

Also, a slider would exist in the "Leverage" box--a horizontal slider that you could move up or down. If you move it up, it shades more of the bar red and indicate that more pitchers toward the top of the list can enter in higher-leverage situations. If you slide it down, it indicates that you have fewer pitchers--just those near the bottom--who you trust in high-leverage situations. This would make a difference in many borderline situations. For example, 7th tie game, one out. The GM may bring in a pitcher that's higher up the list (say, I. Prettygood) if you have the slider set a bit higher, or else may bring in one of the Setups if the slider is set lower. Theoretically, these decision could even be influenced by how rested the pitchers are, so if you set the slider higher, the AI would be more likely to give your setup man the day off if he's pitched in two of the past three games, whereas it'd be more likely to work your setup man to death if the slider was set lower.

[nebradska]

If able to be implemented, this sounds like an excellent idea. My sympathies for the unfortunately named C. Loser, though

[Prodigal Son]

Also, for those of you who want to set up your bullpen to be utilized only based on leverage (those of the "I want my closer to be available in the 7th inning if that's the most important situation" school of thought), this would work for you. You'd simply select all the innings (or at least all of the innings from 6th on) for all of your relievers, or maybe all except for 1-2 designated long men, but you'd arrange them from worst to best, and adjust the leverage slider on the left based on the parity or lack thereof in your 'pen. The result is that they'd all be available in all the innings, but the manager should select which one to insert based solely on the situation's leverage.

[oman19]

Love the way you implemented this idea. Definitely something I would be for seeing in the game.

[Bluenoser]

I like it but you'd have to be very careful how you code it. There'd have to be a lot of different models for the different era's, decades, and in some cases even years. Bullpen usage has and continues to evolve over the years, so one default model would not suffice.

I understand it's adjustable, but you'd still have to build in a lot of default choice settings for users. I can well imagine a lot of pi$$ed off users if they had to set this all up every time along with all the other settings according to what year/style they prefer in their league. Don't get me wrong, I love the depth of OOTP, but when you start setting up unique leagues, you can wind up spending a lot of time in the settings. Some people like to be able to just select from a drop down for their settings, so that would have to be an option.

If I even try and think of all the different combinations of settings that are used in OOTP by users it makes my head spin.

[Honorable_Pawn]

I like it

[blasek0]

Love this idea, thanks for suggesting it. Since I only play custom leagues. and usually with expanded (28-30 man) rosters, I tend to run deep bullpens, and the AI terribly underutilizes them.

[Righty Groove]

I like it very much. I think bullpen usage patterns is a great area for growth in the game, in terms of AI usage of relievers both in terms of how AI teams use their relievers and how the AI manager uses the bullpen when you sim games.

Maybe more simple would be to add more spots to add pitchers. I mean, now we have mop-up, MR, SU and CL, and they are pretty much modern concepts without tied-in situations where they are used. More broad and abstract. And no order-of-use for the AI besides fatigue.

[The Game]

Would love to see this. With my ABF league, when I am actually winning which is rare, I tend to use 4 pitchers from the 6th inning on. I carry 14 pitchers 28 man roster. They don't get to use then they way I would like to see them used when i sim.

[mavericktango]

This would be a great idea, you could implement it first of all on modern usage with the option to turn it off if you used a different era or model and then work on it so it could handle all the different eras/models

[Prodigal Son]

Originally Posted by Prodigal Son

Also, for those of you who want to set up your bullpen to be utilized only based on leverage (those of the "I want my closer to be available in the 7th inning if that's the most important situation" school of thought), this would work for you. You'd simply select all the innings (or at least all of the innings from 6th on) for all of your relievers, or maybe all except for 1-2 designated long men, but you'd arrange them from worst to best, and adjust the leverage slider on the left based on the parity or lack thereof in your 'pen. The result is that they'd all be available in all the innings, but the manager should select which one to insert based solely on the situation's leverage.

Well that (and the OP) were novel concepts in 2013. Not so much now.

[Prodigal Son]

Originally Posted by Bluenoser

I like it but you'd have to be very careful how you code it. There'd have to be a lot of different models for the different era's, decades, and in some cases even years. Bullpen usage has and continues to evolve over the years, so one default model would not suffice.

I understand it's adjustable, but you'd still have to build in a lot of default choice settings for users. I can well imagine a lot of pi$$ed off users if they had to set this all up every time along with all the other settings according to what year/style they prefer in their league. Don't get me wrong, I love the depth of OOTP, but when you start setting up unique leagues, you can wind up spending a lot of time in the settings. Some people like to be able to just select from a drop down for their settings, so that would have to be an option.

If I even try and think of all the different combinations of settings that are used in OOTP by users it makes my head spin.

I get it. It's just the way the game went.