Strategy Help

[Lemandria]

Originally Posted by chazzycat

pitcher defense is not really something to worry about too much IMO. Their impact on defense is fairly miniscule, probably no more than 1-2 runs over the course of a season.

Sure. But when you're scouting pitchers and looking at several similarly-skilled dudes, those pitcher and hold ratings can be a functional tiebreaker.

[CrazyWR]

price is the difference maker

[micpringle]

@chazzycat

How important is the flyball pitcher to this strategy?

The reason I ask is that my team, who were happily coasting a .500 game in their first season in a silver league (effectively the same lineup I used in bronze) have just gone on a run and forced their way into the wildcard race.

However, the downside is my bullpen. If I want to stand any chance I'm gonna need some additions.

You can see my current pitching lineup here, although I have since added a further reliever.

I'm struggling to find decent relievers who pitch flyball, and who are within my price range–hence the original question.

[chazzycat]

Originally Posted by micpringle

@chazzycat

How important is the flyball pitcher to this strategy?

The reason I ask is that my team, who were happily coasting a .500 game in their first season in a silver league (effectively the same lineup I used in bronze) have just gone on a run and forced their way into the wildcard race.

However, the downside is my bullpen. If I want to stand any chance I'm gonna need some additions.

You can see my current pitching lineup here, although I have since added a further reliever.

I'm struggling to find decent relievers who pitch flyball, and who are within my price range–hence the original question.

It's more important in the higher levels once you start facing a lot of elite contact hitters, IMO. The problem with groundballers is that groundballs have higher BABIP than flyballs, so when your park also boosts BABIP, elite contact hitters can get a lot of hits against even an elite infield defense. But in silver it's not too big of a concern.


The importance of flyball pitchers also goes hand in hand with outfield defense. While groundballs have higher BABIP, flyballs can do more damage because they go for XBH. Especially with maxed out gap factors, you really want ELITE outfield defense to be using flyballers. So if your outfielders are more offensively oriented (which appears to be the case), than you may actually want neutral or GB guys for now.

[micpringle]

My pitching staff for 2052...



As you can see I've brought in some neutral pitchers, and moved Scherzer to a relief role as he had a season long slump in 2051. I've set them up as follows...



But as you can see, after 14 games their ERA is still pretty dire. We're 7-7 at the moment, which isn't too bad considering the start we made and were 3-7 just 4 games back.

My batting roster seem pretty solid–Rizzuto has been a dynamo that past couple of seasons at SS, and even though his defensive game isn't great, Matty Alou at RF continues to lead hits and batting average. I've made a couple of acquisitions in Carlton Fisk at C, Heinie Groh at 3B, and Hugh Duffy at CF, and they've all made a positive start.

Currently 2nd in Runs Scored, 2nd in Batting AVG, 2nd in On-Base PCT, and 1st in Stolen Bases. Zone Rating isn't looking so hot this season at 10th, but I feel it's still pitching holding the team back, as they're 14th for Starters ERA and 11th for the Bullpen. This is really where I need the help.

[micpringle]

The Piranha are now 19-35 and in the final relegation slot for Silver .279–it's all gone terribly wrong.

Originally Posted by chazzycat

The importance of flyball pitchers also goes hand in hand with outfield defense. While groundballs have higher BABIP, flyballs can do more damage because they go for XBH. Especially with maxed out gap factors, you really want ELITE outfield defense to be using flyballers. So if your outfielders are more offensively oriented (which appears to be the case), than you may actually want neutral or GB guys for now.

I started this season with predominantly flyballers, and it didn't go well. But, rather than digesting this comment on-board and taking a pragmatic approach, in attempt to save my season and place in the silvers I instead panic bought an entirely new pitching roster, who are mainly neutral, but it hasn't helped the decline.

Coming back to this comment this morning, and actually taking a look at the stats, it actually makes perfect sense. Here are the stats for my batters...

Catchers
Infielders
Outfielders

As you can see, the Zone Rating for my outfielders are all negative, which is something I've overlooked in this state of panic. Infielders are, for the most part, all positive.

If the more elite batters in Silver are hitting more flyballs because of my poor pitching staff, then there's more reliance on my outfielders to actually defend, and it would appear as though they're struggling.

So I guess my choices are...

• Improve the outfielders, OR
• Recruit groundballers in an attempt to drive more balls into the infield

At this point, the second option appears more favourable, but I'm open to any recommendations.

Originally Posted by chazzycat

you may actually want neutral or GB guys for now.

Groundball guys, but still favouring high stuff and control? Also, is there a particular type of pitch I should be targeting–Fastball, Slider, Changeup etc.?

[micpringle]

Don't want to risk jinxing things, but after a second round of heavy investment in the pitching staff (based on the advice above) it looks as though we may have finally turned a corner...



The Piranha are still heavily planted in the relegation spots, but if we're able to keep up this form for the rest of the week we may just pull ourselves out of it.

[micpringle]

It turned out that the flyballers were indeed the issue–thanks again @chazzycat–and a handful of competent groundballers was all the team needed to get their season turned around and back on track.



I made the changes mid-June, and as you can see the team have had their best 1.5 months of the season since, culminating in a 13-game win streak, the longest in the clubs history...



Due to their recent form, they've managed to claw their way off the bottom of their division, and the league overall, and turned an awful 19-35 into a much more respectable 51-53–especially considering their start!