Not a fortuitous start, Part II

[battists]

If anyone is curious, I am up to 39 games into my career as a rookie league manager, and we are now a glorious 13-26, good enough for last place by 5 games haha.

HOWEVER, I will state for the record that I am actually enjoying myself quite a bit. I have found that the GM isn't making TOO many moves, on the order of a few bodies once a month. It's certainly not crippling. Since I am playing out each game, the passage of time isn't quick enough to stress me out about the moves.

Playing stats only, I'm really enjoying reading the scouting reports, looking at how the player was acquired, how they are performing so far, and factoring all of that together to try to make decisions about how much playing time I give them.

Again, because I am at the lowest level of the minors, there is no roster limit, so unfortunately I have 50 players to deal with and it's hard to get enough playing time for all of them, particularly MRs.

I'm actually doing decently from starting pitching perspective. My starters' ERA is right around 4.00 combined, and I have one free agent signing who has gone 3-0 in 5 stats with a 2.12 ERA, .243 OBA, and 1.11 WHIP. 31K / 5 BB. So I enjoy it when his turn in the rotation comes. I have another starter with 16.5 K/BB.

The bullpen is a little trickier, with 41 pitchers to choose from. Since I'm still early in the season (playing a 138-game season), I'm trying to get everyone a few innings, but I still have quite a few pitchers who only have <3 IP, so it's hard to get a feel. It's also hard not to bench pitchers after one poor performance, when you have 40 other pitchers itching to get into the game!

On the field, the 2nd overall pick in the most recent draft, catcher Matt McClanahan, started off on fire, but has been in a horrific slump for the past few weeks. Still, he sits at .281/.500 slg/.798 OPS, with 6 HR and 17 RBI.

Cuban scouting find LF Ismael Vila looks like the real deal, batting .310/.450/.811 with 2 HR and 7 RBI.

Catcher Marcus Hursey is a 20th round pick who looked like the stereotypical minor league slugger - no contact, tons of power, but when given the opportunity when I rested slumping McClanahan, he has shone, hitting 3 HR and knocking in 8 while batting .250 in just 33 PA.

(I can never remember, when people put together hitting lines with three stats like that, is it supposed to be AVG/SLG/OPS? Or AVG/OBP/SLG?)

Anyway, just thought I would share.

[Honorable_Pawn]

Avg/obp/slg

[Afino]

You have 41 pitchers and 9 position players?

[battists]

There are actually 66 players on the roster.

19 position players
5 starters
42 relievers

There were a lot more starters than that, but I picked the five I wanted to work with and have just kept a 5-man rotation. If one of them looks like crap over a long stretch, I find someone else who projects as a starter and swap them into the rotation.

Right now I certainly don't have any aces, but they're not awful either, so I have been rolling with the same five.

[TribeFanInNC]

So, do you mostly play to win or play like a minor league manager would (i.e. don't kill your players, play the best long term prospects, etc...)?

This is kinda interesting. I wonder if I might use a 6-man rotation with that many players to get a look at more pitchers. I'd probably only run guys out there for like 5 or 6 innings max too.

[battists]

Yeah, I had a six man rotation at one point, but then one of my starters got pulled up to A ball and I just haven't replaced him yet.

Generally, I will only put pitchers in a starting role it if they project as starters in the big leagues. Or at least borderline starters. The guys that project as starters in the minors, but bullpen in the majors, I just use as relievers.

As far as approach, it's a little bit of both. Since I manage each game, of course I am trying to win. However, my starting lineup is mainly the nine who I feel have the most potential. I will of course spell these players or platoon a bit to try to spread around at bats. Sometimes I will sacrifice defense. For example, if I have a young RF with no skill at CF or LF, I might play him in LF to try to get him a rating there.

On the pitching side, when the game is close I tend to use the relievers who have been the most reliable for me. When it's not I throw some guys out who have gotten shelled, to see if they can't turn it around.

It's fun!! Obviously, though, as my record shows, I am not very good at it.

[BIG17EASY]

Let us know if the trend of realistic roster moves continues. I tried this a few versions ago (12, if not earlier) and got through about 4-6 weeks and all of a sudden lost like half my roster to call-ups. They were all replaced by guys sent down, which I found unrealistic. Kinda turned me off from playing that way and I haven't tried since.

[battists]

I wonder if it's possible that my situation is better than a normal major-league set up, because my schedules are all in synch. In other words, I don't have rookie ball and short season starting at strange times, causing a bunch of roster moves.

[BIG17EASY]

Originally Posted by battists

I wonder if it's possible that my situation is better than a normal major-league set up, because my schedules are all in synch. In other words, I don't have rookie ball and short season starting at strange times, causing a bunch of roster moves.

That very well could help. That's a pretty good point.

[battists]

For the record, I am now two full months into the season. I am not at my computer, but I don't think there have even been 20 roster moves involving my team.

I think I might have had five players demoted from a short season a. One of those was subsequently called back up. I think there have been about five players released, and replaced with a free agents. All middle relievers. Maybe a few more I didn't remember.

I think that's it.

[jtb]

Very cool. Thanks for this idea!