Bullpen strategy

[SoxSoxSox]

How do you guys handle your pen? How do you set it up?


Do you take your best guy and have him go in asap in a pinch, like Cleveland did with Andrew Miller?

Do you have straight up 7th, 8th, and 9th inning guys, like the Royals have used in recent seasons?



I think for '17 I will have Kimbrel solely in the ninth, and coming off a poor season (the team, not him) on '16, I'll have him come in any game we are up 5 runs or less, and I might even rely on him for 4-5 outs at times.

I really hope he can be a workhorse in this way, and if we are trailing, I won't use him. I won't use him in a tie game either unless it's the 9th inning and I can walk off at home.

Other than that, I will use someone (maybe Carson Smith) as my emergency role, similar to how Francona (how I wish he was still in Boston) used Miller.

Other than these two, the rest of the pen won't have any inning or scenario attached to them, but I'd like to pitch handedness when I can, so I'll likely carry two lefties.


I've used (in the American League anyways) 14 position guys and 11 pitchers, but I may switch that to 13 and 12 pitchers, just to have guys fresh in as many situations as I can.

It may hurt the lineup, stamina wise, but if a game is 5-6 runs for or against me, I usually pull guys like Pedroia, Betts, and Bradley Jr. when I can, usually it leaves them enough energy I don't worry about starting them in the next game.



Looking forward to opinions/discussion.

[Mitchrapp]

I pretty much have a 7th, 8th, and 9th inning guys.. That seldom changes..

[TheCoastIsBen]

I've in the past had mostly 7th 8th and 9th inning dudes. However I am starting a new twins dynasty this year and my main focus is going to be my bullpen. Perkins is done. But if I can toss everyone but Presley and rebuild that part I can rely on erv, gibby, Hughes, and some combo of may, Berrios, Mejia, and duffey to eat 5 innings a game.

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[My993C2]

Last year I played MLB 16 with the Red Sox, and there were a few exceptions, but mostly I kept Kimbrel out of the games unless I was presented with save opportunities. You never know, you may need him tomorrow to save a game and if you waste his energy today in a non-save opportunity, you could be hurting your chances tomorrow. Plus with last year's Red Sox team I still had access to Smith, Uehara and Tazawa. I used these guys as my setup relievers to get me into the late innings where hopefully I could bring a reasonably fresh Kimbrel into the game. But I am a suffering Rockies fan, I prefer the National League rules over the DH use in the American League. So in MLB 17 I will be back playing with the Rockies and they simply don't have the same caliber of a closer that a guy like Kimbrel is. I am hoping that Greg Holland will be the Rockies closer, but there is no guarantee he will even make the real world team let alone be their closer and even if he is, he's not the same caliber that Kimbrel is. So with the Rockies I am more likely to go to who is the best most rested relief pitcher at any given moment to get me in a position where winning the game is still possible. I still want to have a closer, but with the Rockies I am less likely to save him like I did with Kimbrel and the Red Sox last year.

Also, I try to play all 162 games in a season. Of course so far the best I can muster is about 100+ games before I burn out in the dog days of summer before picking the game back up in mid to late September. I view the season as a marathon for not only my bullpen but also my positional players. Before a game begins, I inspect my lineup to determine not only who is too tired (or on a cold streak) to play the game now and needs to be rested today, but also who may need time off tomorrow. That way if a blowout starts to happen in the current game, I take the marathon season view and immediately rest the tiring player(s) in the hope that resting them for half of the current game might give me a few more games before they need to be rested for a full game as the calendar turns. When possible I will use the best players/pitchers in the current game to get me a win, but sometimes resting them today will help me get the win tomorrow (if that makes sense).

With all that said, baseball is one of those wacky sports. I have learned that I should never give up in a game. It has happened enough with the Rockies offense (the Red Sox also have a similar potent offense) where sure I may be down by a whole bunch of runs at the beginning of a game and it's easy to just give up and not care about the current game. But I have seen enough come backs from crazy deficits playing with the Rockies and the Red Sox to known that there is always a chance. Never give up until the final out and the fat lady is singing. As they say, there is no clock in baseball.

[SoxSoxSox]

Quote: Originally Posted by My993C2

Plus with last year's Red Sox team I still had access to Smith, Uehara and Tazawa.

Koji fell off a cliff for me on '16. I just hit September and I have him warming up to enter an extra-inning game in Oakland. He's a 68 overall right now.


Has to be his age, he's got a 3.47 ERA, he's 3-4 (meaningless) with 5 saves, and his BAA splits are .212/.283

[TattooedEvil]

Last year with the Giants bullpen i wouldn't have any jobs, but now with Melancon itll prob be Cain or Suarez (cleanup/swingman) Kontos/Okert (6th) Strickland/Osich (7th) Law/Smith (8th) and Melancon (9th)

[GoDucks1224]

Quote: Originally Posted by TheCoastIsBen

Berrios Operation Sports mobile app

You're not gonna use Berrios in that rotation? Wowzah.

As for my strategy, it's different with every team. If I am using a team with two dominant late inning guys, I'll use them interchangeably. Particularly if it's a lefty and a righty.


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[GoDucks1224]

Quote: Originally Posted by SoxSoxSox

Koji fell off a cliff for me on '16. I just hit September and I have him warming up to enter an extra-inning game in Oakland. He's a 68 overall right now. Has to be his age, he's got a 3.47 ERA, he's 3-4 (meaningless) with 5 saves, and his BAA splits are .212/.283

The ridiculously fast decline of players over the age of 35 in the game is why I'm glad they're editable. I guess it could be cheating, but at the beginning of the season I mark down the individual ratings of all my guys over 35+, and the overall ratings of all relevant 35+ MLB players on all teams, and every two weeks or so (in game calendar) I go and edit them all back up to their beginning of season ratings. I edit them throughout the season to reflect what they're doing in real life as well. At the end of the season I'll usually drop all their ratings a couple points to more slowly decline them.


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