- Posts: 191
- Joined: Sun May 17, 2020 7:20 pm
Fri Apr 05, 2024 7:43 am
Many managers favor cheap relievers now but some elite managers use expensive relievers. It seems that it is viable despite many players feeling the costs are too high. Generally, I do worse when I spend a lot on my bullpen, but I spend more than many other managers.
As someone who doesn't follow real baseball and only plays Strat, I find it surprising at times when my bullpen performs poorly. The usual culprit is HAL is using my bullpen differently than I anticipated. Most often, the problem is using a specialist frequently against the wrong-handed batters. This could be due to fatigue as HAL tries to budget reliever endurance to make it through the game. I like the specialist setting and find when I don't use it HAL gets very suboptimal in his decision making.
Generally, the more expensive your starters and the highest endurance they have, the less you need relievers although they can still be helpful those times your starter gets nuked or the game goes into extra innings. Conversely, if your starters are cheap and quick to tire, a better bullpen goes a long way. There is also your park's volatility to consider, a 1 1 1 1 park is more lenient on the pitchers while a 19 19 19 19 park will often lead to mayhem and exhausted relievers. So in such parks, I think relievers with more endurance are helpful. However, nothing ever seems to be a guarantee.
Lastly, relievers that give up BPHR are often good in a 1 1 1 1 park and terrible in a 19 19 19 19 park. With all this said, there are also the types of offense your relievers allow. Choosing between high walks, fewer hits but many of them being doubles and triples, and so on. Ultimately, since I watch a ton of game replays I've noticed my bullpen very frequently gets shelled from the very first man to enter the game and it often continues to the next. This can be frustrating at times and I'm not sure I understand completely how to counteract this. Even a great reliever will often give up a hit immediately (often on the hitter card) and start allowing runs.
Anyway, that's the rant. Feel free to chime in whith whatever nuggets of wisdom or thoughts you may have
As someone who doesn't follow real baseball and only plays Strat, I find it surprising at times when my bullpen performs poorly. The usual culprit is HAL is using my bullpen differently than I anticipated. Most often, the problem is using a specialist frequently against the wrong-handed batters. This could be due to fatigue as HAL tries to budget reliever endurance to make it through the game. I like the specialist setting and find when I don't use it HAL gets very suboptimal in his decision making.
Generally, the more expensive your starters and the highest endurance they have, the less you need relievers although they can still be helpful those times your starter gets nuked or the game goes into extra innings. Conversely, if your starters are cheap and quick to tire, a better bullpen goes a long way. There is also your park's volatility to consider, a 1 1 1 1 park is more lenient on the pitchers while a 19 19 19 19 park will often lead to mayhem and exhausted relievers. So in such parks, I think relievers with more endurance are helpful. However, nothing ever seems to be a guarantee.
Lastly, relievers that give up BPHR are often good in a 1 1 1 1 park and terrible in a 19 19 19 19 park. With all this said, there are also the types of offense your relievers allow. Choosing between high walks, fewer hits but many of them being doubles and triples, and so on. Ultimately, since I watch a ton of game replays I've noticed my bullpen very frequently gets shelled from the very first man to enter the game and it often continues to the next. This can be frustrating at times and I'm not sure I understand completely how to counteract this. Even a great reliever will often give up a hit immediately (often on the hitter card) and start allowing runs.
Anyway, that's the rant. Feel free to chime in whith whatever nuggets of wisdom or thoughts you may have