Meanwhile, I still have no idea what IFA is or when it happens, have signed a load of bums, have no idea how to run my budget and am confused at what constitutes a good SP. BRING IT ON!
You asked a question about pitching and SP in the other thread, I'm movin ur answer here for future reference. Here is the write-up I did for Moscow when
@Soonerfan09 joined
PART 3 - PITCHING
Pitchers have 3 main ratings
Stuff = How good they are at striking other players out.
Movement = This rating basically affects how well opposition players hit the ball when they do make contact. Higher movement typically means when opposition players make contact it won't be as good. This is a bit complicated, but basically a high movement pitcher will typically allow fewer HRs (fly balls fall short), have a better ground ball %, and have a lower BABIP (relative to defense/park factors) because line drives and grounders won't be hit as well, allowing your defenders to make an out.
Control = How well a pitcher can place their pitches. The primary effect of this is on walks, but high control pitchers are also easier to control via strategy (pitch around or pitch to contact).
There isn't a great answer on which of these is "most important," as it depends a lot on your ballpark and your defense, but generally speaking High stuff is a good thing for all pitchers because striking a player out is always a good outcome. High movement is really important in ballparks that give up a lot of HRs and for teams that have great defense. High control is important for teams who need to limit on base percentage (typically pitcher friendly ball parks where hits are hard to come by).Ideally you can find pitchers who rock at all 3, but that's not always the case so you have to tailor it for your ballpark. If you have a terrible defense and a highly offensive ball park you'd prioritize stuff and movement and cope with lower control. If you have a highly defensive build in a pitcher friendly ballpark, you'd prioritize movement and control and be able to sacrifice stuff if necessary. If you have a terrible defense in a pitcher friendly ball park you'd prioritize stuff and control and sacrifice movement. Based on ur current terrible defense (-37.9 ZR and Defensive Efficiency = .664) STUFF is going to be the most important rating for your pitchers, since a strike out is probably the only positive outcome.
(Advice for Moscow)
SO TRAVIS, WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A STARTER AND A RELIEF PITCHER?
A traditional starting pitcher needs to have 3 highly rated pitches and a stamina of 50+ so that they can succeed for 7+ innings (
I now look at Stamina >40 because I use pitch counts more often). If they have less stamina they won't be able to pitch as long or as often. If they only have 2 good pitches, batters will start to take advantage of them as they get more at bats during the game.
A relief pitcher doesn't need high stamina and their "stuff" rating is only based on their best 2 pitches (Provided they only pitch a couple of innings). This usually results in relief pitchers having higher "stuff" (more likely to score strike outs) than an equivalent starting pitcher, since stuff is only based on their best 2 pitches. Any pitcher that is capable of starting will also do fine in relief, and I often keep a guy like this on my roster in case of injury to one of my starters.
While it is important to have a good bullpen, it is also good to remember that your relief pitchers will get 1/3 to 1/2 the innings that your starters get, so relief pitchers are inherently less valuable than starters. That's why I budget less money for them in my wage scale and typically take them later in the draft.That being said, nothing is worse than having ur bullpen blow leads so FML.
You can also experiment with non-standard GIMMICK PITCHER SYSTEMS like
@ZackMills had great success with where his starters were limited to like 4 innings and he relied on really good relievers since he found it was easier and more cost effective to gather a bunch of good relief pitchers. (
I now use a relief ace in a stopper/high leverage role and they often get as many innings as a SP. You can also experiment with GIMMICK systems that rely on bullpen even more, but it is still generally true that even your worst SP is going to get as many innings as your best RP)
BASIC ROSTER BUILD SUGGESTION:
To start, I recommend carrying 12 pitchers total (could use 13 if you had talent or could get away with 11 if you have high stamina relievers and make some adjustments). You will want 5 of these players to be capable starters. You will want 6 quality relief pitchers. The last player is a SWINGMAN (
@Irishman) who plays in the bullpen, but has the capability to be a starter (3+ pitches and 50+ stamina). If things go well, he'll eat low leverage innings for you in the bullpen without getting tired, allowing your best lower stamina pitchers to pitch in high leverage close game situations. If you have an injury to a starting pitcher or one of your starters just plain sucks, you can plug SWINGMAN in to a starting spot and don't skip a beat.
STARTERS -
Elite Starter (Goal = #1 and #2 starter in this class. If you are cost efficient and you can land a #3 of this caliber that's even better)- You want 60+ in all 3 ratings, 3 pitches that are all 60+, 50+ Stamina and a good statistical track record. These players demand a premium and you can pay them up to $15M/year. You currently have zero of these players, but the dude you are about to draft and your prospect VIGGO Mandebacka both meet this criteria, so you should be good in a few years.
Solid starter (Goal = Starters #3-5 in this class) - Average ratings is 55-60 (ie they can have one lower 50-55 rating as long as they have ratings that fit ur system). 3 pitches at 50+ and stamina of 50+. Harrie van Kralingen on ur current roster is on the bottom end of this range and he's on a salary of 1.1 M that meets the wage scale. Adding some players in this category at the correct wages would be a good move. Cuirate could be in this category if his 3rd pitch develops and he shows the stats to prove it, otherwise he might be a better RP with only 2 developed pitches. Having your "worst" starting pitcher be at least this good is an awesome way to accumulate wins. Lots of teams have 3-4 good SPs but then lose a ton of games because their #5 sucks or they get an injury and the replacement sucks.
Serviceble/stop gap starter (Whatever you cant fill above through SP #6/SWINGMAN) - Average rating is 50-55 but every individual rating is 50+. 3 pitches that are at least 40+ and stamina of 50+. You have at least 3 players in this category (or close to it) and they are all on the correct wage scale making minimum salary (Lieu, Wilson, Lopez) and one of your other minimum players (Harle) is pretty close and statistically pitching well (if they are playing well, go with it). You have a good number of players in this category, so you want to keep the ones who are pitching well statistically and making the least. As you get better you'll want to phase these guys out and replace them with solid starters instead (while still keeping the wage scale). These guys aren't going to put up good stats unless you build your team to make them shine, but it is better than throwing some shithead with 45 ratings out there and getting CRUSHED.
Relief pitchers -
ELITE RP (Goal = 2 of these) - No rating less than 60 with 2 pitches 65+. You have nobody in this category.
Solid RP (Goal = 3 of these) - High stuff, which should be easy with only 2 pitches (65+) and movement and control both 55+ David Picket is a good example here and is making the right $. Steve Valentine is close but right at the top end of the wage scale with close to $2M salary. I don't like that his control is only 50 and he doesn't have a good track record, but he is making right at the limit (just under $2M) so given the rest of ur team's situation, he's probably a decent player to keep until you can replace him with someone better.MOAR DAVID PICKETS
Serviceable RP/SWINGMAN (remainder of pitchers) - Super high stuff player with a 50 or 45 minimum rating for the others, or a SWINGMAN SP capable pitcher with 50-55 stuff. Generic 55 rated players who play well statistically in your system can also fall into this category. Give them a try and if they pitch well then keep pitching them, since they are cheap. You've got a bunch of these types but some of them are making too much.Don't pay these guys more than $1M, and preferably pay them league minimum.