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]

Re: Bullpen strategy

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

[TheCoastIsBen]

Re: Bullpen strategy

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]

Re: Bullpen strategy

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]

Re: Bullpen strategy

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]

Re: Bullpen strategy

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]

Bullpen strategy

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]

Bullpen strategy

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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[jkra0512]

Re: Bullpen strategy

I play as the Yankees, and I started using the Andrew Miller approach with Dellin Betances. Aroldis Chapman is my de facto closer, but I use Betances in high leverage situations, wherever that might land in the later innings. Meanwhile, Tyler Clippard is my bridge to Chapman if need be.

[Hardworker33]

Re: Bullpen strategy

I pretty much always do


Over 3 points by the 6th inning (winning or losing)


LRP pitches as much as possible (hopefully if losing, SP gave me at least 4-5 innnings, if winning and he's untouchable I keep him there as long as possible)


3 points & under by the 6th inning (winning or losing)


Pretty much standard approach :


7th : MRP (left handed or right depending of needs)
8th : SU
9th : Closer

[Bard]

Re: Bullpen strategy

If I need my best RP in the game he is coming in. Kimbrel at times has thrown the 6th and 7th innings for me in a one run game in the playoff push. Helped having Smith, Kelly, and Barnes for the 8th and 9th to allow that to happen.

My bullpen is usually pretty well set in case of any emergency.

Robbie Ross Jr. - lefty that faces R/L (usually throws in extra innings, or large differential games)

Fernando Abad - left specialist (only in a pinch against a strong lefty)

Heath Hembree - right handed specialist (see Abad, usually throws more than one hitter)

Joe Kelly - hard throwing strikeout machine (used at any time)

Matt Barnes - groundball guarantee (8th or 9th inning)

Carson Smith - strikeout machine (used at any time)

Craig Kimbrel - Ace reliever (used in the highest possible situations)

I will likely be changing it up this year with some names, but we will see!

[My993C2]

Re: Bullpen strategy

SP gave me at least 4-5 innnings, if winning and he's untouchable I keep him there as long as possible)

Not trying to disagree too much here as I always hope my starters can give me 5 to 7 innings and anything beyond that is just icing on the cake. But this "untouchable" strategy is more for American League DH games. My National League starters need to be absolutely dialed in with a no-hitter, or have an extremely low hit high level of confidence level for me not to be looking for pinch hit and double switch opportunities from the 6th inning on to the end of the game whenever the starter is poised to have another plate appearance.

[TheWarmWind]

Re: Bullpen strategy

I do a hybrid between those strats. I have a dedicated 9th inning guy, and a guy to get me out of jams. My bullpen is pretty flush though.

If I had to choose between the two, I'd stick with the traditional closer. Being able to end a close game with confidence has more value to me then getting out of a jam sandwich. Runs can always be made back, except when it's the end of the game.

[WarEagle1212]

Re: Bullpen strategy

This is a fun question. I have done it several different ways over the years but i have kinda landed on the following:

If I have a top tier closer (Kimbrel can be the example here) then I will try and maximize the "critical situations" he's involved in. And to be honest if I'm up 3 runs heading to the 9th, that just doesn't qualify in my book as critical, even tho it technically counts as a "save." Obviously if you care about stats for your closer then you'll put him in there but 95+% of the time any bullpen guy can get 3 outs before giving up 3 runs. So I'm much more likely to pitch Kimbrel if I'm tied in the 9th or even down by a run late to keep them from adding even 1 insurance run. As far as trying to get 4-5 outs with my closer, I very rarely do that during the regular season, unless maybe I haven't used him in a week or whatever. With the setup guys I've started playing more and more matchups than I use to.

If my closer isn't dominant then I'm more straightforward with how I use him. And sometimes have a closer by committee again based on matchups.

I guess I'm less concerned with my closer having 50+ saves and hope to get more wins by using them in this way. But I certainly don't think there is necessarily a right or wrong way to do it

[Hardworker33]

Re: Bullpen strategy

Not trying to disagree too much here as I always hope my starters can give me 5 to 7 innings and anything beyond that is just icing on the cake. But this "untouchable" strategy is more for American League DH games. My National League starters need to be absolutely dialed in with a no-hitter, or have an extremely low hit high level of confidence level for me not to be looking for pinch hit and double switch opportunities from the 6th inning on to the end of the game whenever the starter is poised to have another plate appearance.

You're totally right... die hard Yankees fan here. So used to play them, AL and NL are two different animals!