how many innings are you projected to be over the limit?

[sinicalypse]

my early season pitching numbers, with the exception of one league, have kept me compeititve this season. but, one looming downside to my strategy has been the innings limit.

i've got pretty impressive win and save #s in all three leagues, respectively they are (wins/saves) -- 26/28, 28/40, 26/33

65.1 over (1250 limit), 60.0 over (1500 limit), 119 over (1250 limit), respectively.

i bring this up because i want to ask you guys about strategy... should i try to bulk up on starts now, or should i skip my non-studs (i.e. bartolo colon, zach day, carlos zambrano, brett myers) a few times to try and lower that amount?

i usually have an obscene # of closers, or at least i try to as well... RPs in the three leagues - [mesa, koch, biddle], [foulke, rivera, jimenez, looper, julio], [mesa, julio, alfonseca (i'm so waiting) ] one fear is that if i run the well dry with starters, my save totals are bound to also hit the brick wall sometime over the rainbow.

so what would you do? thx in advance, i'll be all over your questions and posts in the interim.

[Arlo]

This question is a lot tougher now than it was last year, when the threat of a work stoppage or lockout made spending innings early the strategy of choice. Now, there are lots of ways to look at this.

One problem with running out of innings before your opponents, particularly in roto leagues, is that other teams will have the advantage of knowing exactly what numbers they need to reach to pass you in the standings. On the other hand, the old 'bird in the hand' adage holds true as well: waiting can leave you vulnerable to injuries and the like. There are also strategies based on burning innings early and then trading your pitching surplus for hitters, but that's usually a very risky way to go.

In general, I think you want your closers to pitch as much as possible. In general, their stats will be better than those of starters on a per-inning basis, which can often be the difference in the final standings. Don't worry too much yet (your projected numbers aren't terribly dramatic), but keep an eye on your ip, and make sure you have enough left for your bullpen in September.

[bleach168]

Last year I had Padilla, Ishii, and Astacio. They all had stellar first halves and stunk it up in the second half. I think it's wise to overpitch a bit to protect yourself from injuries and foreseeable dropoffs.

I'm 35 innings over right now and plan to get it to 50-60 about all-star break. Then, just go with my best 4 pitchers down the stretch, benching them against tough matchups. I think it will work out.

As Arlo noted, as long as you have enough in september for your bullpen and your best starters, you'll do okay.