Please explain Pitching

[ChickenBaseball]

Hi everybody.

After playing in the public leagues at MLB.com for a few weeks, I felt comfortable enough to explore other leagues, and signed up for public leagues at both Fox and Yahoo.

My problem with these leagues has been pitching, as it is completely different than MLB.com, where you are only able to start a teams complete staff.

I have 3 questions I would like some help with.

1) What do you do with all your slots when you only have 1 pitcher starting for that day? Do you leave them empty, or do you fill them with players even though they wont see an inning?

2) For RPs, is it more productive to have setup guys, closers, or a mixture of both?

3) When you have slots for SPs, RPs, and Ps, what purpose do the regular Ps serve? How do I use this to my advantage?

I know this is going to get a few eyerolls, but please work with me, as its the only thing I havent been able to figure out on my own.

Thanks, in advance, for your help.

[Spidey]

I am assuming daily line-up changes.

It doesn't matter if you leave a pitcher in a slot even though he is not pitching, won't count against you.

If one of your categories is holds, then set-up releivers are good to have, typically though saves are often a category so you want closers in the RP roles.

P slots can be used by either SP's or RP's depending on your need. If yopu are trailing in saves and have an extra closer, throw him in there. Vive versa for wins.

For daily line-up changes you may have 5 sp's playing on the same day so you could play all of them by putting 2 in sp slots and other 3 in P slots. Next day you dan't have any SP's going so you could put closers and setup men in the p slots.

Hope this helps.

[MFisher.18]

No it's good that you are asking questions and I'd like to help;

Question 1: You obviously start the pitcher who is supposed to start the game for that day, it would also be wise to keep the starting roster full of your pitchers and not stick them on the bench. Someone could get injured, there could be a rain delay and that pitcher could be called in to pitch. So you'd want them to be in the lineup already.

Question 2: You really only need Closers. However their are some middle relievers who could potentially help you. The potential is based on two things and I will include examples of each

1. Potential Closer - Meaning that if the closer struggles, this guy might be brought in to close out games, potentially long terms; Matt Capps in Pittsburgh, Tony Pena in Arizona, Brad Lidge in Houston, and Derrick Turnbow in Milwaukee (just to name a few)

2. High Win/Low ERA and WHIP: These guys won't get a chance to close unless of injury but are nice to have sometimes as the can help lower your ERA and WHIP, some of them could get you 5-10 wins during the course of the season; Pat Neshek in Minnesota, Justin Duchscherer in Oakland, and Hideki Okajima in Boston (just to name a few)

Question 3: The P roster spot can be used by either a SP or RP. It allows you to start more than 2 closers or 2 Probable starters. Most leagues give you anywhere from 1 to 3 P slots so you can use it to gain some extra saves for the week or extra wins depending on your matchup for the week and the probablility of that pitcher helping you out for that day.

If you have any more questions or need some more explanations you can Private Message me and/or add me to your Members List.

[TBG]

I'm a newbie too, but I'll give my opinion.

1) I usually go ahead and fill them. It's a slim to none chance, but someone might come in in relief, might get bumped up a day because of injury, etc. I just don't see any reason to leave them empty.

2) I think it's nice to have a mixture of both. You definitely need a couple of closers to get you saves...but one or two relievers can rack up a lot of innings during the week as long as they are getting steady work. I usually will have two closers and one middle reliever (sometimes two) just for innings.

3) The Ps are a flex position. If you have more than two RPs, you can throw one there along with your two closers. If you happen to have your starters line up where they are all pitching on one day, you can put one there instead of leaving him on the bench. It's just a general position...like a Util for pitchers.

EDIT: I guess my answers are a little redundant. I didn't see the other posts before I made this one. Still, I hope it helps some...

[ChickenBaseball]

I appreciate the help from everybody, be it redundant or not.

Mr. Fisher, I'd be happy to add you as a member as soon as I tackle that.

Here is who I have currently in the Fox league;

SP
1) M Morris (SF)
2) A Harang (Cin)
3) J Blanton (CWS)
4) A Burnett (Tor)
5) B Colon (LAA)
6) D Cabrera
7) R Clemens

RP
1) T Hoffman (SD)
2) T Saito (LAD)
3) S Proctor (NYY)

I was not nearly as fortunate in Yahoo...

SP
1) D Cabrera (Bal)
2) M Owings (Ari)
3) M Batista (Sea)
4) G Maddux (SD)
5) T Glavine (NYM)

RP
1) D Turnbow (Mil)
2) S Proctor (NYY)
3) J Borowski (Cle)

What do y'all think?