Originally Posted by kq76
There's a lot of good stuff in here. The only thing I'd disagree with is the suggestion to turn off needing to warm up your pitchers. I get why it's suggested, but I just think it's the biggest key to getting good at bullpen management and so if you're turning it off you're not really dealing with the most crucial aspect. I'm glad you're choosing to still deal with it.
You warm them up until it says they're ready. And how long is that? TheMaus2 already said, "about 3 batters or half an inning". I find it can depend, however, as I think I can sometimes get away with it only taking 2 batters. But then sometimes it seems to take longer than normal. I figure the game is taking multiple factors into consideration like # of pitches thrown, maybe some relievers just take longer to warm up for whatever reason, etc.
Then you kind of have to make a decision when to sit them down as they could tire. I mean, say you're worried that you might need to bring in a reliever so you warm him up, but by the time he's ready your current pitcher has proven that he's still good, he just had a hiccup. Should you then bring in that reliever just because or do you ride with the guy still in the game? Personally, I like to go with the pitcher already in the game until they've proven to me that they don't have it anymore, but if you think that you're just lucky that they haven't given up the game already, then maybe you really should bring in that reliever. I don't have a hard rule on this.
I'm not sure OOTP penalizes us for doing this, but I've heard real life managers say you really don't want to warm up a reliever more than twice without using them (I guess because you're tiring them out by doing that). So I try not to do that either (I'll warm someone else up), but again, I'm not sure if we're penalized for it in OOTP like IRL managers seem to think they are.
drksd4848 makes the point that he always starts the 8th and 9th with someone warming up. It depends on the era you're playing of course, but what I do is tell myself that once the 5th or 6th rolls around that I should really start paying attention to my starter. It's like an alarm clock, "wake up! it's the 6th inning!" Sometimes I'll do exactly like drksd4848 does, start an inning warming up a reliever even when the current pitcher hasn't yet shown signs of faltering. But when I do, it's only because their gas bar tells me they're close to running out of gas. I might even start a 6th or 7th doing that.
And while I agree with everything TheMaus2 says, I play it more by bad events. And by that I mean, if my pitcher gives up a combination of 2 or 3 bad events, like a couple of hard hits, then I start to get nervous and start warming someone up. A lucky weak single or two doesn't bother me, it's things like hard hits, wild pitches, and walks that do. And even then, only one doesn't bother me, not even a solo HR. It's when I see more than 1 bad event in an inning that I start to really lose confidence in the pitcher. (EDIT: If you take away anything from my post, I recommend it be that last point.) The problem is when you do this (that is, wait), it might be too long before you can get that reliever ready. Maybe you really should have started the inning warming them up. Now hopefully your current pitcher can get out of the jam themself, but even if they can't, then hopefully they can stall long enough or only give up an inconsequential run or two until your reliever is ready.
It's not always easy, but that's what makes managing your bullpen fun. Should you use your relievers now, maybe tire them out, and not have them available for the next game? Should you wait and maybe get away with not having to use them this game which will allow them to be available for the next game? I myself don't go any further than controlling substitutions, but boy do I like controlling them, especially the bullpen. It can be intimidating at first, but once you get the hang of it, it's a lot of fun!
|