[t-bone shuffle]

Originally Posted by Syd Thrift

OK, but pitchers do, generally speaking, switch from starter to relief and back all the time, and in addition the vast majority of guys drafted either started in college or HS or have absolutely filthy stuff that they can throw for an inning or two (closers in the OOTP parlance).

Okay, so yeah, IRL you have to stretch out a bit before you can start. This *is* somewhat reflected in the way the game determines stuff for starters vs. relievers (IIRC relief "stuff" is much more heavily based on a guy's first couple pitches and velocity than starter "stuff"), but sure, there ideally should be some sort of transition period. However, in order to have that transition period in the first place you have to first accept that the vast, vast majority of pitchers could be stretched out in this manner if they absolutely had to be, and that's the big step the game's taking this year.

The other big issue with forcing teams to stretch out guys like this is that it's one more area where the AI, since it's not human, is going to be sub-optimal in some peoples' eyes. I don't have such a problem with this as an incremental improvement but I want to make sure that the "half the league is MRs" issue is fixed before we move on to the "pitchers should have to have some sort of transition time between starting and relief".

Finally, in many cases it's just not true that guys need to stretch out all that much depending on how they're pitched. The Mariners are starting a couple of guys they expect to eventually start for them in the bullpen this year - Erasmo Ramirez and Hisashi Iwamura - so they can get work. If Blake Beavan sucks or Kevin Millwood gets hurt, I'm sure either guy will get worked right into the rotation. Going back a few decades, teams' top relief pitchers were often their top starters as well. Lefty Grove is a guy who instantly springs to mind as far as this goes. The game's changed since then, sure, but without evidence that pitchers who recently threw in relief actually pitch worse than similarly talented guys who didn't, I for one don't see a reason to introduce this particular complexity into the game.

Thanks, I agree with a lot of what you say. In particular I'm on board with always not making it more difficult for the AI.

In my original post, I accounted for the long/swing guys, which certainly do exist, but a vast majority of these guys are put into this role specifically (for the reasons you suggest) and their preparation routine reflects this. I also acknowledged that different era's will certainly require different reflections on this.

And certainly, I'll take the changes to the way pitchers are generated over anything that covers the issue in question. I'm really looking forward to this.

I'm just uncomfortable with things when they are so obviously at odds with with reality. The example I cite is quite prevalent and completely out of sync with the current reality.

I can live with it, I was just hoping it had been addressed.

Thanks again for your thoughts. I appreciate it.