[kq76]

Can you make the bullpen substitutions yourself or is it sim only? If it's sim only, have you tried the all middle reliever strategy? While it may sound too simple to be effective, I think there might be something to it, like maybe the game is actually decently smart with whom to bring in when.

Just for the role-playing aspect of it, I do kind of like to save a pitcher for closer situations, but I don't consider him one of my best relievers. My best relievers are guys who can get out of jams (situations with men on 2nd or 3rd) without giving up too many runs. If it's a situation with 2 outs, any kind of out will do, but if it's a 1 out or less and men are on situation, then I might want a pitcher who will likely induce a groundball. If the bases are loaded, or even if a man is simply on 1st, I don't want someone who might give up a walk and advance everyone. If someone is on 3rd with less than 2 outs, you don't want a flyball pitcher. I definitely don't want to bring in a reliever with not good Movement into these situations.

Meanwhile, you have a lot more leeway with a pitcher who's starting an inning, like a Closer. It's not such a big deal if they're a flyball pitcher (theoretically, it may actually be better to start an inning with a flyball pitcher due to their lower pBABIP). If they give up a walk, they're not advancing anyone (a runner on 1st is that big of a threat). If they start off the inning giving up a home run, it's only 1 run (it's a lot better than if men were on), and if they give up a double they're not driving anyone in.

I really like for my pitchers to be good at, at least, 2 of the 3 primary ratings (Stuff, Movement, Control), but if you had a guy whose Movement and Control weren't great, I think you'd best be served by only having them start innings. For your Firemen, guys you bring in to put out fires, like with men on 2nd and 3rd, I really think you want them to have great Movement, and probably even Control, and maybe even for them to be a groundaller (EDIT: assuming, of course, you have a good infield defense) or strikeout pitcher.

I think too often we think, "oh, our best reliever should be our closer and our next best should be our setup and so on", but with playing out games and making your own substitutions you learn real quick that you often need your best guys sooner than you'd like and that it's kind of silly to save them for situations that might not happen.

You mentioned Stoppers and yeah, if we define them as Firemen who also stay in over multiple innings to finish the game, then I definitely like them over Closers. Closers don't need to be that great, but Stoppers do. If you define a Stopper as someone who isn't necessarily a Fireman, but still finishes the game over multiple innings, that's still better than a Closer, but they still don't need to be as good as Firemen. Really, it's all about getting the best Firemen that you can. They're really the ones who prevent a lot of wins from turning into losses.