A few days ago, we discussed pitching fatigue modifications in the basic game. That prompted John H to write in about a slightly different topic relating to pitchers’ use.
Here are his thoughts:
Perhaps this might be a subject to explore; Starters, unrated as relievers, being used in relief.
Guys like Koufax Ford and Spahn and even some modern stars have been asked to help out in a pinch. I suggest that a starter can be used in relief .. but:
- He drops a grade immediately upon entering the game and drops a grade each inning of use.
- If there is less then two days between his last start and his relief appearance his grade drops two grades (not one) immediately upon taking the mound in relief.
- If he faces more then 3 batters he cannot start the next day
- If he faces more then 9 batters he cannot start for two days.
John brings up a good topic for discussion. With APBA, there’s no right way to do it. However, there are most certainly ways each of us hasn’t thought of.
First, let’s start off with the official APBA rules. What does the game allow? According to the APBA Baseball basic game, there aren’t a lot of restrictions as far as pitcher use in the bullpen. The only restriction to speak of is the asterisk which restricts that pitcher from being used as a starter (unless he is a split grade pitcher). But nothing in the official rules says you can’t use a Chris Carpenter as a reliever even though in real life he pitched 34 games and started all of them.
However, rules are rules and the beauty of the APBA basic game doesn’t prevent anyone from enhancing it (or mucking it up depending on your perspective) with modifications and extra rules. If you think regulating pitching use in the pen is warranted, then there’s nothing stopping you or your league.
What are the objectives here (and in most scenarios when implementing modifications)? Essentially, realism, accuracy plus ease of play. You may want to add the potential for starters to relieve for a variety of reasons but you don’t want a Koufax or Carl Mays to be the default go-to guy because of his nifty grade. John’s system does alleviate that to a point. It does penalize that Grade A starter should you make that call to the pen.
In my league, we use strict limits. Pitchers can only appear in the number of games started and games relieved throughout the season. No starter may relieve unless they did so in real life.
The only exceptions:
- All D pitchers are eligible to relieve (an added bonus: their games and innings limits are doubled)
- In the postseason, any pitcher who is not designated as a starting pitcher may appear as a reliever even if they didn’t have any relief appearances in real life.
Coincidentally, we implement a rule similar to John’s 3rd and 4th point in the postseason for ALL relievers. No relief pitcher may pitch more than three innings in a span of two games. If he goes down one grade. The purpose of that is to prohibit overuse of highly graded relievers.
Thoughts anyone? It’s a highly specialized area but worth talking about.
John H by the way, is the one who came up with the Great Defensive Catchers vs the Stolen Base Chart I posted about a while back. That one is still being talked about so keep ‘em coming, John.
I generally play the Master game, so some of this won’t apply for everyone. I use a chart mad up by a friend of mine, Mike Lam, who got me into the game. This chart determines how long a pitcher has to rest after pitching – which then limits his appearances later.
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Relief pitcher usage (the rest of a team’s staff) – It is based on Batter’s faced, not Innings Pitched. If a reliever faces:
0-6 batters in game, no rest needed, he can pitch the next game.
7-12 batters, pitcher must rest 1 day.
13-18 batters, pitcher must rest 2 days.
19-24 batters, pitcher must rest 3 days.
25-30 batters, pitcher must rest 4 days.
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So this pretty much eliminates most of the starting rotation from relieving. A guy who is not a reliever, but is not in the rotation, is available (if he hasn’t relieved recently). Guys who will be starting (I am doing a 1984 AL replay and using the original schedule and players when possible) I hold out (although generally they are already out because of the chart, some of the guys who get knocked out early can be eligible in a day or two).
I don’t reduce their grade when they come in (but I don’t give them the “reliever bonus” for the first batter either). If these guys were any good they’d be starters, so they are pretty much horrible already.
Usually, the only time I use a non-releiver is for long relief (starter knocked out early) , the bullpen is depleted of relievers, or the game looks hopeless and I don’t want to use up a good pitcher.
I had a similar rule related to innings. I actually classified pitchers into: starters, closers, set-up, long relief, and other. Starters have to rest four days between starts (unless they pitch to nine batters or less, then they can come back one day later). Closer/Set-up Men can only pitch up to two innings in any appearance, and never in three consecutive days. Long relievers can pitch up to five innings, but then must rest two days. Other can pitch up to three innings, but then rest for at least one day.
I think unless you’re running a prototypical league that prescribes exact starts and relief appearances, most would have some sort of standing rules about this. I could be wrong though.