What gives? How can my pitching be this bad?

[Mike Lowe]

0-4 so far with the Nationals. Made a few moves for a couple of relievers via waivers/free agency and also brought in Pedro Martinez. I knew going in our pitching was awful but what is going on here?

Game 1:
Nationals 7
Marlins 8

Game 2:
Nationals 2
Marlins 13

Game 3:
Nationals 11
Marlins 16

Game 4:
Nationals 6
Braves 20

Team ERA:14.06
Avg .419
OPS 1.220

We also lead the majors in errors, through 4 games, with 6.

Is this just an awful team, or is there something bigger going on with the game?

[nymets3000]

Small sample size+horrible team

[Killing Time]

Choose to play with the current Nationals and you deserve whatever you get.

[Afino]

Those two responses are pretty much the answer

[Pdubya64]

Mike:
I have been playing as the Nationals GM too. In running about 3-4 attempts to get the league setup correctly (along with dry runs for observing effects) I actually have done well in my latest attempt and the team is playing .500 ball in late May.

Some questions- what did you set the Pitcher Stamina in the game setup? I tend to bump it up to Normal from Low, but that's my opinion and I have little to back it up if questioned why.
Have you traded the players you have available that can get you some decent pitching? My first move is to shop around Dukes (he is disliked by fans) and Milledge (meh...) to get some decent pitching, ML-caliber or hot prospects.

Also, one thing you must remember with the Nats... you are the worst team, so scour the waiver list religiously, at least every couple days. With a good HS, you can cherry pick the best players and no one will beat you to them with the Nats terrible record!

Good luck! We will both need it I am sure.

[Mike Lowe]

I've keep stamina at low or whatever the 2009 default is. Trust me, I'm getting killed well before any SP is getting too tired to pitch.

I have Guzman and Kearns on the block but no one is interested whatsoever. I have trading set to "hard" so perhaps that is why. I figured Guzman would garner some interest.

Yeah I've been keeping up with players who've been waived or released. Here is my current pitching staff (as set by Manny Acta (AI)). I simply play as the GM.

SP John Lannan 9.82 ERA
SP Shairon Martis 9.00 ERA
SP Scott Olsen 22.50 ERA
SP Pedro Martinez (signed as FA) 81.08 ERA (pitched 1/3 of an inning his first start)
SP Dainel Cabrera 0.00 ERA (has not pitched yet)

MR L Mike Hinckley 2.70 ERA
MR L Joe Beimel 18.69 ERA
MR R Garrett Mock 12.00 ERA
MR Francisco Butto (waivers) 0.00 ERA*

Setup Steven Shell 11.25 ERA
Setup Aquilino Lopez (signed as FA) 23.15

Closer Saul Rivera 9.82 ERA

*One appearance having just been called up for Joel Hanrahan who is out for 9 months (injuries set to NORMAL).

[conception]

Isn't that pretty much how the Nats performed this year? I'm a Marlins fan so I remember those opening massacres pretty well. They even made Emilio Bonifacio look like an all-star.

[Curtis]

Mike, it may seem counter-intuitive, but it's possible your bad fielding is leading to your high ERAs. Poor fielding is certainly a contributor to high run counts, though you'd think it would result in a lot of unearned runs, thereby reducing ERAs.

Anyway, when the Mets play the Nats, our announcers are always making a big deal about how poor your fielding is, and they say it's a big contributor to your lost games. I'm guessing it's a combination of that and sample size.

Remember that your real life team also started out badly, and the Marlins started out well.

As soon as I download my copy of the game (I pre-ordered, but I'm waiting for reaction to the first patch), I'm taking on the 1962 Mets, so maybe I should get used to seeing numbers like those.…

[struggles_mightily]

Bad defense will affect both ERA and RA, since various types of bad fielding play (missing balls, making poor throws, etc.) often don't result in an error.

[Mike Lowe]

Good points guys, I agree about the non-error bad defense. Every time a ball is hit to Adam Dunn in LF I cringe.

[Curtis]

Originally Posted by struggles_mightily

Bad defense will affect both ERA and RA, since various types of bad fielding play (missing balls, making poor throws, etc.) often don't result in an error.

… having limited range …

[Childress]

One odd aspect of the Nationals in the sim is that their ballpark factors are 1.000 across the board. Surely, this is an oversight.

[struggles_mightily]

Originally Posted by Curtis

… having limited range …

Limited range (n.p.):
See Dunn, Adam.

EDIT: So, yeah, I'm basically in the "bad defense + bad pitching + small sample = propensity for crazy-bad results" camp. But that sidesteps the question of whether the players' ratings are entirely accurate in the first place. I've heard generally good things about the default MLB data this edition, tho'. Haven't played with it myself. And obviously the Nats' pitching performing badly passes a very cursory "smell test."

[jbergey22]

Wow that is bad

I can't think of a worse start for a pitching staff. They will be fighting all year to bring this ERA mess down.

[Raidergoo]

Originally Posted by Childress

One odd aspect of the Nationals in the sim is that their ballpark factors are 1.000 across the board. Surely, this is an oversight.

I will ask, but, there is a good chance that this was deliberate. If I recall, the idea was to use a three year average of park factors.

Then again, I could be wrong, and this could be a mistake.

As to your Nationals? Wretched pitching coupled with bad defense equals a long, long season.

Your team will improve statistically over time. It will still be bad. Good luck with the first pick of the draft.

[conception]

Originally Posted by struggles_mightily

Limited range (n.p.):
See Dunn, Adam.

EDIT: So, yeah, I'm basically in the "bad defense + bad pitching + small sample = propensity for crazy-bad results" camp. But that sidesteps the question of whether the players' ratings are entirely accurate in the first place. I've heard generally good things about the default MLB data this edition, tho'. Haven't played with it myself. And obviously the Nats' pitching performing badly passes a very cursory "smell test."

I've also noticed that Willingham has been playing a lot of RF. Nothing against Hammer because I loved him when he was with the Marlins and was sad to see him go, but he is merely average in LF and just doesn't have the ability to really play right.

[gte842d]

Start the kid from SDSU already... haha