Closers

[sbr]

Is there anything special about the players who are tagged as closers, as compared to other relief pitchers? Specifically is there any reason not to use a superior MR pitcher to close games as opposed to a sub-par CL? This is all assuming you want your best reliever as the closer.

[Curtis]

Speaking for Version 9, there is something special about closers. 90% (roughly) of the MRs I try at closer see a ratings drop. Similarly, most closers see a ratings drop when I move them to MR. It seems the game engine is looking for something specific when it evaluates closers. (Note, those percentages are for pitchers with ratings higher than 22/22.)

A 70/76 MR who you turn into a 60/64 closer would still be better than a 52/56 'natural' closer, though.

EDIT: Someone was kind enough to PM me that I had made a confusingly vague statement above. When I said that I see a ratings drop when most pitchers switch roles, I meant drops in Overall/Potential (as in my example), not in stuff, movement or control.

[Pdubya64]

Hmm... Curtis, I have found enough randomness with moving MRs to CL and vice versa that I basically feel it's a wash overall. My experience is limited compared to the hardcore guys here, but it definitely seems like a case-by-case basis when it comes to gain/loss of current and/or potential ratings.

[Curtis]

I'm also not one of those hard-core simmer guys. My experience comes from playing with large farm systems (usually seven minors) and offering open tryouts, by which I mean sending out minor league contracts to every free agent with ratings above 20/20.

I take all of my pitchers (usually around 130-140) and write down their roles and ratings. Then I set all their roles to starter and write them down again. Set all of them to MR, write them down again. Set all of them to closer, write them down again. (This would be a LOT easier if there was a 'mass select' function in the game.) Then I set everyone to wherever their ratings were best, biased in favor of potential when there's a conflict.

I see very few instances (5%, roughly) where pitchers the game called starters are better as any type of reliever, or vice versa. Maybe 10% of the MRs are better when set to closer, and maybe a third of the closers are better when set to MR.

Note that all of this is with Versions 9 and 2006; I haven't downloaded my copy of Version 10 yet. Also, it's entirely possible that other players can have different experiences, as Pdubya64 has. Finally, most of the pitchers I've tried this with have had red ratings, due to the method by which I acquire them. I haven't broken my results down by quality of the pitcher, so if I was working only with better pitchers the results might be what Pdubya64 sees.