Some of you know that I've dallied between with having all-stud pitcher Junior Cuomo be a starter, rather than the closer that he naturally is. He spot-started two games for me earlier in the season and pitched very well, just not deep into games (he only has an endurance of 4, after all). But, I won both games in the end, and, now, as I plan for 2011, I'm converting him into a full-time starter.
His first start in this past sim, against Danville, was an interesting game. I lost 1-0, but my pitchers combined on a one-hitter. The only run in the game was unearned, against Cuomo. He pitched 4 innings, gave up one hit, and struck out six. Troy Nelson and Frank Carroll finished with two hitless innings apiece, but my offense could only muster 4 hits off Frank Osbourne and co.
His second start in this sim was another game I lost, but I don't blame it on Junior. He pitched into the sixth inning this time, striking out 11 in 5 1/3rd. He gave up a single hit again, plus an unearned run (his first since July, and only his 13th for the season) as I lost 4-3 to Walla Walla.
In his third start, he only lasted three shutout innings in a 6-4 win over River Cities. I'll see if I can increase his endurance (is that possible in spring training, does anyone know?) and go from there.
Meanwhile, new closer Johnny Cowherd has seven saves thus far this month.
Michael: It looks like "Stamina" is one of the areas where you can assign points in Spring Training.
ReplyDeleteJust for the heck of it, in a league I have created just for testing things (primarily for the OEL league), I assigned all 20 points to stamina for a 30-year-old AAA pitcher who had 5 endurance and ran spring training. He left with 5 endurance and his ratings apparently unchanged.
I don't know how much to extract from that, the plural of anecdote is not data, yadda yadda, but there you go.
Hrm. I'll have to test this, myself, offline. Thanks for the anecdote.
ReplyDeleteJust because you assign someone to learn something doesn't mean they necessarily will do so. There's some sort of algorithm in the software that factors what you want them to learn, how hard it is for them to learn, how old the player is, how good your coaches are, and some other factors. Add all those up and spin the wheel and maybe they'll learn or maybe they won't.
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