While a strong
hitting lineup is good way to win, preventing your opponent from scoring is
also important and that is the job of the pitchers.
How
the Ratings Work
The formulas I use for hitters are the same as the ones I use for
pitchers with a little twist. The answer
you get when you use a runs formula on a pitcher is runs, obviously. There really isn’t a formula in baseball that
measures the performance of a pitcher over time like a hitter. There are a ton of runs formulas for
hitters. There is linear weights, run
created, base runs, and a new one every year.
Pitchers you really want to know how many innings a pitcher will pitch
without giving up a run and that is what I use.
Innings pitched minus Runs Given Up.
How
to Read the Cheat Sheets
The cheat sheet breaks each pitcher by role. The first set of columns is just card
value. This number tells you how good
the card looks. The lower the number the
better.
The next set of columns tells you the value of the player based upon
the rules you use. If you play using the
injury rules, then you would use the first set of numbers. The number of innings a pitcher pitches is
based upon the endurance and whether the pitcher is “stared” or able to pitch
every four days.
The number is a total account based upon the ratio of left-handed
hitters and right-handed hitters. The
ratio changes every year.
The third set of columns assumes that you use usage rules. Usage rules means that you can only use a
player as much as that player has Major League at-bats. Most leagues add a percentage to at-bats,
usually 10%. I do not.
Finally, the Tactical Skills tells you if the pitcher can pitch every
four days, hold runners, hit, bunt, or has a high reliever endurance.
Quick
Card Analysis
One thing you will notice immediately is that a pitcher with plenty of
innings, or in the case of injury rules, a high endurance, does well in my
system. A pitcher with 40 innings and a
2.50 ERA is not as valuable as a pitcher with 220 innings and a 4.00 ERA.
This does make relievers kind of quirky, because a pitcher who was
primarily a starter, but pitched enough to earn a reliever rating will appear
on top of the list when you sort pitchers by usage. I leave them there because the best middle
reliever in a usage rules scenario would be a starter with 180 innings who can
also relieve.
Also, if you see a pitcher move up higher than you think he would, look
for double plays. A pitcher with a high
number of double-plays moves up in my system.
A double play is worth more to a pitcher than a strikeout.
I’ll let you ponder the numbers and comment if you see something
interesting.
JP Kastner is the winner of the 2007
Strat-O-Matic Baseball Online Expert League World Series. In five seasons
of SOMBOE, JP Kastner has five winning seasons, four playoff appearances, three
World Series appearances and now one World Championship. He is in his
second season in the Tout Wars mixed league.