The only players able to fill any open lineup spot when a starter does not play are the DH and bench players. Identified starters at positions cannot be moved into other positions.
Current situation via a scenario.
Part of your lineup consists of:
- David Wright 3B
- Miguel Cabrera 1B (but eligible at 3B)
- Matt Carpenter at DH (eligible at 2B-3B)
- No other 3B-eligible players active
- Brandon Belt (1B) on the bench at B1.
If Matt Carpenter plays that game, he takes Wright's spot at 3B. Belt, who played, fills in at DH.
But - let's say Wright sits out AND Carpenter doesn't play either:
- No one available to play 3B
- Belt fills in at DH
- You get a Benchwarmer Batter at 3B for the game
I'd like to know your thoughts on this -
Should this be changed?
I'll say that the technical change here to implement this in a computer program would be tricky, if not impossible (or become a process that simply takes forever - the current brute-force coding method of finding best lineups and checking pitching rotations takes 35-40 minutes for every 2 BWB games through the 41 active leagues). So I will admit that there may be overwhelming support to change this and I still decide not to do it.
But you might say "leave it the way it is" despite some possible benefits, maybe because:
- It becomes a strategy consideration in roster construction, lineups, and working around injuries and player promotions/demotions.
- It's just fantasy baseball - if that's the rule, that's the rule.
- Often when MLB teams make a lineup/position choice for a player who last year played multiple positions, it's fixed. Sure - Joe Mauer is eligible at C along with 1B, but even in an emergency there's no way he'll catch this year. Carpenter has zero games at 2B this year (so far) - the Cardinals made a choice and had other options there. You place a player in a given fielding position...you're making a similar choice.
- If you want position flexibility for a guy, you put him at DH...or even on the bench.
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6 comments:
It seems like it would be a lot of processing power to do this and how would this effect my lineup? If I have miggy batting 3rd and wright batting 7th and under the new formula miggy would cover 3rd base for wright, would he move to 7th in the lineup and belt to 3rd in the lineup off the bench? I don't think there's much need for this in that I like the strategy of who you select for your DH. Also, I will put someone on my bench who is more deserving to start but covers more positions in order to avoid a benchwarmer batter.
I can understand the reason for wanting this change and have come across situations where I wished it would work this way, but it seems to me that we should just leave things as they are right now. Rather have the team owner decide who starts and is on the bench than let the computer decide who fills in where and what lineup position. What if the computer makes one decision, but then the team owner doesn't agree with the switch?
I have often thought this and wish it could work this way, but it sounds like the programming would be way to complicated to make it work. Unless it could be programmed effectively, better to leave it in the hands of the managers as strategic decisions.
I am ABSOLUTELY in favor of position flexibility. If a player has been established by BWB to be eligible for a position, they should be able to play any of those positions in they event of a "starter" not playing. This makes up for the fact that we can only set lineups weekly (which is fine and I understand).
Leave As-is. The fact that we get to use guys out of position already (VMART, Carpenter, Miggy, Mauer, etc) already give us tons of flexibility.
I like things as they are with positions. I just wish players who actually get multiple AB's in a game played instead of a guy with only 1 AB.
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