Mel Herman I - Modern, Non-AIM

Herman is a modern, Draft Only, non-AIM manager who follows the modern managerial style of play.

  Herman I sets aside or considers either a 4 or 5 man starting rotation. Generally, the rotation is determined by first selecting pitchers with more starts than relief appearances. This group is then ranked by starts from high to low. If the fourth highest of this group has less than 36 starts, the first FIVE pitchers with more starts than relief appearances will be judged as pitchers in the starting rotation. If the fourth highest has 36 or more starts, the first FOUR pitchers will be the rotation. Any pitcher falling outside that rotation can and will be used in relief regardless of whether they had actual relief appearances. Pitchers within that rotation will NEVER be used in relief except if emergencies require it (i.e., ejection or injury requiring a new pitcher and NO other reliever available).

  Herman I is essentially a non-AIM version of the AIM draft league program Buck Miller I. He is designed to handle modern draft league only replays, he is not designed to manage season replays of any type. Although created to guide modern seasons, he may be adequate in handling pre-modern (e.g, 1990) replays depending on your team's roster.

  Herman I differs slightly from Miller I in being less aggressive with his bullpen usage and a willingness to let short role relievers pitch slightly longer. Additionally, his left/righty platoon advantage pitching decisions are a bit more conservative.

  Several important points to make:

1) Herman I, as noted above, sets aside a starting rotation as described above. All pitchers NOT falling into the above category, e.g., less than 15 starts, WILL be considered as a potential reliever and may be used in relief.

2) Herman I selects closer by saves and not grades. So, relievers with high save totals but low grades will be used over pitchers having the opposite statistics (in save situations).

- A "regular" closer will be those pitchers with save totals of roughly 12 or higher (note high platoon advantages (2+) lead to a "bonus" given to the save totals -so a reliever with 8 or 9 saves but a high platoon advantage might be used as a closer).

- A "supercloser" will have saves of 20 or higher. Herman I will more aggressively use the superclosers in save situations than the "normal" closers (depending on the starter's grade, starting durability et cetera. To distinguish between the two, think of a historic baseball team with a closer having 15 saves on the year versus another team that had a leading closer with 25 saves.

  Obviously, for the latter team the manager was more aggressive using his closer in save situations (for the most part; this team could have just had poorer starting pitching leading to the higher save totals).

3) Generally, Herman I follows the LaRussa one inning closer approach. That is, closers (both normal and super) will likely only pitch the ninth in save situations. Set up relievers will be heavily used before then. If a team has more than one closer, the closer with the lower saves will be used as a setup reliever for the superior closer. Herman I will, however, use low relieving durability relievers (2 or 1) with high innings for multiple innings in relief (almost exclusively 2 innings). This is, of course, dependent on their readiness rating (i.e., a reliever with a RR of 5 cannot pitch two innings). Herman I will be, however, be willing to pull your top closer for a lower rated one if the top reliever is struggling.

Generally, superclosers will only be pulled if another closer (or supercloser) is available. And closers will be pulled in save situations only if a high save total reliever (roughly 7+ depending on any platoon advantages) is in the bullpen.

4) Herman I (like II, III and IV) hates to see relievers hit. You'll see a very aggressive use of double switches and "rearrangement" of the batting order to try and limit the times a reliever hits. Generally, unless the reliever is a "stud" pitcher or the game is lopsided or a team's bullpen is thin due to overwork, you'll likely never see a relief pitcher hit.

5) Herman I has a number of "bells and whistles" some of which may or may not be applicable to your team. For example, he has a couple of pinchrun to steal strategies (second or third) that may not apply to your team if you don't have a good base stealer on your bench (e.g. steal rating of 28 or higher).

Additionally, Herman I has a pinch hit to bunt strategy that requires a "good bunter" be available; a pinch hit for a hit and run situation (that also requires a bench hitter with a good H&R ability that includes a low SO/AB ratio) and a few other assortment of special strategies.