Hey, I just completed managing the Colorado Rockies for the 2006
season on the computer, using the most advanced settings (except the
closer and weather/ball park stuff). I got the team to finish
above .500, but just barely. I got burned by a poor season from
Matt Holiday, who hit just .269. Anyway, some questions/comments:

1. I used the pitch count fatigue system. My closer occasionally
couldn't complete even a single inning before tiring, and I had to
remove him several times in the 9th...still in the save situation!
I think that creates a tough and unrealistic scenario. If I had
used the closer rules, maybe this would be avoided?

2. What do you do when the team's lineup forces you to use certain
players far more than they should? Colorado's catchers, Torrealba,
Closser and Ianetta combined had about 400 at bats. Does the game
penalize players for playing more than they should even when there
really is no other option? (For the record, adding Ardoin from the
multi-team roster helps somewhat but doesn't quite fix this problem.)

3. I had to admit, several times during the season I was tempted to
just use Byun Hyung-Kim as a starter and just make him eat a
complete game every time he pitched. He was awful, and the team has
little chance to win when he starts...and he usually ends up
pitching say 4 innings and giving up about 8 runs...and then, to
make matters worse, he's well rested and ready to go again soon! He
finished 4-17 for me, and I wonder if making him pitch nothing but
complete games no matter how exhausted he gets would net me more
wins in the long run. This seems unethical, but golly...

Thanks!

Paul