SUPER HAL BULLPEN (Accessed from the Team/Update Computer Manager dialog)

IMPORTANT: WHEN USING SUPER HAL YOU SHOULD STILL SETUP YOUR REGULAR COMPUTER MANAGER INCLUDING DEFINING YOUR CLOSERS AND SETUP MAN. THESE SETTINGS, ALONG WITH THE INDIVIDUAL PLAYER SETTINGS, ARE STILL UTILIZED WHEN USING SUPER HAL.

When you use the Update Computer Manager screen there is a button called "Super Hal". Clicking on the button brings up the "Super Hal" Bullpen computer manager screen.

The name "Super Hal" was coined by a group of fanatical Strat-O-Matic players who desired a way to have more control over the computer manager, especially in competitive draft leagues.

The current system lets you tell Super Hal which pitcher should be brought into a game in any relief situation. It does not let you define when a pitcher should be removed -- but certain Computer Manager Pitcher Settings will let you influence that decision.

By using the combination of Super Hal along with the Computer Manager Pitcher Settings you will gain tremendous control over your bullpen management.

BULLPEN MANAGEMENT

The Super Hal bullpen management screen is divided into two main areas - Orders and Logic.

When the Orders section is active the currently selected pitcher is displayed at the bottom of the screen in a Player Information Box. When the Logic section is active the currently selected logic line is displayed in a group of data entry fields that replaces the Player Information Box.

The left side of the screen displays the bullpen "Orders". There are 15 different orders (A through O) that you can define. For each order you can type in a name, such as "Early blowout" or "Late vs. Righties". You use these orders to define the order in which you wish to bring pitchers in from the bullpen. For example, in an order that will cover an early blowout you would probably want to start the order list with your worst relief pitcher and finish it with your closer. To create or update a bullpen order click on it's code letter (at the far left of the screen). Then type in it's name (in the entry field above the scrolling list of pitchers). Finally, drag the pitchers into the desired order. Remember that the player at the top of the list will be the first one out of the bullpen when using this order.

The right side of the screen displays the bullpen "Logic". This section describes the exact situation in which you will want to utilize a particular bullpen order. For example, you can tell the computer that from the 1st to 5th innings if your team trails by 5 or more runs you wish to use the "Early blowout" bullpen order. You can define up to 50 different situations. Bullpen orders can be used in as many situations as you wish. For example, you may wish to use the "Early blowout" bullpen order not only when you are behind by 5 or more runs, but also when you are ahead by 10 or more runs.

The following is a list of data entry fields that are required for each situation:

Score: List the range of scores. For instance, -4 to 4 would mean from 4 runs down to 4 runs ahead.

Outs: List the range of outs. For instance if you wish this use this line of bullpen logic from the first to the fifth innings then type in 0 to 14 (refer to the chart below). Using outs instead of innings lets you fine-tune your bullpen management late in the game, especially if you have a closer whose closer-rating allows for 4 or 5 outs. Here is a list of outs by inning for your reference:

OUTS INNING

---- -------------

0- 2 1st Inning

3- 5 2nd Inning

6- 8 3rd Inning

9-11 4th Inning

12-14 5th Inning

15-17 6th Inning

18-20 7th Inning

21-23 8th Inning

24-26 9th Inning

27-99 Extra Innings

Bat Type: Check the batters this line of logic will be used against. The five possibilities are "R" for standard righties, "r" for reverse righties (right-handed batters who are better against right-handed pitching), "L" for standard lefties, "l" for reverse lefties (left-handed batters who are better against left-handed pitching) and "S" for switch hitters.

Order Id: Select the bullpen order to be used with this line of logic.

Force: This item was added at Version 6 of the game. In order to use this all 5 bat types must be checked. Using this will force the computer manager to use this line of logic whenever you get into to the proper score and out ranges. This was primarily designed to be used to force a closer into the game, however it can be in other circumstances as well. Keep in mind that this is a very powerful item -- the computer manager will follow this to "the letter of the law" so if you check this item it will even remove a starter who has a no-hitter going! VERY IMPORTANT: You should not use this feature until you have a solid grasp on how it works. Please see Super Hal Forced Bullpen Logic for a detailed explanation of how to use this feature.

Bullpen pecking orders can shared by multiple logic lines. In the case where a single bullpen pecking order is used by both a forced and a non-forced line of logic remember that only the first pitcher will be used when a force situation is being evaluated while the entire bullpen pecking order will be used for the non-forced line.

Note that a "Delete" button also appears when viewing the bullpen logic code. You can delete the currently selected line by clicking on this button. IMPORTANT: You can also drag-and-drop the lineup logic lines into any order that you desire. You should always put your highest priority logic at the top of the list (such as your closer logic) and your lowest priority logic at the bottom of the list (such as the "catch-all" logic described below).

You must be aware of some important details in order to properly utilize this system. Here they are:

1) In order to utilize the Super Hal Bullpen Management logic "Use Super Hal Computer Manager" must be checked in the Lineups And Usage screen.

2) When using this system the program uses the following procedure. First it scans the logic lines for a matching situation. If it does not find a matching situation then it defaults to the standard Strat-O-Matic computer manager logic to determine which pitcher to bring into the game. Logic lines are scanned in the same order that they appear on the screen. In this way you can create some "catch-all" logic lines that should appear at the end of the list. After finding a matching situation it scans the appropriate bullpen order and checks the first pitcher on that list. If that pitcher is available and not tired (or if he is tired but his "Can relieve when tired" switch is set on) then that pitcher will be brought into the game. If the first pitcher on the list is not available it tries the second pitcher, and so on and so forth.

3) In order to provide maximum control, player usage is totally ignored by this system. In addition, the "Avoid Lefties", "Avoid Righties", "Mop Up", "Avoid Using During Blowout" and "Avoid using before 6th-9th inning" switches are ignored at certain times when using this system. (For instance, when deciding which pitcher to bring in, the bullpen order has precedence over individualized player settings). NOTE: EVEN THOUGH CERTAIN SWITCHES ARE SOMETIMES IGNORED BY SUPER HAL IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOU STILL PROGRAM THE REGULAR COMPUTER MANAGER JUST AS IF YOU WERE NOT USING SUPER HAL. THAT INCLUDES ALL INDIVIDUALIZED PLAYER SETTINGS SUCH AS "AVOID LEFTIES".

4) The "Bat Type" is perhaps the trickiest part of this system. In real-life baseball the first batter a reliever faces is statistically the most important batter he will face. If he retires that batter chances increase dramatically that his team will get through the inning unscathed. The "Super Hal" bullpen management system utilizes this information by allowing you to define your opponent's batter by 5 different categories (See Bat Type above). However, the offensive team always gets the last say after a reliever is brought into the game (because a reliever cannot be removed until he faces at least one batter). Due to this fact, the most important player to be aware of is not necessarily the current batter, but perhaps a pinch hitter who is on the bench. Therefore the logic of this program compares every bench player with the current batter before determining which is the most dangerous batter versus left-handed and right-handed relievers. It then goes through a series of checks before determining which player would more likely hit in the current situation. After making these determinations the computer chooses the particular batter (either the current one or a potential pinch-hitter) which it is going to try to "defend" against. It will check that player for his Bat Type (L, R, S, l or r) and that is the Bat Type that will be used when checking the Logic Situation entries.

5) You can gain a little insight into Super Hal's latest decision by viewing the "Miscellaneous" report on the Check Information screen. Most important to notice is the batter that Super Hal decided to "Watch". That's the batter which Super Hal will use when determining which "Bat Type" will be needed when searching the program Logic lines. Most times it will be the current batter, but sometimes it will be a potential pinch-hitter.

6) Super Hal information is transferred along with other computer manager information when you Export the computer manager. Interestingly, this system can be used as a "decoy" when sending the computer manager to a play-by-mail opponent. For instance, say you have a good closer who has a low innings allotment, and you don't want to waste his innings versus a particular opponent. To decoy your opponent, leave this reliever as "Enabled" in your computer manager and simply "bury" him at the end of all of your bullpen orders. In this way he probably won't be used, but your opponent will never know that, and will still have to plan his pinch-hitting strategy like he might later be brought into the game. If you use this method to decoy you will want to define "catch-all" lines of logic as described below.

7) If you wish to prevent the original Strat-O-Matic computer manager bullpen logic from being used then you must provide a "catch-all" line (or lines) at the end of the logic. For example, you might want to use the following three lines, which provide for a catch-all versus lefties, righties and switch-hitters. Note: Order ID's J, K and L are used for this example but you would use whichever Order ID's you setup for this purpose:

SCORE OUTS BatType ID Force?

--------- ------- ------- ------------------- ------

-99 to 99 0 to 99 L l J-Default vs left No

-99 to 99 0 to 99 R r K-Default vs right No

-99 to 99 0 to 99 S L-Default vs switch No