Depth Charts

A depth chart goes hand in hand with a saved lineup, and guides the computer manager in its use of players who are not in the starting lineup. There are four roles that you can assign to a bench player in a depth chart:

• Platoon Player. A platoon is a pair of players, one who bats left-handed and one who bats right-handed. The manager starts the left-hander against right-handed pitchers and the right-hander against left-handed pitchers. If the opposing team changes pitchers, the computer manager may substitute the platoon player to get a favorable left-right matchup.

• Defensive Replacement. If you specify a player in this role, the player will be inserted into a game in the late innings of games in which the team has a narrow lead.

• Utility Player. You can list up to five players as utility players at each defensive position. These players are used when a starter is injured or removed for a pinch hitter or pinch runner during a game. If you want someone to be used primarily as a bench player but make occasional starts, you can indicate the percentage of games this player should start at this position.

• Pinch Hitter. You can list up to five players as pinch hitters versus left- or right-handed pitchers.

See below for suggestions and guidelines that may help you decide how to set up your depth charts.

Defensive replacements

The computer manager currently makes defensive replacement decisions one position at a time. That means that there's no point in trying to set up your profile to make a series of defensive shifts.

For example, you cannot tell the computer manager to insert a player as a defensive replacement in center, move the starting center fielder to right, and remove the right fielder.

Pinch hitters

You don't have to fill the list in to make the computer manager use pinch hitters. If these lists are empty, DMB chooses pinch hitters from all available players on the bench, including starters who are resting for the current game.

However, if you choose to enter one or more players in these lists, DMB chooses only from among these players when a pinch hitter is called for. If none of these players is available, the computer manager then looks to the full bench to see if another hitter could be used.

The computer manager doesn't always choose the first player in the list as the first pinch hitter in the game. Sometimes it will choose to keep the top player available for a better opportunity later in the game.

Pinch hitting and playing time limits

If your league is using the Limit bench playing time option, potential pinch hitters will be left on the bench if they are ahead of their playing time pace for the season. This is true even if you're down by nine runs and the pitcher is due up.

Sometimes all potential pinch hitters are ineligible for this reason and the computer manager will allow the pitcher to bat for himself. It may seem strange to let a pitcher bat in these situations, but the computer manager has no way to simultaneously accomplish the two things you've asked it to do -- make good game decisions and enforce the playing time limits. Usually the solution is to turn off the Limit bench playing time option.

See Leagues: Rules and Options for more details on this setting.

Usage modes

The offensive portion of your manager profile is assigned one of two usage modes. These modes apply only when the computer manager is handling this team.

Choose Track starts if you wish to simulate an entire season and you want your players to match the playing time indicated in the depth chart. With this setting, the computer manager keeps track of how often each player starts at each position versus left- and right-handed pitching in your DMB games. During the season, it uses this information to adjust the starting lineups to keep everyone on a pace to accumulate the amount of playing time indicated in your depth charts.

NOTE: If your goal is to match real-life playing time as closely as possible, we recommend that you choose None for your league injury rule and Yes for the Limit Bench Playing Time option. See Leagues: Rules and Options for more details on these settings.

Choose Game by game if you want to change the roles of your players during a season. With this setting, the computer manager takes each game at a time and randomly chooses spot starters using the spot start percentages in your depth chart.

Example. Suppose a player is listed in a utility role in a depth chart and has been assigned a spot start percentage of 30. And suppose you have played the first half of the season and are ready to begin the second half. Using the Track starts option, the computer manager would immediately start this player several games in a row because he is far behind the pace necessary to reach the target of 30% starts. Using the Game by game option, the computer manager would give this player a 30% chance to start each subsequent game.