DUKE ROBINSON IV
Duke Robinson IV – Modern, AIM
Duke Robinson IV is a revised version of Duke Robinson, Jr.
The most significant change is that this manager does not consider a rotation or starting pitchers. All unbenched and available pitchers may be used in relief. If you wish to bench a pitcher or keep him from relieving, you must bench him with your franchise files or lineups.
Duke 4, like all of the predecessors, is a AIM-only manager designed to “loosely” handle either replay and/or draft leagues. He may be used with the batters faced limits turned off in League Manager.
It also includes some new strategies such as:
– a pinch hit for star players in lopsided games, a PH for an announced pinch hitter, greater use of relief specialists (the 1-or-2 batter pitchers, usually lefthanders who averaged less than an inning per outing), smarter pitcher usage with the DH only, etc
USAGE INFORMATION
Because of many unique or “ahistorical” strategies in him, Robinson IV will not duplicate key historic stats such as save totals, steals or complete games. For example, all of his steal strategies heavily rely on steal success or steal chance ratings. So, runners with high steal attempts but mediocre or poor steal success (such as those in the deadball era) will not run much, if at all. Base runners with high success but low attempts will not, however, compile high attempts (you should see players acquire about 100% of their historic totals with the exception noted above).
In addition, Robinson IV (like his predecessors) has a very quick hook in save situations with relievers having four or more saves judged as closers. These relievers will come in – if available and rested – at the start of late innings (almost always the ninth or later) in save situations regardless of grade or grade advantage (if any) over the current pitcher. A reliever with, for example, six saves will likely garner 20+ saves in a replay.
Similarly, a starting pitcher with 15+ complete games will likely accumulate half or less of that number. Other factors affect this; but this will generally be the likely outcome. So, if you’re concerned about statistical accuracy in a replay, it’s best to use a decades specific manager.
DRAFT REPLAY USAGE
If used for draft rosters, Robinson IV will not always make the wisest move vis-a-vis “APBA ball”. He will, for example, use a closer with a lower grade over another closer because of a higher save total and will bring in a lower graded reliever over a higher grade starter or reliever. Grade, in other words, is not always considered. It is this “looseness” for either replay usage or draft competition that one must think about when deciding to use the program for either type of those games.