I'm inclined to set up the roster identically to a major league roster.
15 position players, 5 starting pitchers, and 5 relief pitchers.
A maximum of 162 games at each position, including starting pitcher.
No maximum number of games for relief pitchers.
You'd play 8 position players and a DH everyday, but you could use all 5 of your starting pitchers and all of your relief pitchers on a given day, since there is a chance that all 10 of them might be pitching on a single day.
So for pitching, you would just set it and forget it, listing all of your pitchers as active that day.
You would have to keep track of your starters though, because combined they'd probably go over the 162 game limit, so barring injuries, there would probably be 10-15 situation each year when you might want to pick your spot to not use a starting pitcher.
You could pick any 15 position players that you wanted to, but of course you'd want to make sure that you had at least one guy for every position on the field. Anyone would be eligible to be used as DH, just as in real life.
I'd go with the ESPN salary cap game scoring system, since it's the one that most of us are the most familiar with, so we'll have the best frame of reference for the values of the players (The Yahoo rating system is misleading, since it is based on Roto scoring, so all other things being equal, for example, if one guy has 40 homers and no stolen bases, and another guy has 40 SBs and no HRs, they'd be rated eaqually).
Since we'd only credit starting pitchers for their work, and not the subsequent work of their relievers, I think it would tend to devalue starting pitching a bit, which is something that I think we've always thought to be desirable in the ESPN game, where pitching accounts ofr a one-third of your points.
I'd also maybe eliminate the 5 point bonus for a win, or at least reduce it, which devalue pitching a bit more.
That would make a top offensive player, like Pujols, who averages maybe 4.5 points a day, a little more valuable than a pitcher like Santana, who may average about 18 points per game, but only plays once every five days, which, I think, is how it should be.
If a pitcher has a great game, you'll get enough points without the five extra, and this will eliminate the extra five points for games in which a pitcher gets bombed but gets a win anyway.
I would also add a +1 for batters being hiy by a pitch, and make that a -1 for pitchers who hit them.
Yes, it's early, but I would like to think this whole thing through as carefully as possible, so the more time we have the better.
