Alright Boyz, Here We Go!!!! (OOTP9 First Impressions...)

[Balldog]

I took that template that PSU Colonel made, simmed from 1998 to 2008. I'm looking at some of the retired players, and guys are retiring for no reason.

Example -
Jose Villodos, RHP
Retired after the 2001 season at 24 yrs old, after making his debut with the Marlins in 2001. He pitched 1 perfect inning then retired.

Gunner Hayes, C
Retired after the 2002 season at 23 yrs old. He made his debut in 2002 with the Tigers, going 6 for 20 (.300). He retired after the season.

Glenn O'Connor, RHP
Retired after the 2003 season at 25 yrs old. He made his debut in 2003 after dominating the minor leagues for two years. He started one game with San Diego, pitching 7 innings allowing 4 runs. He retired after the season. He has never been injured. (the other two had a couple minor injuries)

Seems weird that these guys are retiring after a successful debut year.

[Balldog]

Is their anyway to review the first year player draft history?

[RainMaker]

My biggest gripe has probably always been the development of players. While I know this is incredibly difficult to code, it's an area that really seems to be put on the back burner. I would find it fascinating if they were able to put together a team of guys who could run stats for perhaps thousands of players. Determine what went up and down as someone aged. Currently everything goes down when they age, while when they progress everything goes up. It should be:

Young Hitters - Most should have bad eyes and lower contact ratings. While there are guys who can step in (and this can be represented as a small percent of prospects), most young hitters struggle with the strike zone early. They don't walk as much and stike out more prevelantly. Their power numbers really should only move a little bit and should be close to what they would normally be (I always felt power fluctuated too much).

Veteran Hitters - These are guys in the prime of their careers. While their overall power numbers may decline as they enter their 30's, their eye and contact ratings should continue to very slowly improve. As their power decreases, it can be made up for in gap as hitters usually learn to take the ball the other way later in their careers (except Jim Thome). For the most part, veteran players improve in some areas. Speed and range could go down a little bit as they enter their 30's, as well as an increase to injury frequency. For the most part though, there shouldn't be too much change from a player between the ages of 28-34. For some reason the game drops players off a cliff at 30.

Older Hitters - Contact and power should drop more signifigantly on a year to year basis here. Injuries up and speed/range down. But their discipline/eye should stay where it is, and in fact potentially improve. I never understood how a veteran player would magically have less knowledge of the strike zone as he ages.

The same goes for pitchers. As they age, their stuff and velocity might go down, but their movement and control should go up to a certain age. Veteran pitchers usually are hurt most in the endurance part (which the game somewhat does accurately). They all don't become complete invalids at 34 though. In fact, this league is riddled with 30-something pitchers who have learned how to pitch.


I know it's complicated, but I think it's an area that needs a lot of work. I'm sure customized playoffs for feeder leages in Sri Lanka are huge to some people, but I think a lot would really benefit from accurate player development. One of the areas Markus always thrived in with his earlier games was in the development area which was usually miles ahead of competitors.

For some reason, this has been lost of late. Baseball is an odd game where the longer you play it, the better you get in certain areas. Major League Baseball is a league of veterans. You rarely have guys jumping from the minors into the starting lineup (unless a team is eliminated and still they're testing him for next year). I'd be curious to see what percent of opening day starters in Major League Baseball are 1st or 2nd year players. I have a feeling that number will be much lower than that in an average OOTP season.

[lungs]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

What kind? A template with the real teams and fake players you mean?

No, I know those can be found easily. I'm talking about fake teams and fake players. I'm using the ABA quickstart and it's pretty nice but I'd like more options and am too lazy to make them myself

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by lungs

No, I know those can be found easily. I'm talking about fake teams and fake players. I'm using the ABA quickstart and it's pretty nice but I'd like more options and am too lazy to make them myself

Here's one:

http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/boar...-settings.html

[Mike Lowe]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

My biggest gripe has probably always been the development of players. While I know this is incredibly difficult to code, it's an area that really seems to be put on the back burner. I would find it fascinating if they were able to put together a team of guys who could run stats for perhaps thousands of players. Determine what went up and down as someone aged. Currently everything goes down when they age, while when they progress everything goes up. It should be:

Young Hitters - Most should have bad eyes and lower contact ratings. While there are guys who can step in (and this can be represented as a small percent of prospects), most young hitters struggle with the strike zone early. They don't walk as much and stike out more prevelantly. Their power numbers really should only move a little bit and should be close to what they would normally be (I always felt power fluctuated too much).

Veteran Hitters - These are guys in the prime of their careers. While their overall power numbers may decline as they enter their 30's, their eye and contact ratings should continue to very slowly improve. As their power decreases, it can be made up for in gap as hitters usually learn to take the ball the other way later in their careers (except Jim Thome). For the most part, veteran players improve in some areas. Speed and range could go down a little bit as they enter their 30's, as well as an increase to injury frequency. For the most part though, there shouldn't be too much change from a player between the ages of 28-34. For some reason the game drops players off a cliff at 30.

Older Hitters - Contact and power should drop more signifigantly on a year to year basis here. Injuries up and speed/range down. But their discipline/eye should stay where it is, and in fact potentially improve. I never understood how a veteran player would magically have less knowledge of the strike zone as he ages.

The same goes for pitchers. As they age, their stuff and velocity might go down, but their movement and control should go up to a certain age. Veteran pitchers usually are hurt most in the endurance part (which the game somewhat does accurately). They all don't become complete invalids at 34 though. In fact, this league is riddled with 30-something pitchers who have learned how to pitch.


I know it's complicated, but I think it's an area that needs a lot of work. I'm sure customized playoffs for feeder leages in Sri Lanka are huge to some people, but I think a lot would really benefit from accurate player development. One of the areas Markus always thrived in with his earlier games was in the development area which was usually miles ahead of competitors.

For some reason, this has been lost of late. Baseball is an odd game where the longer you play it, the better you get in certain areas. Major League Baseball is a league of veterans. You rarely have guys jumping from the minors into the starting lineup (unless a team is eliminated and still they're testing him for next year). I'd be curious to see what percent of opening day starters in Major League Baseball are 1st or 2nd year players. I have a feeling that number will be much lower than that in an average OOTP season.

Excellent post. This would be terrific! Perhaps one day. I wonder how much of this could be accomplished with the modifiers - either way though, shouldn't be something we have to test for 2 months before we play you know?

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by lungs

No, I know those can be found easily. I'm talking about fake teams and fake players. I'm using the ABA quickstart and it's pretty nice but I'd like more options and am too lazy to make them myself

I got one at work that seems to work pretty good so far, only in the second season, I will post it later in the week.

[DaddyTorgo]

I too am seeing guys just dropping off the face of the earth in their early 30's. It's to the point where I won't resign guys to contracts past age 31, so i'm constantly churning my lineup and trading those guys for prospects to stock my minor leagues.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

I have some old guys in the 40's but they aren't good after the first year. Are you seeing guys in the 40's after 5-10 years? I can post a few sims online, but in mine, once a player hits like 30, he falls off the face of the earth. For instance, Jay Bruce, Evan Longoria, and Joey Votto dominated the league for like 5 years, then all 3 would ceremoniously become average players by the time they hit 29-30. It has left my league with not many veterans and a lot of 2nd or 3rd year players. Not to mention, almost every MVP award has been won by someone under 30.

Not sure if it's a developmental issue or roster one (I think the rosters overate some of the prospects). I'm more concerned about not seeing a lot of guys in my league who are good that are 30-35. Maybe tweaking some of the modifiers will fix that though, just something I've noticed.

I'm not seeing the same thing that you all are seeing. I haven't modified the development modifiers any though.. What I did change is the injury frequency, I wonder if that is having a secondary effect on this as well. I noticed that I didn't like how often injuries were occuring long ago, so have always played with them lowered. I know often times ratings drops accompany injuries, so I wonder if by my lowering the injuries I'm also prolonging the careers of players?

[DanGarion]

In my MLB Quickstart league that I let run, it's 2030 and there are 24 players 40 years or older that are playing in the MLB at the send of the season.

MR 68 Jose Ceda Atlanta ML ML 43 DOM 6' 3" 217 lbs Right Right 3 stars 3 stars
MR 17 Ian Jerram - - - 42 RSA 5' 9" 192 lbs Left Right 1 star 1 star
CF 32 Ray Moody Colorado ML ML 42 USA 6' 0" 171 lbs Left Left 3 stars 3 stars
MR 47 Kenny Rodriguez - - - 42 USA 6' 2" 194 lbs Right Right 1 star 1 star
MR 76 Manny Alonzo - - - 41 USA 6' 2" 218 lbs Right Right 1 star 1 star
SP 47 Ch'ang-chieh Chen Atlanta ML ML 41 TPE 6' 0" 201 lbs Switch Left 3 stars 3 stars
MR 23 Eddie Franklin - - - 41 USA 5' 9" 201 lbs Right Right 1 star 1 star
3B 57 Freddie Freeman - - - 41 USA 6' 5" 214 lbs Left Right 1 star 1 star
MR 42 Yiliyen Ntawulikura - - - 41 RSA 6' 3" 246 lbs Left Right 1 star 1 star
LF 20 Tim Possehl Washington ML ML 41 USA 5' 11" 201 lbs Left Left 3 stars 3 stars
C 17 Jesús Santiago Oakland ML ML 41 MEX 6' 2" 186 lbs Right Right 1 star 1 star
SP 56 Troy Smith Tampa Bay ML ML 41 CAN 6' 0" 190 lbs Switch Right 1 star 1 star
MR 29 Nathan Affeldt Toronto ML ML 40 USA 5' 11" 210 lbs Left Left 3 stars 3 stars
MR 28 Luis González Florida ML ML 40 DOM 6' 1" 218 lbs Left Left 4 stars 4 stars
MR 47 José Juárez Texas ML ML 40 USA 6' 4" 215 lbs Right Right 3 stars 3 stars
SP 36 Thomas Lloyd Seattle ML ML 40 USA 6' 0" 213 lbs Right Right 2 stars 2 stars
SP 31 Phil Mooney Detroit ML ML 40 USA 6' 1" 217 lbs Right Right 1 star 1 star
MR 72 Alberto Pérez Sacramento PCL AAA 40 USA 6' 0" 208 lbs Right Right 1 star 1 star
MR 31 Leo Rowling Cincinnati ML ML 40 AUS 6' 3" 208 lbs Left Left 4 stars 4 stars
MR 35 Santiago Rúbio Arizona ML ML 40 DOM 5' 11" 188 lbs Right Right 3 stars 3 stars
SP 24 David Sánchez Cincinnati ML ML 40 MEX 5' 10" 195 lbs Right Right 1 star 1 star
3B 72 Fred Snape St. Louis ML ML 40 USA 5' 7" 179 lbs Right Right 1 star 1 star
MR 75 Geoff Stroud Minnesota ML ML 40 USA 6' 1" 208 lbs Right Right 1 star 1 star
MR 16 Dave Yates Detroit ML ML 40 USA 6' 1" 207 lbs Right Right 1 star 1 star

[DaddyTorgo]

that doesn't look TOO horrible to me. They're mostly MR's and most of them are junky one-star guys

[spleen1015]

Are the aging modifiers set to the defaults?

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

Are the aging modifiers set to the defaults?

Yes this league was just started right when I bought the game with no changes to it. This was actually ran before the patch. Not sure if things have changed since the patch. I would have to see.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Balldog

I took that template that PSU Colonel made, simmed from 1998 to 2008. I'm looking at some of the retired players, and guys are retiring for no reason.

Example -
Jose Villodos, RHP
Retired after the 2001 season at 24 yrs old, after making his debut with the Marlins in 2001. He pitched 1 perfect inning then retired.

Gunner Hayes, C
Retired after the 2002 season at 23 yrs old. He made his debut in 2002 with the Tigers, going 6 for 20 (.300). He retired after the season.

Glenn O'Connor, RHP
Retired after the 2003 season at 25 yrs old. He made his debut in 2003 after dominating the minor leagues for two years. He started one game with San Diego, pitching 7 innings allowing 4 runs. He retired after the season. He has never been injured. (the other two had a couple minor injuries)

Seems weird that these guys are retiring after a successful debut year.

Have you posted this over at the ootp forums?

I'm going to put some time in with my fictional league today and see if my league is doing these same sort of things. This would NOT be good.

[Ben E Lou]

Todd, it isn't happening in my fictional leagues in various manners of testing. There have been other issues reported with the PSUColonel league. I'm guessing it's something in the setup.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Have you posted this over at the ootp forums?

I'm going to put some time in with my fictional league today and see if my league is doing these same sort of things. This would NOT be good.

I'm only 2 years in and so far, the two youngest retirees both suffered CEI's.

I'll keep an eye on it though.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

Todd, it isn't happening in my fictional leagues in various manners of testing. There have been other issues reported with the PSUColonel league. I'm guessing it's something in the setup.

I just replied that I haven't seen this yet.. but I'm only 2 years into my universe.

It's great to hear you haven't seen this in your universe(s) either.

[JetsIn06]

Weird stuff going on in my MLB quickstart....I'm in 2020 or so and after dropping some teams, adding some teams, and moving some teams, I'm back at 30 teams with 15 in each league.

I have it set up to play 162 games, but every team is playing 153. I've tried redoing the schedule in the pre-season stage and it definitely makes a new schedule, but i'm still only getting 153. Any ideas?

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by JetsIn06

Weird stuff going on in my MLB quickstart....I'm in 2020 or so and after dropping some teams, adding some teams, and moving some teams, I'm back at 30 teams with 15 in each league.

I have it set up to play 162 games, but every team is playing 153. I've tried redoing the schedule in the pre-season stage and it definitely makes a new schedule, but i'm still only getting 153. Any ideas?

The auto schedule can't generate a schedule for uneven leagues. Go on the OOTP forums, look in the schedule area and look for Sandman schedules for 2007. He has a set of them for a variety of scenarios and one of them includes a 162-game schedule for two 15-team subleagues. (divisional alignment, etc.)

or you can use this one

[JetsIn06]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

The auto schedule can't generate a schedule for uneven leagues. Go on the OOTP forums, look in the schedule area and look for Sandman schedules for 2007. He has a set of them for a variety of scenarios and one of them includes a 162-game schedule for two 15-team subleagues. (divisional alignment, etc.)

or you can use this one

Thank you!

[MizzouRah]

A forum member named justafan has some really great MLB logos as well as some 3D MLB stadiums.

[wbonnell]

One of the OOTP beta testers, Ronco, has provided more input into (and exerted more influence over) the player development algorithms than everybody else combined. Here's what he says to do with OOTP9:

http://www.typosphere.com/Age_and_De..._Modifiers.pdf

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by wbonnell

One of the OOTP beta testers, Ronco, has provided more input into (and exerted more influence over) the player development algorithms than everybody else combined. Here's what he says to do with OOTP9:

http://www.typosphere.com/Age_and_De..._Modifiers.pdf

Actually, Ron wasn't on beta the whole time. It's part of why development sucks enough to warrant a 31-page document on how it's still not working right.

But alas, enjoy those bells and whistles that made it into the game instead.

[DaddyTorgo]

so why weren't those ratings adopted by marcus?

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

so why weren't those ratings adopted by marcus?

Here's the thread over at OOTP. I'm sure it'll come out at some point...seems so far, that one of the betas in charge of this process got different results than Ron did, but their testing methodologies are different seemingly. It doesn't take a statistician however, to realize that player development still isn't modeled right in the game.

But I stopped fighting that battle a long time ago.

[DaddyTorgo]

cool

I think i'm gonna start a new game trying these - might add those 3d stadiums into it too)

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by wbonnell

One of the OOTP beta testers, Ronco, has provided more input into (and exerted more influence over) the player development algorithms than everybody else combined. Here's what he says to do with OOTP9:

http://www.typosphere.com/Age_and_De..._Modifiers.pdf

That is a pretty good read. I skimmed through some of it for now, but interested stuff.

[DaddyTorgo]

has anyone experimented with making ratings count less than the 30% default in evaluating players?

[Izulde]

The more and more I read this thread, the more and more I'm glad I passed on this.

[Balldog]

Originally Posted by Izulde

The more and more I read this thread, the more and more I'm glad I passed on this.

[Ben E Lou]

I'm having a blast with it. It seems that nearly all of the big issues are with MLB and Historical play. And I couldn't possibly care less about either. Fictional play is very good so far for me.

[bhlloy]

Originally Posted by Alan T

That is a pretty good read. I skimmed through some of it for now, but interested stuff.

Very interesting. It's a very radical suggestion, which makes me wary, but it's hard to argue with his results. Maybe the next league I play (or the next time I restart my fictional) I will take those into account and see how it plays out.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

I'm having a blast with it. It seems that nearly all of the big issues are with MLB and Historical play. And I couldn't possibly care less about either. Fictional play is very good so far for me.

I'm with you, I'm really glad I decided on fictional right off the bat.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

has anyone experimented with making ratings count less than the 30% default in evaluating players?

I've done 25% before, with 50% current year 15% last year and 10% 2 years ago stats. Don't have any comprehensive studies on it, tho.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by Izulde

The more and more I read this thread, the more and more I'm glad I passed on this.

It's still a good game. We're just nitpicking at what would make it better, because that's what we do here. I don't know that anyone would call it 1) bad or a 2) step backwards or 3) anything less than the best baseball sim on the market right now.

But to each their own, of course.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

I'm having a blast with it. It seems that nearly all of the big issues are with MLB and Historical play. And I couldn't possibly care less about either. Fictional play is very good so far for me.

+2

[Grammaticus]

I modeled a league after the majors and used the league modifiers skydog made. Started the game and non of the teams are signing free agents. I looked at their staff and they do not have general managers.

What did I do wrong?

[rowech]

This is my first go around with OOTP. It's not without its flaws as many have pointed out but the game is fun. I can't imagine trying to get everything right (or really even close to it) with so many variables.

Secondly, many need to take a stroll through baseball history and statistics. Not just the names you recognize. Baseball is littered with guys who had one fantastic season, fizzled, and retired. Not so much today but guys simply disappeared.

[Balldog]

Originally Posted by rowech

Secondly, many need to take a stroll through baseball history and statistics. Not just the names you recognize. Baseball is littered with guys who had one fantastic season, fizzled, and retired. Not so much today but guys simply disappeared.

I know what you are saying, but most of those guys got injured. The guys I'm seeing retire, put in a couple years in the minors then get their shot at the big leagues and retire.

[Galaril]

Originally Posted by Balldog

+1

[rowech]

Originally Posted by Balldog

I know what you are saying, but most of those guys got injured. The guys I'm seeing retire, put in a couple years in the minors then get their shot at the big leagues and retire.

Actually they didn't. There really are plenty of guys who just retired. Like I said, not so much anymore because of $$$.

[Anthony]

people are really being nitpicky with this game. i don't look at things on such a micro level that everyone does. there's too much to do and set up in the game every offseason that i just can't look to see who retired early or who didn't. you can always pretend they got kicked out of the league for using performance enhancing drugs.

i'm a little miffed that Barry Bonds is still the highest rated LF in my league, at 46. he must've found new undetectable drugs. he's a wily old man.

[Anthony]

one of the big things i do have a problem with, however, is that since i have the Japan Pro League enabled i see a TON of japanese FA's in my FA pool. there's too much convergence between the 2 leagues. i want to stop the influx of Japanese talent in my MLB league. it's generating too many good players.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

has anyone experimented with making ratings count less than the 30% default in evaluating players?

Yes, I have ratings set at zero, and despite the fact that this was supposedly "fixed" so that the AI would evaluate players entirely on stats, I'm still seeing guys who pitched pretty well start the next year in the minors. A guy wins 16 games with a low 4 ERA at 30 years old, and the next year he's in the minors and only gets 2 ML starts at the end of the year. I can't see his spring training stats for that year to know whether he shit the bed in March, but obviously, you'd expect him to at least be in the starting rotation at the beginning of the year. His peripheral numbers weren't great, but you can't tell me that a guy who wins 16 games and is still on the team (and, in fact, received 3 1-year extensions in the space of 18 months) wouldn't be in the rotation.

The contract extension stuff I'm finding to be a bit of a hidden issue, too. I'm seeing guys getting 2 1-year contract extensions within 6 months, and then either demoted to the minors or released. Or, I'm seeing a guy sign a $40M deal and get traded 4 months later. Suspect, IMO.

Another issue I'm seeing is the lack of continuity/sense of certain roster decisions. There are just some things that happen in this game that would never occur IRL. For instance, I followed the career of a reliever (Jeff Lahti) who put up fantastic numbers as a closer for 3 years, then was replaced by Todd Worrell as the closer for the next 3 years, followed by another guy the AI signed in the 4th year. In the 5th year, Lahti was back to closing and had another fantastic year (he was just as outstanding as a setup man the previous 4 years, btw). In the 6th year, he was replaced as closer again. In the 7th year, he was back to closing.

The guys who replaced him actually were very good. But IRL, what team replaces an effective (and with this guy's stats, a top of the line) closer like this? IRL, wouldn't Todd Worrell have just stayed as a setup/middle reliever since the team had a great closer already?

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

The guys who replaced him actually were very good. But IRL, what team replaces an effective (and with this guy's stats, a top of the line) closer like this? IRL, wouldn't Todd Worrell have just stayed as a setup/middle reliever since the team had a great closer already?

I'd argue that if it's going wiht the one it thinks is better, it makes for a more challenging game. Would it happen in real life? Absolutely not. Would a human playing a computer game do it? Absoultely. I could have an 85-85-85 guy save 40 for 6 straight seasons, but if some youngster develops into a 95-95-95 player, the top guy is getting demoted regardless of past performance. And that would give me an advantage over the AI.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

I'd argue that if it's going wiht the one it thinks is better, it makes for a more challenging game. Would it happen in real life? Absolutely not. Would a human playing a computer game do it? Absoultely. I could have an 85-85-85 guy save 40 for 6 straight seasons, but if some youngster develops into a 95-95-95 player, the top guy is getting demoted regardless of past performance. And that would give me an advantage over the AI.

this is exactly the case. i'm not going to complain about the AI doing some questionable moves because i can say with 100% certaintly i haven't operated my team realistically. i won the World Series in my 1st season. i had this one 33 year old CF Japanese guy who asked for WAAAAY too much money to resign. instead of letting him become a FA, i resigned him and spent the rest of my day trying to trade him to other teams (which i was able to do, i got some good prospects for him along with about 4 other guys i thought were expendable). would this happen in real life - well, there are sign and trades, but not so much in baseball. i then gutted my team, taking my once $128million payroll to about $77million. i have a completely young team, anchored by Jose Reyes, David Wright, recently aquired Matt Holiday, along with Johan Santana, Roy Oswalt, Jared Weaver and 2 complete lights out young stud future Ace pitchers. i got rid of Carlos Beltran (who would do that after winning a WS??) because i didn't want to pay him $15million a year when he was in his mid-30s. i also got rid of Billy Wagner, my closer, who had a great year, because my setup reliever - a 24 year old - was a better long term option.

no team in real life, after winning the WS, would undergo so much change. but i did. so i'm not going to hold myself to a different standard than the AI. in real life people who cause problems get moved - it doesn't matter what reason the game gives you, but the end result is all that matters. if we were playing FOF and i were to tell you a future HOF WR got traded 2 times in 2 seasons despite catapulting one team to the Super Bowl, you would say the AI is faulty. but if i were to say that this happened in real life, to a WR named Terrel Owens because of severe attitude issues, that'd be a different story.

[molson]

I guess you kind of have to have a good attitude to enjoy these games, like HA. I mean, I loved Micro League Baseball on my Apple IIgs, and back then, didn't have any problem looking past the million flaws. As the games get better we expect more and more, and we've (pretty amazingly) made it to a point where ANY difference between the game and real life is considered a flaw.

[Anthony]

i don't like having stats only considered when evaluating a player. i have 25% for ratings. stats most of the time are a product of the quality of players around you, the park you play in and where you are in the batting order. i would expect a guy hitting in the top 3 spots to have more runs than the guy who hits #7 or #8. why should i only look at that guy based on his stats - he may be a better player than the guy you're comparing him to with more hits and runs because he's a leadoff hitter. i would expect a guy playing at the Padres' park to have less homeruns than the guy hitting in Coors Field. you're actually scamming the AI that way cuz you're telling it "i don't care if your #4 hitter only has 20 homeruns playing in the Padres park, he's not a good power hitter but i'll take him anyway" meanwhile he's rated 14 in power hitting. to put ratings to zero puts the AI at a disadvantage cuz while you are factoring in all info, you're telling it not to factor in something rather important. you might want to complain about the AI doing silly things, but what scout completely disregards ability (ie, ratings) when looking at stats?

[DaddyTorgo]

i agree with HA and molson. I don't operate realistically (there would be riots in boston if any team did what i did last night - traded varitek, lowell, ortiz, wakefield, schilling, lugo, coco crisp, jd drew for - bunch of prospects, alex gordon, joe mauer, ryan howard). I just play and enjoy.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by molson

I guess you kind of have to have a good attitude to enjoy these games, like HA. I mean, I loved Micro League Baseball on my Apple IIgs, and back then, didn't have any problem looking past the million flaws. As the games get better we expect more and more, and we've (pretty amazingly) made it to a point where ANY difference between the game and real life is considered a flaw.

i look at the big picture. on a micro level too much goes on that it'd take a real long time to sim a lot of years if i'm following the careers of individual players not on my team to look out for quirks. on any given season in real life a lot of crap goes on, sometimes behind the scenes, that add to the oddity of the game. if a 40 something year old player who still had great power and an excellent eye/avoid K ability were to be unsigned in baseball all the while not asking for a big contract you'd say the AI was faulty. i guess Barry Bonds should take comfort then. in no other era would a player with Bonds' abilities (even despite his age) be not signed this late into the season. heck, even Hank Aaron still went on to play a few more season after breaking the HR record.

don't look at things on the micro level. if you did the same thing to FOF you'd find one hell of a faulty game, but not even that game gets half as much grief around here.