The first idea, is a way to make Spring Training actually mean something.
Currently, there is no decided advantage to playing Spring Training games, other than to get a look at all the players on the 40 man roster, and how they might perform, which is a good thing, but it can mean so much better. My idea is this. Make playing springs games affect certain ratings, mainly Stamina for pitchers, and contact/power ratings for hitters.
How it would work.....
Each pitcher would have their base Stamina rating. Lets say it is 85. Well, in Spring training, the player would start with a "current rating" of say 40. This would increase as the pitcher pitches games in Spring Training. In other words, the rating increases as the pitcher is "stretched out" Now, if he is injured, and misses time in Spring, his "current rating" would be frozen until he is healthy, then it would increase as he pitches more. This could lead to an injured player needing to start in the minors, to get himself stretched back out (which sometimes happens in real life) or else not have his full stamina at the beginning of the season.
Same with hitters. They would have actual contact and power ratings, which cannot increase, except through the progression engine. But he would have "current ratings" that are less than the actual rating. The more he plays, the more the ratings increase, until they reach the actual rating.
The second idea has to do with rehab assignments for players injured for longer than a 2 week period. Have their current ratings decrease if the player is out that long (mainly contact and power for hitters, and stamina for pitchers). These ratings would have to be increased through playing time. Which would create a need for rehab assignments. Of course this would have to be coded into the game, to allow players to be sent down to the minors on rehab assignments without having to pass through waivers.
Any thoughts?
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