GM Mode: A long term vision for what Franchise Mode could be

[RandyBass]

Thought I'd start a thread to discuss what Franchise Mode could potentially be in the coming years for baseball games. MLB The Show appears to be the only option moving forward, so I figured this was the appropriate place to bring this up. Consider this merely to be a discussion of what could be, not what should be (gimme gimme gimme!) or what is (complain complain complain!).

I've never really gotten into Franchise Mode for this series until this year, and after delving into it I'm getting a ton of ideas popping into my head. The main one being that I really think a fully functioning GM mode is in order for baseball games. Armchair GMs appear in the sport of baseball probably more than any other sport. You have multiple websites dedicated to scrutinizing the moves of nearly every franchise in baseball, with many Billy Beane wannabes up in arms over even seemingly insignificant transactions. I know I would love to see a more fleshed out Franchise Mode in baseball games, one that put you in the role of GM, with great attention to detail.

A few things come to mind right away:

Full Minor League System (or at least close to it)
At the very least I think a GM mode would need to include a minor league system that went all the way down to short season A ball. That would mean 25 players at each level (MLB, AAA, AA, A+, A-) for a total of 125 players minimum for an organization. With short season A ball you could also send your draft picks there to play right away, like so many newly drafted players do in real life.

Expanded Scouting
In real life scouting not only includes players for the draft, but also players in other organizations. Add this dimension to this hypothetical GM mode and it would bring life to trades, as you would have to go out and get a read on players you might be looking to trade for. This aspect of team management is a huge deal for GMs in MLB.

Position Changes
Position changes happen in real life, and they too are a pretty significant deal, so the aspect of learning a position for young players could be worked into the mix. There also could be where draft picks project, because often times you will see a guy drafted at one position, only to be moved somewhere else once drafted.

Player Ratings
I would love to see a game adopt a more realistic rating system, one that GMs actually use. You hear guys talk about players as having plus attributes in this or that. Why not work that type of language into a GM mode? I think the standard rating system is 20-80, with 50 being average, and so on and so forth (google it if you don't know what I'm talking about). A more realistic rating system would add a lot.

Just a few ideas here so far. Baseball deserves a good GM mode. Hopefully we'll see one soon.

[RandyBass]

Quote: Originally Posted by RandyBass

Position Changes Position changes happen in real life, and they too are a pretty significant deal, so the aspect of learning a position for young players could be worked into the mix. There also could be where draft picks project, because often times you will see a guy drafted at one position, only to be moved somewhere else once drafted.

Position Changes could also deal with players as they get older, like Cal Ripken moving to third later on in his career.

[RandyBass]

I'm just going to be adding stuff here as it comes to me:

Hiring and firing of minor league coaches and managers
To help aid in the development of players, there could be hiring and firing of minor league staff, with managers and coaches each having different specialties.

Pitchers learning new pitches
For both player development and even the prolonging of careers. Maybe you have a coach in the minor league system who specializes in teaching the circle change, so you assign him to a young pitching prospect who could use another pitch in his repertoire. Or maybe you have a guy struggling with his career, so in the off season he works on adding another pitch to increase his value and ability.

[WaitTilNextYear]

I think you'd want to expand your hypothetical roster to include regular A-ball. There is AAA, AA, A+, A, A-, rookie ball, and Dominican Summer League Teams. You could also have winter ball and the Arizona Fall League for advanced prospects during the offseason.

I also would like to see more detail in the contracts. For example, bonuses for accomplishments and vesting options if a P pitches a certain number of innings or a hitter gets a certain number of ABs.

Arbitration hearings would also be a nice touch like in real life.

It would also be neat if GMs had personalities and it was easier to trade them "their" type of player. A power-hitting, OBP-guy who ks a lot would be Beane guy. A toolsy, balanced player would be more of a Kenny Williams player, and Brian Sabean-type GMs could be scooping up older vets non-stop.

[RandyBass]

Quote:

I also would like to see more detail in the contracts. For example, bonuses for accomplishments and vesting options if a P pitches a certain number of innings or a hitter gets a certain number of ABs.

An option to offer minor league contracts would probably be good to, for veterans hanging on to their career.

Quote:

It would also be neat if GMs had personalities and it was easier to trade them "their" type of player. A power-hitting, OBP-guy who ks a lot would be Beane guy. A toolsy, balanced player would be more of a Kenny Williams player, and Brian Sabean-type GMs could be scooping up older vets non-stop.

Good idea. Also, depending on how they wanted to set it up, you could get fired and hired by other teams. Do poorly, you stock goes down, less teams want to hire you. Do well, you become a coveted GM and more teams approach you looking to hire you.

I personally would set it up so that Franchise Mode contained everything, managing, general managing, etc. and then let people toggle these things on or off. This as opposed to creating a separate GM mode all together.

Another idea, expanding on scouting:

Have one massive and comprehensive overview of your organization, set up by you, rather than merely letting ratings dictate organizational depth charts. In other words, maybe you like a lesser rated player more because he brings speed to the table, so this overview would allow you to rank him higher than a better overall player. This would allow you to distinguish lead off types from middle of the order types, and just keep better track of all your players and team needs.

[Jimbo614]

It think quite a bit of these ideas are theoretically already plausible in the game now;
Pos changes.. how about editing players? You can edit most positions.
And scouting players in other organizations can be done with 30 team control.
Granted, you can't assign scouts to this, but you can just look at the ratings yourself.
So far as GM personalities, you already have that if I read correctly in that each team develops players by their history..I E, the Mets are great at developing Starting Pitchers.
Although I don't see how you can alter that.
But lets be honest here...any GM mode that you yourself plays will naturally be determined by YOUR personality, not AI.
With 30 team control, everything set to manual, you already have much of this with a lot of work.

[RandyBass]

Quote:

Pos changes.. how about editing players? You can edit most positions.

Except that in real life you can't just change a player's position and have it work out so easily. It's something they usually have to learn, and it doesn't always work out so well. On top of that the AI currently doesn't change any player's position.

Quote:

And scouting players in other organizations can be done with 30 team control. Granted, you can't assign scouts to this, but you can just look at the ratings yourself.

The whole idea behind scouting isn't just a matter of looking at a number. Scouting involves player evaluation, and so the information your scouts come up with might not necessarily be in line with a player's actual rating. It would all be dependent on the scout's ability.

Quote:

So far as GM personalities, you already have that if I read correctly in that each team develops players by their history..I E, the Mets are great at developing Starting Pitchers.

Pretty sure MLB 13 doesn't have GM hirings and firings though, which is another significant aspect to real life MLB.

Quote:

With 30 team control, everything set to manual, you already have much of this with a lot of work.

Uh, not really, and like you say what little is there requires a lot of work. How about providing more, and requiring less work? I don't know, I generally like to have fun playing video games, not be bogged down by busy work.

As I stated earlier, let's try to keep this a discussion about what could be. I know threads here tend to get derailed pretty quick with off topic nonsense. How about we make this case an exception rather than the rule. What a thought!

[dingleberryfinn]

I expect P$4 to be drastically different for the Show, franchise wise.
Hopefully single A will be expanded to 2 full teams for that level.