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]

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

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]

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

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]

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

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]

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

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.

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]

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

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]

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

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.

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.

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.

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]

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

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.

[BJNT]

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

Cool list. I would also add the ability to customize draft classes like you can on NBA 2k. That way you can have real life college and high school prospects. Maybe even add the ability to share the draft classes via the vault like 2k has with its shares.

Also it would be cool if whatever high school players you didnt sign. Ended back in the draft 3 years later only rated higher.

[RandyBass]

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

Another idea:

Hands on amateur scouting and the Cape Cod League
Once amateur scouting information starts to come in you would target a handful of players to go and take a hands on look at. This hands on look would reveal the most accurate ratings possible, to help you decide just who you want to draft. I'm throwing the Cape Cod League idea out there following NBA 2K's announcement of having Euro teams, but really it would just be the addition of amateur level teams, and if there was a license involved then all the better. The NCAA license would probably be more ideal timing wise for the draft and all, but I'm guessing more expensive also.

edit: And by hands on look I mean actually having the option to play the game too. 2K had something similar in their college hoops game, and it was pretty cool.

[RandyBass]

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

Spring Training Position Battles
In real life going into Spring Training it's not always clear who's going to make the squad, and again, roster decisions are often more involved than just looking at a player's overall rating. I think going into Spring Training you could keep ratings hidden, and just show previous year's stats and ratings so that you had to decide the final roster based on things like age and actual performance during the Spring.

Hide True Player Ratings
Keeping this idea going, in real life players don't have true ratings, and often times there are differing opinions of players. It could be set up so that the way you manage your scouts help determine more accurate ratings. You would have to decide where to send your best scouts, to either the amateur ranks of to other team's organization, to help keep your database up to date.

This leads to another idea:

GM Player Database
You as a GM would have a huge database of players, both pro and amateur. It would keep track of both stats and ratings. The ratings would be kept up to date based on how often you scout them and who you send to actually scout them. In real life scouts are sent to watch games all the time, and it hasn't completely gone Sabermetric. However, the database would include Sabermetric stuff for GMs who wanted to emphasize this route.

[MrSerendipity]

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

Am I the only one who thinks handling that many leagues would be a bit much? I mean I barely have time for my AAA and AA teams as it is without adding on to it. I mean you're talking about having to take care of near two hundred players on your roster. How could one actually have the time to dedicate that much attention to that many different players? I love managing my Minor League teams and building players up from Draft Picks to eventual MLB Stars through my farm system. But even as it is now, I don't handle every player in my farm system. I pick around twenty that get special attention and then the rest are setup on auto progression and training.

I'm not saying it's a bad idea and I'm not saying it wouldn't be cool to have that much of the farm system in the game. I'm just saying that for me personally and I'd assume many others, it would be quite a lot to take care of. I'd rather they keep the Minor League system as is, implement a way to sign International Free Agents and improve on the Draft. Use that extra space to build more customization features like rebuilding a stadium, relocating a team and etc.

[sink4ever]

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

Some good thoughts here. I'll just link to the posts that have my thoughts: http://www.operationsports.com/forum...franchise.html

[kmoser]

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

One thing I think they should add, although a small idea I think its important, is being able to negotiate contract extensions during the season. This would be a nice addition.

[RandyBass]

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

Some good thoughts here. I'll just link to the posts that have my thoughts: http://www.operationsports.com/forum...franchise.html

Dynamic injuries, very cool idea, and very significant too. Do you sign a guy coming off of an injury, and thus take on potential risk of another injury, or do you look elsewhere?

Maybe they could work in injury history into the player card/database.