[Syd Thrift]

Geez. Hasn't it been made clear why Haas's replay stats don't fit his real-life stats? 4 replays now and you still haven't shown the ones that matter! Haas in '82 was a great control pitcher who didn't strike out a lot of people but who mostly got really, really unlucky. Unlucky in terms of giving up a higher BABIP than other players on the same team (which happens from time to time) and unlucky in terms of letting people hit him for a higher batting average when runners were on base (OPS 60 points higher than with the bases empty, pretty much all of it due to SLG). If you take a guy with Haas's peripherals and put him into the year 1982, he's much more likely to sport an ERA in the high 2s than in the mid 4s (those are Jamie Moyer stats, after all - lower Ks but in a lower K era so it evens out). Likewise, a pitcher who walks as many batters as he strikes out is probably not that good of a pitcher, flukey good year or otherwise.

This is really the point of "consistency" that Diamond Mind keeps that OOTP doesn't. To my knowledge, they still assume BABIP is the pitcher's responsibility despite all evidence to the contrary. This works on a single-season replay level where the average fan is more interested in seeing Mark Fydrich's 1975 or Allan Anderson's 1988 or Jeff Ballard's 1989 played out again than watching those guys have the very, very average years a bit of luck obscured. However, it's not realistic from a talent-acquisition standpoint, and that standpoint is the standpoint from which you play OOTP.