[VanillaGorilla]

Just a thought based on my observation of my v 14 experience thus far.

With the new fielding aging algorithm for v 14, I see middle infielders being a more scarce commodity as their life expectancy at these positions is reduced. I base this on my v14 league I am using for my HOF algorithm work. I have had a LOT of 3B men get into the HOF (right now, the same number as 1B men) but very few 2B and SS.

I assign career position in the following manner:

1) Player has fielding record for at least half of his ML appearances, otherwise considered career DH.

2) If Player made the majority of his fielding appearances in the IF, he is assigned the IF position that he made the most appearances playing as his career position.

3) If player made the majority of his fielding appearances in the OF, he is assigned the OF position that he made the most appearances playing as his career position.

I am playing my 52nd season in this v14 league and the observation comes from this league, and this league only. This method for determining career position is the same one I used in two run throughs of the HOF model in v 13. When I say that there are "a lot" of 3B and "few" 2B/SS, it is a comparison of the positional breakdowns of my current HOF vs the positional breakdown of the previous two.

If middle IFers are now more scarce, and have a shorter lifespan playing those positions before they are moved to a corner position, then it seems that the fact that SF is getting 2 solid MI prospects is a reasonable consideration for assuming Howard's long term deal, in their eyes.