[DotDash]

Hi,

One of my teams is struggling more than usual in Diamond, and a lot of it seems down to defensive shortcomings: SP ERA is way higher than their FIP, and the team is rated 21st in Defensive Efficiency.
However, when I look at the individual defensive performances of my lineup, I see only one big negative contributor: Joe DiMaggio, with a ZR of -6.3 and efficiency of .960. 9 of my 13 batters (excluding DH) have a positive efficiency rating.

It gets even more confusing when I look at the league 'team fielding' statistics. My team is ranked 7th in ZR and tied 2nd for fielding percentage. The one metric it's ranked low in, is 'DEF', which seems like a catch-all metric and may be what I need to be looking at. But if a team's ZR and other individual defensive metrics seem OK, what is causing the team to be overall defensively bad, resulting in inflated ERA's?

The team leading my subdivision is ranked one spot higher in D. Eff., despite having Pete Rose play 2B (!), and using Mike Piazza as primary catcher. His Joe DiMaggio is fielding even worse than mine (-7.5 ZR, .924 efficiency.) Yet, this team does not show the gap between ERA and FIP, and the same pitchers are getting much better results, i.e. 1.5 ERA better.

I've been playing PT for years, but with each new version I feel more and more out of touch with what determines a team's performance. I thought it was common knowledge that pitcher performance depends in large part on catcher ability, and that good middle infielders are key to supress runs, but looking at the above, perhaps this has changed? Any insight more savvy players can provide is welcome.

Thanks in advance.