[southside_hitmen]

Yeah, I can dig that take ^

Again though, this would just be an option. The same way no scouts and OSA only is an option when playing.

So, if you want to replicate older periods of baseball, or if you prefer to play it that way in a modern league, you could. The same way you can turn off OVR/POT completely or go through other rating variations.

I think of it similar to how Football Manager or other games handle scouting, where you get a whiff of what "consensus" is on a player through other means like top players, positional strength report, etc... without being explicit.

It adds some more fog of war and makes the game less spreadsheet simulator if you can only rely on your in-house staff for ratings and such. And again, this option wouldn't be enforced or even the preferred one for some, but I think it would be a good option to have for those that want it.

EDIT: While I also agree that no self-respecting GM would limit their intake of info for decision making processes, the same holds true that they would not have no internal scouting at all and only rely on the wisdom of the crowd (i.e. No scouts, OSA only option) to make decisions. Yet, that is an option in the game.