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For me, it's not so much needing a captain/leader/sparkplug/prankster as it is avoiding disruptive players.
I usually have a captain just as a matter of practice. I always go for defense on my catchers, and they are often the easiest to get as a captain. I have had successful teams where there is a captain and nobody else, and others where there are a couple leaders but no captain.
But what I absolutely avoid like the plague are the negative ones, especially the disruptive ones. If I end up with one, I'm usually looking to get rid of him.
In one of my fictitious league sims several years ago, when I didn't pay as much attention to personalities, I made two trades that I thought were real coups--two players who statistically were the equivalent of Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez, a shortstop and an outfielder with .900+ OPS's. I thought I was going to cruise to the pennant afterwards, and sure enough, the next few weeks were very nice.
Then all hell broke loose. My team fell into a slump and I started getting emails about tension and fighting in the clubhouse. Team morale went through the floor and the team sank deeper and deeper. I had not really worried about how both players were listed as "Disruptive" and had low work ethic, leadership, and loyalty. I ended up sending them both off about a month later, more or less out of contention. Morale improved greatly and the team recovered somewhat.
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