[SirMichaelJordan]

Originally Posted by Syd Thrift

I would *not* call Jeter an average fielding SS at all. He was a mediocre defensive SS who was still good enough to carry the position, which made him into a plus player because of a very good bat. Nomar Garciaparra was somewhat similar although of course he fell off from his peak quickly and severely. I think ironically, since he was the guy who was moved, A-Rod was the best fielder of the three. I very specifically remember A-Rod trying to be Mister Nice Guy when he got traded to the Yankees and not standing in the way of Jeter continuing to play there even though by all accounts he was the better defender (he also got accused of copying Jeter to the extent that the movie Single White Female was brought up that year).

But I do think that gets back to this point: many if not most teams will absolutely stick with a "good enough" fielder if they're a very good hitter. Not all great up-the-middle hitters were mediocre fielders at their position but many were: Griffey post 1995 (and especially in Cincinnati), Mike Piazza, Duke Snider, Ty Cobb, Mickey Mantle... I'm sure I could just keep on naming guys. This isn't even a shot at any of those players. A guy who can play CF at all and lead the league in OPS as Mantle did 6 times in his career is one of the greatest players of all time, and the Mick from 1956-7 is comparable (worth around a WAR less overall which is insane) to Barry Bonds in 2001-2. OOTP ought to reflect this.

Also, just in my experience with building lineups with mediocre teams - which I think is something that doesn't happen super often with players in solo leagues, but this absolutely should be an AI consideration - these considerations change. Let's say you have 4 decent younger players and an older vet who's a 1B/DH at this point. All the younger guys play, say, 1B/LF with a smattering of ability to play at other positions. You do what you can to get all those guys with starter ABs, even if that means putting a 30-rated guy at 3rd or RF for a bit. I had a team that was already going to lose 90 games this year who'd also moved a guy who came up in center out to the corner. His replacement was hot garbage so... in spite of this guy being a big, big negative in CF I moved him back for around half the season. Eventually I'll find a better replacement via the farm or via trade but for now the combination of that guy and the meh RF I had contributed more than the original CF/RF setup.

The bottom line above is, when you're rebuilding you can't always pick and choose how your talent comes up, and you can't always immediately trade away good assets and get equal (future) value in return. Instead, you do what you can with what you have and once you're close, that's when you pull the trigger on the roster-balancing moves. The AI should 100% be thinking this way if they aren't already.

When I said Jeter (my favorite player growing up) was an average SS, I was talking defensively. I said average and not mediocre because I was a fan lol

In the past versions of the game you would never see the game generate a Jeter. Majority of all SS would come in with very high individual fielding ratings.