[GForce]

I have begun work updating my All-Time Roster Project for OOTP6. I'm adding more negro league players and Japanese players for use in the first June draft, and am also going to add more players to each team. Obviously, I will be looking at the ratings differences in converting from OOTP5 to v6 and seeing what needs to be adjusted.

I hope to have a version out within the next couple of weeks for people to review and offer feedback on. The v5 version was received very well, so hopefully this will be also.

The project includes:
-- 28 teams, two leagues (American & National).

-- Teams are the 26 before the last 4 expansion teams, one team comprised of players from the last 4 expansion teams, and the "Washington Senators," which is made up of Negro League stars and a few Japanese stars as well.

-- Players are rated to correlate to performance in "80's style" baseball. Frank "Home Run" Baker will not hit a max of 12 home runs in a season as he did in his career, but closer to 30-40 to reflect the difference in generation. These guys aren't just imported, but studied and rated accordingly to make a true universe rated on the same scale. Without doing that, a set like this just doesn't work, IMO.

-- Ages reflect when a player played. More recent players are younger. This creates an interesting dynamic as teams need to decide if they will hold on to a veteran if a good young player is coming up behind him, making franchise play a real joy in my eyes. For example, with my age variations, Jimmie Foxx is 29, right in his prime. Mark McGwire is 19. Jason Giambi 18. In 4 years, or when Foxx hits free agency, do the A's let him go to let one of the kids replace him. Do they trade him?

A better scenario...the Yankees have a 28 year old Joe DiMaggio and a 25 year old Mickey Mantle. Do they deal one of them to try to bring back young pitching, for example. Same with Yogi Berra/Bill Dickey (after all, I do not have a DH in this file, so the time needs to get split somewhere).

What about a team like the Mets, which has some potentially great pitching talent (remember, the Mets, because of the age variation, are full of very young guys...Seaver is only 22) but VERY little in the way of offense? Are they willing to part with that to improve at one or even two offensive positions? (in one sim they dealt Seaver to the Pirates for Clemente and veteran second baseman George Grantham, a deal that helped both sides as the Pirates are offensively strong but pitching challenged).

I've seen projects like this that have done things like make everyone 20 or something of that nature in order to have everyone have a long career. The problem with that is there is only so much playing time to go around. Some guys would never get an opportunity. My hope is that this method makes someone have to work to be on top. Each division seems to have a defined top and bottom, except the AL East which is strong top to bottom except the Blue Jays, whose youth in a division that includes the Yanks, Orioles, Tigers, Indians, Red Sox and Negro Leaguers (each of whom finished above .500 in my last sim). You want a project...take the Padres, Mariners or combined expansion teams and try to make them winners.

As for my ratings, everything has been adjusted by me based on the era a player played in, much in the fashion of my TotalMinors work, running players against their respective league numbers for the time they played. This doesn't just mean batting and pitching numbers, but running speed and defensive ratings as well. These are then adjusted for the age the player will be based on my formulas. For example, while still effective, Cy Young has started the downside (he's 36), but is still a top pitcher...for now. If you're running the Red Sox, do you keep him in your rotation, or do you deal him for help in other areas. Though younger, Christy Mathewson, Walter Johnson, Ty Cobb...all in their 30s. How do you handle them?

The only guys I didn't do a set age thing for were the Negro League/Japanese players. I wanted to give them a bit of luck of the draw, and the chance for a longer career. So they have random ages, none older than 30, most in their early 20s. Also, by no means are all the top Negro Leaguers included. In fact, many aren't, so they could be dispersed, with more being included for the draft. I took a top 5 of sorts (Josh Gibson, Oscar Charleston, Turkey Stearnes, Satchel Paige and Buck Leonard) and then filled the rest with random players from the top 10 lists by position in Bill James' Historical Abstract. Martin Dihigo, Heavy Johnson, Louis Santop, Bullet Joe Rogan...luck of the draw brought them in. But many others are outside...for now.

GH