My retirement announcement -- (reserve right to rescind at any time)

rink23 · 11-19-2023, 07:31 AM

Following an 8-2 loss to the Kansas City Royals, St. Louis Cardinals manager and general manager Mike Renkes announced he was stepping away from the franchise.
"It's been a rough season. We don't hit when the pitchers are doing well. And when the hitters have got it going, we can't stop anyone," Renkes said as his team dropped to 28-39 and 22.5 games behind the first-place Chicago Cubs in the National League Central Division.
"We've got some really good players on this team. But they all have seemed to have regressed. I guess it's on me. My job is to make sure they are ready to play."
After opening the season, 14-11 in the month of April St. Louis has gone 14-29 and rank as the worst offensive team in the National League hitting just .202 with 252 runs scored in 68 games.
In his seven plus seasons managing the Cardinals, the team owned a record of 622-580 (.517 winning percentage) and made the playoffs four times.
They lost in a seven-game World Series to the Cleveland Indians in 2023 and defeated the Los Angeles Angels in seven games in 2025.
St. Louis reached the playoffs in 2029 as a wild card but were eliminated in the division round by Cincinnati.
(I have no clue who will replace me, since I am not sure what I am going to do next. --
INSIDER NOTE: The number of strikeouts my team was incurring was just too much to deal with. Even players, who had decent eye and K-rates were striking out 25-30 percent of the time. It's just no fun to hear the umpire cry out "strike three" 13 to 20 times a game. I may even come back to this. The stress of the game just not even being competitive is not something I want to deal with at this moment.
OOTP has become way to important, I have been playing virtually every day for maybe a year, and I need to back away.
Still love the game.

MathBandit · 11-19-2023, 09:50 AM

Have K-rates risen across the league, or is your team striking out significantly more than most?

Charlie Hough · 11-19-2023, 05:50 PM

I feel your pain. The avoid K rating is hugely important in OOTP, and I do everything I can to get rid of players who are below average or worse in this category. Players who strike out a lot will absolutely kill your offense.

Similarly, players with a low eye rating will also cause a lot of problems. They not only don't draw many walks, but they don't tend to get as many hits as their contact suggests, and they tend to hit into bad outcomes more often. I can't tell you how many thousands of times I've seen players with a low eye rating hit into a double play, fail to move a runner over, hit a weak grounder that leads to a runner at third being thrown out at home, hit into a play where a baserunner gets doubled up trying to get back to the base on a hit-and-run, etc.

Also, you can exploit opposing players with a low eye rating by pitching around them more often, which reduces their ability to get base hits, even if they have a really high contact rating and are dangerous hitters otherwise. Sure, it increases the risk of a walk and creates a bit more risk of a hit toward the gaps or down the lines, but the benefits seem to heavily outweigh the risk.

rink23 · 11-20-2023, 02:08 AM

The K-rate in my league is currently 23.4 percent.
My team (the Cardinals) are whiffing at a 28.5 clip.
I can't give you percentages, but I can give you K's per game for the three seasons prior to that..
2030 -- AL 8.7 -- NL 9.0 -- Cardinals 10.5
2029 -- AL 8.8 -- NL 9.1 -- Cardinals 10.2
2028 -- AL 8.1 -- NL 9.2 -- Cardinals 10.4

Going back to percentages in real MLB for the past three seasons.
2023 -- MLB 22.5-- Cardinals 21.3.
2022 -- MLB 22.4 -- Cardinals 19.8
2021 -- MLB 23.1 -- Cardinals 22.3.

What bothered me more than anything is some of the high strike out rates some of the pitchers are putting up.
68 games in there are 22 pitchers who have started 10 or more games averaging more than 10 Ks per game.
There are 41 relievers averaging 10 or more Ks who have worked in at least 25 games.
In MLB this season, 10 starting pitchers averaged 10 Ks per game.
There were 53 relievers who pitched in at least 30 games who averaged 10 Ks per nine.

OutS|der · 11-20-2023, 02:40 PM

Only fix is to use league totals from a year without such crazy K totals. I like mid 90's.

11-19-2023, 07:31 AM	#1
rink23 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2013 Posts: 22,485	My retirement announcement -- (reserve right to rescind at any time) Following an 8-2 loss to the Kansas City Royals, St. Louis Cardinals manager and general manager Mike Renkes announced he was stepping away from the franchise. "It's been a rough season. We don't hit when the pitchers are doing well. And when the hitters have got it going, we can't stop anyone," Renkes said as his team dropped to 28-39 and 22.5 games behind the first-place Chicago Cubs in the National League Central Division. "We've got some really good players on this team. But they all have seemed to have regressed. I guess it's on me. My job is to make sure they are ready to play." After opening the season, 14-11 in the month of April St. Louis has gone 14-29 and rank as the worst offensive team in the National League hitting just .202 with 252 runs scored in 68 games. In his seven plus seasons managing the Cardinals, the team owned a record of 622-580 (.517 winning percentage) and made the playoffs four times. They lost in a seven-game World Series to the Cleveland Indians in 2023 and defeated the Los Angeles Angels in seven games in 2025. St. Louis reached the playoffs in 2029 as a wild card but were eliminated in the division round by Cincinnati. (I have no clue who will replace me, since I am not sure what I am going to do next. -- INSIDER NOTE: The number of strikeouts my team was incurring was just too much to deal with. Even players, who had decent eye and K-rates were striking out 25-30 percent of the time. It's just no fun to hear the umpire cry out "strike three" 13 to 20 times a game. I may even come back to this. The stress of the game just not even being competitive is not something I want to deal with at this moment. OOTP has become way to important, I have been playing virtually every day for maybe a year, and I need to back away. Still love the game. Attached Images Last edited by rink23; 11-19-2023 at 07:32 AM.

11-19-2023, 09:50 AM	#2
MathBandit All Star Starter Join Date: Feb 2021 Posts: 1,445	Have K-rates risen across the league, or is your team striking out significantly more than most?

11-19-2023, 05:50 PM	#3
Charlie Hough Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 3,642	I feel your pain. The avoid K rating is hugely important in OOTP, and I do everything I can to get rid of players who are below average or worse in this category. Players who strike out a lot will absolutely kill your offense. Similarly, players with a low eye rating will also cause a lot of problems. They not only don't draw many walks, but they don't tend to get as many hits as their contact suggests, and they tend to hit into bad outcomes more often. I can't tell you how many thousands of times I've seen players with a low eye rating hit into a double play, fail to move a runner over, hit a weak grounder that leads to a runner at third being thrown out at home, hit into a play where a baserunner gets doubled up trying to get back to the base on a hit-and-run, etc. Also, you can exploit opposing players with a low eye rating by pitching around them more often, which reduces their ability to get base hits, even if they have a really high contact rating and are dangerous hitters otherwise. Sure, it increases the risk of a walk and creates a bit more risk of a hit toward the gaps or down the lines, but the benefits seem to heavily outweigh the risk.

11-20-2023, 02:08 AM	#4
rink23 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2013 Posts: 22,485	The K-rate in my league is currently 23.4 percent. My team (the Cardinals) are whiffing at a 28.5 clip. I can't give you percentages, but I can give you K's per game for the three seasons prior to that.. 2030 -- AL 8.7 -- NL 9.0 -- Cardinals 10.5 2029 -- AL 8.8 -- NL 9.1 -- Cardinals 10.2 2028 -- AL 8.1 -- NL 9.2 -- Cardinals 10.4 Going back to percentages in real MLB for the past three seasons. 2023 -- MLB 22.5-- Cardinals 21.3. 2022 -- MLB 22.4 -- Cardinals 19.8 2021 -- MLB 23.1 -- Cardinals 22.3. What bothered me more than anything is some of the high strike out rates some of the pitchers are putting up. 68 games in there are 22 pitchers who have started 10 or more games averaging more than 10 Ks per game. There are 41 relievers averaging 10 or more Ks who have worked in at least 25 games. In MLB this season, 10 starting pitchers averaged 10 Ks per game. There were 53 relievers who pitched in at least 30 games who averaged 10 Ks per nine.

11-20-2023, 02:40 PM	#5
OutS\|der Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: In A Van Down By The River Posts: 2,713 Infractions: 0/1 (1)	Only fix is to use league totals from a year without such crazy K totals. I like mid 90's.