A few ongoing OOTP frustrations

[mtw]

Now that I've played in day-to-day detail four OOTP6 seasons, through v6.02, I feel I have feel a good idea about its ins and outs. I haven't played v6.03 yet, but I didn't see any of these things specifically addressed and I want to get them "off my chest," so to speak. These are ongoing frustrations with the game that for the most part date back to my first go at OOTP3, and that I've been *itching about ever since.

If any have in fact been rectified in v6.03, my apologies.

Player Development
Hitting & Pitching ratings--All increases/decreases still appear to be random, when they shouldn't necessarily be. Up to a point, hitters should tend to increase BB/K talents as they age, and pitchers tend to increase Control as they age. Also, OOTP6 still appears to do the age 32/33 auto decrease hitter HR talent thing, which is baffling.

OOTP6 still does not age players in a realistic manner for fielding range, fielding arm, speed, base stealing, base running. My detailed day-to-day observation has been increases/decreases in these categories are enitely random (saven for fielding arm, which does not develop).

Also, other areas where development is missing entirely and should be present-besides fielding arm-include bunting, baserunning instincts and fielding %.

Retirement
Too many players still manage 15+ year careers despite never getting more than 50AB's or 30IP in a season. Basically, if you're age 30, and have never had more than 100AB's (or more like 200) or an SP with no more than 50IP (more like 100) or a RP w/ no more than 20G (more like 30G) in a season--you should retire (or have an 80% chanceof retiring, to allow for Roy Hobbs).

Similarly, if you're 30+ and have gone two consecutive seasons w/o reaching those standards--you should retire. The lone exception would be major league caliber talent who has spent most of the 2+ seasons on the DL.

Also, retirement for bonafide major leaguers should be handled better. First, retirement should be decided at the end of a season for most players, not the beginning. Yeah, I know that some guys like to announce their retirement, but the majority of guys make that decision (or have it forced upon them) at the end of a season--giving them time to change their minds if they see they can still play.

Also, the *vast* majority of players shouldn't retire while still able to put up benchmark numbers that are, roughly, within 75% of their career average, or still above league average.

Injuries should play more of a factor in retirement decisions, such that if a guy spends more than, say 60 days on the DL after age 37, or makes 3 or more trips to the DL, that should weigh heavily on their decision to retire.

All of the above suggestions are rough, but are IMO better than what I see currently, which for the most part appears to be random retirement once a certain age is reached.

September callups
This one still puzzles me-it doesn't seem like it should be that difficult, but I still see plenty of A-ball players called up to fill out rosters, especially pitchers, who inevitably get into cost their team games, even in pennant chases. Just because major league service time has been introduced doesn't mean logic should be ignored for determining who gets called up.

This is a discussion on the topic dating to early OOTP5:
September call-up discussion

Played game
Plenty of discussion already about lack of managerial options, inability to score errors/earned runs/RBIs, AI logic, etc.

Again, I haven't played v6.03 yet so some or all of these may have already been addressed.