Suggestions: The Offseason

[battists]

This suggestion thread is designed to collect suggestions for the next version of OOTP, on the following topic:

The Offseason

Includes
- Anything that happens from the end of one season until opening day in the next season, including awards, spring training, etc.

Excludes
- Free agency and arbitration (please use the player contracts thread)

Instructions
We will use this thread to collect suggestions on the above topic. Later on, we hope to present this information back to the community in a way that would allow you to vote and prioritize certain features.

If you would like to participate, here are the rules!

1. Only 1 suggestion per post.
2. Suggestions must be on-topic for the thread.
3. Constructive, non-inflammatory suggestions only.
4. No comments on others' suggestions are necessary. That means, we don't need 15 posts in the thread saying "Great idea!" or "I agree!"
5. Please don't link to other forum threads as your way of making suggestions. ("My suggestion can be found HERE.") If it's important enough to you that you want it in this thread, then it should be important enough to put it in the format I've asked for here!
6. You can certainly post suggestions that conflict with or build upon earlier suggestions.
7. Mockups are welcomed, they really help Markus see what you're interested in accomplishing.

Format for Suggestions

Suggestion
What is your suggestion? Be as specific as possible; include the screen you're talking about, if applicable.

Reason
Why do you think this is important? If this is to correct what you perceive as a problem in OOTP 2007, what is that problem? Be as specific as possible.

Priority
In your opinion, how important is this suggestion?
High (MUST have), Medium (should have), Low (nice to have))


Handy Cut-and-Paste Suggestion Form:

Suggestion


Reason


Priority


Thanks for participating!

Steve

[westendcards]

Suggestion
Spring Training needs to be fixed.

Reason
Currently there is no way to have a large qty of players on your team for spring training. The game only allows players who are on the 40 man roster to play during spring training and even then when you send them down when the season starts it counts against them.

Priority
In my opinion this is high priority. Without this you cannot use spring training.

[Mattymo]

Suggestion
Since we can't do any type of "tournament of champions", we need to at least have the option to schedule exhibition games AFTER the season.

Reason
Because a ton of people want to pit a champion of one league versus another (or multiple), and we currently can't do it.

Priority
I think it's medium, but a lot of people in these forums might rate this as high.

[Mattymo]

suggestion
Have the ability to set the date for when free agents file, arbitration, etc...related to my above suggestion.

Reason
If the above is implemented, it might screw up the "champions tournament (or whatever you would call it)" if free agents filed in the middle of it.

Priority
low.

[Muzamba]

Suggestion
Give out additional awards, including a true MVP (not just Best Hitter), Best Reliever, Silver Sluggers, and Comeback Player. Also, add a couple extra custom award fields and allow non-players to be eligible for these awards too.

Reason
Although it's rare, pitchers do win the MVP from time to time. As for the other awards, since MLB hands them out, so should OOTP.

Priority
EXTREMELY HIGH. Honestly, it's not THAT big of a deal. It's just that it seems like it should be such a simple thing to implement that it's frustrating to see it left out year after year.

[Muzamba]

Suggestion
Hand out Manager of the Year and GM/Executive of the Year awards (and as stated above, allow non-players to be eligible for custom awards)

Reason
"If Major League Baseball jumped off a bridge, should OOTP do it to?"

"YES!!!"

Priority
VERY HIGH

[Muzamba]

Suggestion
Allow us to control whether awards are given out per subleague, leaguewide, or both.

Reason
All other major sports leagues award trophies to one individual throughout the league, so it would be nice to have that option in OOTP. Besides, if you have an 8-team league with 2 4-team subleagues, how meaningful is a one-per-subleague award?

Priority
MEDIUM

[Muzamba]

One more thing while on the subject of awards, even though it's not an offseason issue...

Suggestion
Award a Series MVP for each postseason series, as well as an All-Star Game MVP.

Reason
I realize the ASG already has a Player of the Game, but it would be nice to be able to name this award to give it added significance.

Priority
Series MVP: HIGH
ASG MVP: LOW

[discodude5]

Suggestion
How about an award for minor league player of the year.
If there are more custom award slots added to the parent league that may be one way to work this in, if we could select all the minor leagues.

Reason
To give people more control of awards.

Priority
Low

[Stu]

Suggestion
Not sure this is the right place for this... Eliminate the Active Roster during the Offseason. There should only be a 40 man roster. The active roster would be re-activated after Spring Training, at which point players without any options remaining would need to clear waivers in order to be demoted.

Reason
Currently teams can hide players in the minor leagues indefinitely by adding them to the 40 man roster and never promoting them to the active roster. This has always been a problem in OOTP and needs to be fixed. There might be better ways to accomplish this, but the general issue needs to be remedied.

Priority
VERY HIGH

[injury log]

Suggestion

In late January or early February, produce a news message announcing the release of the new BA Top 100 Prospects list, with summary info about the top 5 prospects. For this to really be functional, the BA top 100 list would have to stop updating daily (I'd personally prefer it to be updated twice per year, because constant updating doesn't make much sense).

Reason

In real life, the publication of BA's top 100 prospect list is one of the only anticipated events during an otherwise boring period of the offseason. A news message about the top prospects in the league would help to highlight the game's future stars, who otherwise get no press in the game.

Priority

Low.

[battists]

Suggestion
Allow schedule regeneration during the offseason, not just the preseason.

Reason
If you are trying to extend a league's schedule, the preseason-only rule makes this very difficult.

For example, I had a rookie league that ran 54 games, starting in June. I wanted to expand it to start in April, and play 100 games, but I couldn't recreate the schedule until the preseason started in that league, and that wasn't until April 21st. So, there was no way to make my schedule change work.

If I had been able to modify the schedule during the offseason, this wouldn't have been an issue.

Priority
Low

[kroney37]

Suggestion
I think this has been somewhat covered earlier, but I'd like to see non-roster invitees to spring training and/or extended spring training and/or minor league camps.

Reason
This feature is huge in EHM and helps teams assess potential free agent signings.

Priority
Medium

[kroney37]

Suggestion
Allow human players to take over expansion teams earlier than two days before the expansion draft.

Reason
Allows for higher customization of teams i.e. signing players and staff before the draft.

Priority
Medium

[injury log]

Suggestion

Provide runners-up, or, preferably top 5 (10?) voting results with vote tallies, for the major awards in the offseason.

Reason

It probably wouldn't be that difficult to code, and it would be interesting to see if the award-winner won in a landslide, or if he had close competition. For gameplayers, they would frequently see their own players in the 'top 10' lists for the best pitcher or best batter award, even if their players don't win, which could be rewarding.

Priority

Low.

[mgom27]

Suggestion
Players and Pitchers declaring to be a Free-Agent and Teams setting their Opening Day Rosters in Spring Training not on Opening Day
Reason
Because so we know who is coming a Free-Agent
Because in real Life teams are sending people back to the Minors,Minor League Camp and so on and not just on Opening Day
Priority
High

[thehatfield]

Suggestion: Final Spring Training Standings and Final Spring Training Team Stat Reports should be standalone reports that can be viewed at any time (like the financial report or the top prospects) during a season through the league and/or team homepage.

Reason: As an extra, easy-to-access resource these reports would add extra depth to a particular season's history. At it is you can get to spring training stats in a couple of different ways but having a "final team stat report" would prevent the exclusion of players that you might want to review since they were on the club in Spring Training but might have been traded or released, on the disabled list, or in the low minors since then.

Priority: Low; it's Spring Training after all.

[ms2002]

Suggestion
Make spring training a mix between OOTP2006 and OOTP6. That is, we should have control over what we want to work on with players (i.e. improving a pitcher's endurance, working on a shortstop's defense, etc.) while still being able to simulate games and see results.

Reason
It feels like there is very little control in working with the players' talents in the current version. If I want someone to learn LF or add some velocity, there is absolutely no easy way to do this.

Priority
Medium. This is one of the features from OOTP6 that is still sorely missed.

[Raidergoo]

Processed to this point.

[Dregen]

Suggestion
Have teams move and expansion teams created in the off season

Reason
Realism

Priority
High