Some issues: Catcher offense, positional injury distribution, reliever decisions, pitcher usage

HoustonGM · 07-12-2016, 11:45 AM

I'm currently in the midst of the 2028 season, having played since 2016. I have four main gripes and am wondering if there's anything in the settings that can be done to adjust these issues:

1) Catcher Offense
I noticed this in OOTP16 as well. There are far too many outstanding offensive catchers. Take a look at these stats from my last season:

That's like 6 Mike Piazzas... and this is an every year occurrence. In real life, hitters this good are generally moved off catcher early on in their development (ie. Bryce Harper, as one recent example).

2) Injury Distribution
It's been my perception that injuries are not distributed realistically across positions. Catchers and pitchers should deal with the most nagging injuries, and pitchers the most long term injuries. Catchers seem to be able to consistently catch 140 games a year for many years. Those should be few and far between. Pitchers certainly do get hit with long term injuries, but I don't think they get hit with enough of the short term nagging injuries that cause them to miss some starts. Outfielders, on the other hand, seem to be a super injury prone bunch. There's a ton of great outfielders in my league that can just barely scrape up 400 plate appearances each year. This might just be my perception, but it's a pretty strong feeling and I haven't been able to find any settings anywhere to control injury frequency on a positional basis...

3) Reliever Decisions
Closers specifically, and other relievers to a lesser extent, receive way too many W-L decisions. In real life, closers tend to get maybe 5-6 decisions a year on average. In my league, that's more like 14. Too many closers with records of 10-6, 8-8, 6-12, etc.

4) Pitcher Usage
What I mean by this is the frequency with which pitchers are switched between roles, specifically starter and closer. A lot of pitchers move from closing to starting and vice versa, and sometimes back and forth over the course of a couple seasons. This happens in real life but is relatively rare and generally a decent size story, whereas it's almost the norm in my league. To a lesser extent, this applies also to how the AI handles the closer position in general - keeping players there despite 7+ ERA all season (with 50% AI weight given to current season stats), moving players out of the role over the offseason for a worse player despite great performance, etc.

Any tips, ideas, thoughts, etc. on these issues would be appreciated!

ThePretender · 07-12-2016, 01:46 PM

I don't think the catcher thing is an issue. I have a league going on 50 years and while there are some good catchers, there are not a ton like you suggest. Each league is going to have a different positional strength - for some it might be CF, or 3B, and in your case it looks like C. Golden age of catchers is what they'd call it if it was happening now. Don't think that's league specific.

I do agree with your catcher point. I think catcher "stamina" should be lowered. Only the truly elite/durable should be able to even handle 130. Most should be good at 120 or so starts. I'd say even playing 5 games in a row should suffer a performance penalty of some sort.

I don't know how you'd change the RP record issue. If teams are coming back late and getting that many decisions against relievers (and I've seen it as well), does that mean relievers need to be more effective? Otherwise I don't know what to say. Not something I think can be fixed. Might have more decisions being made if you have a CL come in before the 9th, otherwise not sure what to tell you.

As for your pitcher stamina issue, not sure what to do about that. Maybe have something where a SP needs to build up stamina (in ST or minor league rehab) so it takes 2-3 starts to take full advantage of stamina. Otherwise game should treat them like a RP. Of course, for guys with nagging injuries, they shouldn't need rehab, but it'd be simple enough to code. If number of starts over past 30 games = 0, then pitcher needs 1-2 rehab starts. If number of starts over past 2 months = 0, then they need 3-4 rehab starts. Otherwise if they don't meet that criteria a pitcher will suffer a performance penalty and a stamina penalty during the start.

ralphieboy · 07-12-2016, 04:32 PM

I am going to agree on the catchers. I have a good fictional league that I'm really enjoying. Right now the two of the biggest offensive producers are a 34 year old and 39 year old catcher in each league. It seems catching every day should take more of a toll on these type of hitters. My league is a little run heavy, but these guys had over 40 homers each last season.

Bobfather · 07-12-2016, 04:57 PM

Could the catcher issue be because there are so few offensive catchers that teams are concentrating on developing more of them. Is their another position that has dropped in offense?

TuckerDuckson · 07-12-2016, 06:51 PM

I think he's right on the Catchers though to a point, many catchers who are offensive powers are moved to other positions, (Biggio, Harper, Josh Donaldson even) I've seen serious offensive powers just stay catchers which doesn't seem practical

Also players stay catchers for a long time in both games, I personally don't see a catcher putting up decent defensive numbers when he's 36, he's has to have a bum knee or two, catchers like this (Victor Martinez, Joe Mauer, Wilin Rasario) have switched to other positions like 1st base or DH, but most super offensive powers can't switch due to lack of fielding rating, I think all catchers should have the basic fielding ratings to play first, but you would need to develop the position

ThePretender · 07-12-2016, 07:32 PM

I haven't followed catcher defence but I know players at many other defensive positions face hard declines defensively as they get older.

RchW · 07-12-2016, 07:44 PM

I think the point is well made re catchers. I see it in my leagues too. Catchers don't get injured and/or tired enough. When they do the backup is likely to be a better batter than you'd expect a backup C to be due to OOTP AI reliance on "best batting lineup". If a good hitting backup plays 100+ games due to injuries that just reinforces the problem. Some of the catcher defense is scary bad.

Gorinski · 07-13-2016, 07:16 PM

I definitely agree with the first two items. Haven't paid attention to the others.

marc5477 · 07-16-2016, 07:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HoustonGM

I'm currently in the midst of the 2028 season, having played since 2016. I have four main gripes and am wondering if there's anything in the settings that can be done to adjust these issues:

1) Catcher Offense
I noticed this in OOTP16 as well. There are far too many outstanding offensive catchers. Take a look at these stats from my last season:

2) Injury Distribution
It's been my perception that injuries are not distributed realistically across positions. Catchers and pitchers should deal with the most nagging injuries, and pitchers the most long term injuries. Catchers seem to be able to consistently catch 140 games a year for many years. Those should be few and far between. Pitchers certainly do get hit with long term injuries, but I don't think they get hit with enough of the short term nagging injuries that cause them to miss some starts. Outfielders, on the other hand, seem to be a super injury prone bunch. There's a ton of great outfielders in my league that can just barely scrape up 400 plate appearances each year. This might just be my perception, but it's a pretty strong feeling and I haven't been able to find any settings anywhere to control injury frequency on a positional basis...

3) Reliever Decisions
Closers specifically, and other relievers to a lesser extent, receive way too many W-L decisions. In real life, closers tend to get maybe 5-6 decisions a year on average. In my league, that's more like 14. Too many closers with records of 10-6, 8-8, 6-12, etc.

4) Pitcher Usage
What I mean by this is the frequency with which pitchers are switched between roles, specifically starter and closer. A lot of pitchers move from closing to starting and vice versa, and sometimes back and forth over the course of a couple seasons. This happens in real life but is relatively rare and generally a decent size story, whereas it's almost the norm in my league. To a lesser extent, this applies also to how the AI handles the closer position in general - keeping players there despite 7+ ERA all season (with 50% AI weight given to current season stats), moving players out of the role over the offseason for a worse player despite great performance, etc.

Any tips, ideas, thoughts, etc. on these issues would be appreciated!

1) Probably a fluke. I have never seen so many dominant catchers in any of my games. But it has to happen to someones game.

2) I agree and this is a well known issue. A few years ago I did some thorough research about injuries and discovered that ootp does not do a great job at simulating them. Namely there are too many long term injuries, too many young player injuries, and not nearly enough short term injuries. The game needs to increase the frequency of 1-3 day injuries (heck almost everyone gets the flu every year or two), and the rate of major injuries needs to decrease. Setting the game to low injuries really doesnt solve the problem.

3) You can change coaching tendencies so starters are pulled less frequently and relievers used less often. There is a league setting for it. Alternatively you can tweek pitcher stamina and such to fine tune it. I do agree that I see too many 12-8 relievers (mostly stoppers) but honestly it doesnt bother me much. I am not a fan of modern baseball.

4) I have not noticed this in my games. Closers and stoppers are almost always the best relievers on each team. Im sure its happened but its not common in my league.

SirMichaelJordan · 07-18-2016, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HoustonGM

I'm currently in the midst of the 2028 season, having played since 2016. I have four main gripes and am wondering if there's anything in the settings that can be done to adjust these issues:

1) Catcher Offense
I noticed this in OOTP16 as well. There are far too many outstanding offensive catchers. Take a look at these stats from my last season:

That's like 6 Mike Piazzas... and this is an every year occurrence. In real life, hitters this good are generally moved off catcher early on in their development (ie. Bryce Harper, as one recent example).

2) Injury Distribution
It's been my perception that injuries are not distributed realistically across positions. Catchers and pitchers should deal with the most nagging injuries, and pitchers the most long term injuries. Catchers seem to be able to consistently catch 140 games a year for many years. Those should be few and far between. Pitchers certainly do get hit with long term injuries, but I don't think they get hit with enough of the short term nagging injuries that cause them to miss some starts. Outfielders, on the other hand, seem to be a super injury prone bunch. There's a ton of great outfielders in my league that can just barely scrape up 400 plate appearances each year. This might just be my perception, but it's a pretty strong feeling and I haven't been able to find any settings anywhere to control injury frequency on a positional basis...

3) Reliever Decisions
Closers specifically, and other relievers to a lesser extent, receive way too many W-L decisions. In real life, closers tend to get maybe 5-6 decisions a year on average. In my league, that's more like 14. Too many closers with records of 10-6, 8-8, 6-12, etc.

4) Pitcher Usage
What I mean by this is the frequency with which pitchers are switched between roles, specifically starter and closer. A lot of pitchers move from closing to starting and vice versa, and sometimes back and forth over the course of a couple seasons. This happens in real life but is relatively rare and generally a decent size story, whereas it's almost the norm in my league. To a lesser extent, this applies also to how the AI handles the closer position in general - keeping players there despite 7+ ERA all season (with 50% AI weight given to current season stats), moving players out of the role over the offseason for a worse player despite great performance, etc.

Any tips, ideas, thoughts, etc. on these issues would be appreciated!

I agree with all 4 points made and have notice the same since OOTP 16. Also guys who may say catcher dominance is a fluke may want to run some test over years and years using default PCM's.

Speaking of catchers being so good offensively, I think that may be the main reason I see teams spend a lot of money on multiple catchers in game. Also if you notice that the best players in foreign leagues tend to always be American catchers using the quickstart (or catchers that are generated from the league with the highest PCM's)

Catchers being so good could be the lack of injuries and the lack of the AI changing the position of poor defensive catchers. As I mention, teams spend a lot of money on multiple catchers with the better defensive catcher usually being the starter while the guy with great numbers sits on the bench instead of being moved to 1b for example.

The settings for pitcher usage does not fix the problem specifically the way closers are used in the game which is responsible for their high W/L record. I believe Markus changed the logic for how closers are used.

Cinnamon J. Scudworth · 07-18-2016, 11:07 AM

It seems to me that injury distribution problem is the result of the fact that virtually all injuries in OOTP are the result of a play in-game (there are some off-the-field injuries, but they are much rarer). Pitchers and catchers are involved in far fewer plays in the field (likewise pitchers at the plate, if the DH is in effect), and so they are much less likely to be injured. Where injury chances are concerned, OOTP doesn't seem to "count" the catcher's presence during at-bats, either.

sprague · 07-18-2016, 11:13 AM

I find it only takes about 10 years into a game, to get 5-6 draft classes into the majors, to see an incredible amount of the top 50 players all being great hitting catchers. Like super sluggers.
I have had to go through drafts, and every year make a few catchers into ok outfielders or firstbasemen just to keep the position skew about right.

HoustonGM · 07-18-2016, 01:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sprague

I find it only takes about 10 years into a game, to get 5-6 draft classes into the majors, to see an incredible amount of the top 50 players all being great hitting catchers. Like super sluggers.
I have had to go through drafts, and every year make a few catchers into ok outfielders or firstbasemen just to keep the position skew about right.

Yep, this has been my impression each time I've started a new league. It doesn't fluctuate with time either. New great hitting catchers continually enter the league.

For my current season, I tried to turn position player fatigue to "low", because I thought non-catchers tended to play too few games through a combination of injuries/fatigue... and what happened was that catchers played even more games than in previous years and there was no noticeable change at other positions.

15 catchers played in 150 games! That's absurd. Compared to other positions:

1B - 8
2B - 10
3B - 13
SS - 6

And most absurd of all... TEN outfielders. Of all outfielders across the three spots, only 10 played in 150+ games, just confirming my impression that they face far too many injury/fatigues issues, especially compared to catcher. I suspect that Cinnamon J. Scudworth's idea might be the case.

fcabanski · 07-20-2016, 07:43 AM

"I do agree with your catcher point. I think catcher "stamina" should be lowered. Only the truly elite/durable should be able to even handle 130. Most should be good at 120 or so starts. I'd say even playing 5 games in a row should suffer a performance penalty of some sort."

Every time I've had a double header, both catchers catch both games.

ehencley · 07-20-2016, 10:50 AM

I personally think there are too many catchers with great arms.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

thriller13 · 07-22-2016, 12:14 AM

The problem seems to be related to fielding balls in play/injury relationship. Catcher's and DH almost never get injured in OOTP 17. 1st basemen also seem to get hurt very rarely. There has been other threads that mention this. I just make sure my big dollar hitters are my catcher, 1st basemen, and a DH. Never sign a big dollar free agent outfielder unless you are going to make him the DH. Having 6-8 cheap interchangeable good defense outfielders is the way to go as 2-4 of them will always be on the DL. The issues seems to multiply itself as players who get injured drop from Normal to Fragile to Wrecked as each injury happens so before long all the outfielders can barely walk while the catchers who never get hurt stay durable forever.
I know that this will probably get attacked - perceptional bias, small sample, no data. I have posted league wide data from my last fictional season in another thread. Catchers comprised 4% of the injuries, DH 0%, outfielders over 30%.

Number4 · 07-22-2016, 01:58 AM

Is there a pbp event for C getting hurt on a foul tip? If there is, it maybe should be more often, seems to be a common occurence. If not, it needs to be implemented.

Gorinski · 07-22-2016, 10:17 PM

Here are some HR stats from my fictional league or 45 years that partially addresses Catcher's offense and OF injuries.

300+ Career HRs by Position

C - 23
1B - 21
2B - 2
SS - 4
3B - 9
LF - 1
CF - 2
RF - 6

Catchers should not have the highest amount of HRs and OFs have such a low number because they are always injured.

I don't believe this is a new phenomenon. It's been this way for several versions for fictional leagues. While I love OOTP and will continue to support it, I really wish this would be fixed.

thriller13 · 07-23-2016, 01:02 AM

The lack of interest in this topic everytime it comes up is frustrating. About the only positive is I have more time to play other games. Ootp 17 will probably go down as my least played version since the one where Markus rebuilt everything from the ground up.

byzeil · 07-24-2016, 01:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thriller13

The lack of interest in this topic everytime it comes up is frustrating. About the only positive is I have more time to play other games. Ootp 17 will probably go down as my least played version since the one where Markus rebuilt everything from the ground up.

The lack of interest may be that maybe many people aren't seeing what you are seeing? Not saying you aren't seeing it but how wide spread is it?

I ran a test overnight. An out of the box 45 year sim starting in 2016 using the MLB setup (just MLB and minors). I wiped historical stats so I'm only looking at stats from OOTP. I changed no settings in OOTP (except for turning off facegen and baseball cards).

Players with 300+ career HR'sin the 45 year sim:
C - 9
1B- 29
2B- 3
3B- 19
SS- 16
OF- 36

Other than 2B being very low that seems to be a pretty reasonable distribution.

As for players playing 150+ games in a season. I looked at the 45th year of the sim:

C- 0 (though 16 played 140-149 games)
1B- 15
2B- 15
3B- 11
SS- 12
OF- 29

Again, seems reasonable distribution though overall that seems like an awful lot of players playing 150+ games.

Next I am going to run a 45 year fictional league out of the box and see what I get there.

07-12-2016, 11:45 AM	#1
HoustonGM Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: New Jersey Posts: 448	Some issues: Catcher offense, positional injury distribution, reliever decisions, pitcher usage I'm currently in the midst of the 2028 season, having played since 2016. I have four main gripes and am wondering if there's anything in the settings that can be done to adjust these issues: 1) Catcher Offense I noticed this in OOTP16 as well. There are far too many outstanding offensive catchers. Take a look at these stats from my last season: That's like 6 Mike Piazzas... and this is an every year occurrence. In real life, hitters this good are generally moved off catcher early on in their development (ie. Bryce Harper, as one recent example). 2) Injury Distribution It's been my perception that injuries are not distributed realistically across positions. Catchers and pitchers should deal with the most nagging injuries, and pitchers the most long term injuries. Catchers seem to be able to consistently catch 140 games a year for many years. Those should be few and far between. Pitchers certainly do get hit with long term injuries, but I don't think they get hit with enough of the short term nagging injuries that cause them to miss some starts. Outfielders, on the other hand, seem to be a super injury prone bunch. There's a ton of great outfielders in my league that can just barely scrape up 400 plate appearances each year. This might just be my perception, but it's a pretty strong feeling and I haven't been able to find any settings anywhere to control injury frequency on a positional basis... 3) Reliever Decisions Closers specifically, and other relievers to a lesser extent, receive way too many W-L decisions. In real life, closers tend to get maybe 5-6 decisions a year on average. In my league, that's more like 14. Too many closers with records of 10-6, 8-8, 6-12, etc. 4) Pitcher Usage What I mean by this is the frequency with which pitchers are switched between roles, specifically starter and closer. A lot of pitchers move from closing to starting and vice versa, and sometimes back and forth over the course of a couple seasons. This happens in real life but is relatively rare and generally a decent size story, whereas it's almost the norm in my league. To a lesser extent, this applies also to how the AI handles the closer position in general - keeping players there despite 7+ ERA all season (with 50% AI weight given to current season stats), moving players out of the role over the offseason for a worse player despite great performance, etc. Any tips, ideas, thoughts, etc. on these issues would be appreciated!

07-12-2016, 06:51 PM	#5
TuckerDuckson Major Leagues Join Date: Feb 2016 Posts: 447	I think he's right on the Catchers though to a point, many catchers who are offensive powers are moved to other positions, (Biggio, Harper, Josh Donaldson even) I've seen serious offensive powers just stay catchers which doesn't seem practical Also players stay catchers for a long time in both games, I personally don't see a catcher putting up decent defensive numbers when he's 36, he's has to have a bum knee or two, catchers like this (Victor Martinez, Joe Mauer, Wilin Rasario) have switched to other positions like 1st base or DH, but most super offensive powers can't switch due to lack of fielding rating, I think all catchers should have the basic fielding ratings to play first, but you would need to develop the position __________________ Plays legit baseball now. My OOTP ratings are low. 2022 update: I'm two stars!

07-12-2016, 07:44 PM	#7
RchW Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Toronto ON by way of Glasgow UK Posts: 15,629	I think the point is well made re catchers. I see it in my leagues too. Catchers don't get injured and/or tired enough. When they do the backup is likely to be a better batter than you'd expect a backup C to be due to OOTP AI reliance on "best batting lineup". If a good hitting backup plays 100+ games due to injuries that just reinforces the problem. Some of the catcher defense is scary bad. __________________ Cheers RichW If you’re looking for a good cause to donate money to please consider a Donation to Parkinson’s Canada. It may help me have a better future and if not me, someone else. Thanks. “Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition …There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.” Frank Wilhoit

07-18-2016, 11:07 AM	#11
Cinnamon J. Scudworth All Star Starter Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Washington, DC Posts: 1,119	It seems to me that injury distribution problem is the result of the fact that virtually all injuries in OOTP are the result of a play in-game (there are some off-the-field injuries, but they are much rarer). Pitchers and catchers are involved in far fewer plays in the field (likewise pitchers at the plate, if the DH is in effect), and so they are much less likely to be injured. Where injury chances are concerned, OOTP doesn't seem to "count" the catcher's presence during at-bats, either. __________________ "Sometimes, this is like going to a grocery store. You’ve got a list until you get to the check-out stand. And then you start reading People magazine, and all this other [stuff] ends up in the basket." -Sandy Alderson on the MLB offseason

07-22-2016, 01:58 AM	#17
Number4 Major Leagues Join Date: Sep 2014 Posts: 460	Is there a pbp event for C getting hurt on a foul tip? If there is, it maybe should be more often, seems to be a common occurence. If not, it needs to be implemented. __________________ "Odor is now 2 for 5 today" (Commentator, after Rougned Odor, up to then 1 for 4, punched Jose Bautista square in the face.)

07-12-2016, 01:46 PM	#2
ThePretender All Star Starter Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 1,321	I don't think the catcher thing is an issue. I have a league going on 50 years and while there are some good catchers, there are not a ton like you suggest. Each league is going to have a different positional strength - for some it might be CF, or 3B, and in your case it looks like C. Golden age of catchers is what they'd call it if it was happening now. Don't think that's league specific. I do agree with your catcher point. I think catcher "stamina" should be lowered. Only the truly elite/durable should be able to even handle 130. Most should be good at 120 or so starts. I'd say even playing 5 games in a row should suffer a performance penalty of some sort. I don't know how you'd change the RP record issue. If teams are coming back late and getting that many decisions against relievers (and I've seen it as well), does that mean relievers need to be more effective? Otherwise I don't know what to say. Not something I think can be fixed. Might have more decisions being made if you have a CL come in before the 9th, otherwise not sure what to tell you. As for your pitcher stamina issue, not sure what to do about that. Maybe have something where a SP needs to build up stamina (in ST or minor league rehab) so it takes 2-3 starts to take full advantage of stamina. Otherwise game should treat them like a RP. Of course, for guys with nagging injuries, they shouldn't need rehab, but it'd be simple enough to code. If number of starts over past 30 games = 0, then pitcher needs 1-2 rehab starts. If number of starts over past 2 months = 0, then they need 3-4 rehab starts. Otherwise if they don't meet that criteria a pitcher will suffer a performance penalty and a stamina penalty during the start.

07-12-2016, 04:32 PM	#3
ralphieboy Major Leagues Join Date: Mar 2016 Location: Winston-Salem, NC Posts: 382	I am going to agree on the catchers. I have a good fictional league that I'm really enjoying. Right now the two of the biggest offensive producers are a 34 year old and 39 year old catcher in each league. It seems catching every day should take more of a toll on these type of hitters. My league is a little run heavy, but these guys had over 40 homers each last season.

07-12-2016, 04:57 PM	#4
Bobfather All Star Starter Join Date: Jun 2016 Location: Boston Ma. Posts: 1,551	Could the catcher issue be because there are so few offensive catchers that teams are concentrating on developing more of them. Is their another position that has dropped in offense?

07-12-2016, 07:32 PM	#6
ThePretender All Star Starter Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 1,321	I haven't followed catcher defence but I know players at many other defensive positions face hard declines defensively as they get older.

07-13-2016, 07:16 PM	#8
Gorinski Minors (Single A) Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 78	I definitely agree with the first two items. Haven't paid attention to the others.

07-18-2016, 11:13 AM	#12
sprague All Star Starter Join Date: Aug 2011 Posts: 1,947	I find it only takes about 10 years into a game, to get 5-6 draft classes into the majors, to see an incredible amount of the top 50 players all being great hitting catchers. Like super sluggers. I have had to go through drafts, and every year make a few catchers into ok outfielders or firstbasemen just to keep the position skew about right.

07-20-2016, 07:43 AM	#14
fcabanski Minors (Double A) Join Date: May 2015 Posts: 169	"I do agree with your catcher point. I think catcher "stamina" should be lowered. Only the truly elite/durable should be able to even handle 130. Most should be good at 120 or so starts. I'd say even playing 5 games in a row should suffer a performance penalty of some sort." Every time I've had a double header, both catchers catch both games.

07-20-2016, 10:50 AM	#15
ehencley Minors (Single A) Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 71	I personally think there are too many catchers with great arms. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

07-22-2016, 12:14 AM	#16
thriller13 Minors (Single A) Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Peoria, Arizona Posts: 85	The problem seems to be related to fielding balls in play/injury relationship. Catcher's and DH almost never get injured in OOTP 17. 1st basemen also seem to get hurt very rarely. There has been other threads that mention this. I just make sure my big dollar hitters are my catcher, 1st basemen, and a DH. Never sign a big dollar free agent outfielder unless you are going to make him the DH. Having 6-8 cheap interchangeable good defense outfielders is the way to go as 2-4 of them will always be on the DL. The issues seems to multiply itself as players who get injured drop from Normal to Fragile to Wrecked as each injury happens so before long all the outfielders can barely walk while the catchers who never get hurt stay durable forever. I know that this will probably get attacked - perceptional bias, small sample, no data. I have posted league wide data from my last fictional season in another thread. Catchers comprised 4% of the injuries, DH 0%, outfielders over 30%.

07-22-2016, 10:17 PM	#18
Gorinski Minors (Single A) Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 78	Here are some HR stats from my fictional league or 45 years that partially addresses Catcher's offense and OF injuries. 300+ Career HRs by Position C - 23 1B - 21 2B - 2 SS - 4 3B - 9 LF - 1 CF - 2 RF - 6 Catchers should not have the highest amount of HRs and OFs have such a low number because they are always injured. I don't believe this is a new phenomenon. It's been this way for several versions for fictional leagues. While I love OOTP and will continue to support it, I really wish this would be fixed.

07-23-2016, 01:02 AM	#19
thriller13 Minors (Single A) Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Peoria, Arizona Posts: 85	The lack of interest in this topic everytime it comes up is frustrating. About the only positive is I have more time to play other games. Ootp 17 will probably go down as my least played version since the one where Markus rebuilt everything from the ground up.