What is “Relationship”?

[Syd Thrift]

There’s a new (at least as far as I remember) rating you can show in views now called “Relationship” that runs from Very High to Very Low. I assume it has to do with the players’ relationship with the coaching staff and front office but I don’t really know for sure… hence my asking about it.

Anyone? Bueller?

[MathBandit]

A relationship is what we call it when you find a special friend.

[TomVeal]

I had assumed that "Relationship" is a measure of how much the player likes the team, but that's evidently not the case. In one game, a guy with a "Very Strong" relationship to my team refuses to negotiate a contract extension.

[Syd Thrift]

Yeah I thought the same thing. It seems like there's a correlation to "relationship to the team" but a. some guys are listed as "Unknown", which doesn't make any sense to me, and b. it definitely doesn't seem to be a perfect correlation...

[Charlie Hough]

I can't be sure, but I suspect that it has to do with the extent to which a player belongs to the same personality or style as the manager or coach. There is an extensive discussion of Relationships under Managers and Bench Coaches as well as Hitting and Pitching Coaches here:

http://manuals.ootpdevelopments.com/...sonnel_ratings

[tonnage]

I'm not convinced. I wish a dev or mod would jump in here. If you look at my fictional team screen shot, you would think my team would be terrible and full of hate. But they're all happy and my team chemistry says they're ecstatic. It would be nice to know for sure what the relationship status means? Dev's?

[DDover]

Golddiggers aren't known for strong relationships...

[tonnage]

Originally Posted by DDover

Golddiggers aren't known for strong relationships...

LOL! Cheers!

[oldfatbaldguy]

Originally Posted by DDover

Golddiggers aren't known for strong relationships...

Depends on the team's budget.

[Marinersfan51]

Is this from the IAFA stuff? I believe there is a relationship aspect to that that builds by scouting and makes players more likely to sign with your team. I would guess that it is a universal rating that is just hidden or not used for players that aren't in the IAFA pool.

[tonnage]

Originally Posted by Marinersfan51

Is this from the IAFA stuff? I believe there is a relationship aspect to that that builds by scouting and makes players more likely to sign with your team. I would guess that it is a universal rating that is just hidden or not used for players that aren't in the IAFA pool.

No, I haven't even reached the IAFA reveal date in my game. Those are my team players, so it couldn't have anything to do with the IAFAs.

[Matt Arnold]

It was mostly added for the IAFA section to note your relationship with those prospects. I believe for non-IAFA players it's just sort of a general description of their interest/relationship/loyalty to your team.

But it's only one measure, and for non-IAFA players, not necessarily overly descriptive.

[tonnage]

Originally Posted by Matt Arnold

It was mostly added for the IAFA section to note your relationship with those prospects. I believe for non-IAFA players it's just sort of a general description of their interest/relationship/loyalty to your team.

But it's only one measure, and for non-IAFA players, not necessarily overly descriptive.

That doesn't really explain why my team chemistry is ecstatic and all the players have smiley faces, as you can see in the screen shot above. Not for a second would I believe that many players could be so upset and yet be so happy at the same time. I think you folks need to revisit your thinking behind this... for now I'll just remove that column from my team, as it means nothing. Thanks Matt.

[rudel.dietrich]

We should get Ime Udoka to chime in here

[kq76]

I figured it would correlate to one of the feelings in the status tab or maybe the manager's r'ship with them (he has a r'ship tab, but not GM or scouting director), but it doesn't.

Well, it's good to know Vladdy Jr has a good relationship with the Jays I guess. Who's tasked with asking them anyway? And as I expected, it's any day now until Nate Pearson demands a trade.

[Charlie Hough]

Originally Posted by tonnage

That doesn't really explain why my team chemistry is ecstatic and all the players have smiley faces, as you can see in the screen shot above.

Team chemistry, player morale and relationships are three different things in OOTP, and each is based on its own criteria, often with multiple factors for each.

Player morale is determined by player performance, team performance, team transactions, and a player's role on team. It's a combination of those four factors, and player personalities add another layer to this, so personality can impact morale or how sensitive players are to some of the morale factors. Based on how all of this is described in the OOTP manual, team chemistry and relationships do not affect player morale. There is no mention of that at all.

Team chemistry is determined primarily by player classes, which are shown on your club's Team Chemistry screen. "On their personality overview, we will now explicitly list if a player is a member of a certain class. Those classes, and the number of players in each of them, is one of the most important factors in a players' team chemistry rating."

"The Team Chemistry page brings in some chemistry-related information that can be found in other places together in one spot. It includes player relations with the manager, a rating of the team's overall chemistry, the team chemistry component of morale for all players on the active roster, the explicit classes of players (note: not all classes appear here, only the ones with the largest effect on team chemistry), a simple report from the bench coach (usually with some comments as to the overall state), and a list of player concerns in regards to chemistry."

I'm not sure exactly how team chemistry impacts team and individual player performance, but it stands to reason that you want players to be members of positive classes (such as leader, sparkplug or prankster), and you want to avoid players of negative classes such as unmotivated or disruptive.

However, I can tell you from experience that having players in these classes doesn't necessarily mean their individual performance or the team's results will benefit or suffer. That's how it works in real life. For example, I have a player right now who's unmotivated, but he's been hitting way over his ratings for the first 35 games of the season, and there is no sign of any negative impact on his performance or the team's. However, I bet his lack of motivation will potentially limit his further development or cause a more rapid decline once he starts losing his skills. The negative impact of his lack of motivation may not be in the short-term and may not manifest in a batting slump or something immediately obvious. Based on the OOTP manual, all of this stuff is intentionally designed to be a bit fuzzy and not so obvious to determine because that's how it works in real life.

Relationships for players, based on Matt's post, seem to be all about a player's interest, relationship and loyalty to the team. But that sounds like something that would primarily impact contract negotiations with free agents or potential trade deals where a player has a no-trade clause and can decline a trade to your team. Maybe it could impact how hard a player is willing to work for your team or other areas, but I'm willing to bet that it's strictly for transaction purposes.

[Marinersfan51]

Originally Posted by tonnage

That doesn't really explain why my team chemistry is ecstatic and all the players have smiley faces, as you can see in the screen shot above. Not for a second would I believe that many players could be so upset and yet be so happy at the same time. I think you folks need to revisit your thinking behind this... for now I'll just remove that column from my team, as it means nothing. Thanks Matt.

If it functions like the IAFA relationships do (which it sounds like it does if it has any impact at all) it is just that players are more likely to sign with a team they have strong relationships with when the money is the same. Players with strong relationships are going to take more team friendly deals whereas players with weak relationships will want full FMV contracts. Plenty of players can be perfectly happy with their teams and still not want to give them a discount.

Of course this is all speculation and probably incorrect.

[Pdubya64]

On a related note Matt, I've been wanting to ask about one particular event that seems to happen at (or near opening day) for the last 4 or 5 releases at least.

My starting pitchers are fine morale-wise, mostly normal with some small variations. Like clockwork though, right when opening day comes around they all turn negative to one degree or another (usually unhappy or v. unhappy).

When you look at the individual's page, the only variable that is negative is "Player Performance", but that makes no sense because they have yet to even play a game!

[tonnage]

Originally Posted by Charlie Hough

Team chemistry, player morale and relationships are three different things in OOTP, and each is based on its own criteria, often with multiple factors for each.

Player morale is determined by player performance, team performance, team transactions, and a player's role on team. It's a combination of those four factors, and player personalities add another layer to this, so personality can impact morale or how sensitive players are to some of the morale factors. Based on how all of this is described in the OOTP manual, team chemistry and relationships do not affect player morale. There is no mention of that at all.

Team chemistry is determined primarily by player classes, which are shown on your club's Team Chemistry screen. "On their personality overview, we will now explicitly list if a player is a member of a certain class. Those classes, and the number of players in each of them, is one of the most important factors in a players' team chemistry rating."

"The Team Chemistry page brings in some chemistry-related information that can be found in other places together in one spot. It includes player relations with the manager, a rating of the team's overall chemistry, the team chemistry component of morale for all players on the active roster, the explicit classes of players (note: not all classes appear here, only the ones with the largest effect on team chemistry), a simple report from the bench coach (usually with some comments as to the overall state), and a list of player concerns in regards to chemistry."

I'm not sure exactly how team chemistry impacts team and individual player performance, but it stands to reason that you want players to be members of positive classes (such as leader, sparkplug or prankster), and you want to avoid players of negative classes such as unmotivated or disruptive.

However, I can tell you from experience that having players in these classes doesn't necessarily mean their individual performance or the team's results will benefit or suffer. That's how it works in real life. For example, I have a player right now who's unmotivated, but he's been hitting way over his ratings for the first 35 games of the season, and there is no sign of any negative impact on his performance or the team's. However, I bet his lack of motivation will potentially limit his further development or cause a more rapid decline once he starts losing his skills. The negative impact of his lack of motivation may not be in the short-term and may not manifest in a batting slump or something immediately obvious. Based on the OOTP manual, all of this stuff is intentionally designed to be a bit fuzzy and not so obvious to determine because that's how it works in real life.

Relationships for players, based on Matt's post, seem to be all about a player's interest, relationship and loyalty to the team. But that sounds like something that would primarily impact contract negotiations with free agents or potential trade deals where a player has a no-trade clause and can decline a trade to your team. Maybe it could impact how hard a player is willing to work for your team or other areas, but I'm willing to bet that it's strictly for transaction purposes.

In my case this is so far from real life... practically the entire team is supposedly upset with some part of the organization or another yet what part remains a mystery? There's no way to know. Every player's page shows them to be happy with only a couple of guys disappointed in their performance and two others slightly disappointed because I have them on the trading block. Other than that it's roses and sunshine... until you look at that column and it's all doom and gloom. Doesn't make sense... Cheers!

[Matt Arnold]

Originally Posted by tonnage

In my case this is so far from real life... practically the entire team is supposedly upset with some part of the organization or another yet what part remains a mystery? There's no way to know. Every player's page shows them to be happy with only a couple of guys disappointed in their performance and two others slightly disappointed because I have them on the trading block. Other than that it's roses and sunshine... until you look at that column and it's all doom and gloom. Doesn't make sense... Cheers!

Because that column doesn't relate to morale or chemistry or anything like that. As I said, it's basically just a proxy for how many years they've spent on your team, plus maybe some other tweaks like a bonus if you were the team to draft them. It matters for IAFA players, or draftable players to a certain degree, but for other players, it's virtually meaningless for all intents and purposes.