Master Wish List

[PoisonMaddux]

another quick thought...there should be an option to throw at a player. This would obviously have a VERY high tendency to get your pitcher tossed out of the game, but it should be there. It would serve as much purpose as being able to argue a call right now, except that this way you can actually feel better if you're particularly angry with an opposing player/team.

Seriously, though...I think "Bean Ball" should be an option.

All the decisions you can make in the game are managerial decisions. ie (bunting, sb, defensive positioning, lineup changes)
Managers don't choose to bean a batter in the head. That is something a pissed off pitcher may intentionally do, but I don't any manager will throw out a sign to their pitcher, commanding he hit the next batter in the head. You are the manager in OOTP, not the pitcher. IMO

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally posted by Kelric
So basically it seems we all want everything Major League Baseball has and all the stats tracked....in this one little (albiet great) game. Now do it!

I would amend this statement to read: "So basically it seems we all want everything Major League Baseball has and had and all the stats tracked..."

I personally am interested in seeing rules from past MLB seasons get supported, such as different opening, mid-season, and late season roster sizes, for example.

I'd like to be able to play virtually any era from MLB's history and have OOTP do a pretty good job of emulating it.

That'd be my ultimate wish.

[Dxgarnett]

For online leagues' websites, I'd love it if on the "All Players" page, it listed the team name or initials next to the player. That would save a BUNCH of clicking. Just my two cents.

[eraddeus]

Originally posted by PoisonMaddux
All the decisions you can make in the game are managerial decisions. ie (bunting, sb, defensive positioning, lineup changes)
Managers don't choose to bean a batter in the head. That is something a pissed off pitcher may intentionally do, but I don't any manager will throw out a sign to their pitcher, commanding he hit the next batter in the head. You are the manager in OOTP, not the pitcher. IMO

I disagree with this. I'm pretty sure that managers give the go ahead, maybe not for pitching at someone's head, but for doing an innocent bean on the thigh (OK, I know it hurts). If I were a manager and my pitcher threw at a batter without clearing it through me, he'd never pitch for me again.

[eraddeus]

How about the ability to create stats to track in the game? Also, editing the leaderboard on the standings screen would be a nice touch.

[AngelinOF]

Not sure if this has been mentioned but is there anyway to have the game generate a text file for all those that hit for the cycle much like it does for 3hr, 6 hit, no-hitters, etc.

Also I would like to see the game recognize the Triple Crown for pitchers (era, strikeouts, and wins) not sure how difficult this would be all the info is already there since the news story usually mentions their position in 2 of the 3 categories (wins & era.)

[akw4572]

i'd like to know when a player's ratings change on player development, not just talent.

[Sir Real]

I want to be able to SIM from the STANDINGS screen. (I hate to keep going back to the SCHEDULE screen to access the SIM menu.)

Also, a path to PHOTOS should be provided in each league setup screen.

And of course I want path selections that can be browsed rather than typed in MS-DOS style.

[CareyScurry]

After seconding/thirding requests for Rule 5, explicit player options, more minor league levels, etc...

* Eliminate/minimize the disincentive for September callups by making arbitration eligibility based on either days in the majors or a cross between years played and AB/weighted G-INN.

* Option for free agent compensation (type A, type B, etc...).

[asamford]

- The option to assign each SP to a "personal catcher" who will always catch any game that SP starts.

[CareyScurry]

This is lower priority than a lot of this other stuff, but...
* Expanded amateur draft: not every player signs, players have different levels of signability before the draft, have to negotiate with draftees, etc, unsigned high schoolers potentially re-enter draft in subsequent years, etc...

[mtw]

2nd Major Area of Improvement Wished For...Improved AI Roster Management

In no particular order...

1) September Callup AI, as discussed here: September Callup AI

2) Reduce the AI emphasis on platoons. Basically if the AI has a quality 3 star player at a position, I would prefer he be a full-time player, not a platoon player. In fact, much like starting pitchers who are put in the pen, quality position players who are not starting full-time should get irked as well and send mean messages demanding trades or that they are taking the day off to attend a poker tournament.

3) AI needs to keep a backup at every position, or in the alternative recognize when a player is fatigued and start a logical available player in his place out of position. This apparently happens in the minors; it should happen in the majors too. The AI is killing some the best 1B and 3B right now. Of course, this is after fatigue has been revamped so that players aren't tired 12 games and 13 days into the season.

4) When evaluating Free Agents and Trades, AI needs to scan all positions the player plays to determine how the player could fit into its team. If a player plays LF and RF, but is listed as a LF, the AI should be able to see the player as a RF if it needs one, and evaluate him appropriately.

5) For game-day substiutions for fatigued or injured players, AI should always rework batting order. Currently, it appears to in some games, and definitely does not in others.

6) If the AI has two talented prospects at one position, or even two talented established players, it should "look to the future" and try to teach one of the two players/prospects a new position most similar to the one they have. Right now, the AI only teaches new positions out of necessity (i.e. where there is a hole). An example of this would be: AI has a 4* LF and 4*CF in the majors, and a 2* 1B and 2* RF. It has a 5* prospect in AAA at LF and CF. It should begin teaching the prospects new positions RF and 1B, to prepare itself in the event these guys reach the majors. There is obviously a lot more that could go into the thought process, but that would be pretty basic. Looking at trades is also a possibility, but that should be in addition to and not in place of teaching new positions. This also holds true for SP's/RP's, if an open roster slot is available, the pitcher should pitch at his appropriate minor league level in the available slot, rather than being kicked up a level or kept down a level.

7) The Start Highest Rested Pitcher option needs to be fixed. This may be an issue with 3 and 4 man rotations, as I ahve not tried it with a 5-man. Currently, the AI starts the highest rested pitcher who has not pitched in the previous four days, even though a higher rested pitcher is available. In other words, in a 4-man rotation, a pitcher will pitch every fourth day only if he is the most rested of the other pitchers in the rotation. If the number 4 starter is spot-started for, the number four starters turn will come up again unless the #1 (or 2 or 3) has had four full days off (i.e. no pitches thrown on days 1-4 in his Pitches Thrown Last 5 days box.

The rotation also defaults sometimes to the #4 starter when he is tired if the next pitcher listed in the rotation is tired, even if there is a pitcher above him in the rotation who is rested. Example: #2 starter pitches, #3 & 4 starters are tired for the next day, #1 starter is rested. Game goes to number 4 starter if number one had pitched in previous 4 days. This is not consistent, and the AI sometimes appropriately goes to the number one, but not always.

8) Use stats to distinguish among similarly valued players (players within .5 star of each other). Too often I see the AI playing a guy who is batting .175 with little power over another guy who is hitting .300 because the .175 is however insignifcantly better rated. I don't want to see 2 stars playing over 3 stars necessarily, but if 2 players are within a half star of each other, I'd like to see the AI play the guy swinging the better bat if there is a big difference in performance or if the better rated player is performing significantly below where he should be.

9) The AI is still suspect at generating lineups, often putting players clearly out of position in the batting order. Believe me, I can see the various difficulties in trying to program this, but there are some basics that aren't consistently evident in OOTP. I think the game does a good job of finding the #3 and 4, hitters, and not so good a job of identifying the #1 and #2 hitters or #5 hitters. I see a lot of guys shuffling between different spots in the batting order, when clearly they should be in one place and not another. For instance, I have a guy who is a prototypical leadoff hitter (.300, 90-100 walks, B/B speed/steal) with a 4 power rating whom the AI seems to think should bat 5th, while it bats a .310-.320, 3 power, 60-70 walks, C/C hitter leadoff and a .270-.280, 5 power, 50-60 walks, C/E hitter in the second spot. The would-be AI #2 hitter has an A bunting rating, which may explain a little, but bunting should be a distant second to high speed/steal among similar hitters, which the two players in my example actually are not.

I would like to see hitters have a "preferred slot in batting order" as part of their character makeup, including Leadoff, #2-#5, and "anywhere in lineup", which can change with age and development. I would like to see this impact their happiness as well, as someone who is a #3 type hitter should get angry if he is batting 8th, and a Leadoff hitter should be unhappy if he is hitting cleanup. Their unhappiness should impact their performance. The AI should hit players in their preferred slot when possible.

10) Indirectly related to roster management, during free agency and contract extension talks, I'd like to see a significant amount of weight given in a player's decision for the opportunity to start given a team's current roster and a little for where the player fits into lineup versus his "preferred" position in the lineup. Most players should want the opportunity to excel for personal glory and riches. There should be very few guys who are happy merely for being on a winning team.


A couple more major topics left to cover...later.

[BillyBuck]

There is one thing that I have really wanted to bring up about injuries.

We currently have 2 different types of injuries:

OUT and DAY TO DAY

An "OUT" injury knocks a guy out for 4-5 weeks. You put him on the D.L. for 15...and then wait another 2 or 3 weeks for him to change to "OK".

Wouldn't it be nice (and realistic) if some "OUT" injuries actually changed to "DAY TO DAY" after a certain amount of time, depending on the injury? You wouldn't want to make their playing percentages too high, though. It would depend on the injury I guess. That way we (as the owner/manager) are responsible for making the determination as to when the player comes back. This is why we would have to make the percentages a little lower, I think...usually when a player is listed with a "DAY TO DAY" injury at 85%, I'm going to play him becuz the reward is greater than the risk. But if you have a player who has a badly sprained ankle who was OUT for 2 weeks and comes back as "DAY TO DAY" at 65%, do you play him or not?

A side note...I think there should be MORE "DAY TO DAY" injuries as the season goes on. Just think of all those little "naggers" that players get from playing so much.

Thoughts?

[sebadohjr]

first off, I second/third/fourth (whatever we're up to) the ideas of expanded minor leagues (i.e. rookie ball), personal catchers (the perfect way to sneak rest for a star C without worrying about the AI), improved AI for the lineups when a substitute is starting (I love andy fox as much as anyone, but that doesn't mean I want him batting third when he gets in the game), and most importantly, SERVICE TIME, instead of just years in which he appeared in the majors. As it is currently constituted, there is NO incentive to calling up a hot prospect in September. In fact, it's a decidedly bad decision, regardless of how much you might need the guy (case in point: I have marshall macdougal ready to replace cesar izturis and his .214 career BA, I'm one game out of the playoffs, but I can't justify calling him up because he already has two seasons of big league eligiblity wasted on a combined 45 ABs)
Last suggestion - improved control while managing the games. It's frustrating when I have Joey Thurston on 1st in a tight game with a good contact hitter at the plate. I don't send him because I don't want to run myself out of the inning, but the count gets to 3-1, I know the pitcher has to come over the plate, but I can't do anything about it. Then the guy smacks one into the gap, but thurston only gets to 3rd, Shawn Green strikes out, and there goes any chance I had of winning

(The fact that Green has a combined .240 average in the last three seasons I've played is an entirely separate matter.)

[PoisonMaddux]

edit: nevermind

[akw4572]

Originally posted by PoisonMaddux
the ability to still search for a player by name, or even ratings, after the trading deadline

That's not an option under advanced league setup???

[PoisonMaddux]

thanks akw...not sure how i forgot that. i normally go to player trade when looking up a players name.


i got something else i'd like though

the ability to view career stats for an assortment of players.
that way you could view the stat leaders, currently in the league. my career leaders board is overrun by hank aaron, ruth and eveyone else, so i can't even tell who is approaching #500 anymore.

[jaltiere]

This is a small thing, but I would like to be able to save some sort of a note when I add someone to my watched players list.

ex.
"passed on this guy in the 2007 draft"
or
"traded him for John Doe in 2009 for playoff run"

That way when I go back and look at it I remember why I added that player to the list.

[mtw]

OOTP5 takes a lot of work to get a historical league running accurately, especially from the early era's.

A few suggestions to help us historical simmers:

1) As has been mentioned several times, the League Era also needs to impact the AI Team Strategies in all categories. Stealing and sacrificing are the two main areas, but Hit and Run, Squeeze Bunt, and Intentional Walk should also be impacted. As a starting point for the deadball era, stealing and sacrificing should have a baseline of about four notches to the right on the slider. From there the AI can adjust to suit its team. The stealing and sacrificing should also be adjusted for individual players as well.

Ideally, the game could recognize the year being played and a data file created for the AI to read settings for individual seasons, rather than general eras.

2) In player generation for fictional leagues, generate players according to the eras. Specifically this would mean no pure relief pitchers until probably about 1960. Every pitcher should have a starter rating and be initially designated as a starter. This of course could be partially solved by going from the separate starter/reliever endurance ratings to one endurance rating, but a designation of starting pitcher would still need to be made for each pitcher created.

Also, middle infielders and catchers should generally be generated as weak offensive players until the 1970's. Of course there should be the occasional offensive star, but most should have weak offensive talents.

3) This is a key one for deadball and earlier leagues: league adjustments for errors and double plays. Currently, double plays are based on a modern day model. Modern day double play totals didn't start occurring until around 1920. If there could be a method for reducing the DP totals for early leagues, this would help get better stats.

Errors are an even bigger issue for fictional historical leagues. Manual editing of players is necessary to get accurate error results. One suggestion would be to generate players with fielding %'s according to their era (or better yet, their year of generation). Another would be to give us the ability to globaly edit players, both as a group and by position only. A final suggestion would be to account for the year in the OOTP stat calculating when determining whether or not a player makes an error.

4) Removal of the 255R/ER limit for stat tracking.

5) Ability to customize major league roster sizes.

6) Don't allow the AI to use multiple relievers in games in the Deadball era. Currently, once the starter is pulled (unless it's very early in the game), the AI will pinch hit for any reliever it has brought into the game until it has no pitchers left. This results in a lot of games (relatively speaking) with 3 or 4 pitchers used, when no more than 2 would be seen in the vast majority of Deadball era games. This for the most part is true for the 1920-1945 period as well.

[sebadohjr]

How about split/situational minor league stats? It would be useful in determining/evaluating prospects. In hand with that, the ability to set platoons for your minor league lineups would also be nice.