Frustration has settled in

Fronzizzle · 05-21-2018, 06:41 PM

Let me say that I understand real baseball isn't exact or science and that players/prospects often can and do develop differently than expected. Some pan out, some don't and some stars come from nowhere. I get it.

However - I have no simmed 15 years as the Tigers, and for whatever reason (the Tigers themselves, me, programming, code, etc.) 95% of the players I trade for/sign end up worse - usually WAY worse - after I sign them, and players I let leave and/or trade end up better - usually WAY better - after they go. It's not age related, many of the players I let leave are already in their 30's but it doesn't seem to matter, as soon as they are out of Detroit then they are All-Stars.

There was a free-agent closer. 5 stars/5 stars. Averaged 2.5 WAR for 6 years. I signed him to a 2-year deal, he had 2 and -0.2 WAR. He left, has now had 3 straight years of 2.5 WAR.

Beau Burrows was a solid starter for me, he averaged about 4 WAR/season. After his age-32 season I let him leave. Washington signed him, he had 6 WAR in his first year and a minimum of 4 in the three seasons since.

I traded for a DH/RF. Had him for 5 years. Averaged 2.8 WAR/season with a high of 3. His first year on another team, he already has 3.4 WAR by the All-Star break.

I'm not writing this post to complain about the game, but rather try and figure out why this keeps happening - what I wrote above are a couple of examples but it's literally every move I make. High end free agents, trading for 5-star prospects, trading platoon players or players that are 2 WAR. I've been through multiple scouts and assistant GM's and I can't seem to make a right decision - if I resign my players they tank, if I let them go they are All-Stars. Not sure what I'm doing wrong, but it's impossible to build a team when you get every single decision wrong.

andyhdz · 05-21-2018, 06:53 PM

If you have team chemistry on how has your team been feeling? Does it have any captains? Team chemistry is a very real thing in this game that will lose you some games. Also how do you have scouting setup? That might be one of several reasons why you feel your team is under performing. If you are a beginner, i would suggest you turn that off and maybe even managers and scouting too until you get a better feel for the game. Then add in the other stuff for a bigger challenge.

Critical Mass · 05-21-2018, 06:57 PM

Definitely check the mood of the players. Maybe the manager or bench coach needs to go. Something's definitely wrong in that locker room.

The Yurpman · 05-21-2018, 07:31 PM

There's a lot more that is working "behind the scenes", so to say, that can influence whether players and teams succeed or fail. Team chemistry is a big one, especially if you are losing. The team morale, and ultimately their play, can plummet fast. Likewise if you are winning a lot, you can get away with unmotivated and selfish player types.

legofarley · 05-21-2018, 08:21 PM

Don't forget to compare ballpark factors of players (where they're coming from vs. where they're going) before you agree to a trade. If you trade for a guy who's mashing home runs in Yankee stadium, he's not gonna hit as many HR's in other ballparks.

gemini615 · 05-21-2018, 08:50 PM

If you have any players with a "disruptive" personality I would consider trading or cutting them immediately. I had a very good team over the course of a few seasons in which the majority of my players hit around .300 and racked up a ton of wins. Then one off season I signed an outfielder who I thought would be a nice addition only I started losing big time and all my .300 hitters were only hitting around .250. It took me about a month to figure out I had signed a clubhouse cancer before I traded him away. Once he was gone, I got an email stating the players were happy to seem him go and they all started hitting .300 again.

RchW · 05-21-2018, 09:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fronzizzle

Let me say that I understand real baseball isn't exact or science and that players/prospects often can and do develop differently than expected. Some pan out, some don't and some stars come from nowhere. I get it.

However - I have no simmed 15 years as the Tigers, and for whatever reason (the Tigers themselves, me, programming, code, etc.) 95% of the players I trade for/sign end up worse - usually WAY worse - after I sign them, and players I let leave and/or trade end up better - usually WAY better - after they go. It's not age related, many of the players I let leave are already in their 30's but it doesn't seem to matter, as soon as they are out of Detroit then they are All-Stars.

There was a free-agent closer. 5 stars/5 stars. Averaged 2.5 WAR for 6 years. I signed him to a 2-year deal, he had 2 and -0.2 WAR. He left, has now had 3 straight years of 2.5 WAR.

Beau Burrows was a solid starter for me, he averaged about 4 WAR/season. After his age-32 season I let him leave. Washington signed him, he had 6 WAR in his first year and a minimum of 4 in the three seasons since.

I traded for a DH/RF. Had him for 5 years. Averaged 2.8 WAR/season with a high of 3. His first year on another team, he already has 3.4 WAR by the All-Star break.

I'm not writing this post to complain about the game, but rather try and figure out why this keeps happening - what I wrote above are a couple of examples but it's literally every move I make. High end free agents, trading for 5-star prospects, trading platoon players or players that are 2 WAR. I've been through multiple scouts and assistant GM's and I can't seem to make a right decision - if I resign my players they tank, if I let them go they are All-Stars. Not sure what I'm doing wrong, but it's impossible to build a team when you get every single decision wrong.

What has your record been in that 15 years? Can you post a screenshot?

Déjà Bru · 05-21-2018, 09:45 PM

These guys ^^^^^ have it right. I cannot stress Team Chemistry strongly enough.

I had one of those multi-year downturns where everybody and everything mostly s**ked no matter what I tried. I knew about avoiding lazy bums and team disrupters but I was operating in a negative fashion. What I should have been recruiting were not just non-troublemakers but leaders, particularly a Captain.

Another thing: I was also relying too heavily on young guys. A successful team apparently is a blend of youth and experience. When I finally looked at the Team Chemistry page for the first time, the complaint from the team itself was the lack of veterans!

When I paid attention to these two things, my fortunes started turning around. Good players that I drafted or traded for came to my team and actually did not s**k! Some of them, anyway.

Fronzizzle · 05-22-2018, 07:21 PM

Thanks for all the replies.

I can't figure out how to put screenshots within the post, so I attached two: my overall record after 15 years (about .500), and my current team chemistry.

I make sure to stay away from trouble makers, I usually don't even mess with players with low work ethic.

NoOne · 05-22-2018, 09:46 PM

try something different for different results... keep trying until something works well.

batters are straightforward. if they got the ratings, hang on to them.

pitching is complicated. the same rated players can have drastically different results. i'd study any pitcher in your league that consistently performs well. monkey see, monkey do.

adjust what you value. take a long-term, planned approach.

as far as players playing better or worse with you and someone else, i wouldn't read into that too much. so many factors are invovled, it's impossible to know in any 1 observance what the exact cause is for certain. if ratings are relatively the same, then it is more likely just random luck why one year was better than the other. maybe they played better team defense? maybe burrows had a extremely low hr/9 relative to career average that year? a vast majority in the statistical difference will be related to similar things and only a very small portion related to personality.

things related to team chem, personality and coaches are small potato effects. team chem will be good when you have a playoff-quality team due to wins. don't be swapping out 80contact/100 + 80pow/100 players for some team captain that is maxing out at 60con/60power or something with a better personality. that's a guaranteed net loss there.

i wouldn't give up much offense for even an infinitely better personality. need a captain? find a bench player that fills that role without losing any real talent.

there's a lot of small effects in this game. don't lose sight of proper weighting of these effects. the player's ratings are the extreme majority of what matters. if they are less than 90% of the total pie, i'd be surprised.

gemini615 · 05-22-2018, 10:07 PM

The last 5 years you've had decent records, but your team is finishing a lot of games behind the top 2 teams in the division. This is just wild speculation, but I'm guessing those 2 top teams probably have superstar pitchers? Considering a normal mlb schedule has you playing each of your division foes 20 plus times a year, if you're running into premier pitching consistently then your player's batting averages are probably going to suffer a bit.

wallewalls · 05-22-2018, 10:57 PM

it could just be bad luck. what have your pythagorean win-loss figures been like?

3RunHomer · 05-23-2018, 06:57 AM

What’s your player development budget?

If your prospects regularly turn to crap, then something like that budget or your minor league coaches might be out of whack. They are a dumb/unrealistic part of the game, but they are in there so you have to deal with them.

It’s also possible that the game is programmed to poop all over certain teams to make them a bigger challenge. That would explain difficulties with Detroit, Baltimore, Miami and San Diego.

mmarra82 · 05-23-2018, 07:41 AM

Looks like you have fielded a competitive team, just things have not worked in your favor. Patience is a big factor. Careful investing in older free agents, they can decline quickly. Generally you are paying free agents for what they have done, not what they will do.

MisterTidster · 06-07-2018, 11:57 AM

The most obvious answer is morale. Morale has a huge impact on production and a good clubhouse chemistry can boost players morale to overcome other complaints. Some players will have morale (production) issues if they’re not in their desired role, so check to see if they are batting near the end of the lineup when they want to lead off or bat in the middle or if they expect to be a starter/closer. Using players how they want helps. Also, winning always seems to help morale.

If team chemistry and morale are good, but you still have issues, it might have something to do with your ballpark. A power hitter who played in Colorado or Texas will likely see a big drop in production if they end up playing in a pitchers’ park. The effect seems somewhat exaggerated in the game.

The next place I would check would be your coach relationship tab. Pitchers can suffer if your coach heavily favors offense. Power hitters can suffer if your coach heavily favors speed. Some coaches are better at benefiting players that are not in a category they favor than others, so it really pays to examine the developmental relationship section of the coach relationship tab when you hire coaches and to know what players will and won’t shine on your roster. If a player has a negative development relationship with both coach and bench coach, they will be a train wreck. Also, paying attention to those development relationships for your minor league coaches really help when it comes to prospects quickly moving up through your minor league system and adding additional stars for potential ratings.

SpartyQ · 06-07-2018, 05:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MisterTidster

The most obvious answer is morale. Morale has a huge impact on production and a good clubhouse chemistry can boost players morale to overcome other complaints. Some players will have morale (production) issues if they’re not in their desired role, so check to see if they are batting near the end of the lineup when they want to lead off or bat in the middle or if they expect to be a starter/closer. Using players how they want helps. Also, winning always seems to help morale.

If team chemistry and morale are good, but you still have issues, it might have something to do with your ballpark. A power hitter who played in Colorado or Texas will likely see a big drop in production if they end up playing in a pitchers’ park. The effect seems somewhat exaggerated in the game.

The next place I would check would be your coach relationship tab. Pitchers can suffer if your coach heavily favors offense. Power hitters can suffer if your coach heavily favors speed. Some coaches are better at benefiting players that are not in a category they favor than others, so it really pays to examine the developmental relationship section of the coach relationship tab when you hire coaches and to know what players will and won’t shine on your roster. If a player has a negative development relationship with both coach and bench coach, they will be a train wreck. Also, paying attention to those development relationships for your minor league coaches really help when it comes to prospects quickly moving up through your minor league system and adding additional stars for potential ratings.

I'm also simming with the Tigers and have had the same thing happen - players being drastically better as soon as they leave my team. I have no character issues at any level and have Captain and leaders on the team. It mostly affects pitchers for me - high WHIP and many ERAs over 6.

I will check my coaches as I do think they tend to favor offense (Alex Cora is currently at the helm). And I will also check the player relationships between HC and BC. Beyond that, I'm not sure what to do.

Latest had a decent prospect in Kyle Funkhouser pitching poorly for me, ERAs over 5 with high WHIP. He left the team and is now pitching wonderfully, low 3's ERA, good ratios.

Cowboys3356 · 06-11-2018, 11:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fronzizzle

Let me say that I understand real baseball isn't exact or science and that players/prospects often can and do develop differently than expected. Some pan out, some don't and some stars come from nowhere. I get it.

However - I have no simmed 15 years as the Tigers, and for whatever reason (the Tigers themselves, me, programming, code, etc.) 95% of the players I trade for/sign end up worse - usually WAY worse - after I sign them, and players I let leave and/or trade end up better - usually WAY better - after they go. It's not age related, many of the players I let leave are already in their 30's but it doesn't seem to matter, as soon as they are out of Detroit then they are All-Stars.

There was a free-agent closer. 5 stars/5 stars. Averaged 2.5 WAR for 6 years. I signed him to a 2-year deal, he had 2 and -0.2 WAR. He left, has now had 3 straight years of 2.5 WAR.

Beau Burrows was a solid starter for me, he averaged about 4 WAR/season. After his age-32 season I let him leave. Washington signed him, he had 6 WAR in his first year and a minimum of 4 in the three seasons since.

I traded for a DH/RF. Had him for 5 years. Averaged 2.8 WAR/season with a high of 3. His first year on another team, he already has 3.4 WAR by the All-Star break.

I'm not writing this post to complain about the game, but rather try and figure out why this keeps happening - what I wrote above are a couple of examples but it's literally every move I make. High end free agents, trading for 5-star prospects, trading platoon players or players that are 2 WAR. I've been through multiple scouts and assistant GM's and I can't seem to make a right decision - if I resign my players they tank, if I let them go they are All-Stars. Not sure what I'm doing wrong, but it's impossible to build a team when you get every single decision wrong.

I see two possibilities:

1) OOTP is incredibly accurate in recreating the "Detroit Effect" and just like in real life everyone does better when they move away from Detroit whether in sports or just life in general.

2) You are not very good at OOTP and make bad moves??

Yes I am joking around and not insulting you! While incredibly frustrating, sometimes this is just how the game goes and is why we all have a crazy love/hate relationship with OOTP!!!

NoOne · 06-11-2018, 05:09 PM

turn 100% accuracy on for 5-10 seasons. if you still can't win with that, you know it's either financial management/management (includes all methods of procurement) AND/OR player evaluation.

jimmysthebestcop · 06-12-2018, 04:07 AM

Depending on league setup I look for free agent and older players who are in the US Indy leagues who are Captains.

Typically can find a backup catcher and a infield utility player who carry the captain status and grab that player.

The rule 5 draft has also allowed me to grab a captain as a bench role. That 3rd guy on the bench is there in case of in game emergency and an extra inning pinch hit. So its not a big loss if he isn't any good its all about the leadership.

Look at all of the Dutch Dalton stories. He gets traded to the Marlins who are in a race and calls a team meeting Day 1 at the team. So many of the Marlin players give him credit as getting them to the WS. And he was only there at the trade deadline.

I try to carry 2 captains at all times. They are even good for your prospects at AAA and AA. I find it harder near impossible to get them in Single A or lower.

In game example Byrce Harper usually puts up MVP numbers for 10 years but if a bad team signs him and there are no leaders or captains he destroys the morale. So even good players get upset and under perform.

SpartyQ · 06-12-2018, 11:12 AM

Ok, things are beginning to look up with my Tigers sim. I fired Cora - his Sabermetrics management style was pulling starters after 3 innings on occasion, even if they were pitching well and had a low pitch count. I turned Tony Gwynn into a coach a few years back and he worked his way up to Bench coach - handed him the reins midseason and awarded an extension in offseason. He has a great rapport with the players. Added an additional leader, improved the defense just a bit, and brought in a solid veteran pitcher to pair with the young pitchers.

Pitching is now around league average and we're actually 5 games above .500 for the first time since I took over. Thankfully, as this is my first time playing the game, I turned off the option to be fired as GM.

Just a fantastic game...

On a side note, maybe my favorite thing so far was seeing my 16 year old International signing killing it at age of 19. Enough that I brought him up in September where he hit 9 HRs. Killed it again in Spring. And I smiled as I sent him down to AAA just long enough to gain that extra year of team control.

05-21-2018, 06:41 PM	#1
Fronzizzle Minors (Double A) Join Date: Jul 2013 Posts: 177	Frustration has settled in Let me say that I understand real baseball isn't exact or science and that players/prospects often can and do develop differently than expected. Some pan out, some don't and some stars come from nowhere. I get it. However - I have no simmed 15 years as the Tigers, and for whatever reason (the Tigers themselves, me, programming, code, etc.) 95% of the players I trade for/sign end up worse - usually WAY worse - after I sign them, and players I let leave and/or trade end up better - usually WAY better - after they go. It's not age related, many of the players I let leave are already in their 30's but it doesn't seem to matter, as soon as they are out of Detroit then they are All-Stars. There was a free-agent closer. 5 stars/5 stars. Averaged 2.5 WAR for 6 years. I signed him to a 2-year deal, he had 2 and -0.2 WAR. He left, has now had 3 straight years of 2.5 WAR. Beau Burrows was a solid starter for me, he averaged about 4 WAR/season. After his age-32 season I let him leave. Washington signed him, he had 6 WAR in his first year and a minimum of 4 in the three seasons since. I traded for a DH/RF. Had him for 5 years. Averaged 2.8 WAR/season with a high of 3. His first year on another team, he already has 3.4 WAR by the All-Star break. I'm not writing this post to complain about the game, but rather try and figure out why this keeps happening - what I wrote above are a couple of examples but it's literally every move I make. High end free agents, trading for 5-star prospects, trading platoon players or players that are 2 WAR. I've been through multiple scouts and assistant GM's and I can't seem to make a right decision - if I resign my players they tank, if I let them go they are All-Stars. Not sure what I'm doing wrong, but it's impossible to build a team when you get every single decision wrong.

05-21-2018, 06:53 PM	#2
andyhdz All Star Starter Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Fresno, CA by way of Texas Posts: 1,754	If you have team chemistry on how has your team been feeling? Does it have any captains? Team chemistry is a very real thing in this game that will lose you some games. Also how do you have scouting setup? That might be one of several reasons why you feel your team is under performing. If you are a beginner, i would suggest you turn that off and maybe even managers and scouting too until you get a better feel for the game. Then add in the other stuff for a bigger challenge. Last edited by andyhdz; 05-21-2018 at 06:54 PM.

05-21-2018, 08:21 PM	#5
legofarley Major Leagues Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 460	Don't forget to compare ballpark factors of players (where they're coming from vs. where they're going) before you agree to a trade. If you trade for a guy who's mashing home runs in Yankee stadium, he's not gonna hit as many HR's in other ballparks. __________________ El Jimbo - OOTP fanatic since V. X & Official Fan of Justafan

05-21-2018, 09:45 PM	#8
Déjà Bru Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: United States Posts: 10,456	These guys ^^^^^ have it right. I cannot stress Team Chemistry strongly enough. I had one of those multi-year downturns where everybody and everything mostly s*ked no matter what I tried. I knew about avoiding lazy bums and team disrupters but I was operating in a negative fashion. What I should have been recruiting were not just non-troublemakers but leaders, particularly a Captain. Another thing: I was also relying too heavily on young guys. A successful team apparently is a blend of youth and experience. When I finally looked at the Team Chemistry page for the first time, the complaint from the team itself was the lack of veterans! When I paid attention to these two things, my fortunes started turning around. Good players that I drafted or traded for came to my team and actually did not s*k! Some of them, anyway. __________________ - Bru

05-22-2018, 07:21 PM	#9
Fronzizzle Minors (Double A) Join Date: Jul 2013 Posts: 177	Thanks for all the replies. I can't figure out how to put screenshots within the post, so I attached two: my overall record after 15 years (about .500), and my current team chemistry. I make sure to stay away from trouble makers, I usually don't even mess with players with low work ethic. Attached Images

05-21-2018, 06:57 PM	#3
Critical Mass Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Apr 2010 Posts: 273	Definitely check the mood of the players. Maybe the manager or bench coach needs to go. Something's definitely wrong in that locker room.

05-21-2018, 07:31 PM	#4
The Yurpman Major Leagues Join Date: Jul 2012 Posts: 318	There's a lot more that is working "behind the scenes", so to say, that can influence whether players and teams succeed or fail. Team chemistry is a big one, especially if you are losing. The team morale, and ultimately their play, can plummet fast. Likewise if you are winning a lot, you can get away with unmotivated and selfish player types.

05-21-2018, 08:50 PM	#6
gemini615 All Star Reserve Join Date: Aug 2017 Posts: 671	If you have any players with a "disruptive" personality I would consider trading or cutting them immediately. I had a very good team over the course of a few seasons in which the majority of my players hit around .300 and racked up a ton of wins. Then one off season I signed an outfielder who I thought would be a nice addition only I started losing big time and all my .300 hitters were only hitting around .250. It took me about a month to figure out I had signed a clubhouse cancer before I traded him away. Once he was gone, I got an email stating the players were happy to seem him go and they all started hitting .300 again.

05-22-2018, 09:46 PM	#10
NoOne Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2015 Posts: 7,167	try something different for different results... keep trying until something works well. batters are straightforward. if they got the ratings, hang on to them. pitching is complicated. the same rated players can have drastically different results. i'd study any pitcher in your league that consistently performs well. monkey see, monkey do. adjust what you value. take a long-term, planned approach. as far as players playing better or worse with you and someone else, i wouldn't read into that too much. so many factors are invovled, it's impossible to know in any 1 observance what the exact cause is for certain. if ratings are relatively the same, then it is more likely just random luck why one year was better than the other. maybe they played better team defense? maybe burrows had a extremely low hr/9 relative to career average that year? a vast majority in the statistical difference will be related to similar things and only a very small portion related to personality. things related to team chem, personality and coaches are small potato effects. team chem will be good when you have a playoff-quality team due to wins. don't be swapping out 80contact/100 + 80pow/100 players for some team captain that is maxing out at 60con/60power or something with a better personality. that's a guaranteed net loss there. i wouldn't give up much offense for even an infinitely better personality. need a captain? find a bench player that fills that role without losing any real talent. there's a lot of small effects in this game. don't lose sight of proper weighting of these effects. the player's ratings are the extreme majority of what matters. if they are less than 90% of the total pie, i'd be surprised. Last edited by NoOne; 05-22-2018 at 09:53 PM.

05-22-2018, 10:07 PM	#11
gemini615 All Star Reserve Join Date: Aug 2017 Posts: 671	The last 5 years you've had decent records, but your team is finishing a lot of games behind the top 2 teams in the division. This is just wild speculation, but I'm guessing those 2 top teams probably have superstar pitchers? Considering a normal mlb schedule has you playing each of your division foes 20 plus times a year, if you're running into premier pitching consistently then your player's batting averages are probably going to suffer a bit.

05-22-2018, 10:57 PM	#12
wallewalls All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2016 Posts: 774 Infractions: 0/1 (1)	it could just be bad luck. what have your pythagorean win-loss figures been like?

05-23-2018, 06:57 AM	#13
3RunHomer Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: May 2018 Posts: 23	What’s your player development budget? If your prospects regularly turn to crap, then something like that budget or your minor league coaches might be out of whack. They are a dumb/unrealistic part of the game, but they are in there so you have to deal with them. It’s also possible that the game is programmed to poop all over certain teams to make them a bigger challenge. That would explain difficulties with Detroit, Baltimore, Miami and San Diego.

05-23-2018, 07:41 AM	#14
mmarra82 Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Long Island, NY Posts: 310	Looks like you have fielded a competitive team, just things have not worked in your favor. Patience is a big factor. Careful investing in older free agents, they can decline quickly. Generally you are paying free agents for what they have done, not what they will do.

06-07-2018, 11:57 AM	#15
MisterTidster Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: May 2018 Posts: 39	The most obvious answer is morale. Morale has a huge impact on production and a good clubhouse chemistry can boost players morale to overcome other complaints. Some players will have morale (production) issues if they’re not in their desired role, so check to see if they are batting near the end of the lineup when they want to lead off or bat in the middle or if they expect to be a starter/closer. Using players how they want helps. Also, winning always seems to help morale. If team chemistry and morale are good, but you still have issues, it might have something to do with your ballpark. A power hitter who played in Colorado or Texas will likely see a big drop in production if they end up playing in a pitchers’ park. The effect seems somewhat exaggerated in the game. The next place I would check would be your coach relationship tab. Pitchers can suffer if your coach heavily favors offense. Power hitters can suffer if your coach heavily favors speed. Some coaches are better at benefiting players that are not in a category they favor than others, so it really pays to examine the developmental relationship section of the coach relationship tab when you hire coaches and to know what players will and won’t shine on your roster. If a player has a negative development relationship with both coach and bench coach, they will be a train wreck. Also, paying attention to those development relationships for your minor league coaches really help when it comes to prospects quickly moving up through your minor league system and adding additional stars for potential ratings.

06-11-2018, 05:09 PM	#18
NoOne Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2015 Posts: 7,167	turn 100% accuracy on for 5-10 seasons. if you still can't win with that, you know it's either financial management/management (includes all methods of procurement) AND/OR player evaluation.

06-12-2018, 04:07 AM	#19
jimmysthebestcop Banned Join Date: Jun 2018 Posts: 1,728 Infractions: 0/2 (5)	Depending on league setup I look for free agent and older players who are in the US Indy leagues who are Captains. Typically can find a backup catcher and a infield utility player who carry the captain status and grab that player. The rule 5 draft has also allowed me to grab a captain as a bench role. That 3rd guy on the bench is there in case of in game emergency and an extra inning pinch hit. So its not a big loss if he isn't any good its all about the leadership. Look at all of the Dutch Dalton stories. He gets traded to the Marlins who are in a race and calls a team meeting Day 1 at the team. So many of the Marlin players give him credit as getting them to the WS. And he was only there at the trade deadline. I try to carry 2 captains at all times. They are even good for your prospects at AAA and AA. I find it harder near impossible to get them in Single A or lower. In game example Byrce Harper usually puts up MVP numbers for 10 years but if a bad team signs him and there are no leaders or captains he destroys the morale. So even good players get upset and under perform.

06-12-2018, 11:12 AM	#20
SpartyQ Bat Boy Join Date: May 2018 Posts: 10	Ok, things are beginning to look up with my Tigers sim. I fired Cora - his Sabermetrics management style was pulling starters after 3 innings on occasion, even if they were pitching well and had a low pitch count. I turned Tony Gwynn into a coach a few years back and he worked his way up to Bench coach - handed him the reins midseason and awarded an extension in offseason. He has a great rapport with the players. Added an additional leader, improved the defense just a bit, and brought in a solid veteran pitcher to pair with the young pitchers. Pitching is now around league average and we're actually 5 games above .500 for the first time since I took over. Thankfully, as this is my first time playing the game, I turned off the option to be fired as GM. Just a fantastic game... On a side note, maybe my favorite thing so far was seeing my 16 year old International signing killing it at age of 19. Enough that I brought him up in September where he hit 9 HRs. Killed it again in Spring. And I smiled as I sent him down to AAA just long enough to gain that extra year of team control.