Free agent choosing teams based on distance to hometown?

stevebydac · 03-31-2016, 09:56 PM

I asked this many moons ago and never got an answer. When free agents consider signing with new teams, there is apparently a desire for some players to sign with a team closer to their hometown. Which of the following has the greater effect?

1. Create a square fictional country. Put 4 cities, one in each corner. Make each city 200 miles away from each other. Then create a free agent, put him on a club 90 miles from his "hometown" -- one of the 4 cities (45% of the map size away), but at least 110 miles from the other three cities (55% of the map size away). NOTE: I realize the math isn't perfect, but you get the point.

2. Now take that fictional map, keep the same 4 cities and the free agent, but enlarge the map/country to be huge. So now the 4 cities are 1000 miles apart from each other. And the player is now 200 miles from his "hometown" (20% of the map size away), but 800 miles from the other three cities (80% of the map size away).

So...the player in #2 is more miles away than the player in #1 (200 miles vs 90 miles), BUT...
he is proportionately closer (20% of the map size away vs. 45%).

So if all other factors are equal, which player is more likely to sign with a team in his hometown -- the player closer in miles or a player closer in terms of proportion of the map? What is this "hometown" influence based on?

03-31-2016, 09:56 PM	#1
stevebydac All Star Reserve Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: In a fictional baseball world Posts: 843	Free agent choosing teams based on distance to hometown? I asked this many moons ago and never got an answer. When free agents consider signing with new teams, there is apparently a desire for some players to sign with a team closer to their hometown. Which of the following has the greater effect? 1. Create a square fictional country. Put 4 cities, one in each corner. Make each city 200 miles away from each other. Then create a free agent, put him on a club 90 miles from his "hometown" -- one of the 4 cities (45% of the map size away), but at least 110 miles from the other three cities (55% of the map size away). NOTE: I realize the math isn't perfect, but you get the point. 2. Now take that fictional map, keep the same 4 cities and the free agent, but enlarge the map/country to be huge. So now the 4 cities are 1000 miles apart from each other. And the player is now 200 miles from his "hometown" (20% of the map size away), but 800 miles from the other three cities (80% of the map size away). So...the player in #2 is more miles away than the player in #1 (200 miles vs 90 miles), BUT... he is proportionately closer (20% of the map size away vs. 45%). So if all other factors are equal, which player is more likely to sign with a team in his hometown -- the player closer in miles or a player closer in terms of proportion of the map? What is this "hometown" influence based on? __________________ Last edited by stevebydac; 03-31-2016 at 09:58 PM.