DH (or not) in historical leagues

[DaBears]

I am a year into a historical league that started in '96. Managing the Yankees, with real transactions (but not lineups) to see if I can beat Torre's record. And I did win the '96 World Series but it was tight. Seattle creamed Texas so we faced the Mariners rather than TEX in the LDS. Swept them, which was nice given what they did to NYY in real life in '95. Beat BAL 4-3 in a really, really tight ALCS and then beat ATL 4-1 in the Series. Lots of fun, and the season stayed pretty close to real life.

So my question is - the only thing I really don't like is the DH. Am I going to kill the league in ways I'm not seeing if I shift the AL to a non-DH setup going forward? I really like this sim and want to keep it going, but am bored stiff at times managing games with the DH. Just don't want to get three months in and find out it totally screwed things up given I'm going with real transactions (but not lineups).

[thehef]

Originally Posted by DaBears

So my question is - the only thing I really don't like is the DH. Am I going to kill the league in ways I'm not seeing if I shift the AL to a non-DH setup going forward? I really like this sim and want to keep it going, but am bored stiff at times managing games with the DH. Just don't want to get three months in and find out it totally screwed things up given I'm going with real transactions (but not lineups).

Sounds like a fun league Here's what I'd do: Make a backup, turn off DH, sim ahead a few years (letting the game handle things; I wouldn't jump in and manage any games for the test), and see if you find things - unintended consequences - that you don't like. Then you can decide if you need to tweak & test other things to make no-DH-in-the-AL work for you, or if you can just go back to your backup and play from there.

Good luck

[DaBears]

Thanks for the thought. Any idea what I ought to look for that might "blow up"?

[thehef]

Originally Posted by DaBears

Thanks for the thought. Any idea what I ought to look for that might "blow up"?

I wouldn't think anything would "blow up" but you might find some stats that you don't like, or players (DH's) playing much less... I would think that, generally, things will look pretty normal. Overall AL offense should be down a bit, given that pitchers are hitting instead of DH's, but it shouldn't be anything unusual... Just scan the stats of a few teams, and check out the differences in league totals - DH vs no-DH - and see if the numbers are acceptable to you.

If the players who are primarily DH's aren't rated high enough to play in the field, then I'd imagine they'd be mostly pinch-hitters. Otherwise, they might bump other starters out of the starting lineup. But you'd expect that sort of thing...

[ablobj]

Originally Posted by thehef

I wouldn't think anything would "blow up" but you might find some stats that you don't like, or players (DH's) playing much less... I would think that, generally, things will look pretty normal. Overall AL offense should be down a bit, given that pitchers are hitting instead of DH's, but it shouldn't be anything unusual... Just scan the stats of a few teams, and check out the differences in league totals - DH vs no-DH - and see if the numbers are acceptable to you.

If the players who are primarily DH's aren't rated high enough to play in the field, then I'd imagine they'd be mostly pinch-hitters. Otherwise, they might bump other starters out of the starting lineup. But you'd expect that sort of thing...

My first thought was that if you have morale, chemistry, etc enabled, you're gonna be getting a lot of emails from angry DH's who are tired of sitting on the bench every day...

[DaBears]

A little bit of follow-up on this.

I simmed a few seasons ahead and there were no meaningful statistical issues. Obviously, offense fades a little with no DH, but that's part of the point and does not in and of itself create an issue league-wise.

The main problem becomes, using historical transactions, that teams are built by the GM to include a DH so when you don't have the slot available you can end up with one of your 3-5 best players having no place to play. For the '97 NYY, you have Cecil Fielder and Tino Martinez, both of whom can only play 1B (or DH). Turning off morale helps in the game itself, but emotionally you have a hard time seeing having your third best batter on the bench day after day. Not exactly realistic - and I personally have a very hard time when the game moves from real life. Just an issue for me - others may not care.

Interesting exercise, and I'm not sure what I'll decide.

[thehef]

Originally Posted by DaBears

A little bit of follow-up on this.

I simmed a few seasons ahead and there were no meaningful statistical issues. Obviously, offense fades a little with no DH, but that's part of the point and does not in and of itself create an issue league-wise.

The main problem becomes, using historical transactions, that teams are built by the GM to include a DH so when you don't have the slot available you can end up with one of your 3-5 best players having no place to play. For the '97 NYY, you have Cecil Fielder and Tino Martinez, both of whom can only play 1B (or DH). Turning off morale helps in the game itself, but emotionally you have a hard time seeing having your third best batter on the bench day after day. Not exactly realistic - and I personally have a very hard time when the game moves from real life. Just an issue for me - others may not care.

Interesting exercise, and I'm not sure what I'll decide.

That's the conundrum: Using historical transactions with no DH means that real transactions happen in order to put (in many cases) a masher DH in the lineup, but those DH's that can't be used because of no DH. So, if it were me and I was going with unreality in removing the DH, I would also go with unreality in edit the fielding ratings of the DH guys (the ones with little or no ratings-ability to play in the field. Otherwise it just doesn't make sense... Depending upon your recalc settings, you might have to edit these handful-or-so guys each year, but that's not too difficult, considering the alternative...

[DaBears]

Originally Posted by thehef

That's the conundrum: Using historical transactions with no DH means that real transactions happen in order to put (in many cases) a masher DH in the lineup, but those DH's that can't be used because of no DH. So, if it were me and I was going with unreality in removing the DH, I would also go with unreality in edit the fielding ratings of the DH guys (the ones with little or no ratings-ability to play in the field. Otherwise it just doesn't make sense... Depending upon your recalc settings, you might have to edit these handful-or-so guys each year, but that's not too difficult, considering the alternative...

Follow-up on this - I decided to try it without DH and moved Tino Martinez to LF, gave him ratings that put him at "40" for the position (45 for range, arm and error), and we'll see how it goes. I felt okay about those ratings given I'm not putting a masher with no defense out there. Martinez was actually a pretty good 1B.

I actually really do appreciate that suggestion. It took a few days to figure out the direction I wanted to go. On the one hand, I do want the realism but I also realize that in all honesty, if I keep the DH I'm going to dump this game over time. Hate to "cheat" a little, but feel like I found a good balance overall to keep a game I really am enjoying, and modify without giving myself some major advantage.

Your 1997 New York Yankees!!! Everything real - except Cecil Fielder will be manning 1B this year while Tino Martinez after an incredibly productive offseason learning his new position moves to LF.

[Garlon]

I suggest you make any changes before you proceed to Opening Day since that is when the game will calculate the League Totals Modifiers for the season.

[DaBears]

Originally Posted by Garlon

I suggest you make any changes before you proceed to Opening Day since that is when the game will calculate the League Totals Modifiers for the season.

I did it two days after World Series, so should be okay. Good point, though.