Posted by tlowster on 1/15/2021 11:49:00 AM (view original):

Posted by bripat42 on 1/15/2021 11:05:00 AM (view original):

Posted by tlowster on 1/15/2021 10:23:00 AM (view original):
Just realized that any starting pitcher that has his settings below 40 will default back to 40 if any pitcher is moved in or out of the rotation. Even if your guy wasn't touched, if the rotatation is altered, each starting pitcher that was set to under 40 pitches will default back to 40.

That's likely just a detail that got overlooked when the change was made and probably will be fixed. I can't imagine why something like that would be intentional.

Agreed. More of a PSA for people to be careful.

Looks like it's already fixed! Nice work.

Yeah, promoting openers for owners to take advantage of LH/RH splits is disingenuous unless a lineup setting is added to counter. Another popular SIM has a "If Facing an Opener" lineup setting. But it is promising that a life-form exists behind HBD development now.

Would have to see how/if it gets exploited. Someone above mentioned that to really exploit it you would need to have the proper personnel. Maybe, forcing Opener games to be real bullpen games. IE limit pitcher PC to say 30 max for any pitcher participating in a game where his team used an opener.

I think I remember Tlowster mentioning this, but the opener strategy could help with the problem of the lefty/righty specialist. Instead of putting a guy in a lefty specialist role, use him as an opener for an inning against lefty heavy lineups.

I just don't think people will be rushing to promote their 27 year old RP that they have had sitting in AAA for five seasons just to use him as an opener and if they do, that is a bit short sighted. An effective opener strategy takes more thought and more busy work than a traditional pitching staff does.

Posted by bripat42 on 1/14/2021 4:13:00 PM (view original):

Posted by kmcelroy85 on 1/14/2021 3:45:00 PM (view original):

Posted by bripat42 on 1/14/2021 12:12:00 PM (view original):

Posted by damag on 1/14/2021 12:01:00 PM (view original):

Posted by kmcelroy85 on 1/14/2021 11:45:00 AM (view original):
These changes check a lot of boxes, thanks! If I had a wish list for the next priority it would be individual base-stealing settings by player.

... Aaaand here we go...

Those asking for individual base-stealing settings would be terrible at chess. Because they clearly aren't able to see beyond just the one change and ignore what the next move would be, then the next one after that, and so on.

Explain? Curious to hear your concern.

1.) First thing to happen is that everyone sets players with speed/baserunning less than, say, 80+/80+, to never steal.
2.) That leads to leaguewide success rates being absurdly high -- think percentages in the high 80s, maybe even the 90s -- because those are the kinds of success rates players with 80+/80+ speed/baserunning ratings have.
3.) Next, owners realize that arm accuracy/arm strength for catchers is now mostly meaningless because the only players running are the ones who already have high success rates against even the best throwing catchers. So, AA/AS becomes the lowest priority for catchers -- and the catcher position becomes just another place to stash DHs with acceptable pitch calling ratings.
4.) Owners rush to the forums to complain about how unrealistic basestealing is in this game and how it needs to be fixed.
5.) Rinse.
6.) Repeat.

Basestealing in HBD has its flaws, but replacing it with a simplistic solution that leads to even more flaws is not the answer. Fixing basestealing would require a massive overhaul of the game engine that would impact how speed and baserunning impact success rates in addition to how pitchers and catchers hold runners.

The doomsday scenario listed above aside, HBD's current base stealing model, both in volume and success rate is incredibly unrealistic when considering the present day base running game in MLB and should be addressed. MLB's success rates the last 4 seasons have continued to trend upwards: 71, 72, 73, to 75% last season. Dirt for instance was around 67 percent the last two seasons and the AVERAGE team stole 125 bases and was caught an absurd 62 times. The team leader in CS in 2019 in MLB was 47, the only team above 40. Last two Dirt seasons saw 20 and 19 clubs steal at least 100 bases. In 2019, MLB had 7. In fact MLB hasn't had a 200 sb team since the 2007 Mets. There's only been 9 teams to reach that mark in the last thirty years.

Sim League Baseball has individual stolen bases settings and that seems to work just fine. If people think that's a problem, HBD players with decent speed shouldn't be generated with deadball era sb success rates.

HBD players with decent speed shouldn't be generated with deadball era sb success rates.

This gets straight to what my thought was, thank you. This game generates a ton of Billy Hamiltons - guys with 90 Baserunning/98 Speed who can't hit anywhere near major league level. If you find just one who can hit .250 - and Billy Hamilton can't hit .250 - he's gonna steal 100 bases easy, and that's 1980s baseball.

For whatever reason, the player generation algorithm doesn't match up with today's real life baseball. My guess - guess - is that if you want to incorporate Individual stolen base settings you have to reconfigure player generation.

I’m ok with the base stealing as it is right now. It allows for different strategies in different leagues rather then everyone trying to build their teams the same.

In Gibson we had 2 guys with over 70 stolen bases and 6 guys with 50 stolen bases. In Riley with 18 games left there are 4 guys with over 50 stolen bases.

I can’t remember the last time I have seen a player with over 100 stolen bases, and I look for them because they are the perfect fit on my team.

Even a player like Jimmie Merced
https://www.whatifsports.com/hbd/Pages/Popups/PlayerRatings.aspx?pid=10082124

that I used the Injury bug to make an even better base stealer I can’t see getting over 80 in a season.

my argument would be to make defensive catchers more valuable and to punish players with poor base running more.

I used to think I loved guys like Victor Rincon
https://www.whatifsports.com/hbd/Pages/Popups/PlayerStats.aspx?pid=8775047

as my backup C because they were defensive, makes pitchers better in tight situations and prevents runners from stealing. Now people are arguing pitch calling doesn’t do anything and even with a strong arm and accuracy Rincon is under a 50% thrown out percentage, why don’t I just put another DH behind the plate?

make the defensive C more valuable in terms of pitch calling, holding players and throwing players out and if will add another layer to the game rather then taking one away.

Having base stealing as a factor makes for a more diverse and exciting game both in real life and HBD. but the low success rates that you can’t control individually- when you can control nearly everything else in the game - is a real drag. I avoid certain players because of it. In Dirt there’s a player with 99 speed and 28 base running. That has resulted in 118 career sb with 107 cs for a 53% success rate.

That rating combination simply should not exist. If a real ballplayer has those steal numbers, he’s not a 99 speed and played in the 19th century. The only example of that in real life would be if you signed an international Olympic sprinter that never played baseball in his life. If the player generator can’t operate with that type of nuance, then we should be able to shut that dude down.

I don't necessarily want HBD to replicate today's MLB, which is strikeouts and homers. I want a balanced game that rewards speed as well as power, pitching and defense.