Does fixing the problem with dead ball pitchers shutting off power help with this issue somewhat? 1902 Bill Bernhard is one of the most popular cookies in the sim. He gave up 0.16 HR/9 IRL with 122 OAV+, 166 ERA+, and 150 HR/9+ and costs $35,456 per IP. 2018 Aaron Nola has been used 61 times in the sim. He gave up 0.72 HR/9 IRL and has 125 OAV+, 170 ERA+, and 152 HR/9+ and costs $34,825 per IP. He's the closest comparable to Bernhard in each of these three + categories with at least 200 IP/162.
Bernhard's average performance in the sim is .roughly 254 OAVG, 3.20 ERA, 1.23 WHIP and 0.28 HR/9 in around 1,100 seasons. Nola's average performance is .236 OAVG, 3.44 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, and 0.72 HR/9.
The HR/9 for these two pitchers should be far closer. Nola isn't used more because of the far higher HR/9 figure. If Bernhard and Nola's sim HR/9 were more equalized, which is appropriate given their comparable HR/9+ and similar cost per IP (Bernhard about 2% higher), wouldn't that help with the cookie issue and spread price changes over a larger pool of players because more players would be used?
Warren Spahn, Lefty Grove, Jim Palmer, and Tom Seaver are four all-time great pitchers who are seldom used in competitive theme leagues because their nominal HR/9 and OAVG are too high. These and other great modern pitchers are outperformed by mediocre dead ball pitchers. I have to believe that having more options to build a successful team would not only make the sim more interesting but would reduce cookies as well because more players would be used.