Let's talk defense.

[Fibonacci]

I've heard a lot of good things about the historical simulation improvements in 2007, but not much has been mentioned about defense. I wondered if those testing the historical aspects of the game would care to comment. Specifically;

1) Are the really good defensive players IRL, like Brooks Robinson really good in the game?

2) Are the lousy RL defenders like Dick Allen also lousy in the game?

More generally;

3) Does defense have a significant impact on game play? In other words, would it be a better call to have a great defensive SS that bats .220 in the lineup or an average defender that hits .270? Does the AI agree when making lineups?

4) Is defense adequately reflected in the positional ratings?

[rocknfire7]

I would say it depends at least in part to the era you choose to play in, and how often you have the game recalc. (1, 3 or 5 year ). In 2007 the game will know when the Babe quit pitching and rate him accordingly as a slugger.

[Fibonacci]

Originally Posted by rocknfire7

I would say it depends at least in part to the era you choose to play in, and how often you have the game recalc. (1, 3 or 5 year ). In 2007 the game will know when the Babe quit pitching and rate him accordingly as a slugger.

My question here isn't so much about what defensive position a player plays, but how well he plays it, and how does defensive strength effect gameplay

[rocknfire7]

Originally Posted by Fibonacci

My question here isn't so much about what defensive position a player plays, but how well he plays it, and how does defensive strength effect gameplay

The game will also calculate/recalculate his fielding based on the era and the players skill at whatever position the recalc. is covering. If he had a bad year with the glove in say, 1983, and the settings are to recalculate every year, then yes he will play like he did in real life that year. If the settings are to recalculate every 3 years then that one year may pull down his other two years for a three year average. How exactly that works...... If the ratings are for the next three years, the present year plus the year after and before, or the previous three years is unknown to me. It's a little vague on what specific years are used.

[Fibonacci]

Originally Posted by rocknfire7

The game will also calculate/recalculate his fielding based on the era and the players skill at whatever position the recalc. is covering. If he had a bad year with the glove in say, 1983, and the settings are to recalculate every year, then yes he will play like he did in real life that year. If the settings are to recalculate every 3 years then that one year may pull down his other two years for a three year average. How exactly that works...... If the ratings are for the next three years, the present year plus the year after and before, or the previous three years is unknown to me. It's a little vague on what specific years are used.

So, based on your experience with OOTP 2007, the answers to 1 & 2 are affirmative, and defensive ratings of historical players in the game is pretty accurate.

What is your opinion of the importance of defense as far as the AI is concerned? Does the AI place any emphasis on defense when selecting lineups? How much better defensively does a player have to be to replace a better hitter in the lineup

[rocknfire7]

Originally Posted by Fibonacci

So, based on your experience with OOTP 2007, the answers to 1 & 2 are affirmative, and defensive ratings of historical players in the game is pretty accurate.

What is your opinion of the importance of defense as far as the AI is concerned? Does the AI place any emphasis on defense when selecting lineups? How much better defensively does a player have to be to replace a better hitter in the lineup

limited experience....(stressing the limited) I don't remember 1 and 2 not being true in 2006( other then 1B's importing as 10's no matter what they were in 6.5.)
I didn't think to check on how well 6.5 or 2006 imports to 2007.

I used the Lahman database and found the fielding to be pretty accurate for the deadball era I was playing. Hopefully your other post will get the answers you need.
I can't answer your last question but it's a very good one.
Sorry if I can't help more.

[StyxNCa]

If a firstbaseman played other IF positions, then he will have a very high rating at 1st (usually 100). 1st base seems to have a different rating system (which you can see if you look at those who played ONLY 1B). Higher range ratings, etc., for the other IF positions really yank up the ratings for someone who also plays 1B. I think this is something that needs to be fixed because the only way, currently, to change a 1B rating is to lower the experience at that position.

[Fibonacci]

Originally Posted by Fibonacci

3) Does defense have a significant impact on game play? In other words, would it be a better call to have a great defensive SS that bats .220 in the lineup or an average defender that hits .270? Does the AI agree when making lineups?

If two players' bating averages are separated by 50 points, (as in my question above), and each player has 500 at bats; then the player with the higher average has 25 more hits. Over 150 games, this is an additional hit every 6 games. I'd rather have the lower BA if that player took away a hit every 5 games. Which player does the AI put in the game? I got the impression that the previous versions of the game would have gone with the better hitter.

[Curtis]

Charlie Hough was looking into this for his universe a few months ago. Try PMing him to see what he found out. If I recall correctly, his issues were how much you had to change the fielding modifier to obtain a certain level of league errors and how much you had to change fielding importance modifier(?), but in the process I would think he had to find out how inportant relative fielding was. I know that when he started looking into fielding that was one of his original questions.

[Elendil]

Getting historical range ratings right is always tough, but I thought 2006 actually did a much better job of this than 6.5. One nice addition in 2007 is that you can set fielding percentage in league totals to model accurately the error-prone early days of baseball when they played with tiny gloves.