Defensive Allignments

[ThePretender]

I've posted this before but it would make a massive difference for players in an online league or those who solo and don't sim out there games. What I would like to see is a defensive lineup, one that can shift players around late in the game to take advantage of positional flexibility.

In an online league, a Ben Zobrist type of player has significantly less value than in real life. Currently, what happens is I can start Zobrist at 2B, and he's stuck there. If I have a weak defensive RF, I have to sub in the bench player for the RF. For those who sim 1-2 weeks at a time, or don't play out their games, this is a massive disadvantage, because what I'd like to be able to do is start Zobrist at 2B, but later in the game shift him to RF. In essence, I can't take advantage of his versatility, which is a shame.

What I'd like to be able to do is set up a "defensive lineup". What would happen is a guy like Zobrist would start at 2B, but in the defensive lineup, Zobrist would move to RF, and the player who started the game in RF would be removed by a middle infielder, who would play 2B.

It's not as hard as I've been told it is to code. You do an if check to see if all the bench players required are available (not injured, and not used in the game), and you make sure the required players (In this case, the starting RF and 2B) are currently in the game. If it meets the criteria, then Zobrist goes from 2B--->RF, the original RF gets subbed in by the bench guy, and the bench guy plays 2B.

Things like this would have a massive impact on my online play. I often have guys who are capable of playing multiple positions, and my best defensive lineup can rarely, if ever, be used, because I can't shift guys to different positions over the course of a game when I don't manually play out each game.

While this would benefit people in online leagues who sim games and don't control lineups more, it would help solo players as well who don't manage their games.

I have Player Report for #25 Manny Martínez in my online league. While he's valuable if people get hurt, he'd be more valuable if I have a lead in the 7th, if he can replace my defensive liability at 3B. So Martinez would play 3B, and my backup OF who is a 100 LF comes in and plays defence, with my poor defensive 3B leaving the game.

So for me it would look like this to start the game:

Joaquin Martinez - 3B
Manny Martinez - LF

Late in game - defensive subs

J Gonzalez replaces Joaquin Martinez
Manny Martinez moves from LF to 3B
J Gonzalez moves to LF

Alternatively, if I have Manny Martinez start at 3B, and a defensive liability in LF (Ismael Rodriguez), what I'd like to do is the opposite:

Starting lineup:

Manny Martinez - 3B
Ismael Rodriguez - LF

Late game subs

Nate Lewis subs in for Ismael Rodriguez
Nate Lewis moves to 3B
Manny Martinez moves to LF

Instead of the current solution, which is that I HAVE to have a backup OF replace Ismael Rodriguez at LF, since Manny Martinez cannot be shifted over easily/consistently from 3B to LF. While this might seem like a minor issue, the difference is that if I leave Martinez at 3B, where he's a 73, and my backup OF is say a 70, I'm much weaker defensively compared to Martinez in LF (100) and Lewis at 3B (94).

So my starting lineup could look like (I'm leaving out of names of players who aren't affected by the switch):

2B
LF Ismael Rodriguez
DH
1B
SS
CF
C
RF
3B Manny Martinez

and my defensive lineup would look like:

2B
3B Nate Lewis
DH
1B
SS
CF
C
RF
LF Manny Martinez

Anyway, these defensive lineups wouldn't be that difficult to implement in my opinion, but they would make a massive difference in how I can maximize the value of each player on my roster.

[WyattGOAT]

Great post. Been asking for this

[Hasta la vista pelota]

This should be priority No. 1 for game improvements.