Unofficial Patch: Version 8.28

[Clay Dreslough]

1. Minor League Roster AI Improved
2. Lineup and Defense Dialogs now have same tab order as Pitching Dialog
3. "Women Enter Baseball" fixed (in League Editor)

[dolfanar]

At first glance minor League assignments are looking pretty good. The April 1st pitching stat bug is still there however.

[dolfanar]

The AI still is going after the next best player at that position for it's starting lineup, even if that player is in Rookie ball rather than looking at all AAA players *first*. So for instance, if the best LF in the organization is 18 (60/80) then that player will get called up even though there may be a center fielder (80/80) in AAA. The AI should only consider AAA caliber players for it's ML lineup unless it runs out of AAA caliber players (regardless of position) even if that means playing people out of position.

Also the AI is very odd about populating the bench, where on the '77 Expos it keeps Pete Mackanin (75/75) a middle infielder in AAA and keeps Stan Papi (69/76) on the bench. Shouldn't the AI be trying to put the best bench together possible? Also I am seing a frightening amount of teams carrying only 1 extra IF on the bench in favor of a 1B. I would think the standard would be 2 OF, 2 IF (2B, 3B or SS), 1 C and 1 Miscellaneous (Pinch Hitter or DH usually, but an extra Catcher, Outfielder, 1B or IF is possible for NL teams).

[irongoalie]

On my game, using auto sort, AI put 85% Minor League hitters and pitchers in AAA. Problem??? or are most of my ML's that good? Anyone else seeing this problem?

[dolfanar]

Negative College Stats still in this version.

[adam]

The bug of all historical players having the same peak (25 to 31) is still present.

[jonthyn]

I JUST INSTALLED 8.28 AND RAN A "SHUFFLE PLAYERS" SEASON TO SEE HOW THE MINOR LEAGUE ASSIGNMENT WORKED OUT. MAYBE THIS JUST HAPPENS WHEN YOU SHUFFLE THEM, BUT AUBREY HUFF ENDED UP IN AAA (88 RATING). IT'S ACTUALLY A LOT BETTER THAN THE OLD PATCHES WERE, JUST WANTED TO SHARE THIS SCREENSHOT...

[jonthyn]

YEAH...THAT WORKED OUT REAL GOOD...SO MUCH FOR ME THINKING I KNEW HOW TO POST A SCREEN SHOT. ANYWAY, IT HAD A POST-SHUFFLE ROSTER WITH HUFF IN AAA, SOSA ON THE BENCH (JODY GERUT WAS THE STARTER IN RF), AND JOEY HAMILTON THE #5 STARTER WHILE MARK PRIOR WAS SITTING IN AAA. SORRY FOR TAKING UP ALL THAT SPACE IN THE THREAD WITH MY WONDERFUL STANDINGS SCREEN.

[SFSteveG]

Actually I'd say the ALL CAPS is more annoying.

Try hitting print screen and pasting it into another program, then posting.

[Tarrasque1369]

I thought this problem was sopposed to be fixed.

[dolfanar]

Originally posted by Tarrasque1369
I thought this problem was sopposed to be fixed.

I assume you mean players who played both College and Pro ball the same years?

[dolfanar]

Originally posted by SFSteveG
Actually I'd say the ALL CAPS is more annoying.

Try hitting print screen and pasting it into another program, then posting.

And editing the original post and adding the correct image rather than adding a new one...

[amdaily]

8.28 is unplayable. The AI puts 98% of their minor leaguers into AAA. Since only 1 position player plays in the minors at each position, they have all their prospects just riding the bench and losing potential skill

As a patch whose main fuction was to look at minor league assignments, I honestly have no idea how this could have gotten released, unofficial or otherwise.

[dolfanar]

Originally posted by amdaily
8.28 is unplayable. The AI puts 98% of their minor leaguers into AAA. Since only 1 position player plays in the minors at each position, they have all their prospects just riding the bench and losing potential skill

As a patch whose main fuction was to look at minor league assignments, I honestly have no idea how this could have gotten released, unofficial or otherwise.

98%? Depends on what year you play. If you start in 2000+, then closer to 85-90%. That's because the only players on the team are players who have played MLB by 2005. There ARE no minor leaguers. A player 1 or 2 years away from MLB is going to be in AAA. Play a while and as drafts occur and the minor leagues get filled up you will see that the distribution gets MUCH better. And *gasp* the AI actually promotes players at a logical pace. Give it 2-5 years. You'll see.

The problem is more with *who* is being put in AAA, rather than *how many* as the AI likes to put it's prospects on the Major League bench, and it's veteran bench players in AAA.

EDIT: The other problem, is that the AI doesn't cut anybody, and will keep 20 position players and 18 pitchers at AAA. The AI should start aggressively cutting/buying out players once it gets to 14 position players and 11 pitchers at AAA (starting with the older players).

[SFSteveG]

As to the agressive player cutting, agreed. It's just bad seeing so many players in the minors. You should never see the maximum number of allowed players in the minors for a computer team, they'll just never need that many. I'd also like to see more retirings such as 28 year old AA players justup and leaving.

[dolfanar]

Originally posted by SFSteveG
As to the agressive player cutting, agreed. It's just bad seeing so many players in the minors. You should never see the maximum number of allowed players in the minors for a computer team, they'll just never need that many. I'd also like to see more retirings such as 28 year old AA players justup and leaving.

Yeah. Well there shouldn't be too many 28 yo AA players anymore. My suggestion has been to have any 31+ yo player whose rating dips below 60 to retire, even if that's in the middle of the season. Older players do often just hang 'em up mid-season when they realize they just don't have it anymore. I've seen everything from career minor leaguers to future hall of famers hang on for months at ratings in the mid-50's in AAA. I have a feeling it won't take Barry Bonds 50 games to realize it's time to hang'em up when he's hitting .150 in AAA...

That would help a bit, but definitely the AI should be cutting any player beyond 25 AAA players.

And as I mentioned above, the AI needs work on whom it picks for it's bench so we don't see as many of the solid veteran's being sent to AAA while they can still play in favor of younger players who have lower current ratings (but higher peaks).

[Tarrasque1369]

Actualy I ment a player with a 36 contact hitting .442. I thought this was sopposed to be fixed along time ago.

[dolfanar]

I'm seeing an odd trend with minor league stats. Hardly any players are playing more than 100 games, or getting 500 AB, even in AAA. I keep my minor league teams to 8 players or less, with one player per position, and I'm not seeing 500AB seasons.

Anyone else experiencing this?

[jonthyn]

Another thing I forgot to mention regarding minor league hitters is the fact that EVERYONE hits .250 after 8 at-bats. LITERALLY, every batter in every level goes 2 for 8, then 4 for 16. I know that's some petty stuff to be griping about, but I just noticed how odd that was. It seems only to differentiate the players by extra bases and stolen bases. Although everyone may be 4 for 16, one guy may have 3 homers and a double, while the other has 4 singles. While I'm pointing out petty stuff...you ever see see one of your hitters with 2 HRs, 1 RBI, and 0 Runs? That's happened a couple times when I check their minor league stats about 10 games into the season.

[SFSteveG]

Originally posted by dolfanar
I'm seeing an odd trend with minor league stats. Hardly any players are playing more than 100 games, or getting 500 AB, even in AAA. I keep my minor league teams to 8 players or less, with one player per position, and I'm not seeing 500AB seasons.

Anyone else experiencing this?

I see a bunch of players play 100 games every season in the minors. 500 AB's should be a little more rare. I might be griping if the average dropped below 350-400ish.

[dolfanar]

Originally posted by SFSteveG
I see a bunch of players play 100 games every season in the minors. 500 AB's should be a little more rare. I might be griping if the average dropped below 350-400ish.

That's so weird, my teams average is about 250-300 AB. And overall the minor league average for starters is less than 3 AB per inning, even on teams/levels where they only have 4 or 5 players. Last season only 3 players managed 500 AB in the minors and they were all 35+ yo former major leaguers.

I've only seen this since 8.28, in previous revisions I had no problem getting starters to 500+ AB in the minors.

I'm going to start a new game if this happens again.

[dolfanar]

just started a 1997 game and quickly simmed a season. The minor league AB leader had 360 in 134 games. Not normal.

[jjtheindianboy]

Ok this may not be related but someone reminded me about this bug i found either with this years or last years edition of the game...When teams have their roster maxed out their rookies they draft disappear from the game, i've seen this with the yankees before because they can afford to keep tons of minor leaguers, so they didnt get anyone in the draft at least 1 time that i can remember, not sure if this is still occuring, but its something someone should possibly look at when searching for bugs with this roster being full thing.

[henry296]

Originally posted by dolfanar
just started a 1997 game and quickly simmed a season. The minor league AB leader had 360 in 134 games. Not normal.

I just finished a season. I can't remember if I started with 8.24 or 8.28, but only 2 players had over 400 ABs in AAA. In AA, A and R none were over 400 and very few had over 350. The leader in AA had 349 ABs in 140 games.

[dolfanar]

Originally posted by henry296
I just finished a season. I can't remember if I started with 8.24 or 8.28, but only 2 players had over 400 ABs in AAA. In AA, A and R none were over 400 and very few had over 350. The leader in AA had 349 ABs in 140 games.

This is exactly what I'm seing, in year after year of sims. Regardless of the number of players on a team/level.

[Clay Dreslough]

The Minor League playing time is based on projections. So I'm adjusting the projections and posting them here.

Copy these over the files in Input/Players and let me know how the sims change...

Thanks,

Clay

[dolfanar]

Originally posted by Clay Dreslough
The Minor League playing time is based on projections. So I'm adjusting the projections and posting them here.

Copy these over the files in Input/Players and let me know how the sims change...

Thanks,

Clay

But htis will only impact games started in 2005, correct?

I started in 2004, using Lahman data. I am in 2028, and I am still seing the same issue with Minor league starters getting only 90 or so games and 200 AB in. I checked them in the editor and many are projected at 130+ games and 500+ at bats.

[dolfanar]

This player is a computer genrated guy. He has been alone at 1B at every level he has played. Check out the predicted stats...

[BigBubba]

Originally posted by Clay Dreslough
The Minor League playing time is based on projections. So I'm adjusting the projections and posting them here.

Copy these over the files in Input/Players and let me know how the sims change...

Thanks,

Clay

I was just looking at the 2005Rosters.csv file and I am curious if the guys that it lists in Japan show up in Free Agency when their contract runs out or are they randomly places somewhere or are they just a figment of imagination?

[jonthyn]

The Minor League playing time is based on projections. So I'm adjusting the projections and posting them here.

Copy these over the files in Input/Players and let me know how the sims change...

Thanks,

Clay


Sorry Clay...got the same problem. I did notice that the minor leaguers are in positional order, ya know, as though they're lined up for different leagues but they just all happen to have (AAA) beside them.

[Clay Dreslough]

Sorry Clay...got the same problem. I did notice that the minor leaguers are in positional order, ya know, as though they're lined up for different leagues but they just all happen to have (AAA) beside them.

You would have to start a new game with the above files to see any improvement.

Clay

[dolfanar]

Clay, try this. Start 8.28 in any year you want. Put 1 prospect (no MLB experience) per position, per minor league level, and then take a look at the stats generated.

Doing this in multiple tests I haven't had a single prospect crack 400 AB or 120 games.

Try it.