Developer Chat

Welcome everybody. Hardball Dynasty has been going strong for 6 months now and has steadily improved in every way. We still have a large list of items we want to improve/fix/add to the game, so HBD will continue to improve at a rapid pace. Your feedback continues to play a huge role in the game's progression, so please keep the comments/suggestions coming.

There are some great things in HBD that are more strategy-based compared to SIMBASEBALL.It also seems to me that SIMB has superior in-game coaching features like individual player settings for SB, PH, and bunting. HBD has "team" settings for these so it has to choose between having a superior bunter who's also hitting .300 sacrifice or not.We also haven't been able to PH in HBD. Why can't some of the individual settings used in SIMB be used in HBD? (Rails - Hall of Famer - 11:45 AM)

We introduced pinch-hitting for position players a couple weeks ago, so you should have started seeing more of this in HBD. We wanted to remove the need for additional, player-specific settings such as PH/PR/SB and instead write intelligent enough logic to incorporate the managerial settings. It makes sense, in my mind, that a manager with an aggressive stolen base philosphy knows to run Dave Roberts as much as he can, but still not run Mike Piazza. That said, we still get occasional feedback regarding this. We want to stick with our current design, but we want to improve the logic so the need for individual settings is truly not needed. We ask that when you have a boxscore and see a guy you think should never be attempting to steal get thrown out, please submit the boxscore for review. That way, we can continue to tweak this logic.

Are you ever going to be able to sign coaches for long time contracts? (bravesfan302 - Pro - 11:46 AM)

We can never say never, but it sure is not likely. With the coach rehiring process in place, we feel the coach hiring process is much less time consuming than it was. In real life, coaches very rarely sign a contract longer than 1 season.

How much and what sort of impact does a catcher's pitch-call rating have on a pitcher's performance? (will_prosper - Hall of Famer - 11:48 AM)

A catcher's pich calling rating impacts the pitcher on the mound's OAV used in the engine. The difference between an average catcher and the worst or best catcher is significant. We don't want to provide exact numbers. The best way to see this setting at work is to compare your #1 C with your #2 C since they both are receiving for the same pitching staff.

I remember from one of the Dev Chats, or one of the update threads that your planning on implementing an advanced option for Roster moves (i'm hoping this is multiple simultaneous demotions/promotions/assignments etc), Do you have any idea, currently, on when this will be good to go? Thanks, Jon (Crump123 - Hall of Famer - 11:49 AM)

Yes, it's something we want to do. The idea is that you'll be able to select the roster moves without having to go to the intermediate pages. There will be an advanced mode and the standard mode. As far as a timeline goes, I think it's something that we'll have in place within the next 4 months.

Are you going to make adjustments to pitcher fatigue soon ? (vkhcougars - Hall of Famer - 11:55 AM)

No. We believe that the pitching fatigue system is working properly at all levels. The fatigue problems that most owners incur are due to pitching staff configuration or lack of additional pitchers at the lower levels of the minor leagues. The key to buidling a successful staff is to remember that the starting pitchers need to go a consistent number of innings (that number is based on what level you're looking at). From there, your bullpen needs to be able to handle the rest. When you experience a high degree of fatigue, take a look at how many IP your starters are averaging. Compare that with the bullpen. For specific pitchers experiencing fatigue, look at their game log. You'll be able to see why they are fatigued.

Why the long delay in World Rollovers? In OCD, our World Series ended on Saturday, 11/18, and our world is not rolling over until 11/25 - a full week after the season ended. 25 of 32 owners have already reserved season 3, and the others have said they are not coming back. why do we have to wait? (bigyunit - Hall of Famer - 11:58 AM)

Good question. Rolling over a world is an expensive process in terms of database usage. It takes between 35 and 45 minutes to roll a world over. As a result, they can only be rolled over during non-peak times which happens to be the middle of the night. Currently, only 3 worlds are rolled over a night. As worlds begin to separate their starting dates, this will become less of a problem. The initial batch of private and public worlds were all created very close to one another, so many finish at the same time.

Does the pull/spray rating hold more value for teams that play in larger stadiums or for RH hitters that play in good HR parks to RF (more opposite field HR's)? (randallball - Hall of Famer - 11:59 AM)

The size of the park impacts the underlying park ratings/stats, so it's kind of built-in. The push/pull rating will definitely help a player when the park suits his skill. A dead pull RH power hitter in a park with above average HR to left will definitely benefit.

I would love to see a system for one-game playoffs instead of the current playoff tiebreaker system that includes stuff like "last season's record". Any chance that they will be added in the future? (csherwood - Hall of Famer - 12:02 PM)

No, we went with the tiebreaker system so that the schedules stay in line with one another. Under the scenes, the order and timing of events is important. As we've seen from SLB, one-game playoffs can lead to quite a bit of problems. With more teams in HBD and 4 standings instead of 3 plus 2 wild card spots, the possibilities for ties grew quite a bit. With the tiebreaker system, all the rules are know ahead of time so the regular season matchups and division play means even more.

How is it possible that a player can have good contact, power and eye numbers, but lousy effectiveness vs both left and right handers? Will that player be very good? (dontrellew - All-Star - 12:04 PM)

The Vs LH and Vs RH ratings for hitting dicate how well the player can drive the ball. A great contact hitter isn't very successful unless he can drive the ball. All the ratings work together. A player like the one you described can still be helpful, but he's not going to be an all-around offensive force like Manny or Pujols because he doesn't drive the ball very well.

I have never been sure how to measure coaches' contribution to player (and team) performance. I understand that lower level coaches influence player develepment , but do the quality of coaches influence current results , as well ? For example, if you have a terrible ML hitting coach , could that cause your ML hitters to be underperformers vis a vis their current ratings ? If so , is the effect a significant one ? If you have awful base coaches , will the team tend to make baserunning mistakes ? (tegesta - All-Star - 12:27 PM)

Coaches directly impact player development. So, when you look at your Player Profile and notice that a player's ratings changed, the coaches play a role in that development. Along with the coaching staff, a player's age, makeup rating, performance and playing time also play a role. Your players always play at the level associated with their displayed ratings. We plan on introducing some better ways to show how a coach has performed, sort of like stats for coaches.

Will Catcher ERA be added to the League Leaders fielding stats? (dberube7 - Hall of Famer - 12:28 PM)

It already should be. You have to view Extended Fielding stats.

Has there been any thought given to adding additional stats to the player statistics pages? For instance, a player's stats broken down by month. (Wildcard88 - Hall of Famer - 12:30 PM)

We may add additional sabermetric stats, but breaking it down by month or any other split probably won't happen due to the amount of size required to store this info. It's not the size that is so problematic, but the ability to retrieve the stats quickly as they grow. Since we don't plan on clearing a player's stats until well after they retire, the amount of data is rather large.

The new Player Records section is great. Any chance we can get a similar section for Team Records? (Weena - Hall of Famer - 12:33 PM)

Yes, we have plans on this.

this question is about locking in the starter for the next game. say that there are 2 games to go, and your magic number is 1. if you win, you'll probably want to start a september call-up in the final game, but if you lose, you'll want your ace out there. any chance that at the end of the season and in the playoffs, you can have a "start if win" and a "start if loss" option? (schedule1 - Hall of Famer - 12:33 PM)

We hadn't thought about this situation. We'll file it away on our suggestion list.

Can you give us an idea of what changes and additions are on deck for HBD in the next couple of months? For example, how about the All-Star game and Home Run contests? (csherwood - Hall of Famer - 12:37 PM)

We have a list of bugs/annoyances that we want to fix/improve. From there, we have a few page we want to introduce that focuses on comparing franchise roster quality and a couple that focus on prospects. We have the Rule 5 draft we want to add. Simulating the mid-season events are also on the list. As mentioned earlier, adding an advanced roster management feature. We want to add a page that does a better job of setting up a franchise from season to season. Right now, it's difficult to get a feel for where all your players should be playing.

I'm gonna step out now and let our new HBD developer, patrickm885, answer a few questions. I'll be tagged back in later. ( Moderator - 12:38 PM)

Hello Everyone! ( Moderator - 12:40 PM)

What are the chances of live play being intorduced to HBD? (Fregoe - Hall of Famer - 12:43 PM)

We realize that this is a much anticipated feature. We have had several meetings discussing the best way to do this and we are still in the process of finalizing how we want to handle it. The Engine is designed to incorporate this feature, but we have many other pressing issues that we need to focus on right now. In terms of time frame we will most likely start development on this sometime late next year.

I have a coach who was my pitching coach last season. This season he "wants to stay with role change" to become my 3B coach. He has some very good ratings in Pitching, Patience, and Strategy, but his Baserunning IQ is dismal, so 3B is a poor fit for him. The thing is, I paid him way above the minimum a Pitching Coach, but he now demands $450K and a "promotion" to 3B? Is there any way to get him to come back as Pitching Coach, or must I battle everyone else for him during coaching free agency? (will_prosper - Hall of Famer - 12:50 PM)

Coaches will demand a different role if they feel that they have gained enough experience at their current role. If you want to sign him back as a pitching coach, you will have to battle everyone else in order to do that.

Is there any plans to allow you to not have to demote players that are september callups. Like have it automatically send them back so you do not have to pay them 327K and their ratings do not decrease with their demotion? (metsny - Hall of Famer - 12:55 PM)

This is a good point and it is currently on our list of high priority bugs. We are working to have this implemented shortly.

Any chance of adding more cities and ballparks? I would love to own a team at Campanelli Stadium in Brockton, MA - home of the Brockton Rox. (bigyunit - Hall of Famer - 12:57 PM)

We have the ability to add more cities and ballparks, but it is currently low on the priority list.

Alright, I'm back in after seeing I blew my series to schedule1 in the Ruth world. ( Moderator - 1:03 PM)

I understand fatigue but do not understand how a pitcher can have 1 inning pitched and be 0(0). And this happens alot. (Fregoe - Hall of Famer - 1:06 PM)

Fatigue is based on pitch accumulation versus his durability/stamina combination. Each pitcher is allotted a certain number of pitches he can throw over a time period. As he pitches or rests, this value changes. So, when a guy goes to 0 fatigue after throwing 23 pitches in 1 inning, it's not just the 23 pitches that has caused the fatigue, it's the 23 pitches on top of his recent pitching history. The best way to gauge how the pitching fatigue works is to view pitcher's game logs. Compare the # of pitches thrown with fatigue and how often he's pitched.

Does pitching fatigue now use total pitches per season at all? I have noticed that starting pitchers every time they get to 100% leads to bad performance as if there were being overused. And that this gets better if the pitchers are rested. Are all 100%s not equal? Is there is hidden factor? Total pitches, starts, or anything else? (baldric - Hall of Famer - 1:07 PM)

No, there is no such thing as "total pitches per season" in HBD like there is in SLB. In HBD, a pitch tank system is used. The depth of the tank is based on their stamina/durability ratings. It's adjusted based on usage. All 100% are handled the same, nothing hidden under that number.

Is there any advantage/disadvantage to handling player promotions before world rollover versus after world rollover? (danmam - Hall of Famer - 1:09 PM)

In terms of player development, no.

Right now the draft seems to be very risky as you can spend 2 days working on ways to get guys on your draft board anywhere near where you want them but when draft day comes, you end up getting the guy you didnt want. Is there any way we can just get a draft board where you can fill in the top 100 or 200 prospects you want a lot like fantasy basketball or fantasy football? Then let the advanced settings choose who to pick afterwards. Its a shame when a 1st or 2nd round draft pick is wasted. (shonmurphy20 - Hall of Famer - 1:13 PM)

We can always introduce a player ranking system as a last resort, but we want to avoid it because not many people will use it. Perhaps a top 50 or something like that. We want to roll with the current system a while longer before making any big change to it.

Can projected ratings be added back into the player search report? (eblake - Hall of Famer - 1:15 PM)

No. If you want to view projected ratings by any type of filter for your organization, you can use the View Rosters page in the GM Office. If you want to view projected ratings for other franchises, you can use the trade build page. Projected ratings are expensive to bring back and not something we want the player search used for. As mentioned earlier, we plan on adding some pages that focus on franchise roster comparison and prospect analysis.

How soon do you anticipate adding the Rule V draft? (ns220 - Hall of Famer - 1:16 PM)

Next 4 - 6 months.

Since there is no "actual travel" because this is a simulation, why does the first game of the three game series get played in the lower seeds park? Same with the 5 game series. Is there something with the scheduling system that does not allow you to split them up into a 1-1-1 or a 2-2-1 setup? (Wildcard88 - Hall of Famer - 1:16 PM)

While we don't have fatigue from travel, we do have rest applied on travel days so they are necessary.

Since tandems SPs are so important particularly in the lower minors, why doesn't the Show Recs ever recommend them? (Weena - Hall of Famer - 1:17 PM)

It does, but only if a 5-man rotation can't be reached based on durability and stamina ratings. There are baselines for what a SP should be, and if it can't find 5 of them it will go with a tandem rotation. This is more common at the lower levels.

Do all coah ratings impact a team's performance, or just the ratings relevant to each coaches individual role (ie. will having a ML fielding coach with a high batting rating have a positive effect on your team, or no effect at all, all other things being equal)? (will_prosper - Hall of Famer - 1:20 PM)

Fielding instructors only impact fielding ratings. At the minor league levels, bench coaches impact all ratings. 1B and 3B coaches impact both baserunning and hitting ratings. Hitting coaches impact hitting ratings at the big league level and both hitting and baserunning ratings at the lower levels. Pitching and bullpen coaches focus strictly on pitching ratings.

It seems that players expect raises from season-to-season regardless of age, previous performance and previous role. Is that expected to change at all? Also, are there any plans to lower the demands of 6-yr minor league free agents? (randallball - Hall of Famer - 1:22 PM)

Salary demands are based on ratings, age, experience, etc. There will be a point in a player's career where they start asking for less. As far as 6-yr minor leaguers go, their demands are generated the same way regular free-agents are. It has to be this way in the game, or else you'll be able to find bargains and go with them instead of the big leaguers. Once the Rule 5 draft is implemented, the number and quality of 6 yr FAs will decrease dramatically.

Will we ever have the chance of setting personal catchers for pitchers. While I can always change lineups that day for the catcher you can't make every lineup. A personal catcher setting could be useful. (TheJester74 - Hall of Famer - 1:23 PM)

This was in our initial design doc and is low on our list, but will probably make it into the game eventually.

Will we be able to PH in Season 3? (Rails - Hall of Famer - 1:24 PM)

PH is already in the game. Introduced a couple weeks ago.

What is the more important stat for pitchers, effectiveness v. LHB\RHB, or their various pitch ratings? (mazz993 - Hall of Famer - 1:24 PM)

There is no rating that's more important than others, because they all work together. Stamina and durability are obviously very important because they dictate usage. The rest all impact pitchers in different ways.

Bonus money and salary are taxed identically by the IRS--it's W2 income. I'm guessing that the player's family probably doesn't care if the food they're eating or the mortgage was paid for from salary or bonus. It should be one pool imo. Why can't leftover bonus money be used to pay a bonus (as part of a contract) for a player who is going to be a free agent next season? (Rails - Hall of Famer - 1:27 PM)

The reason long-term contract bonus money is taken out of the first year of the new contract instead of the current season is to prevent financial tricks. We don't want owners to be able to sacrifice one season (the current one) in favor of the next one. If all long-term contract bonus money came out of the current season player payroll, then you could rig it where you lock up all your players for future seasons in the current season and then enter the next season with a huge player payroll surplus. We don't want that in the game. We want the finances to be spread out fairly.

I've got a couple of players eligible for arbitration next season. Will there be a way to know what their arbitration demands are before setting budgets? (Rails - Hall of Famer - 1:28 PM)

Yes, the budget setting page outlines how much your arb eligible players are asking for in a combined total.

Can you address the number of pickoffs seen? Also is it possible to break out those CS stats from the traditional throwouts from a C? I'm guessing that when we look at the defensive stats for a C and it shows % CS that pickoffs could skew the actual % of throwouts. (Rails - Hall of Famer - 1:29 PM)

We made an adjustment a couple weeks ago to lower both pitcher and catcher pickoffs. Prior to the adjustment, the numbers were about twice as high as they should have been.

Continuing with the question raised by Weena, what do you mean "the players that are batting before him will impact his performance"? Does this just mean that if they are on base that the pitcher's logic changes, or that it actually matters if player A bats before or after player B? Or neither? (ns220 - Hall of Famer - 1:30 PM)

Player ratings and performance doesn't change, but their game situations change. (i.e. more opportunities for RBI, SB opps, etc.).

When I hit Show Recs for pitching in my minor leagues, quite often it has my closer comming in in the 6th inning. Why does that happen when I have the Manager Setting set for save situation only? (Weena - Hall of Famer - 1:32 PM)

The lower you get in the minors, the earlier a pitcher may have to enter the game. If you have the "Use closer in Save Situations Only" setting checked, he should still not come in until it's a save situation. The only time he should come in earlier is if the rest of the pen is unavailable. If you're seeing something different, please submit the boxscore for review.

Does the Makeup rating influence how quickly or slowly a player over the age of 27 will decline? There are/were many ML players who were still productive in their late 30s/early 40s but I don't see that in HBD. (Weena - Hall of Famer - 1:33 PM)

Makeup impacts how quick a player will reach his peak and how fast he will fall off his peak. Each player has a unique peak age. From there, how quick a player fades is based on makeup rating and training staff. Pitchers tend to peak later and hold off on declining longer.

are coaches more likely to want to return to successful franchises? (bigyunit - Hall of Famer - 1:34 PM)

No, it's based on loyalty. In terms of evaluating different franchises, they'll want to go with a better organization.

why do low contact high power players seem to do better than high contact low power players (swamphawk22 - Hall of Famer - 1:35 PM)

Depends on what you mean by better. High power, low contact guys will be like Russ Branyan and hit homers and drive in some runs. High contact, lower power guys won't hit many homers. As such, they are more likely to hit the ball and make outs unless their Vs LH/RH ratings are good or if their speed rating is very good (IF hits).

What feedback have you received in regard to the new draft settings/changes? (Rails - Hall of Famer - 1:37 PM)

Mostly positive, but there are still some issues in terms of High School versus College. Guys with a clear focus on one area still aren't seeing that in the results. Some owners still want to rank players.

speaking of players having a peak age. I have a 3rd baseman who seems to be very close to reaching his projected ratings. But he's only 22 years old. Will he just reach his peak age young or will the projected ratings raise a bit? The guy has a make up of 98. (shonmurphy20 - Hall of Famer - 1:37 PM)

He'll reach his peak early and maintain it as long as he has a good training staff, makeup rating and avoids injury.

Based on your answer to the batter effectiveness verses left handed\right handed pitching, is it correct to say that the higher the pitchers effectiveness against right handed batters, the harder it is for right handed batters to drive the ball? (mazz993 - Hall of Famer - 1:40 PM)

Yes, that's correct. It's hard for them to make solid contact.

can you explain the awards logic? why are we limited to 5 choices when we vote, especially when some of the nominees don't make any sense? for example, in OCD, 2 of the 5 nominees were from a team that didn't make the playoffs, and one of the guys had below average numbers in every category. there must have been someone better that could have been voted on. (bigyunit - Hall of Famer - 1:40 PM)

We limit it to 5 because we're confident we can write formulas that provide the 5 best candidates. That said, we've had to make tweaks to several of the formulas along the way. The one part of the MVP and ROY awards that most baseball fans aren't used to seeing which we feel is important to include is a factor on fielding in the logic, especially for those in the MIF and CF. We'll continue to tweak these formulas when people point out flaws.

Any chance you combine coaches salaries, prospect money, and player salaries into one big pool? That way money not used for coach hiring or prospects wouldn't be wasted. Likewise if you dump salary midseason, you could go hard after prospects. (dontrellew - All-Star - 1:42 PM)

No, because budget strategy is a key area of the game. We want owners to have to think ahead like owners do in real life. We do plan on allowing some budget shifting midseason (at a discount), which we believe will please all those that want these areas combined.

are minimum salaries going to continue to rise at the ML level, and if so, will we see a corresponding rise in budgets? (bigyunit - Hall of Famer - 1:43 PM)

We will probably not do this every time the actual MLB min rises. Maybe every several increases.

Currently it is difficult to change the next game's starting pitcher. If you want to skip a pitchers start you have to mess around with all the settings.... any way this can be adjusted? (az4lifenotr - Hall of Famer - 1:44 PM)

That's the purpose of the autorest setting. If it's not fatigue related and it's based on personal preference, it's just something that has to be done manually. Locking in the next game's SP is important because it allows the opponent to set his lineup accordingly.

Seems like with projected ratings we can pretty much tell who has major league talent. Even if a AA pitcher who has a sparkling 2.00 ERA and 1.05 WHIP has mediocre projected ratings, he probably won't be a factor. Since players in rl, don't have projected ratings pinned on their chests, this is much different than rl, where the AA P with those same stats may be considered a "future star." Any thoughts on not typecasting players from Day 1. (Rails - Hall of Famer - 1:45 PM)

Yes, we plan on adding the element of raised ceilings based on performance or other factors. It's on our list of items for the future.

Are there any plans to tweak the formula for generating the overall ratings for pitchers? There are a lot of really bad pitchers that have inordinately high overall ratings due to their high stamina. (professor17 - Hall of Famer - 1:47 PM)

Changing the formula is a simple thing to do, but the impact would be felt across the game so changing it is not something we can do without a ton of testing. We agree that stamina is weighted a little too much at this time. We will be adjusting it at some point.

Any chance of giving us a way to see who the opposing pitcher will be for the next game at the minor league levels? This would be particularly helpful at minor league playoff time. (tecwrg - Hall of Famer - 1:48 PM)

We know this is missing and it's on our list.

any chance that they could be dialogue with players who are considering retirement, unhappy about their levels, and so on? i feel as if prospects who want to be promoted could be talked out of retirement with a promotion. sort of like the "AA BP needs more help" messages, but individual, such as "i want to be playing more!" (schedule1 - Hall of Famer - 1:48 PM)

That is something we added last week. You'll now get correspondence from your coaching staff regarding players at their level who deserve a promotion. If they get the promotion they deserve, their chance of retiring will be much lower.

another awards question (s). why don't we vote on fireman of the year? can we be allowed to choose a manager of the year? why not have an All star ballot? (bigyunit - Hall of Famer - 1:49 PM)

The fireman award is based strictly on a formula in real life, so no voting is necessary. As far as the others, those may be additions down the road.

What does the Bullpen Coach do? What player ratings does he impact? (Weena - Hall of Famer - 1:50 PM)

He helps with the pitching staff player development, but not at the same extent as the pitching coach.

Any chance of adding new player roles such as Pinch Hitter or Pinch Runner? There are some players that I would only like to use in those roles but I never want them in the field with a glove. (Weena - Hall of Famer - 1:51 PM)

That can be arranged if you don't put them on player rest and def rep hierarchy.

What kind of loyalty do players have to their past teams. ie player wins MVP with a team. What are the chances of him resigning with you over someone offering the same contract. (Fregoe - Hall of Famer - 1:52 PM)

Players have no loyalty (just like in real life!). Money talks. However, they do favor winning franchises over losing franchises if it gets real close in terms of offers.

what are the chances of naming players after ourselves llike in the baseball sim. I would be fun to watch your progress from rookie league to the managers. (Fregoe - Hall of Famer - 1:53 PM)

We don't want to introduce player renaming, but we do want to allow users to submit names for new players, coaches, agents, etc. It's on our original design doc and will be brought in as a reward for playoff teams at some point.

Does premature promotion-ation stunt the growth of a prospect in any situation (i.e. will they still reach their potential)? If they are immediately thrown into a prominant role are they more likely to keep progressing? (randallball - Hall of Famer - 1:55 PM)

It depends on how they perform. If they succeed, it could help their progression. If they struggle, it will probably hurt it.

If free agents favor "winning franchises", over what timeframe is that defined? Just last season's record? Last three seasons, etc.? (professor17 - Hall of Famer - 1:56 PM)

The current or previous season, depending on FA type.

Any chance we can change dimensions/ratings on our field between seasons in the future. (TheJester74 - Hall of Famer - 1:57 PM)

Perhaps. We have something similar on our list.

how long before we see the Rule V, and the ability to relocate/rename franchises? (bigyunit - Hall of Famer - 1:57 PM)

Rule 5 Draft was mentioned earlier. Franchise relocation and renaming is probably 4-6 months out.

Will the All-Star game and Home Run Derby ever be anything more than a couple of lines on the schedule? (Weena - Hall of Famer - 1:58 PM)

Yes, we plan on simulating them.

There isa lot of manual clicking to do in the GM page for things like active/inactive, add to trade block, 40 man etc. Is ther any chance to add an easier interface for some of the GM moves (not all) (dherz_263 - Hall of Famer - 1:59 PM)

Yes, we plan on adding an advanced Edit Rosters feature.

What happens to unsigned draft picks? Do they go back in the draft? (kylejs101 - Hall of Famer - 1:59 PM)

Currently, college seniors become FA and the rest disappear. We want the non-college seniors to come back in future drafts but it's not being done yet.

what is the reasoning behind not being able to change your next starting pitcher. It is not uncommon for lineups or pitchers to be changes right before game time. (Fregoe - Hall of Famer - 2:00 PM)

We lock the SP in so the other franchise can prepare for the matchup. Come playoff time, this is very important for some owners.

Is there anything in the works like extended ST or an Instructional League for turning a good hit/poor defense Catcher into a suitable fielder? Same question about turning a good hit/poor pitch pitcher into a fielder? (Weena - Hall of Famer - 2:00 PM)

Yes, but this is the kind of thing that is at least 12 months away.

What are some of the factors that determine when players should be promoted and what are the effects of promoting someone too quickly. (evegoe - Hall of Famer - 2:02 PM)

Age/level, years at current level, performance. If a player is promoted too quickly and struggles, it will result in a slowdown in development. If demoted, it could then result in regression.

Does the amount of money alloted to Int/HS/College Scouting influence just the amount of players the scouts evaluate or does it also influence the Projected Ratings we see? (Weena - Hall of Famer - 2:02 PM)

Both

Following up on Weena's Q: Wouldn't the quality of players behind him have more of an impact--maybe they would be able to pitch around him. And that the players infront of your stud hitter should see better pitches and thus overpeform relative to their ratings? (Rails - Hall of Famer - 2:02 PM)

Yes, that's all true. Lineup position dictates many things, but the underlying ratings don't change at all.

Whats the point of having temper attribute? (kylejs101 - Hall of Famer - 2:03 PM)

This impacts how likely the player is to argue a call and get ejected. Eventually, it will also be used in off-the-field events.

Does batting order influence player performance? For example, say I have my 85 contact, 75 power, 65 v L, 65 v R, 85 eye stud hitting 7th. Will he perform as well as if he were hitting cleanup? (Weena - Hall of Famer - 2:04 PM)

Just like in real baseball lineups have an effect on player performance. While your players ratings don't decrease (he will always have a 75 power rating) the players that are batting before him will impact his performance.

Time is up. I believe we answered everyone's question (or at least one variation of it). Thanks for participating and we hope these chats help.