Developer Chat

Welcome to the July 2nd Update Chat. This is the time to ask any and all HBD-related questions. We'll do our best to answer as many questions as we can.

We're gonna get started early on some questions that were asked prior to the chat. patrickm885 is going to answer the initial batch of questions and I'll be jumping in later. ( Moderator - 2:37 PM)

In all of the HBD worlds there isn't one reliever who held a sub 3 ERA for the first 4 season. Why not? why isn't there a M.Rivera or a B.Wagner in HBD? Why relievers with 90's across their pitching ratings perform to a 6 ERA every season? Why is it that position players and starters ratings reflect their on field performance yet relievers underperform by a ton every seaosn even if they're rated 100 across the board? (radek - Hall of Famer - 2:38 PM)

There are great relievers across all worlds in HBD. The are a lot of factors that can play a role such as the ball park and the opposition.

There has been a 17 game road trip on my schedule every seaosn while my division mate has a 20 game howm stand to end each season. Teams are health and fresh in the 1st-50 game and injured and fatiqued in the last 50 games of each season. How is it fair that I have to play 20 road games with a fatiqued and injured team while my divison mates plays his 20 raod games in the begining of the season when his team is fresh and injury free? (radek - Hall of Famer - 2:40 PM)

In HBD currently there is no such thing as travel fatigue or home-field advantage. In the future we will be improving the schedule so that there aren't as many long road trips. We are also looking into implementing an unbalanced schedule where you would play your division rivals more.

Will there ever be league's that run with different rules (ie no DH, higher pitcher's mound) or modified game engine to recreate different era's in baseball. (TheJester74 - Hall of Famer - 2:41 PM)

There are currently no plans to have Theme HBD leagues.

Has there been any discussion about a user's beta league that test game engine changes and their effects. (TheJester74 - Hall of Famer - 2:41 PM)

We are currently in the process of discussing a user based focus group internally. We'll let you know when we have come to a conclusion.

With the overall rating of a player not relying so much on stamina anymore, does this mean we'll see changes in a pitcher's overall rating? (frymaster23 - Pro - 2:52 PM)

You may see changes in overall ratings but it does not lessen the value or effectiveness of the player in question. The overall rating is best viewed as a snapshot or summary of all of the ratings for that player. It is not the end all be all rating that should determine whether or not to keep or sign a player.

With the new auto-coach-hiring process, does this mean that if we don't sign a coach, we'll be given a decent one, instead of a bottom-of-the-barrel one? (frymaster23 - Pro - 2:56 PM)

We first look to see if there are any coaches that coached with you the previous season. If none are available we will try to sign a coach who can at least coach at that role and level. If none of the above criteria fit we will assign any coach to your team.

why are you only allowed to trade 6 players in one deal? Any thoughts on expanding to maybe 4 or more per side? (pirateswin2 - Hall of Famer - 2:57 PM)

Due to the complexity and storage constraints we have no plans to increase the amount of player's that can be traded.

any chance of adding a feature where a world can kick a trouble maker owner out of the world? Maybe some sort of vote. (pirateswin2 - Hall of Famer - 2:59 PM)

Customer support will always be the best route to handle these types of situations.

Is the Tandem pitching choice always going to be a available at the major league level? There seems to be little if any evidence it was ever used in the bigs. Also with its current setup of only going to 4A/B you cannot use it just to supplement a normal rotation (1,2,3,4,5A/5B) so its an all or nothing choice. (TheJester74 - Hall of Famer - 3:05 PM)

Tandems will always be available for the ML rotation we don't have any plans to change that. However, we do have plans to add in a Tandem 5A/5B in a future update.

It would be great if we had an option to change players position at least once! (jbraden78 - Hall of Famer - 3:08 PM)

You can change the positions of player's in one of two ways. Go to the GMs Office and click on the position link that is next to their name or you can go to Manager's Office --> Player Settings --> Edit Player Settings and click on the position link next to their name. From there it will pop up a window where you can set your player's primary and secondary positions.

I originally posted this to the message boards but: So after all the bluster about not wanting to extend the season, wanting to keep people interested, etc etc...they added two full days to the schedule: one for the Rule V draft and one for an extra day of prep before the regular season. Don't get me wrong, I love the update. But is it official now that the 3-game playoff is just the HBD staff being stubborn? (jwilk - All-Star - 3:10 PM)

We are currently looking into modifying the first round of the playoffs so that it is a 5 game series instead of 3.

The real-world Rule 5 gives players originaly signed at age 18 or younger an extra season (i.e. 5 instead of 4) before they are draft-eligible. Is that provision included in our Rule 5? (GrandWiz - Hall of Famer - 3:11 PM)

We chose to not include this for the sake of simplicity.

Is it possible for agent personalities to be added to the game? There could be Scott Boras type agents, and also agents that are softer and who will give you more flexibility when negotiating with a player long term. Big time agents representing draft picks could also make the player ranking process deeper. (div1991 - Pro - 3:12 PM)

This is something that we have been discussing and we all agree that we want to implement this in some way.

Can you give us a preview of what's coming up in the next updates and around when you expect them? All Star play simulation? Arizona Fall League? Anything else? (csherwood - Hall of Famer - 3:15 PM)

We have regular meetings discussing features and additions we would like to have implemented into the game. All star simulations and the Arizona Fall Leagues are on the top of that list along with Hall of Fame voting and Player of the Week. We have a lot of exciting things on the way and we'll keep you posted.

hartjh14 drafted a player in the Rule 5 Draft and was able to assign him to his AAA team. Is this a bug that will be fixed? (jabronidan - Hall of Famer - 3:20 PM)

This has been fixed and we corrected the issue with the player's involved. This only affected the Hometown world and they were notified before hand.

Does a pitcher’s pitch calling rating have any affect on how affective they will be during a game. For example, if a pitcher has a 15 pitch call rating, and his catcher has a 75 pitch call rating, do they get averaged together and turn into a mutual 90 pitch call rating for the game? (div1991 - Pro - 3:22 PM)

The pitch calling rating only applies to catcher's.

Patrick says "In HBD currently there is no such thing as ... home-field advantage."..I beg to differ; you take your home park ratings into account when you build your team. You should play better at home. (tegesta - All-Star - 3:25 PM)

The ballpark definitely plays a role but there is no explicit home-field advantage such as travel fatigue, crowd noise, hotel stays, etc.

are there any discussions toward further micromanaging games? for example, giving a player a "green light" to steal rather than depending on a general "agressive" coaching option. (davedesmond - All-Star - 3:28 PM)

Since there are over 1 million player's currently in HBD we can't allow for individual settings on players. When you do set an option like "Aggressive" for base stealing it does take into account the individual ratings of the player involved when the game event is triggered. If the ratings of the player do not favor the situation he will not try to steal a base.

Any future plans to add Druggies In The Rough (players who see their projected ratings drop due to off-field issues) or suspensions for brawls, 'roids etc.? (frymaster23 - Pro - 3:30 PM)

We definitely want to incorporate some sort of player attitude which would incorporate most of the things you are suggesting.

How is the Hall of Fame going to view current players? Many players in leagues have had 4-5 solid seasons, but at the age of 34 to 35 will likely be taking a big hit over the next few years? Will these kind of guys likely make the hall of fame or will they be "punished" for not having the "career numbers" as they have no numbers before season 1? (brentnet - Veteran - 3:31 PM)

This is one reason why we are holding off on this feature. We want to be able to have a comprehensive list of potential Hall of Famer's. We feel that a good number of season's to have our criteria met is somewhere around 10 seasons.

What's the deal with "updaete"? (travisg - Hall of Famer - 3:32 PM)

The word "update" is a reserved word for our database. If you use reserved words it can cause issues.

Any plans to add an option to statistical pages to view previous seasons? (chadw09 - All-Star - 3:36 PM)

Yes, this will come in a future update.

Do you plan on creating ateam accomplishment page. It would be nice all time w-l, playoffs history, WS wins, etc. (jabronidan - Hall of Famer - 3:40 PM)

You can already view this information by opening up the owner profile. We are going to be adding in an owner trophy case that will contain all of the team achievements like the world series trophy and pennants.

Are you guys considering any tools or procedures to automatically monitor worlds to help ensure that one human isn't controlling multiple teams in a world? Cheaters have the potential to ruin HBD much more readily than in SLB. It would be nice to know that WIS is actively trying to police, at least a little. (bosoxbill - Hall of Famer - 3:43 PM)

We have discussed at great lengths what to do about this and how to handle it. We run queries on a consistent basis but we believe that user's are the best source for this information. If you feel that a user may be colluding feel free to send in a support ticket and we will do our best to resolve the situation.

Are we EVER going to see Tryout Camp position players (aka, cheap roster fillers)? After all, there are undrafted and unsigned draftees and internationals every year. (toddcommish - Hall of Famer - 3:46 PM)

This is something that we can potentially add in the future. For now you can always sign minor league free agents at a pretty cheap price to fill those holes.

Is there going to be an update to be able to fire coaches and/or promote coaches mid-season? (cincy111 - All-Star - 3:49 PM)

We currently do not have plans to implement this feature but there is always a possibility.

Will noteworthy games at the ML level ever show up in the player's profile? I'd like to be able to see that a guy has thrown 3 no-hitters, hit for the cycle, etc. (jrlenart - Hall of Famer - 3:52 PM)

As worlds move along into future seasons we would like to implement a player milestones feature into HBD.

Is there a way to track who a team's past Diamonds in the Rough were, if we didn't make notes of it? And is that program being tweaked? Turning nonprospects into AA or AAA prospects is fun for a time, but not long. (jsturgis5866 - Hall of Famer - 3:54 PM)

There is currently no way to track Diamonds in the Rough except for adding a note to the player's profile but it could be a future addition. Also, it is possible for a player to become a true ML All-Star by going through the Diamond in the Rough process but, just like in real life it is rare.

Are there any limits on the number of Diamonds in the Rough that your team can get in a season? Or is it just a product of that individual's makeup and luck? (WiredTiger - Hall of Famer - 4:03 PM)

The maximum number of Diamonds in the Rough is 5.

Is anything currently in the works to have high-drafted, unsigned players become free agents the following season or basically be available at some point beyond the draft? (frymaster23 - Pro - 4:04 PM)

Currently unsigned 1st round college seniors will become free agents the following year. We are planning on having some player's come back to the draft the following year or two after.

Is there a benefit to having players that are going to make your team play in Spring Training? Do they perform better if they get a certain number of ABs/IPs in the spring...or will not playing much hiurt their performance? (kschoenberg - All-Star - 4:07 PM)

There is a benefit to playing in Spring Training. As long as a player is playing he reaps the rewards of the big league level coaching staff and sees some development increases because of it.

Is the update to get rid of the awful yellow color in the menu scheduled for today or tomorrow? (chadw09 - All-Star - 4:11 PM)

This was put out today and has recently been compared to "Post It Note" yellow. Much more pleasing overall and we hope you guys like the new navigation.

settle a recent debate for us: we know that if you demote a plyer, there's a risk of a demotion penalty depending on various factors (age, makeup, patience, etc.). if you assign a player for whom you just traded, does the same risk apply? i'm not talking about that player being stuck at the new level for a long time, i'm only asking whether assigning a newly-acquired player to a lower level functions the same way as a demotion. thanks. (schedule1 - Hall of Famer - 4:13 PM)

Assigning a player to a lower level can have the same affect as demoting a player.

This is purely cosmetic, but would it be possible to add a bolded or italic stat line to player cards to indicate and highlight a certain stat (i.e hits) when a particular player lead his league in a particular offensive/defensive or pitching category? (randallball - Hall of Famer - 4:18 PM)

Upon further review, it would be a great feature but it just isn't feasible in terms of performance.

Is there an easy way to see who is going to be eligible for the rule 5 draft for the upcoming season, or do I have to wait till the roll over? (cincy111 - All-Star - 4:20 PM)

You can view your roster to locate the player's who have 4 years of pro experience who are not on your 40-man roster. Once the world rolls over player's are indicated with an icon letting you know that they are Rule 5 eligible.

To clarify, could you please explain the steps taken to determine a tiebreaker? I know that head-to-head is involved, but beyond that I'm clueless. (frymaster23 - Pro - 4:21 PM)

A tiebreaker system is used if two teams tie for a playoff berth. Head-to-head record is used first, then division record, then run differential, then last season's record and finally a coin flip.

Do pitchers lose effectiveness after throwing too many pitches? Also, when they get into trouble, do other pitchers start with a clean slate, or does their makeup effect how they will be able to get out of the jam the previous pitcher got into? (jabronidan - Hall of Famer - 4:22 PM)

We do have in game fatigue for pitcher's. If a pitcher throws more pitches than his ratings dictate he is capable of he will slowly see his effectiveness degrade throughout the game. The makeup rating scenario that you brought up may be an interesting addition to the game but it is not currently a factor.

let's say there's only 1 player that i'd like in the rule V draft. given that the first cutoff ("No player beyond this rank will be drafted.") is 5, is there a way to avoid drafting anyone other than that one player? if not, can you make it so before our rule V draft tonight? :). thanks. (schedule1 - Hall of Famer - 4:23 PM)

One of many ways that you could achieve this is to set your cutoff rank to 5 and then set your target for the position of the player that you want to one. That would give you the result you are looking for.

Re: schedule1's question about how to [rule 5] draft only 1 player. Should you also set all the other player position targets to zero ? (tegesta - All-Star - 4:23 PM)

If you want to only draft the top ranked player, yes, you would set all other targets to zero.

The RL Rule V is in December. Wouldn't it make sense to put HBD's just before the arbitration hearings? It would help with the overall flow of the preseason schedule, imo. (jsturgis5866 - Hall of Famer - 4:25 PM)

We wanted to put it after the free agent negotiation process so that owner's would have plenty of time to prepare for it and have all of their main financial burdens taken care of. Also, by putting it before Spring Training you can immediately see those player's in game situations and decide whether you want to keep them or offer them back.

tzentmeyer is hopping in now. ( Moderator - 4:26 PM)

In coach hiring why is it allowed to offer multiple contacts to multi coaches for the same opening? (oab2 - Hall of Famer - 4:27 PM)

Since there are a fixed # of coaching roles that need to be filled as opposed to player free-agents, we allow multiple offers to multiple coaches at the same position so owners aren't in a position of not being able to sign a decent coach should their offer be rejected.

any chance you move the Iowa City franchise to Des Moines, where Principal Park actually resides? (hatt11 - Hall of Famer - 4:28 PM)

At some point in the future, we'll expand our city options. When that happens, we'll make this change along with a few other minor league ballpark adjustments that have been brought up previously.

Trevor Hoffman was originally drafted as a SS, and now holds the major league career record for saves. Rick Ankiel was an outstanding young major league pitcher before wildness set in, and has now reinvented himself as an AAA All-Star outfielder. Brooks Kieschnick switched from utility position player to reliever for a short period. Will we ever see a similar transition in HBD for the rare player, from position players to pitcher, or vice-versa? Maybe via a "Diamond-in the Rough" update? (tecwrg - Hall of Famer - 4:31 PM)

Perhaps. It's on our suggestion board.

Is it possible that you could add a feature to "teach" players positions instead of having them be just on ratings. This would give you more flexibility with a minor league guy if the position he plays is taken in the ML. It would also avoid having every shortstop being a utility player. (div1991 - Pro - 4:32 PM)

We use the defensive spectrum, so we essentially do this. No matter how much coaching your provide, though, you won't be able to turn Adam Dunn into a 3B.

Is there any plan to adjust the player cards so that rather than have a DL History page we could see every injury that has happened? As it stands right now someone could just stick a guy on the inactive roster page until he's healed. (lccooler - All-Star - 4:33 PM)

We weren't aware of this being an issue. If it becomes one, we can rework the page.

Any thought of variable pricing of existing abandoned franchises? (ie. successful franchises cost more to buy than talent depleted franchises) (deathinahole - Hall of Famer - 4:34 PM)

No, but we never know what the future holds. Filling up worlds has not been an issue yet.

Can you please get rid of the wild cards so we have 8-team playoffs, no byes, and no silly best-of-3 series? Byes and best-of-3 just aren't baseball. The wild cards aren't that important. (bosoxbill - Hall of Famer - 4:35 PM)

The best of 3 will eventually be eliminated, but I don't think we'll get rid of the playoff format. We want to reward the better teams, which is the reason for the byte.

On the Rule V draft when setting the positional targets should we be using the position listed on the prospects page? If so, why have separate #s for starting pitchers and relief pitchers? Why not just have a pitcher total. (acn24 - Hall of Famer - 4:36 PM)

Yes, the position on the player pool page is based on your advance scouting department's recommendations. the breakdown of SP/RP is done automatically based on ratings. That's the reason for splitting up the targets.

Has there been any discussion on K rates? In respect to MLB, they seem to be a bit low. Of course, this produces more fielding chances and, in turn, more errors. Poor fielding seems to be a huge point of discussion almost weekly. (MikeT23 - Hall of Famer - 4:38 PM)

K rates are only a hair below what the modern average. We'll slowly bring them up. Fielding discussions are always interesting because owners put non-SS at SS and expect them to perform as well as a below average big league SS in terms of RF and FPCT. When we do our analysis, the fielders at their proper position play accordingly. The best are where they should be, the average are where they should be and the below average are where they should be.

Any chance of seeing the likely, upcoming opposing pitchers, as in SLB and RL MLB? (ArlenWilliam - Hall of Famer - 4:38 PM)

Sure. It's on our suggestion board.

we've somewhat recently lost the ability to negotiate with players who will be arb-eligible in the upcoming season. i know that this is in place to prevent owners from screwing up teams, but it's easy to find ways to sign poor players to long contracts. what would it take for you to consider adding this ability again to help the owners who like to plan in advance? (schedule1 - Hall of Famer - 4:39 PM)

We'll have to re-evaluate the system and see what we can and need to do to bring it back minus the potential problems.

How can a player with a 90+ throwing arm only have a velocity of 11? What's the difference? (kschoenberg - All-Star - 4:41 PM)

Typically, they'll be in line. The difference, though, is that some players have strong arms but can't pitch with much velocity to do the inability to follow the mechanics of pitching (delivery, follow-through, arm angle, etc.) This example is an extreme case, but that's the gist of the explanation.

When setting a pitcher's Targeted Pitch Count it would be nice to be able to see his durability and stamina. Any chance the screen can be changed to accomodate this? (pb15 - Hall of Famer - 4:41 PM)

That's a good suggestion. We'll see what we can do.

HBD is awesome. As long as WIS keeps paying you enough money to keep you happy, it sounds like it will just get better! (chadw09 - All-Star - 4:41 PM)

There are 6 of us in the office that are addicted to it, so we plan on making it better and better.

I have yet to end a season where league leader in K's had 300+, or the league leader in HRs had less than 60. Will this always be the case? (TheJester74 - Hall of Famer - 4:43 PM)

We hope not. We'll continue to tweak numbers until we get things perfect. Typically, the high HR totals are players in extreme ballparks, so we may have to bust out the humidor.

Have you considered adding a daily transaction section of the World Office? It would look much like the daily transaction section found in most newspapers and highlights trades, promotions, demotions, waiver claims etc... (BrianCampos - Hall of Famer - 4:45 PM)

Yes. We plan on doing quite a bit with pertinent info on the main World Office page now that we've done quite a bit to improve the site performance issues with HBD as it has grown.

Is there anything in the works to be able to make defensive substitutions that move players for defensive reasons. For instance, if your starting SS is #2 on the SS defensive list and #1 on the 3B list, can the #1 SS come in the 8th inning and the starting SS move to 3B, as the starting 3B is replaced from the game? (robinhood410 - Hall of Famer - 4:46 PM)

Yes. We'll be working on some engine improvements in the coming weeks.

Can we expect further updates to pitcher fatigue? There are a ton of ML quality pitchers capable of starting 40+ times a year at 100% (i.e. without a performance penalty) - something you don't see in real life. (sickchangeup - Hall of Famer - 4:46 PM)

We weren't aware this was occurring until seeing this question, so we'll look into it.

You have player single season and career records. Any thought of adding the same for teams? (deathinahole - Hall of Famer - 4:47 PM)

Yes, at some point.

With the latest SLB release, there was some mention of giving batters more control of results, than pitchers. Does that also apply to HBD? Can you explain that? (ArlenWilliam - Hall of Famer - 4:50 PM)

No. That was not done with HBD.

It seems like playing time is cumulative effect on fatigue for position players. For example once the player hits 99% and you keep playing him he starts to drop like a rock every day he plays. Some guys with lower dur ratings I try to play only 4-5 times per week so at the end of the year they're not playing 2 times a week. There is no good way other than checking game logs to see how many games in a row a guy has played. (TheJester74 - Hall of Famer - 4:50 PM)

We view this as a managerial decision the owner has to have foresight about. You have to know what players need occasional rest so they're not tired later in the year. I'm not sure of a better way to indicate when a player needs rest other than when his fatigue lowers. I don't believe showing consecutive games played would cover all bases, since players tire at different rates.

Are there any plans to add a stat for batting average on balls put in play? (ka49s - All-Star - 4:51 PM)

It's on the suggestion board. Real estate is the main obstacle at this point.

We've got to halt the dev chat to handle an issue. We'll answer the rest of the questions later. ( Moderator - 5:06 PM)

The implemention of Rule 5 makes it important that we know exactly how to determine who is on the 40 man roster and who is not. The update release refers to one situation when you could have more than 40 on your 40 man roster--at least for a transitional period. There is at least one other way to have more than 40 on your 40 man roster --when you have players on the 60 day DL---and I have never understood how that works. Will you clarify the DL/40 man roster rules for me ? (tegesta - All-Star - 5:53 PM)

Sure. When a player is placed on the 60-day DL, it frees up a spot on the 40-man roster. If the 40-man fills while he's on the 60-Day DL, then someone needs to be taken off in order to remove the player from the DL.

1 thing that still bugs me is SS. in both of my worlds, my entire systems do not have 1 player who has the "average" defensive ratings for SS. shouldn't more players be "average"? also, why does it take so long for prospects to develop as fielders (with top end FI)? (bigyunit - Hall of Famer - 5:55 PM)

I believe one reason for this is that many owners go for as many SS as they can in the Amateur Draft each season, knowing the players can play anywhere (which is similar to real life since the best athletes are typically SS in HS and in college). Each world is different, but the distribution of talent at SS should provide a high percentage of defensive minded SS. sometimes you have to sacrifice offense for defense.

Will we ever see better stats on our players? Hitter vs Pitcher? Lefty/Right, Home/Away. Perforamnce over periods of time (Last 10 games, etc.) (kschoenberg - All-Star - 5:56 PM)

We have split stats via the Player Stats page. I don't think we'll ever go as far as tracking versus individual pitchers, though. That would really slow things down across the board since it would lead to so much more data.

There are many owners who abandon their MiL teams, leaving pitchers at 0 virtually all season. AI has some things in place to deal with this -- promotions/demotions, signing draftees onto the Rookie roster -- but it's clearly not enough. Many other owner like the minors, even find it useful. Is there any thought to deal with this? (jsturgis5866 - Hall of Famer - 5:58 PM)

We thought that peer pressure would solve some of this, but it hasn't. We'll see what we can do to help out with this. Automatic signing of tryout camp pitchers is a possibility.

Can you please stop creating pitchers with Durability ratings below 10? I saw a player with a currnent rating of 0 in my last amature draft. Isn't that just silly? And these guys have high overall ratings, which is extra silly. A player with a 90 stamina and a 5 durabillity should be worth a lot less than a guy with a 90 stamina and a 30 durability, but he isn't. (baldric - Hall of Famer - 6:01 PM)

That sounds like a relative of an owner or something like that who convinced a scouting director to get his name on the board. Player creation is based on a distribution model, and having a pitcher created with such a low durability is usually in the third standard deviation or beyond, which is extremely rare.

Any chances of changing the schedules in the future so the division we play in interleague play changes each year instead of always being the same one? (csherwood - Hall of Famer - 9:44 PM)

Yes. We'll do some overall schedule revamping in the future.

When you add a player to your 40 man roster, his minor league options begin ticking, but what happens when he has 0 options left, I know you can still keep him in the minors but do his ML years then automatically begin ticking even though he isn't on your 25 man roster? (jabronidan - Hall of Famer - 9:45 PM)

Once a player is out of options, he can't be demoted or removed from the 40-man without having to clear waivers. That's the main consequence.

Will the ability for minor league managers to auto rest position player when they reach a certain fatigue level (usually 98%) ever work correctly? (TheJester74 - Hall of Famer - 9:46 PM)

There aren't any issues with this. As long as the player rest hierarchies are setup properly where backups are available to play, it works just fine.

I have seen players over the age of 30 gain projected overall ratings after a trade. For instace a player I had went from 75/75 to 76/76 after I traded him. What caused that? (kschoenberg - All-Star - 9:47 PM)

Every player has a different peak age, so one can continue improving at age 30 while others won't. If a roster move occurs close to a player's scheduled development cycle, it will occur at the time of the roster change.

When someone asks you a question such as #1, what steps do you take for a serious look at the matter (in this case, the many relievers with high ratings but bad results)? (ArlenWilliam - Hall of Famer - 9:48 PM)

We look at the relationship between ratings, the stats generated from the ratings and the results of game play. For instance, if a player's ratings indicate the player should be a pitcher with a .225 OAV, we compare that with how he's done. We then do this across the board using statistical analysis.

Since the last update, a number of my position player prospects overall ratings have gone down, though their specific ratings stayed the same. Is this a permanent adjustment? (koop1975 - Rookie - 9:50 PM)

The recent overall rating adjustment is permanent. It should have had little to no effect on position players. The major change was on the weighting of stamina for pitchers.

Why such a small change to the pitching overall ratings? The same issues with badly valued pitchers are still there, just not quite as bad. Is there another change coming later? (baldric - Hall of Famer - 9:51 PM)

Nope, this is it. We believe the representation is much more accurate at this point.

The update has changed attempted steals, so what could I expect from a player with 99 speed and 50 baserunning? Is this a player who will probably steal 15-20 bases or more of a 25-30 type guy? (jabronidan - Hall of Famer - 9:52 PM)

I'd expect him to attempt to steal at a rather high rate since his speed is so exceptional, however he'll be held back due to his horrible baserunning rating. Without verifying the numbers, I'd expect him to attempt about 40-50 steals assuming he sees 600 PA.

This new stolen base tweak, will it make sure my 44-rated speed pitcher won't get caught stealing (not because he was safe but because he didn't run)? (frymaster23 - Pro - 9:53 PM)

He will attempt less steals, yes.

Will the temper rating ever play a more significant role? Right now, I imagine it affects the chances of a guy arguing a call and being ejected... but will there ever be resulting suspensions that we should consider? Does a temper rating impact the game outside of arguing calls/being ejected? (speekeasy8 - All-Star - 9:54 PM)

Yes, it will eventually be incorporated more. We have ideas for several scenarios.

Are you ok with the fact that SP's with 30+ DUR can start 45+ games a year at 100%, pitch 250+ innings and not be even the slightest bit affected when they make late season starts? Last year, the MLB RL leader made 35 starts (and pitched 240.2 innings). In one of my worlds we already have about 30 SP's who've surpassed 35 starts with two weeks to go in the season. One particular starter (35 DUR 75 STA, 287 IP, 4.48 ERA) has made 50 starts in point of fact. Any plans to address this? (sickchangeup - Hall of Famer - 9:54 PM)

Someone else pointed this out earlier. We will definitely look into this.

In the new update, almost all ovr ratings for starting pitchers went down. I have some starters rated 68 who win 15 games a year and deserve to be Type A/B free agents but are not. Are there any plans to fix this? (jabronidan - Hall of Famer - 9:55 PM)

No. Wins aren't as important as the component ratings (which derive OAV, SLG, BB/PA, etc.) The ratings are what drive everything, so they will continue to determine Type A/B status.

Can you please add a feature that stops players from being penalized when being sent back down after being called up after roster expansion? I'd like to bring up minor league players but it is not worth the cost/risk as it is now. (baldric - Hall of Famer - 9:56 PM)

This was fixed several months ago. The system should recognize the fact a player was promoted for roster expansion so if he's demoted later that season, he won't suffer unless his traditional player development calls for it.

Assume in the current season I have minor league player X-with 3 pro yrs, 0 major league yrs, 2 option years left--and is on the 40 man roster. If I remove this player X from the 40 before the end of this year ( thus permitting me to protect a 6 yr minor league potential free agent )..can I then put player X back on the 40 next year( assuming I have room on the 40 then) before the Rule 5 draft and protect him from Rule 5 picks ? (tegesta - All-Star - 9:58 PM)

Yes, that should be fine.

I read on the forums you have found and fixed a problem that prevented certain players from progressing, can you shed some light on this? (jabronidan - Hall of Famer - 9:59 PM)

Sure. There was a group of about 2,000 players out of our entire player universe which were in this group. Due to some of their underlying data, it was preventing them from improving. Once we realized this and made an adjustment, they'll start seeing their regular development. Their first few dev cycles should result in quicker growth than usual, assuming good coaching, etc.

Is it possible to change contract negotiation and draft compensation to incorporate statistics so that those horrible 5-9 starters with a 6.00 era are type A free agents while 15-4 guys don't get you anything. (jabronidan - Hall of Famer - 10:01 PM)

There are several reasons why ratings must dictate Type A/B status rather than stats. Bad owners, abandoned teams, fatigue build-up, ballpark, etc. can all lead to misleading representation of player ability. Going by ratings is much more accurate.

We've been hearing for some time that Rule V is the "next big feature" coming. Now that is here, what is the "next big feature" you'd like to add or at this point, is the engine getting to the point where all of the features are in the game and it will be more tweaking of the user front-end and/or engine used to run HBD? (brentnet - Veteran - 10:03 PM)

We have a long list of future improvements/additions. This includes an advanced roster moves mode (for experienced users who know the rules), the Arizona Fall League for those teams that are out of the playoffs, and lots, lots more. Plus continual tweaks/improvements to all portions of the game.

The new update fixes the rating system for pitchers, but what about 1B. Some of these guys are rated 60ovr but are some of the most fearsome hitters in the game. Will that just be left alone as it is evened out by the fact that SS make so much or will contract negotiations be adjusted based on performance rather then ratings. (jabronidan - Hall of Famer - 10:05 PM)

The lower ratings for even the best hitting 1B is justified because they can't play anywhere in the field other than 1B which limits their value. They are also generally slow and poor baserunners. It's always easier to find a good hitting 1B than a good hitting CF or SS. A good SS will always be more sought after than a good 1B.

It has been suggested in the forums that a rule 5 draftee that is assigned to your active major league roster , but gets little playing time during the forced 1 year stay, will not develop normally. Is that correct ? (tegesta - All-Star - 10:06 PM)

Playing time is a big part of player development, so if he doesn't play he won't develop very well and could actually decline.

Sorry for the late finish. We had over 70 questions this time around. We answered all but a few. As you can see from the chat, the game continues to grow and improve. We enjoy all the feedback; it definitely helps improve the game. Good luck with the rest of your seasons!