If outfielders are widely known in real life to have good or poor arms, do SIM outfielders mirror this accurately?  Would one be best off setting baserunning aggressiveness managerial setting lower, all else being equal, when playing teams with real life cannons out there?  Is it easy to tell who sparky thinks is good at gunning guys down?  Is sparky's idea of a good outfield arm entirely folded into  fielding grade, or completely separate using some kind of assist/putout ratio... Or is it... a mystery?  Thanks!

I think the sim treats all OF arms exactly the same. Juan Pierre has the same chance of nailing a runner as Clemente.

Posted by jfranco77 on 11/2/2010 3:52:00 PM (view original):
I think the sim treats all OF arms exactly the same. Juan Pierre has the same chance of nailing a runner as Clemente.

I thought OF arm was related to range.

OF arm is not related to range?

There are no "weak outfield arms" in the SIM.

Oh, I thought there were only two ratings, for fielding and range.  Where do you see the arm rating?  Are you confusing outfielders with catchers?

Apparently some people are convinced that range is tied to arm somehow.

I have not seen a piece of evidence to support this, but it's been speculating by several people in this thread.

Therefore, I assume she's referring to OF range ratings.

Well, I can't imagine what range has to do with an OF's throwing.  You can have excellent range and a horrible arm, and vice versa.  Earle Combs famously had a weak arm, yet his range was decent.

Looking at some of the OF assist leaders in my leagues that have recently finished, I don't see any correlation between OF assists and range (or fielding, for that matter).  In fact in one league (1991 prog), Steve Sax had the most OF assists, and he wasn't even rated at OF (he was A/D at his primary position, 2B). 

try a OF of 30' klein 13' carey 14' tilly walker and i bet you see very little improvement over league avg's

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assists_%28baseball_statistics%29

A couple things to think about.

OF range is tied to OF + plays. There are several different types of + plays in the outfield.

-Catching the ball (the simplest)
-Preventing a runner from taking an extra base (the next most common)
-Dropping a fly ball that other outfielders wouldn't have reached (very annoying, the +/- play)
-Throwing a runner out when taking an extra base (exceedingly rare, but I have seen it)

So if you want to say that outfield "range" is tied to outfield "arm" then you're right. The range is the only factor that determines things that are typically determined by the player's arm in real life.

(But remember, in RL, arm and range are not totally separate either, if a player gets to the ball quicker than the runner expects, he can throw him out even with a weak arm)

Interesting points, jfranco, especially the last one.  But in the SIM I simply don't see A+ range OF's throwing out more baserunners than anyone else (see my example of Steve Sax, above).  Generally speaking the A+ rangers have the most plus plays (as you would expect), but the leaders in outfield assists appear to be totally random.  In any event I've sent a ticket in to Admin to ask about this question.

In four years in a current progressive (1961-64) Clemente has a total of 18 assists, 4.5/yr.  In real life, in 1964 alone he had 13.  If the SIM factors in the effectiveness of real-life throwing arms, whether through range or some hidden part of the algorithm, I think it is at best a very very minor factor.  Certainly not something worth worrying about when drafting.

If anyone has hard evidence to the contrary, I would be most interested in seeing it.

Posted by crazystengel on 11/10/2010 9:51:00 AM (view original):
Interesting points, jfranco, especially the last one.  But in the SIM I simply don't see A+ range OF's throwing out more baserunners than anyone else (see my example of Steve Sax, above).  Generally speaking the A+ rangers have the most plus plays (as you would expect), but the leaders in outfield assists appear to be totally random.  In any event I've sent a ticket in to Admin to ask about this question.

This I completely agree with. I was just saying that they prevent baserunners from advancing, not by their arm but by their range. They don't have any better chance to throw someone out (in fact, given that they prevent advancement, it might actually be lower).

Then there is this: "[Player's] throw is off the mark up the 1B/3B line and [Player] scores."  Any relationship to the fielder's ratings?