Injury vs. AB

I remember playing the board game back in the 80s, with friends, colleagues, and others in keeper leagues and live drafts. When we first started out, there was always those part time or extra players, you know the ones with 50 to 100 ABs, who would have monster cards. Anyway it quickly became apparent that without a rule, guys would use these players in full time roles on the teams they drafted.

The first rules were always of the nature of something like this: anyone with less than 200 ABs could not enter a game, unless of injury, until the 7th inning or later. It had the effect of relegating their role to pinch hitters or defensive replacements at the end of the game. Which, overall, worked well most times. But guys would still overuse those players so that they would sometimes get 300 ABs by the end of the season (once the 7th inning arrived, in comes the monster cards with low ABs)

Other times, leagues just banned the practice of using them at all. But this proved a bit difficult to justify in keeper leagues where you included a minor league roster, and found yourself plagued with injuries.

Finally what we decided on was to forgo the injuries and use ABs instead. If the player had 50 ABs you could use him for 50 ABs no more.

Some argued, they were very few, that removing the injuries was counter to what happens in the MLB. Which is true in a way. But most realized that when a player is injured, he didn't accumulate the ABs he would have if he played all season long so the number of ABs he had for the year already reflected the injury or injuries he sustained.

And the people who argued for removing injuries and using ABs instead also mentioned that it would better reflect what the player did that season if AB totals were used instead of injuries because every year players who were injured in the MLB rarely attain anywhere near the number of missed games they had that season. They either would be injured for longer periods, or more likely, not be injured much at all. With AB usage, players would better reflect the number of games they missed during the MLB season because managers would need to sit players in order to retain their ABs for a whole season.

So although the method was different, the results were much more accurate.

The main argument against using ABs was that it took the randomness of injuries out of the game. Which is true, but most agreed that it was better to have the better accuracy over the randomness.

I think it would be a good thing if this option would be available for online strat. It would be good to have the option of AB usage or Injury usage when creating a league.

Scott the Complainer

If you could get rid of injuries in real life baseball, I'd be all for it--who wouldn't? My favorite player, Nolan Arenado, is out for two months with a broken finger, and I'm sick about it. However, if you're going to simulate baseball, eliminating injuries is silly. Taking out injuries would take out one of the important challenges of putting together a team. It takes a lot of thought to make sure every position is covered and deciding how much to spend on each backup for every position. Major injuries can also add a challenge during the season. No injuries? The game just got a bit less interesting (albeit a bit less frustrating!)

In the online game, it would create a another problem. The league correctly forbids tanking of any kind. It prohibits ganging up on another team. It prohibits playing soft against a specific team. Naturally, you will want to use your best players (if there are AB limits) against certain teams, and you'll probably rest them more often against weaker teams outside of your division. Essentially, while your motives would be different and honorable, you'd be engaging in the very behavior prohibited by the fair competition rules. It would be impossible for SOM to enforce the rules if someone tried to tank against a particular team. How could they prove a manager was tanking as opposed to just resting his players?

Taking out injuries would take out one of the important challenges of putting together a team. It takes a lot of thought to make sure every position is covered and deciding how much to spend on each backup for every position.

With AB usage, this practice is more vigorously in use. You have to make sure that every position has players to cover every game and every AB. If you draft Frank Thomas and his 380 AB year, you better be damn sure you have a replacement with enough ABS to cover Frank when his runs out. Not only do you have to find a replacement, you have to find one with enough ABs and talent for a low salary so you don't have to draft a 3rd first baseman.

In the online game, it would create a another problem. The league correctly forbids tanking of any kind. It prohibits ganging up on another team. It prohibits playing soft against a specific team. Naturally, you will want to use your best players (if there are AB limits) against certain teams, and you'll probably rest them more often against weaker teams outside of your division. Essentially, while your motives would be different and honorable, you'd be engaging in the very behavior prohibited by the fair competition rules. It would be impossible for SOM to enforce the rules if someone tried to tank against a particular team. How could they prove a manager was tanking as opposed to just resting his players?

On the surface, these seems plausible. But in action I don't see how tanking wouldn't be as easily caught. If you have a player with a high amount of plate appearances, he will be able to play every day. If he has lower plate appearances and you decide to rest him vs. bad teams, that's equally obvious to spot.

But I could be wrong.

Here is a pertinent question. Let's say I have two ss, and two 2b. It's obvious that ss-A and 2b-A are better than ss-B and 2b-B. But during the first half of the season ss-A and 2b-A are hitting .230 in the 70 games they have played in, and ss-B and 2b-B are hitting .275 in the 12 games they have played in (let's just use batting avg. not other stats just to keep it simple). So I decide to bench ss-A and 2b-A in favour of ss-B and 2b-B for the start of the the 2nd half of the season. I play 20 games with them starting, and they are keeping their batting avg in the .280 range, so I continue to use them. On the surface it might look like I'm tanking, but I'm actually trying to win.

Would this scenario be any different now than the scenario you are stating could occur if AB usage was implemented? What I mean is, there are plenty of situations where people could be accused of tanking presently in online strat, If AB usage was used, that scenario wouldn't come into existence, it already exists now already.

Scott the Complainer