No Right Fielder

I have a team about to start a new season. I made a couple of trades and don't have any players eligible to play right field. I have only one other outfielder on the team not in the lineup - would HAL put him in right field? I would be happy with that because he is a good hitter that I don't have room for in left field. Anyone know what will happen?

There is no guarantee HAL will do what you want him to do. He might move one of your other outfielders to right field (not the one you want) or he might put only-HAL-knows-who there. You will also lose control oever which outfielder plays where if any of them get hurt.

It might work out for you quite well, or it might work out badly. No way to tell for sure.

Thanks for the input. HAL will do "HAL knows what" sounds about right. I am playing the 80s and have Dwayne Murphy (CF/LF) to play CF, and the only other 2 eligible outfielders are Kevin Mitchell (LF, 3B, 1B, SS) and Ben Oglivie (LF, CF, 1B). I am going to try the first series and see how it goes. I have Olgivie at LF and Mitchell on the bench with no RF against righties and I put Mitchell at LF against lefties with Oglivie on the bench. Looks like I will face a lefty and 2 righties in the first series. If HAL puts the bench player I want in all 3 games, I may go with it for awhile. If not, I will have to pick up a RF'er right away. I'll update the post on Tuesday after I see what happened.

Even if HAL uses Mitchell in RF I believe he will go from being a 4 in LF to a 5 in RF. Do you really want that?

I agree with LMBombers. Do you really want a 5 in right field? And that's best case scenario.

(An out-of-position 4 left fielder will be downgraded to a 5 if he plays right field.)

Of course, there is part of me that is curious what will happen if you go through with it!

Add me to the curious list, I might consider going back to school at 50+ and if I do I'm definitely doing my thesis on HAL.

According to the board game rules if your right fielder gets hurt you can play a backup CF or LF in the spot with no range penalty. I do this with the CD-ROM all the time and there is no range penalty. A CF should be able to play all three outfield spots with the same range. I would love to see them fix this on the on-line game.

Is it really realistic to suggest that Bret Butler (or any CF) could not play left field with the same range he has in CF? If you put Butler in LF with the computer game (not on-line) there is no range penalty EVER, injury or not.

The online game uses the CD-ROM rules for outfielder ratings when playing out of position.

However, (as everyone knows) the online game does not let you play outfielders out of position on purpose. Some people hate this, and others (like me) think it adds to the strategy of picking your team.

Taken from the SOM's FAQ:

Q: Can you use players out of position?
A: No you can't. Well technically you cannot. There is no way to place a player into a position in the lineup if he is not carded for there. However if you do not have any player at a position (either due to injury or you just do not have any player at that position) the computer manager will select a player to play there. However players will be given the worst possible rating for the position with an exception that the OF Moving Out of Position Rules from the Board Game are used for outfielders. For example, if your only CF is injured and your remaining outfielders are Ryan Braun, Michael Cuddyer, and Jay Bruce the game may use Braun in LF, Bruce in CF, and Cuddyer in RF even though none of those players are carded for CF.

The CD-ROM has been more recently update and does NOT penalize for putting a CF in RF or LF. I have to assume they have not gotten around to updating the on-line game coding in quite a awhile. And for those who don't believe me about the CD-ROM, try playing a player ONLY rated for CF in LF or RF (no injury necessary) and you will learn what I already know. Good luck!