MLB The Show - General Discussion

[Meacon Keaton]

It’s rather realistic though. Unless you’re a top tier, first round pick prospect, a lot of franchises will move a player around to find the best position to have them develop. A lot of shortstops move to another position. A lot of third basemen may move to first. A lot of catchers move to the outfield. Almost all pitchers, relievers and closers included, start off their professional career as starters. 

[Gabriel]

6 minutes ago, Meacon say “Hi People!” said:

It’s rather realistic though. Unless you’re a top tier, first round pick prospect, a lot of franchises will move a player around to find the best position to have them develop. A lot of shortstops move to another position. A lot of third basemen may move to first. A lot of catchers move to the outfield. Almost all pitchers, relievers and closers included, start off their professional career as starters. 

To add to this, it even happens at the major league level. Sometimes you've got too many guys at one position, or a glaring weakness somewhere that you can't easily fill, and you try guys out in other positions.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr will tell you he's a middle-infielder. The Blue Jays will tell you he's a Left Fielder with potential to be a middle-infield guy.

Randal Grichuk played center field until he went pro, then he moved to right and has only recently been put back into center.

Anthony Gose used to play center, but he's now a pitcher.

I will agree that it happens with far too much regularity and rigidness in The Show though. I think they could benefit from making it less strict. Instead of just straight up moving you, they should test you out at different positions based on team needs, or if you're struggling where you are... then it should be a conversation. They should come to you with stats and observations to back up why they want you to make a permanent switch if that's the way they want to go. Sure, you can refuse, but maybe if you refuse, you ride the bench more because there's a better option for them at your position.

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

The game doesn't make it easy to tell whether if you demand a trade because you're unhappy with your role whether you'll be moved back if you're traded.

There is also text in the game that says if you are a higher overall, you have more leverage as to where you can play. Did anyone hit free agency in previous games? Can you change your primary position before signing with another team?

[The Buscher]

I mean there's times where I've come out of the prospect showcase as an A potential player and I've wound up in an organization with a 70 overall, C potential player at my position.  Doesn't stop me from getting position switched.  It's silly.

I understand players are forced into different roles all the time in real life, but this is a video game which allows you to be an 18 year old at Double A which is something only generational prospects get to experience.  They can bend realism a little bit.

[METALMAN]

3 hours ago, Meacon say “Hi People!” said:

It’s rather realistic though. Unless you’re a top tier, first round pick prospect, a lot of franchises will move a player around to find the best position to have them develop. A lot of shortstops move to another position. A lot of third basemen may move to first. A lot of catchers move to the outfield. Almost all pitchers, relievers and closers included, start off their professional career as starters. 

BUT I WANT TO HAVE FUN WHY DO YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THAT. 

i cant have fun at first base

[The Buscher]

Yeah I was not happy about getting saddled at 1B.  Plus I was doing really well fielding at 3B, made every throw and I only committed one error all season.

Once it became apparent I wasn't going to get moved off of 1B I stopped bothering putting any points into fielding, hoping they'd make me a DH.  But the CPU doesn't think that way.

[Toe]

My Oakland Athletics are 2nd in the AL West but in firm control of the wild card after the trade deadline, but I've just come to the sad realization that I can likely only keep two of Matt Olson, Matt Chapman, Marcus Semian, and Khris Davis. 

[Gabriel]

24 minutes ago, Toe said:

My Oakland Athletics are 2nd in the AL West but in firm control of the wild card after the trade deadline, but I've just come to the sad realization that I can likely only keep two of Matt Olson, Matt Chapman, Marcus Semian, and Khris Davis. 

I usually go through all of my numbers and look at upcoming budgets and whatnot prior to the deadline, so that if I have guys I know I'm going to lose, I can move them out if I can promote someone who is ready, or I can replace them via trade with a cheaper player... or if I'm not looking at the post-season, I'll just maximize the prospect return on guys I know I'm going to lose.

If I get to the off-season and still have guys like that, I'll go through my roster of players under contract already and see where I can shed some money to try and re-sign everyone I want to keep. It gets tough sometimes, but I like playing with that, knowing that I can let my best slugger go for nothing, or I can potentially trade away a couple of other guys to free up that money. Makes me think about where my prospects are at in terms of being ready, or if I can actually afford to let someone go just to offer a bigger deal to a free agent. I've definitely burned myself there though, trading away players to free up space because I thought I had replacements ready to go... only to see those replacements fail hard at the MLB level, and leaving me with no financial wiggle-room.

[Toe]

I feel like my line-up is pretty strong, so I don't want to sell off Semian and Davis just yet.

My only moves at the deadline were to add Brandon Morrow for next to nothing, then move off Robbie Grossman's salary for a really low rated B prospect just to free up his salary. I wasn't using Grossman anyway. I did look at what I could get for Semian, but didn't really love any of the offers.

[Gabriel]

3 minutes ago, Toe said:

I feel like my line-up is pretty strong, so I don't want to sell off Semian and Davis just yet.

My only moves at the deadline were to add Brandon Morrow for next to nothing, then move off Robbie Grossman's salary for a really low rated B prospect just to free up his salary. I wasn't using Grossman anyway. I did look at what I could get for Semian, but didn't really love any of the offers.

Are you going to be able to re-sign many of your guys for cheaper using arbitration or renewable status? I find that helps quite a bit in retaining my older stars... even if I feel bad that someone who is contributing as much or more than the rest of the roster is making like $150k.

[Toe]

14 minutes ago, Gabriel said:

Are you going to be able to re-sign many of your guys for cheaper using arbitration or renewable status? I find that helps quite a bit in retaining my older stars... even if I feel bad that someone who is contributing as much or more than the rest of the roster is making like $150k.

I will be. It's just those four I mentioned above that are the issue. Davis and Semian are free agents and want big money, and even with arbitration Olson and Chapman want over $10mil per season. The rest of the roster should be pretty easy to deal with.

[Meacon Keaton]

What year are you in? Is Kris Davis even worth fretting over at this point or is it more of an emotional attachment? Losing Seimian may stink but I think Davis has been regressing enough that you could find a comparable replacement for next to nothing.

[Toe]

17 hours ago, Meacon say “Hi People!” said:

What year are you in? Is Kris Davis even worth fretting over at this point or is it more of an emotional attachment? Losing Seimian may stink but I think Davis has been regressing enough that you could find a comparable replacement for next to nothing.

Still the first year. I just found out he wants a lot less money then the deal he's currently on, so I'll probably re-sign him for one more year since his batting skills are still pretty good.

[Gabriel]

4 hours ago, Toe said:

Still the first year. I just found out he wants a lot less money then the deal he's currently on, so I'll probably re-sign him for one more year since his batting skills are still pretty good.

Ooh, that's another thing I didn't think about asking... but do you examine all potential contract renewals during the renewal periods in game? If I have guys who are up for a contract extension, their numbers are good and they are asking for less than their previous deal, I will usually re-sign them during these two phases.

I've even, once, re-signed a guy to a huge deal at the beginning of spring training and then saw his numbers dropping, both statistically and in regards to overall and performance... and then I traded him at the deadline. Joe Musgrove. That's who it was. He was lights out for me for a few years, and wanted $25 million per season. The rest of my rotation at the time sucked, but I had prospects coming. So I caved and re-signed him to the big contract. Then he devalued himself hard through the first half of the season, a couple of my prospects ended up performing their way onto the Pirates, and I shipped Musgrove out to St Louis for THREE A-level prospects... none of whom were on the 40 man... two of whom could have stepped right onto my MLB roster... and all three of them are now regulars for me.

 

EDIT: I just hit the 300th home run in the career of Rafael Devers. At 29 years old, I've had Devers on my team since 2020. I'm in 2026 now. His lowest dinger total for me in a single year has been 33.

I can't remember who I traded for him, but he came up on the trade block and I remember feeling like I was probably over-paying at the time, but Jung Ho-Kang was just not cutting it at third for me, and I saw Devers as a controllable asset with crazy good power. Of course, he's my highest paid player right now, making $22.6 million per year. I still have him for three more seasons beyond this one at that tag. I haven't seen any regression from him yet, and if he turns out like Josh Bell, by the time Devers is up for extension, he'll be looking for $30 million. Bell is just starting to see regression now at 33, but he's still one of my top hitters. He makes $20.2 million for two more seasons beyond where I'm at.

Edited April 15, 2020 by Gabriel

[Toe]

I've usually just waited until the off season to deal with extensions, but this time I've signed some mid-season. With the A's having a tighter budget, I need to know exactly how much I have to play around with if I'm going to have any change to sign a free agent. I don't see myself going after any big position players, but one solid starting pitcher would help.

Right now, this team is relying on it's power to slug their way to victory. Chapman, Olson, and Davis are all reliable power bats, but I can't rely on the rest of my line-up to continue hitting home runs at the pace their on right now. I think only one of my starters - Austin Allen - is on pace to hit less then 25 home runs. We have a tight grip on the wild card, but trail the Astros by 5 games with 40 or so to play.

[Toe]

Came within 2 outs of throwing a perfect game in the AL Wild Card against the Boston Red Sox. Of course, the hit that broke it up was a bloop hit single that JUST BARELY stayed fair. 

[Toe]

I've switched to the Braves. Inciarte has been filling in with Ozuna out with an injury, and he's hitting the ball so well that I don't really want to put him back on the bench. The only problem? The other two outfield spots are taken by Acuna (hitting almost .450 after a month and a half) and Markakis (hitting .330). 

[Meacon Keaton]

It’s a shame the NL sucks and doesn’t utilize the DH!

[Gabriel]

8 minutes ago, Mr. Meacon Moneybags said:

It’s a shame the NL sucks and doesn’t utilize the DH!

When I started my Pirates franchise, I turned DH on for both leagues. I figured that it's only a matter of time before it actually happens anyways... and as a former pitcher myself, I always hated that I had to go up to the plate.

[The Buscher]

I nearly turned DH on for my franchise.  As it turns out I'd have been in an advantageous spot to do so because I input all of the real life injuries and while Michael Conforto is out for most of April, I learned that I absolutely rake with Dom Smith for some reason.  But now Conforto's back and I'm in a pickle.  And at some point in May or June, Cespedes will be back and if an injury doesn't sort the problem out naturally I'm going to have two legit starter-quality bats on my bench.

Wish they could borrow a page from OOTP and you could change some of the rules in the offseason, even if it's just little stuff like adding a DH or tweaking roster limits in such a way that won't break the programming.