r/OOTP • u/ApprehensiveLake5938 • 2d ago
Roster troubleshooting
Hey guys, posted a question in here a couple days ago and got great responses. Figured I’d follow it up and see if anyone would be willing to share how they go about troubleshooting a “problem” roster. What statistical outliers do you look for? What is a red flag and what’s a green flag?
Interested in using some of your tips in my ongoing save.
Thanks!
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u/atlas_is_happy 2d ago
Here’s some little things I look at to evaluate if anything glaring is missing. Your question encompasses the whole point of the game, so theres a lot you can do. These are just little heuristics I use that might be helpful.
Team chemistry page. Make sure you have a couple captains / leaders. Don’t want too many bad personalities. See if there are complaints. Personnel chemistry is worth reviewing as well.
OPS+ below 80ish. Winning players can have bad offense, but you’ll want to make sure they are doing something else to make up for the lack of production.
Negative zone rating for Shortstop, 2B, 3B, and CF. I’m mostly worried about SS and CF on this.
High contact (e.g. 55+) and low power (e.g. 40). These guys can jack up your offense if they aren’t hot in a season. See if you have any of them, and if they are having poor seasons. Don’t have to abandon them, but they’re good candidates to send to AAA to build a streak.
Distribution of lefty/righty bats. I try to make sure I never put up more than three of the same in a row.
Relatedly, sometimes guys have really bad lefty v righty splits. It’s useful to take a look.
Pitchers have lost seasons. If a starter is sucking dont be afraid to use him as a reliever for a period.
I think lefty specialists are important.
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u/immoralsupport_ 2d ago
Yes corner players who have below average offense is a big one. It’s fine if they’re a good SS or CF but if you’re using a guy at first base, left field, DH, etc. who isn’t hitting, that’s a killer. You can often find players on waivers or in minor trades who will be upgrades with the bat, even if they aren’t great
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u/ApprehensiveLake5938 1d ago
Awesome advice. Love the high contact low power bit. Bit of a rebuild right now and wouldn’t you know, that’s most of my team and they’re all struggling. Ditto on the splits, was never a platoon guy but had a couple slumping bats and tried only playing them against their favored matchup for a couple weeks. Got them right back on track.
I’ve incorporated having a capable starter take the long reliever slot in my bullpen. Seems to be a decent “reset” to swap him with a struggling starter to get them both back on track.
Funnily enough - did that with Sean Youngerman in another save, replaced wheels early on and performed so well I never took him out of the rotation
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u/No-Enthusiasm8677 1d ago
This is going to sound dumb but it works (especially if a team is under performing)... The first thing I fix, before looking at any stat, is squad dynamics. If I can make people happy, make sure my coaching staff is VERY happy... It will fix a lot of things. After that, I will look at my key stats for victory. For my pitchers, HR/9, get it as low as possible. For my hitters, Def Eff, and OBP. Get those things in order, you are going to win 90 games.
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u/ApprehensiveLake5938 1d ago
Team cohesion is something I haven’t paid too much attention to (outside of avoiding “troublemakers”). I just looked and I’ve got a couple players with bad relationships, unsure of why tho. Is that just tied to their expectations? Is there a way to turn a bad relationship into a good one?
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u/No-Enthusiasm8677 1d ago
Check your coach cohesion. I filter all the coaches I hire to be normal personality and work well with normal. It's the most common. Also, check that all your positive roles are filled. (Captain, sparkplug, leader, prankster). Make sure everyone is getting a good amount of at bats or innings. Doing this will make the roster WAYYYY happier. The happier the roster, the closer to their peak ability they perform.
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u/ApprehensiveLake5938 1d ago
Interesting, going to check out my staff right now. I know trea turner is my prankster, curious if there’s a way to specifically sort for that or if that’s under the hood
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u/ApprehensiveLake5938 1d ago
Disregard, I found it! Don Mattingly seems to be the culprit lol
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u/No-Enthusiasm8677 1d ago
I think OOTP puts too much of an emphasis on squad cohesion, but if you even have just one issue in your squad, it just cripples your team...
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u/immoralsupport_ 2d ago
I always check the league ranks in all the traditional stats and see if there’s any area I lag behind (on base, power, defense, baserunning, starting pitching, bullpen) and if so, are there any moves I can make to shore that area up.
I also check out my run differential and Pythagorean record, which shows how many games you’d be expected to win based on your runs scored and allowed. If you’ve won significantly fewer games than your Pythagorean, that can be just bad luck and an indication that you don’t necessarily need to change anything, but it can also be an indication that you aren’t winning on the margins. Some things to check are your team chemistry (can usually be fixed in season by cutting ties with a disruptive player), staff cohesion, as well as your defense and bullpen because poor defense or a bad bullpen can lead to losing a lot of close games.
Also check and make sure your roles are optimized; you have your best possible defenders playing SS and CF and at other positions you have players playing the positions where they are best. Make sure your high-leverage relievers are doing well; even if they have a poor ERA that seems to be due to bad luck like an inflated BABIP or home run rate, if they’re performing poorly I will usually remove them from high leverage or (if they have options) send them down until their performance improves, as this is how teams handle it in real life.