Amaroq
Posts: 1100
Joined: 8/3/2005 From: San Diego, California Status: offline
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Paul's answer doesn't quite match my understanding. My understanding is that the players are not individually rated for 'max' in any category... but rather that the different categories each have a different growth/decay function. The first key thing to understand is that each has four different 'modes' of development: a. Growth - guy hasn't reached his prime and is improving b. Maintain - guy has reached his prime, but is holding steady c. Slow decay - age is starting to set in, but the year-over-year change isn't too bad d. Rapid decline - the 'he fell off the cliff' experience. Second, I believe each player is rated for what age he will move from a.) to b.), from b.) to c.), and from c.) to d.) - possibly even in each category. For example, 'Hands' has no growth period, is in 'maintain' mode until about age 27 or so, starts a slow decay around 26-28, and goes into rapid decline in the mid-thirties (for most players). Contact, on the other hand, has a growth period, 'maintain' mode doesn't typically start until the late twenties, 'slow decline' doesn't start until after 30, and 'rapid decline' might stave off for any number of years. I think the 'arrows' give you a feeling for where on the curve he is for the main stats: Stuff, Velocity, Control | Contact, Power, Eye. "Green" = 'growth stage'. "Yellow" = 'maintenance mode'. "Red" = 'in decline'. (I don't know that there is a way to tell the difference between slow decline and rapid decline other than by observation.) The Potential rating equates to how *much* the ratings that are growing, will grow. (However, that's also influenced by what level of majors/minors he's playing at, how much playing time he's seeing, and which rating it is - Power seems to move relatively similarly to Contact, but the size-of-increase is smaller.) So, some of our 'confusing examples': Potential = 90, Green arrow up, but he LOST ability last year! -- This player is in 'growth' mode for most or all of his ratings, but was playing at the wrong level of the system, or didn't get enough playing time last year. Potential = 1, Green arrow up -- This player is in 'growth mode' for most of his ratings, but due to his low potential, is unlikely to grow very much. Potential = 90, Yellow arrow -- This player is in 'maintenance mode' for most or all of his stats. As Paul suggests, one or more of his attributes may be improving, and the potentials would still affect that growth. In general, for most stats, the '90' is irrelevant: he'll be holding steady. Potential = 80, Red arrow -- **at a guess**, this might be a guy in slow decline? Or possibly, a player in 'decline' mode for most of his stats, for whom at least one has still not peaked? Potential = 10, Red arrow -- in decline or rapid decline. ... Though the 'relative' thing is, in general, true, I've found that its best not to get too caught up in hoping that it is the case. My guys in 'maintain' mode rarely show a modification of more than 1 point in either direction; I figure that indicates the shift in the T-scale, rather than shifts in their ability. A high-potential player whom I brought up to the big leagues too early (age 23) batted .315 his rookie year. However, he showed a decline - perhaps 5-8 points in most categories - the following year. I hoped that was 'T-scale shift', not him declining, so I kept him in the bigs, where he hit an unspectacular but respectable .277. Fine, I thought, even if I was off by one year, he should get better this time... he dropped another 5-8 points in every major category... and proceded to bat .232. This is one aspect of the system I don't quite like - I'd have liked that .315 to 'validate' the fact that he was at the right level. If he'd gone .232 and then posted a decline, that makes sense to me - overwhelmed, making too many changes to his mechanic, and taking hits to his self-confidence, he got worse... but after going .315 and being a candidate for 'rookie of the year', it seemed an overly dramatic slump to me. (That said, there IS a sophmore slump, and I could imagine that over two years, he's gotten way away from the things that were making him successful as a rookie.) I've got a real dilemna on my hands about what to do with him next year - his potential is still green, and I'd hate to have played him at the big-league level two years where he should have been at AAA, and then further hurt his development by dropping him to AAA when he needed big-league playing time! Oof. ... I consider a player who goes to 'yellow' too young (24, 25), but still has high potential, to be the best trade bait: I've lost confidence that he's going to improve dramatically, but the AI will still trade for him. On the other hand, the AI isn't giving me a great return for those 'off the cliff' guys - it feels like it knows as well as I do just how much he's declining. (They are good for bumping a 'We almost have a deal' into a 'Excellent proposal!', however.) A lot of times, I'll hold onto them as 'experienced backups' until their contract expires; I try to keep older players' contracts short enough when they're over 32 that I don't get stuck holding on to a guy who isn't any good.
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