IDEA: Player Value System for HISTORY MAKER BASEBALL
We mentioned in a recent video stream that our Fury Football RECHARGED campaign game idea was inspired by PLAAY Gamer Al Wilson. Al and his “Saturday Morning Zoom Crew” had been discussing a player value system for HISTORY MAKER BASEBALL which could be used as the basis of a draft league. Here’s the idea in full, as presented by Al himself…
Drafting players onto unique teams is a part of the sports game hobby that many of us enjoy. For me, drafting new teams from a player-pool is the game within a game. It allows you to take on infinite personas, switching from one to the other as you move from team to team within each round. It’s more of a general manager experience, less of a coach or manager. This past week’s Fury Football Recharged Draft that we held live on the PLAAY YouTube Channel reminded me how much fun it is to bring in budget constraints to the draft process - and that I should take the time to get my idea for History Maker Baseball out into the community.
Sometime during the deep lockdown phase of 2020, I put a basic framework together for a value rating system for History Maker Baseball, to enable the assignment of dollar values to players for drafting purposes. Around this same time, the “Saturday Morning Zoom Crew” (Cooper Gilbert, Bob Hansen, Travis Jansen, and Paul Salzgeber) struck up a conversation about the same topic and we sped off on fleshing out the idea.
Everyone contributed, but the most debates were between Cooper and myself. It needs to be noted that Cooper and I each take a different approach to solving problems when probability and math are in the equation. The discussions are lively, but they are always friendly. I approach most gaming & math “problems” with a very basic application of probabilities, while Cooper prefers the extra level of precision that exponentially increases the variables in the equation. I’ve learned a lot from Mr. Gilbert, but I still prefer a more pragmatic, “less is more” approach. As Cooper puts it, “you and I argued about really small details, and even though I was right, you got your way.” Perfect. :)
Background
“All models are wrong, but some are useful.” - George Box, British statistician. I love this quote, as it applies so perfectly to our hobby. Please keep it in mind as you read the rest of this blog post. What I am presenting is one of any number of models for assigning player value and cost to players in History Maker Baseball. Use it as is (like I do), use it as a platform to build something more advanced, try your hand at making something altogether different, or ignore it. There is no “right” model, but I think this one is kind of useful.
In developing this system, I had the following goals in mind:
Be easy and fun to use
Be clear and fair in how player value and cost were determined.
Be learned and applied quickly, so that any HMB player card can be evaluated on the fly.
Use value “ranges” to determine the final “cost” of a player card. The use of ranges means you may be able to get better “value” from one player vs. another of equal cost.
Determining the Value & Cost of Position Player cards
As you can see by skipping ahead to the tables, we kept the numbers easy to work with, but still kept relative weights intact. There was actually a lot of back and forth discussion about keeping all of the numbers “whole”, but in the end we decided that asking people to incorporate half points was probably ok and within the realm of “easy”.
The method to determine a player’s value and cost is a simple two step process.
For each category on the position player’s card, use the tables to determine the associated value and then add all values together for a final number. Half points should be rounded up.
Once you have the final number, consult the Pos. Player Cost chart for the associated cost, from 0 to 6 dollars.
Pay attention to the notes below the table, as we decided that player speed and fielding ability should be weighted differently in some cases.
Determining the Value & Cost of Pitcher cards
The process is much the same for pitchers, but the Cost table is broken out between starting pitchers and those in the bullpen. The thinking is that in a draft format, you need to reduce the price of the bullpen pitchers to make the decision to draft them interesting when compared to position players and starting pitchers. In practice this has worked well.
After the value and cost system was developed, we started brainstorming ideas for how it could be used in head-to-head and solitaire formats. That’s when Field of Dreams Mode was born.
This mode was created to make it possible for two players to agree to a set budget and draft teams head-to-head from a common pool of players, and then play out a short series of games. Something that you’d play in a few hours on the weekend. This mode can also be used solitaire to draft a collection of teams to use in tournament or league play. That’s how I’m using it and it works great!!
You start by determining your draft pool. The draft pool will need to scale to the number of teams involved. Each position should have a minimum number of free players equal to the number for teams. For example, here is the distribution for an 8 team draft pool.
Position Players & DH
Free: 8
$: 6
$$: 4
$$$: 3
$$$$: 2
$$$$$: 1
Starting Pitchers (3 man rotation) and Relief Pitchers (3 man bullpen)
Free: 24
$: 18
$$: 12
$$$: 9
$$$$: 6
$$$$$: 2
$$$$$$: 1
Teams will be comprised of 15 players, as the mode doesn’t require a full roster:
9 Batters; 8 position players plus a DH (DH spot can be filled by a DH or position player)
3 Starting Pitchers
3 Relief Pitchers (note that including a closer as part of the 3 RP’s is optional, and that a team may only have one closer)
Team budget can be adjusted as desired, but the standard budget is set at $15 per team. Feel free to experiment with different values to increase or decrease the level of talent on the teams. Note that lower budgets will require enough “free” cards in the player pool in order to complete the team rosters.
Use any method you like to determine the manager who will get the first pick. The draft will continue in a serpentine manner where the draft order is reversed each round.
Single Game Variant: In the event that the teams are being drafted for a single game, reduce the draft to the 9 batters, 1 starting pitcher, and 1 relief pitcher. Team budget should be reduced to $9. SP and RP pools should be made up of pitchers of equal value and the pitcher selections are free.
All normal History Maker Baseball game rules apply when playing Field of Dreams mode. Both managers should agree on how to apply the Team Chemistry and Game Day rolls before playing.
If the player pool can accommodate it, injured players may be released from the team and replaced by a player of equal or lesser value. Injuries may also be ignored altogether if the players prefer. There is no position player fatigue in this mode.
Starting pitchers will be on a 3-man rotation and pitchers may not skip their turn in the rotation. They are always fully rested for their starts.
Relief pitchers will be considered fatigued (SEMI-Fresh for only one inning) if:
They are pitching in their 3rd consecutive game; or
They have pitched more than 3 innings (more than 9 outs) in the past 2 games.
Relief pitchers will be considered tired (no FRESHness at all) if:
They are pitching in their 4th consecutive game; or
They have pitched more than 4 innings (more than 12 outs) in the past 2 games.
Feel free to ignore or change these fatigue rules as you see fit.
Final thoughts
I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank Keith for his input into the Player Value system, and his blessing to share with the user community. If you have questions about the system that this article doesn’t address, or have other questions or ideas, I can be reached at alwilsond6@gmail.com.