Elimination of Defense in Scoring?

[Colby]

It is in my opinion, and others, that the defensive statistics in our scoring system have not been worth their while this season.  Per much of the discussion in the Jamey Carroll thread, position eligibility plays a crucial role with defense stats because assists and putouts are awarded differently for each position.  Even if we tweaked our position eligibility rules (which I am slightly against), there would always be outliers that enable people to take advance of the scoring system.  Also, add in the fact that a big problem persists that prevents us from moving players from one offensive position to another (non-Utility) in the middle of the week.  The last one is a huge problem.  I feel that the defense stats aren't worth all the hassle.  It was agreed upon the RC last year that we may remove defense stats if they did not prove to be valuable.

I would like to hear from all GMs on this matter before I make an executive decision.

[bravesfan4]

i vote 150% to remove them

[bridgestone]

I favor their elimination... while I like the effort put into scoring system to realistically include defense, there just isn't enough to work with.  Setting the lineups has been a pain whenever an injury or call-up happened that made me want to change my position players in the middle of the week.

[Mr.TradeKing]

Sometimes the easiest path isn't the right path. I have come to know Franchise GM as a league that prides itself on being the most realistic league out there. I believe with the removal of defensive stats, we would take a step back. Defense is a REAL thing, Bobby Cox has to worry about it everyday just like everyone else involved with baseball. I know some owners along with me have made some moneyball trades that didn't necessarily land us a big name player, but anaverage player who played solid offensive and defensive. These players are valuable to Major League Clubs and Franchise GM has done a good job at making them valuable in the league. I feel that it would be unfair to move such a drastic ruling so quickly when in the past we have allowed a season to adjust before implementing.

~MTK

[Colby]

Feel free to offer suggestions at how to fix it.  Perhaps the position-dependent part of the defensive statistics should be removed?

[bravesfan4]

i understand what aubrey is saying. its not that im in favor of not counting defense. I am not in favor of using defensive stats if guys like carrol hairston jr and infante and headley are ranked so high on OF that A. you cant extend them to be a roster filler that gives you decent production and B. goes to the OF where they could just rank the stats. I could play omar in the OF but i choose not too. same with dunn. i choose to be realistic and keep them where they play in real life. If fantrax would allow you to only count stats if you played the position in the game that you were in on your fantrax lineup that would be great, however that is not an option. thats why i am totally for removing them. And mike is right, it sucks that you cant move guys around when someone gets hurt.

[Colby]

The ideal solution would be to count our defensive stats for the position that the player played in his game.  I asked Fantrax about this a while ago, and it is something that cannot be done for the foreseeable future.

[h4cheng]

I am a 100% for removing of defensive stats. Assists and putouts do not refflect a player's defensive ability at all. Even UZR suffers from serious sampling issues.

Removing defensive stats quickly will hurt some teams in the short run but it's for the benefit of the league and it's not the without precedence.

[BHows]

I am a 100% for removing of defensive stats. Assists and putouts do not refflect a player's defensive ability at all. Even UZR suffers from serious sampling issues.

Removing defensive stats quickly will hurt some teams in the short run but it's for the benefit of the league and it's not the without precedence.

The 3rd option would be to increase the position eligibility. I would be for doing away with defensive scoring for the sake of being able to move around players during the week. However, to keep the game as realistic as possible maybe Option 3 is viable.

[Colby]

The 3rd option would be to increase the position eligibility. I would be for doing away with defensive scoring for the sake of being able to move around players during the week. However, to keep the game as realistic as possible maybe Option 3 is viable.

The infringement on lineup flexibility mid-week is what prompted me to discuss the elimination of defense.  I will add more to my case for removing the stats...

We have no home-field advantage in our scoring system.  This cancels itself out over the year.  Neutral-defense can also cancel itself over the year as players will do worse, defensively, in other ballparks.