[Syd Thrift]

I guess this is one of the reasons why I find 20-80 ratings in and of themselves to be limiting. The real questions you've got to ask yourself of each and every player on your roster is: is this guy adding something to my club? Is he the best person available to me for this slot? Is there anything I can do to improve this?

If you're running, say, a team in the early 1970s, you might field a 9 or even an 8 man pitching staff (a 4 man rotation + a 4 man bullpen is doable if you've got the right personnel) and so you may just have a slot open for a designated pinch-runner. Who cares if that guy's OVR is 20/80 if he's got 75/80 speed and baserunning? Or maybe you want to carry a catcher who is a weak hitter with a great arm that you trot out against faster teams in the league and otherwise kind of hide on the bench? Or, hell, a career AAAA player who is only adequate as a utility player but who is content with his role on the team and is listed as one of your team leaders? Chemistry might not have a huge impact on the actual ratings of the game but it does keep players from getting angry and wanting to leave via free agency or what have you.

Conversely, if you've got 3 league average hitters who are all solid CFs as your starting OFers, that also means that you've got 2 league average hitters in your corner OF slots and there's only so much extra you're going to get from all that defense. Maybe you want to trade for a guy who is worth slightly less on the 20-80 scale but actually hits for the position. Or, hey, maybe you think that philosophy is wrong and you think you're saving more runs in the field than you're missing at the plate. That's up to you and that's not necessarily going to come out in the ratings alone.