The 2007 Indians Dynasty
Posted 01-15-2013 at 03:56 PM by IndiansGuy57
Playing OOTP 8, I took control of the 2007 Indians as GM. I immediately set out to revamp the team. I made the playoffs my first year but lost to the despised Yankees that season. Since then, I have won the World Series in 2008, 2009 and 2010 (winning 139 games in 2010). I'm currently leading the division in 2011.
The secrets to this success? It took a lot of trial and error, and these moves might not work in later versions of the game. But here's what I've found works well:
-- Immediately sign a bunch of free agent minor leaguers, especially young ones (you can control players 17 or 18 years old for five years before you have to put them on the 40-man roster). Most won't pan out. But a few have progressed well -- including an 18-year old lefty Closer I signed in 2007 who is now close to stardom -- and the others serve as organisational depth and trade chits.
-- Check the waiver wire every day and pick up anyone who might develop or serve as trade bait in the future.
-- Dump your expensive multi-year contracts with ageing players. This is crucial. In my case, this meant getting rid of OF David Dellucci and SP Jake Westbrook. Try to strike a deal with a team that has expensive ageing veterans in the final year of their contracts. Your fan interest will suffer in the short run when you let the acquired players walk at the end of the year, but you'll free up a lot of money in the long run.
-- Invest heavily in your minor league coaches (yes, they do make a difference). Cleveland isn't a big-market team, so I have to rely on developing minor leaguers instead of signing expensive free agents. Talented minor league players also serve as good trade bait for upgrading your major league roster.
-- Look to continually upgrade your coaches over time at all levels, even if you have to eat a coach's contract to replace him with a much better coach. If you really like a coach you've just signed, immediately offer him an extension -- talented coaches and scouts will often refuse to sign an extension in the final year of their contracts if they're working at a low level of your organisation.
More to come, including the emergence of Homer Bailey, David Quinowski and Andrew McCutcheon, and the shocking fall of Orlando Silva.
The secrets to this success? It took a lot of trial and error, and these moves might not work in later versions of the game. But here's what I've found works well:
-- Immediately sign a bunch of free agent minor leaguers, especially young ones (you can control players 17 or 18 years old for five years before you have to put them on the 40-man roster). Most won't pan out. But a few have progressed well -- including an 18-year old lefty Closer I signed in 2007 who is now close to stardom -- and the others serve as organisational depth and trade chits.
-- Check the waiver wire every day and pick up anyone who might develop or serve as trade bait in the future.
-- Dump your expensive multi-year contracts with ageing players. This is crucial. In my case, this meant getting rid of OF David Dellucci and SP Jake Westbrook. Try to strike a deal with a team that has expensive ageing veterans in the final year of their contracts. Your fan interest will suffer in the short run when you let the acquired players walk at the end of the year, but you'll free up a lot of money in the long run.
-- Invest heavily in your minor league coaches (yes, they do make a difference). Cleveland isn't a big-market team, so I have to rely on developing minor leaguers instead of signing expensive free agents. Talented minor league players also serve as good trade bait for upgrading your major league roster.
-- Look to continually upgrade your coaches over time at all levels, even if you have to eat a coach's contract to replace him with a much better coach. If you really like a coach you've just signed, immediately offer him an extension -- talented coaches and scouts will often refuse to sign an extension in the final year of their contracts if they're working at a low level of your organisation.
More to come, including the emergence of Homer Bailey, David Quinowski and Andrew McCutcheon, and the shocking fall of Orlando Silva.
Total Comments 3
Comments
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Hi,I need some advice . Played ootp 12 and now 13. When it's time to sign free agents my team is always short on money , something like 5 000 000$ for free agents, so my owner refuse because not enough money and that I can understand ( maybe I'm signing to many extensions ?). But here is what puzzles me : all the other teams in my league have between 1M $ and 5M$ (so they should not have enough money to sign big contracts ) but the other teams announce big signatures like "John Smith just signed 3 years for 24 M$!). What is it that I'm missing here? Thanks if you could give me a hint on this.Posted 06-20-2013 at 07:26 PM by TheGrackle 
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Hi TheGrackle,
Thanks for your note. I can only speak to my experience playing OOTP 8, but here are some thoughts.
Do the other teams in your league only have $1 million-$5 million for free-agent signings or is that their amount of cash?OOTP 8 won't let you see the amount other teams have to spend on free agents -- just their cash total, their current expensives and their total budget. But you can calculate how much each team has to spend on their free agents using those figures.
In OOTP 8, $$ to spend on player and staff signings is calculated each year soon after the off-season starts (total budget minus player and staff salaries, plus cash). If the same formula is used in later versions, contract extensions in future years shouldn't affect the money you have available for signings at the start of any given year.
Also, do you have a league cap on total revenue? I set mine at $10 million per season, but if you've set a cap that's especially low, it might explain why other teams also shouldn't have much money to spend on free agents.
In historical leagues, there should be a wide range across the league of $$ available for free agents -- big-market teams with fat media contracts should start the off-season with plenty to spend, while small-market teams often start the off-season in the red. The way you describe your league, it's unusual to have so many teams without money for free agents unless you're playing in a fictional league with all teams having similar market sizes.
That's about all I can figure, based on what you said. If OOTP 12 and 13 use the same system as OOTP 8, the projected free-agent budget should always be the annual budget minus current salaries and staff expenses, plus any cash on hand.Posted 06-22-2013 at 02:23 PM by IndiansGuy57
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Hi TheGrackle,Quote:Originally Posted by IndiansGuy57
Hi TheGrackle,
Thanks for your note. I can only speak to my experience playing OOTP 8, but here are some thoughts.
Do the other teams in your league only have $1 million-$5 million for free-agent signings or is that their amount of cash?OOTP 8 won't let you see the amount other teams have to spend on free agents -- just their cash total, their current expensives and their total budget. But you can calculate how much each team has to spend on their free agents using those figures.
In OOTP 8, $$ to spend on player and staff signings is calculated each year soon after the off-season starts (total budget minus player and staff salaries, plus cash). If the same formula is used in later versions, contract extensions in future years shouldn't affect the money you have available for signings at the start of any given year.
Also, do you have a league cap on total revenue? I set mine at $10 million per season, but if you've set a cap that's especially low, it might explain why other teams also shouldn't have much money to spend on free agents.
In historical leagues, there should be a wide range across the league of $$ available for free agents -- big-market teams with fat media contracts should start the off-season with plenty to spend, while small-market teams often start the off-season in the red. The way you describe your league, it's unusual to have so many teams without money for free agents unless you're playing in a fictional league with all teams having similar market sizes.
That's about all I can figure, based on what you said. If OOTP 12 and 13 use the same system as OOTP 8, the projected free-agent budget should always be the annual budget minus current salaries and staff expenses, plus any cash on hand.
One other thought. After players declare for free agency (in OOTP 8, around November 19, soon after salary arbitration hearings), the amount of money that teams can spend on free agents can increase dramatically, as the salaries of players that teams let walk come off their books. Maybe some teams are signing players after free agency filings?Posted 06-24-2013 at 08:31 AM by IndiansGuy57
