Playing without trading
 

I've been considering creating a league with trading turned off. I'm thinking this will force me to be much more thorough when selecting draft picks and much more careful when signing free agents or extending players. No longer would I be able to trade away a bad contract, so I'll have to consider everything when it comes to those 33 year old veterans seeking 5 year deals with declining fielding ratings.
Does anyone have any experience playing the game with trading turned off? How do you like it and what are some other ways the game might be impacted by not trading players?

I tried this once with historic players, and from 1946 to 1956.

Essentially, there was no free agency. Every AI team kept every player who had even a small degree of talent. If a team produced two great catchers, there was no way to get that second backstop off that team. They could not utilize him to upgrade at another position.

So it kind of stagnated and I won't try this again.

You might consider using the setting 'very hard' for trades. I've not done it, but it may accomplish your goal while allowing some movement.

I did this a few years ago. Turned off trades, played stats only. It worked well; I actually struggled for a while and I was really happy with doing so. I remember having a league average starting pitcher as my number 3 guy, and I marveled that this guy who was going 11-14 and 12-10 every year was actually useful to my team. It was like real life!

In about 18 years of OOTP the only times the AI has forced me to play at my best was during that league, and during those times when I've created huge leagues, like 1 48 team division, where there are so many AI teams that one of them is bound to win 108 games and give me a run for my money. That's great fun, too... I once won 118 games and finished 7 games out.

Back on topic, I just kicked off another league with no trades. It's historical starting in 1871, with historical rookies showing up as free agents instead of a draft. This means that teams *should* only sign guys who meet their needs, and you won't have a team with 15 1b or something.

Also I've given each team a AAA squad, mainly to generate stats, and limited the roster to 35 which is the lowest recommended amount. This should mean people will get released and picked up by other teams over time.

I turned on 'cant be fired', since you can't put your stamp on a team for 2-3 years and you'd almost certainly be fired before you could accomplish anything.

Later on, I might create a small Indy league so free agents would be able to generate stats somewhere, and then give that league a $0 buyout so any player can be picked up by the majors. I'd like a higher buyout price but in my experience the AI will hardly buy anybody if I set the value above 0. :unsure:

I've done so much experimentation over the years. I don't want to win the division by 20 games, but I also like the AI to be on the same playing field as me, so no house rules. Turning trades to 'very hard' breaks immersion IMO, since at that level the AI won't even make trades that will benefit its own team. 'Very Hard' doesn't mean a smarter AI. It just means more stubborn and I find it irritating.

tl;dr - It's a good way to play. You'll probably have to fool around with the settings a bit before the league works as you want it, but it can work.

I had fun doing it - just play with settings. That's the beauty of OOTP - so many options you can make just about anything work.

A few things to start with:

Adjust finances so teams don't have enough money to keep every player

Keep max contract length to a few years

Don't allow extensions

Enable IAFA's

Enable IFA's to strengthen the FA pool during the off season

Since I originally posted this, I've played through 4 seasons without trading and I'm still enjoying it. There's definitely an extra challenge not being able to instantly make a trade when one of my outfielders forgets how to field or loses his batting ratings, but I kind of enjoy that extra challenge. I'd say the biggest adjustment for me is not being able to wheel and deal draft picks. I also put a premium on the handful of International free agents that show up in the offseason. Unlike most of the normal free agents who will cause me to lose draft picks, the international guys only cost money so I prioritize them if they have solid ratings.
To be fair though, having only simmed 4 seasons probably isn't a big enough sample size to see how playing without trading truly will affect my game. I think 10 years is probably a better sample size to see if my major league roster ends up full of overpriced veterans and has-been's. 10 years will also tell me how well my drafting has gone. Will my minors be full of 1 star filler players and flame outs, or will it be stocked?
I'm going to happily keep playing to find out.

I've never tried eliminating trading all together, but recently I've been playing with the house rule that I'm not allowed to initiate a trade.

I'm only allowed to trade with a team that makes an offer to me. I can then negotiate with that team and come up with something totally different from their original offer.

I like that house rule. It prevents me from snapping up every single juicy prospect out there. It's still not enough of a restriction, but some of my most coveted players do manage to escape my grubby little grasp and end up playing their careers with other teams. Which is a good thing (I grudgingly admit).

And sometimes I'm desperate to unload a player but end up getting stuck with him because a suitable team doesn't make me an unrelated trade offer. Another grudgingly admitted good thing....