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Great point. So I'll add the following:
-the AI often makes bizarre waiver/DFA choices. I haven't looked at this extensively, but I have the impression the following happens:
--during the offseason, the AI always seems to try to maintain its best players on the 40-man roster, leading it to constantly tinker with the roster when there's simply no reason to do so; games aren't being played.
--further to this, AI teams often seem to add guys to the 40-man during the season when there's also no reason to do so. Just because a prospect has good enough ratings to make him the 40th best player in an organization doesn't mean he should be on the 40-man roster; that just starts his option clock ticking, and means the AI needs to waive someone to get him onto the 40-man. If he then becomes the 41st best player because of a signing, the prospect gets waived, which is obviously not helpful for the AI team;
--finally, while the AI will religiously maintain 25-man rosters at all levels in the minors except at the bottom level, the human player isn't under this restriction. I'm pretty sure this contributes to the lack of depth on AI teams -- they'll often need to play a AA-calibre guy if enough injuries strike -- and also leads to some of the odd roster decisions AI teams make.
--the AI doesn't seem to conduct a sufficiently thorough assessment of need when agreeing to trades. An AI team that already has a good catcher will often contemplate trading for another good catcher if a trade is offered, then if the deal is close, might request a third good catcher. If all are vets and are out of options, one can end up on irrevocable waivers. In general, I've often seen the AI request a player after you 'Make this work now', then immediately release or waive the player that it had requested;
-different issue: I've noticed a few contracts for $10m per season for two or three years that the AI has given to guys with 2 or 3 years of service time. Since the guy is already cost-controlled (arbitration eligible) for the entire duration of these contracts, and since the arbitration award is certain to be less than $10m, it makes absolutely no sense for the AI to offer such an extension. The AI should only extend contracts for arbitration-eligibles if it is buying out a year or two of free agency, or if it is getting a better deal than it would get via arbitration.
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