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Don't get attached to any player, they are all expendable. Trade any player before they go to free agency. Trade any player who returns from an injury with a 'fragile' rating or worse. Do not get into bidding wars for Free Agents. Spend money on minor league scouting, and international free agents, and less on amateur scouting. When you develop good, young talent, try to sign them to a deal that buys out one year of free agency. Don't let talented minor league players start the season in the majors, promote them in mid-June, in an attempt to avoid super-2 status.
I like to trade players about the 6 year mark. I like to get minor league prospects with 2 years under their belt. I spend good money on minors scouting vs. amateur scouting, because I can trade for anyone, but, I only get one first round pick. My draft picks tends to be in the 20's, so by that point, the draft is starting to become a crap-shoot.
Lately, my bullpens are filled with Latin American MR's that came up through my international academy. I like to sign a lot of second-tier pitching prospects. They will be very cheap (like $80,000 cheap), and enough of them develop that my bullpens cost about $5-6 million a season, total. I like signing "flawed" pitchers, like 16 year old kids that have just two pitches, or, guys that throw 5 pitches but have no stamina. They are flawed in the sense that they won't be major league level starters. They tend to be good relievers.
Chicks dig the long ball. Thus, home run hitters are overvalued. Same thing with great starting pitching. I avoid big boppers and concentrate on walks and doubles. I like average pitchers, and surround them with great defense. Great defense is much cheaper than great pitching, and produces nearly the same outcome.
Eventually, I can get my team in a position where I win 90-95 games a season, and make money by the bucket. Then I use the surplus budget to violate my rules on a case by case basis.
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