[Déjà Bru]

For your first question, unfortunately I cannot come up with much. Do you have the setting on to use real historical transactions (see below)? I don't have enough experience playing historically to tell you if that would make a difference in your setup. I do know, however, that you can turn off draftee signing bonus negotiations in League Setup, Rules, if you continue to be frustrated.

I can be more definite in answering your second question. The trading difficulty setting certainly affects how easy it is to get good deals when you shop players around. Try bumping that difficulty setting up a notch.