[marc5477]

Im a finance guru... I play with a 50% house rule handicap just to make the game fair. Here is my take:

1 - Depends on the age and # of years as a pro. This is how I destroy the competition. I always sign youngsters to 10 year contracts while they are in their second year of pro play. You can get them dirt cheap and even if they falter, you can just trade them away with someone else to get rid of the contract (or use waivers). Its a bit trickier with veterans because they usually want a lot more money (even though 90% are not usually as good as youngsters).

There is a cheap way to reduce veteran demands (note I dont do this because I generally ignore veterans anyway). For veterans you *can* "force" a slump by denying them play time. This will make their stats look bad on the year and they will reduce their demands usually by the all star break. Otherwise, I would not depend on a slump because there is no guarantee that it will happen. Good performance will make their demands go up a lot. 99% of the time however, I let them go for compensation and I pick up someone else or trade away all my draft picks for a youngster (this almost always works out much better).

The key to OotP is to lock in young stars to super cheap long term contracts. OotP16 is much better than 15 in handling this but I still have to give myself a huge handicap (where in 15 I was using a 75% financial handicap).

2 - see above
3 - yes you can... but who cares? Let them go. Dont get attached.

4 - You can but there is no advantage to it really... i just use constant salaries and it makes my accounting my easier.

5 - Player option seems to make a big difference but I never use them because I dont need to... money is not a problem in this game.

6 - Depends on what they perceive they can get based on performance. If they think they can get more, they will not take the option. Otherwise, role players and such will usually exercise it.

7 - yes it has never failed me.

8 - the AI is complete ****** when it comes to contract negotiation and handling finances. This is why I have to give myself a huge handicap to even things out. Note that it is much improved in 16 but I still see them paying superstar salaries for average or below players when the picking get slim near the end of the off season. I guess its desperation but its not realistic and ends up destroying the AI.

9 - depends on the age of the player. youngsters will want a huge bump if you want to get them for 10 years (but its still very cheap compared to signing them later). Vets want a long term contract and will want a pay bump for shorter contracts. I hate veterans in general so i dont deal with them unless they are still available during spring training at a 50% discount... which reminds me.

ALWAYS wait to spring training to find great deals if your league has a plethora of good players available. I noticed that 16 greatly reduced the number of good players and spring training usually has no good players left in my league. It depends on your league but if you want a big discount, spring training signings are where penny pinchers find awesome deals.

10 - who cares if they get upset? let them go.
11 - depends on their performance and whether or not they can demand more on the FA market.

12 - I ALWAYS low ball the 1st offer. I found that as long as I keep increasing the offer (usually by about 10% per offer) then the player will generally not cut off negotiations. I could care less if they get upset. They can suck it.

13 - Yes... lots.

#1 - Management is more important than anything and they are much cheaper than players so you have no excuse to not hire and retain the best. Get the best manager, HC, PC and trainer. For scouts all you really need is a good majors and amateur scout.

#2 - Relievers are mega cheap (ignore expensive closers and focus on relievers and set them to closers)... you have no excuse to not have the best bullpen in the game and they make a huuuuuge difference for pennies on the dollar.

#3 - Defense Defense Defense!!! - It comes cheap and always take a great "catcher ability" catcher. Dont skimp out on defense. Its usually better to hire an average player with great defense than a superstar with iffy defense. This will lower your starting pitcher budget by at least 50% since you no longer need superstar pitchers. You can turn most average and star pitchers into superstars if you put them in front of a great defensive team.

#4 - Eye > K > contact > gap > power. This will save you tons on batters. Speed is a waste of money because it does not seem to last and you want long term young players locked into 10 year contracts. Note that you should have 1 player with high power for clean up duties but dont go overboard on their salary. They dont need to be superstars but someone with average or slightly below average eye, K, contact but high power will be just fine.

#5 - Dont get attached to players. There are tons of great players and most average players can be super stars when played under great coaching so dont feel like you need your Griffey's or Ruth's. Managers are much more important than players.

#6 - I find the draft and international draft is a total waste of money in OotP16. The only way to make it work in this version is extreme micro-management of all your mangers in the minors which is very tedious. Trade away your draft picks for developed minor leaguers who are ready to hit the majors. This will save you millions every year on draft expenses and you get great young players every year. If you cannot trade draft picks, make sure you dont pick any of those extremely expensive guys. They are not worth it. Stick with guys that have high or above work ethic and at least average int. In all my time playing OotP16 I have only had 1 great 1st rounder actually achieve his potential into the majors (he is AAA right now). I probably wasted hundreds of millions on the draft along the way. Total waste. you are better off spending that money on players and managers.

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EDIT: And of course, as soon as I brought up that star level rookie, in only his 2nd game, he got injured after getting the 1st man out in the 1st. He is out for 13 months (Tommy John) and he was 20 with normal status! LoL the draft and minor leagues are a total waste in this version. Just trade the picks away for anything and dont even bother hiring minor league managers (except AAA for the players you get in trade). Save that money.