[PSUColonel]

Well, the point I was trying to make, is if you have your AI evaluation setup to 65/20/10/5 and if you make sure your trade difficulty is the most difficult it can be, and if you abide by the instructions for roster sizes in the lowest level of minor leagues, then a lot of what he is doing is probably not necessary.

There is no doubt the AI can and will always improve, but I also feel that a lot of times settings can be the reason for many of the AI failures people see. Again, if people are constantly changing the settings, then I feel the game can react to this "hodgepodge" of variables in strange ways.

It flat out tells you not to go below 35 players at the rookie level, yet some people still try to. The best bet on rookie levels is likely to have more players. Either unlimited or 35 at the bear minimum. I find 35 works pretty well, but not as well as unlimited. So the rule of thumb here is, the more, the better. Even if it's 45 players, that's better than 35.

The AI needs to rely on ratings much more than stats. This is a big one IMO. For some reason the stat heads around here like to manipulate the AI settings number to the point where ratings are a fraction of what they should/need to be. I get that it's an editable option and that in some people' minds they want stats to be the predominant factor in player evaluation, but the reality is that the AI needs ratings of at least 65 to operate competently. I have tried every combination I can think of in the past..the absolute lowest I would go for ratings is 55, but I seriously think the default of 65 is where it needs to be. Stats are driven from ratings, not the other way around, therefore ratings are a much better way for the AI to evaluate players in the long term.

This will prevent a myriad of issues I hear about a lot. Waiver wire decisions are one of them. If you use these settings, you will likely not see players' on waivers that shouldn't be there. Now, that's not to say the AI shouldn't be more aggressive when claiming players (it needs to be) but at least you won't be seeing high potential players sitting there ready for you to claim.

Having high ratings evaluation also helps with other transactions such as trading (combined with the most difficult trading setting). Making it so that you cannot easily fleece the AI is another important factor. This might make it unreasonably difficult to conduct mundane trades where you are just looking for a MR pitcher, but it's better than the other way around if you ask me. In fact, you can still get fair trades done, you just have to work at it much harder.

I think much of the same goes for the Rule 5 draft, 40 man, and free agents. Again, that is not to say these areas can't be seriously improved, because they DO need to be, but I think you will notice much less "odd" activity if you make sure you are using the default AI evaluation settings.

I would also combine all of this with 200 TCR, and then I feel the game is playable, but yes, it still needs a lot of work. I have said it in the past and I will say it again here, the sheer number of settings and how they interact with each other, to me, is a problem more than a luxury. There is no way to know how the AI might behave with so many variables...therefore I feel "less is more" and follow by the "Keep it Simple Stupid" motto.