Quote:
Originally Posted by Brad K
Competitive meaning... you want expansion teams to win more than 40 games but you still want them to finish last?
|
No, I'm thinking in terms of the 1993 Florida Marlins and Colorado Rockies. Neither team finished last in its division, and the Marlins especially made some extremely smart moves through pre-draft maneuvers, the expansion draft, and subsequent trades and free agency. Both teams were able to be much more competitive right away than was possible in previous expansions, especially with free agency involved and the fact that they were able to participate in the 1992 amateur draft and stock their minor leagues.
By 1995, the Rockies were a winning team, and the Marlins won a World Series in 1997, and a lot of that had to do with the initial 1992 amateur and expansion drafts and how things played out from there.
Unfortunately, though, OOTP can't simulate how things actually played out because it doesn't have the correct rules and doesn't give expansion teams a chance to start early with an amateur draft one year before their first season in MLB. I also don't think that the OOTP AI could ever be as smart and sophisticated as Dave Dombrowski and the Marlins were in wheeling and dealing, building a scouting and minor league system, signing amateur free agents and veteran free agents, and leveraging all the tools available to them to build a winning franchise in a hurry. But it would be fantastic if it could.