Originally Posted by Pdubya64
I do a regular Tigers GM Standard game each year (and for the last 4 years).
I have trade difficulty set halfway btw middle and hard (5 steps from either end) to keep me from being able to fleece the league.
The only way to unload Baez and/or E-Rod's contracts is to offer to retain around 50% or likely higher as part of the agreement. The AI on harder settings is able to recognize a stinker deal when it sees one. So, typically I just plunge on and play them as starters and deal with it.
As others have said above, you are really waiting for Cabrera to retire and release that $32M back into your pool of money to have options. In the meantime... this is my current formula.
1. I trade away (Shop usually) 2B Schoop Day 1 for what prospects or regulars I can get so as to clear his $7.5M off the books immediately so you can afford items 3 and 4 below. This year it seems the Yankees don't value Oswaldo Cabrera at 2B/OF and he is a 24yr old with 50ish POT, so I snatch him up if offered.
2. Adjust your Player Development, Draft Budget and Scouting Budgets- I typically round them down to free up a bit of money.
3. Start filling your Farm System on Day One: Go to Free Agents, sort by All Players and Potential. I start at the top, left click on the player and investigate if they want a minimum signing bonus. If so, they need to be a really good fit or forget them- you don't have the money to spare. Find younger FAs 17-25ish yrs and if you like the look of them offer a Minor league contract. A few of the best young talents may warrant offering the Minor plus $10K to entice them to sign early with you instead of letting them sift through 20 team's Minor League contract offer sheets. Use your UP/DOWN arrow keys to move from the top of the list downwards and pick and choose which ones to offer. Most of the ones you want are 20/50 or so possibly up to the 40/40 kind of guys for AAA, but know that they are more picky about who they will sign with, so if they want more $$, just let them sign with another team. DO NOT withdraw your minor league offer, that is a mistake and will earn you a bad reputation around the league.
4. Immediately after #3, also on Day ONE: Fire (typically) a whole crap-ton of Major and Minor level staff that don't meet your minimum requirements, then go through very deliberately and decide on the replacements. Average ability should be your cutoff, anything below that other than the rare outlier high coach ability with an associated Fair somewhere else is as mediocre as I am willing to tolerate. You can't build a good farm system with dung for coaches and staff. There are plenty of good candidates if you do it Day ONE, so don't put it off. NOTE: This is going to cost you about $4-6M in staff expenses paying off the fired coaches contracts, but it has to be done or your coaches will be working against your efforts to improve the Tigers Farm System. At the Major League level, find Bench, 1B and 3B coaches who are top-notch teachers and have them fill the "Roles" to teach Catching, IF, OF and Running in the best way possible. 1B and especially 3B coaches also need a good "In-Game Running" rating to control taking extra bases, etc. Also, when choosing coaches, try to find ones that the team players will have a good relationship with as it helps, same with coach to coach relationships. Another Tip: Get rid of (or avoid) any Poor Work Ethic players, they are a cancer to your team. Poor Intelligence is more a personal choice, they just don't learn as fast as others.
Assuming you are retaining AJ Hinch, note his sheet and that he retains control of hiring a Hitting Coach. So, this year I just left the current HC alone. You can fire the HC, but you have no say about who Hinch chooses to replace him, so it's potluck. (This hiring takes as much as a week or so for the AI to do). Pick your poison. If you are replacing the Head Scout, DO NOT fire him until you have scouted and offered all the FAs you intend to for a few days or you will have to rely on less accurate OSA scouting reports until his replacement agrees to a contract!
When choosing new coaches I want the best ability I can get (Pitching/Hitting) or a more general positive ability set for Mgrs. For your minor leagues, don't forget to emphasize Development and Mechanics (to a lessor extent) as this is what you want them for.
You have a minor league manager named Yepez who will make a much better Hitting Coach than Manager, so once you have fired those coaches you don't want, appoint Yepez to either A, A+ or AA level as Hitting Coach.
5. Once the above is done, start advancing the day one by one; staff will respond how they feel about the offer then sign soon after if it is OK. You can cut the amount they request to save $, but beware doing it much more than a few $1000 for the best coaches as they know what they are worth in most cases. At some point the FAs will start responding and signing with you. Find them once signed and make sure they are in an appropriate level R, A, A+, etc. When in doubt look at their history and use the WAR on the far right as your guide as to whether they are ready for a level or should go down a tier.
In 2023, so far I have not gotten any trade offers from other clubs (playing on +5 hard), so there may not be much to do other than considering if you have players who you feel don't fit your plan and you have a replacement strategy for them. If so, use Shop Player or Trade to see what you can get. Sometimes I am surprised by which players are valued vs. others. As an example, I tend to demote Alexander RP, who is "Unmotivated" to AAA as he has an option and isn't likely to contribute enough to warrant putting up with his attitude (and lousy Stuff and Movement ratings). If memory serves there is a suitable RP at AAA to promote in his place. Note that you need to pare down the roster to 26 prior to opening day anyway, so you may not need a replacement for Alexander.
6. Opening Day: You need to scan the Waiver Wire daily- it is your best chance as one of the worst teams in Baseball to pluck other better teams' marginal players that they need to DFA from them and make use of to improve your team. However, you really need to have a strategy about who you are looking for like a lefty specialist to get out those LH batters, etc. I tend to use these "fishing" expeditions to allow me to either send down a player I intend to replace with the Waiver acquisition who has an Option year left OR use Shop Player to see what you can get for them to further feather your Farm System "nest". You can afford to be choosy, and you need to be too, remember that Waiver players who have Major League contracts must be on your 40-man roster; make sure they are someone you want to have active if they don't have any options remaining or the ability to refuse a minor league assignment- otherwise you just screwed yourself.
Slowly and steadily progress on separating the wheat from the chaff with your farm system. Get rid of players too old for their team that have lousy potential unless they have a redeeming stat like high movement for pitchers. I tend to jettison players who are older and who I have enough alternates at their position.
Visit your existing players and new FAs at the farm and play around with changing their position and get feedback on how it changes their Current/Potential ratings; this is one area OOTP doesn't hold your hand. If you don't do the homework and find which players might be better at position X, Y or Z, then they will just develop as they came to you, perhaps with a few token positions started due to roster gaps where the coach assigned them. Don't leave it up to the game AI or you are missing out. This kind of secondary detective work on your part as GM is where OOTP shines and you can really dig your Baseball chops into developing a team for the long haul. That is just scratching the surface, another is learning and making use of custom local and global views to have information where and when you need it. (I am still working on this one myself)
Well, that's all I have for now. Hope it is helpful for someone.
|