Be willing to adjust what you value. your league's setup can heavily influence what is "best" and what isn't as good, emprically. dont' get caught up in dogamatic nonsense or group think. allow facts to dictate at all times, not feelings.
in some eras power isn't that important compared to contact... but in modern default LTM/LT, it's very important to a "better" offense.
simply put, you won't crack ~1000 runs without power up and down your lineup.... you can have all the speed and sacrifice bunters you want, lol, it won't compare to an offense that hits over 200+ HR every year.
when the 30 team league hits a total of 1000hr, power is significantly less important than modern defaults.
so, as someone said it depends alot on those settings as far as player evaluation in your league.,..
some strategy tips should apply to all...
e.g. regular season success vs playof success? how are they different in your league.. i will use modern default as example.
5sp vs 4sp in playoffs.... so, if you have an excellent team and need to start watching your pennies (good thing no type-o, eh), you probably shouldn't spend extra cash on a 5th starter who won't even be useful in the playoffs.
so, recognize what is important to winning in playoffs vs regular season... you cannot completely ignore the regular season-only stuff, but it should take a back seat to winning inthe playoffs.
understand how many elite-level contracts your revenue can handle. stay strict about this.... if you ever run into a financial situation like a forced salaray dump it is 100% your fault for getting into that situation. a little forethought should avoid all "forced" decisions. you'll probably notice in RL these are genarlly the GM that don't last long, lol... financial management is SO easy... just make an effort.
spend your money every year! i cannot stress this enough.. and i do not mean only on player payroll...
every other year you can buy international amateurs, en masse. do so. most don't turn out, who cares.. that money would just be going to your owner... this will even influence when i get rid of a heavy contract... more money to spend in a year i buy up tons of int'l amateur free agents.
have a hard cap on int'l amatuers? (new this year)... then, make sure you max scouting and development as much as you can, at all times... this requires a little forethought and understanding of team building over time - not just one year. you should know fairly closely how much discretionary income you have in the offseason and pump it back into scouting and development.
I generally shoot for a profit of Max Cash on Hand setting, but that's specifically for a year in which i need just a little more... so i let that carry-over all years except for the ones i need a little extra... it's a fall-back $10M, that does get spent eventually or it is really worthless to you.
player contracts... be smart... if you get stuck with a 10/5 guy or some 38yo who played well last year but is crap now, it's your own doing... pay attention better, lol.
you take riskes with aged players, that's your fault... better not be depending on them for anythign important.
if you sign a guy into late ages, make sure you trade him before he can veto.
pay attention to your salaries reoprt from your team's Front Office. this can tell you how soon you need a SS or a CF etc... amongst other things.
if you have no international leagues, do not spend money in international scouting... in '17 this did not affect accuracy of those int'l ama FA. i'm not sure if that remains true in '18, but you should look into it... do one year with 0-1% budget and then make use of comissioner mode in editor ... scroll through the players an dsee that the better ones are all at the top when sorted by potential = not affecting accuracy. (need baseline of a 'normal' budget year or better a huge budget in comparison... you'll see that the better ones are misrated in the same ways and same frequency.