Ability to Adjust AI GM's Preference for Acquiring Foreign Players in Draft/MILB FAs/Waivers/FAs

Maurice Thorez · 10-22-2014, 05:05 AM

One of the big issues for anybody that plays a league with foreign player limits for teams(this gets much worse with limits below 10) and that has teams with different nationalities is that the AI shows little concern for the national makeup of the team in acquiring players. This creates many problems, both for those teams and certain players, when they run afoul of team nationality based foreign player limits that their GMs ignored.

An ability to adjust the rate at which the AI in a league acquires foreign players would be incredibly useful for players running leagues with multiple team nationalities or with parallel foreign leagues of similar size. It would definitely greatly help improve the true sandbox abilities of OOTP to create a fictional league that reflects a certain vision.

Any control of this through a slider or variety of options on a league wide level would be an very helpful. If possible, a control for this on an even more granular team or GM level could also create some interesting scenarios. Ideally, it would be best to be able to have an AI GM that is cognissant of the foreign player limits in conducting waiver/FA acquisitions, however I can understand if that is not reasonably feasible. However, even something along the lines of a general preference towards acquiring for team nationality or any ability to reduce acquisition of foreign players would work well. A slider or a number of settings akin to favour veterans/prospects selections except foreign/domestic players in league setup is a way I could envisage it.

This is most important by far in two areas, the draft and MILB FAs, and to a lesser extent with waivers. For the first two, it is a much more pressing issue due to the strong influence it has on the distribution of talent and usefulness of any minor league system. If this could be extended to any of these, especially the draft and MILB FAs, it could potentially fix a number of issues. For instance,

Drafting
In a league with a team nationality breakdown of 8 from country A. 4 from country B, 2 from country C, and 1 from countries D and E. and a foreign player limit of 5, the draft pool in a well setup league will reflect this national distribution within certain error bars. However, the teams will also generally draft reflecting this distribution, meaning the teams not from country A will very frequently have a draft class composed of largely foreign players. This results in many foreign player prospects. Consequently, several will get stuck in AAA until they are rule 5 drafted, run out of options, or become MILB FAs due to foreign player crowding. This sees an excessive number of talented players waste away in AAA. It also harms the ability of these teams to acquire cheap talent for the 25 man roster. The teams from countries D and E are especially hard done in this scenario. Arguably, it is more prudent for them to focus their top picks to get the most talented players from their respectieve countries even if they are not the best player available instead of having a top 5 round pick never see an inning for the team due to roster crowding.

MILB FAs
The same issue occurrs with AAAA players and any potential depth being signed to MILB contracts regardless of nationality. This leads AAA squads being filled with players that can rarely be called up to serve the purpose they are intended to.

Waiver Claims
Issues with foreign players crops up from waivers as well but they are arguably somewhat less influential than the ones from the draft and MILB FAs. When an AI GM picks up a player on waivers but there is no foreign player spot available on the 25 man roster or the players evenutally loses the roster spot to another more talented foreign player, the player will be relegated to often slaughtering AAA competition until a spot opens or free agency arrives. This is especially bad for salary dump waiver claims of slowly declining players who are still talented enough to be league average or even better. It is discouraging to find several instances of talented players being payed 5+ million to dominate AAA due to foreign player limits. There are times where this can understandbly happen, but I am almost certain the frequency of this would be much more reasonable in leagues with any notable foreign player limit if this could be controlled.

FAs
For straight FA signings to MLB contracts, issues with foreign players for the AI have not been encountered in my experience. This is an area where the AI logic seems to work great though any ability to influence the frequency or prevalence of this would be icing on the cake.

Interestingly enough, another area that this can be currently controlled is with international FAs, at least in terms of limiting the number of foreign players in teams. By being able to control the prevalence of them, you can at least create some balance in the number per minor league system. It would be great if this could be extended to the draft and other areas as well for OOTP16.

10-22-2014, 05:05 AM	#1
Maurice Thorez Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Dec 2013 Posts: 25	Ability to Adjust AI GM's Preference for Acquiring Foreign Players in Draft/MILB FAs/Waivers/FAs One of the big issues for anybody that plays a league with foreign player limits for teams(this gets much worse with limits below 10) and that has teams with different nationalities is that the AI shows little concern for the national makeup of the team in acquiring players. This creates many problems, both for those teams and certain players, when they run afoul of team nationality based foreign player limits that their GMs ignored. An ability to adjust the rate at which the AI in a league acquires foreign players would be incredibly useful for players running leagues with multiple team nationalities or with parallel foreign leagues of similar size. It would definitely greatly help improve the true sandbox abilities of OOTP to create a fictional league that reflects a certain vision. Any control of this through a slider or variety of options on a league wide level would be an very helpful. If possible, a control for this on an even more granular team or GM level could also create some interesting scenarios. Ideally, it would be best to be able to have an AI GM that is cognissant of the foreign player limits in conducting waiver/FA acquisitions, however I can understand if that is not reasonably feasible. However, even something along the lines of a general preference towards acquiring for team nationality or any ability to reduce acquisition of foreign players would work well. A slider or a number of settings akin to favour veterans/prospects selections except foreign/domestic players in league setup is a way I could envisage it. This is most important by far in two areas, the draft and MILB FAs, and to a lesser extent with waivers. For the first two, it is a much more pressing issue due to the strong influence it has on the distribution of talent and usefulness of any minor league system. If this could be extended to any of these, especially the draft and MILB FAs, it could potentially fix a number of issues. For instance, Drafting In a league with a team nationality breakdown of 8 from country A. 4 from country B, 2 from country C, and 1 from countries D and E. and a foreign player limit of 5, the draft pool in a well setup league will reflect this national distribution within certain error bars. However, the teams will also generally draft reflecting this distribution, meaning the teams not from country A will very frequently have a draft class composed of largely foreign players. This results in many foreign player prospects. Consequently, several will get stuck in AAA until they are rule 5 drafted, run out of options, or become MILB FAs due to foreign player crowding. This sees an excessive number of talented players waste away in AAA. It also harms the ability of these teams to acquire cheap talent for the 25 man roster. The teams from countries D and E are especially hard done in this scenario. Arguably, it is more prudent for them to focus their top picks to get the most talented players from their respectieve countries even if they are not the best player available instead of having a top 5 round pick never see an inning for the team due to roster crowding. MILB FAs The same issue occurrs with AAAA players and any potential depth being signed to MILB contracts regardless of nationality. This leads AAA squads being filled with players that can rarely be called up to serve the purpose they are intended to. Waiver Claims Issues with foreign players crops up from waivers as well but they are arguably somewhat less influential than the ones from the draft and MILB FAs. When an AI GM picks up a player on waivers but there is no foreign player spot available on the 25 man roster or the players evenutally loses the roster spot to another more talented foreign player, the player will be relegated to often slaughtering AAA competition until a spot opens or free agency arrives. This is especially bad for salary dump waiver claims of slowly declining players who are still talented enough to be league average or even better. It is discouraging to find several instances of talented players being payed 5+ million to dominate AAA due to foreign player limits. There are times where this can understandbly happen, but I am almost certain the frequency of this would be much more reasonable in leagues with any notable foreign player limit if this could be controlled. FAs For straight FA signings to MLB contracts, issues with foreign players for the AI have not been encountered in my experience. This is an area where the AI logic seems to work great though any ability to influence the frequency or prevalence of this would be icing on the cake. Interestingly enough, another area that this can be currently controlled is with international FAs, at least in terms of limiting the number of foreign players in teams. By being able to control the prevalence of them, you can at least create some balance in the number per minor league system. It would be great if this could be extended to the draft and other areas as well for OOTP16. Last edited by Maurice Thorez; 10-22-2014 at 05:09 AM.