Financial's still need work (please)

[kylemmie]

I purchase OOTP every year hoping the Financials will finally get the love that the core baseball program gets. But '14 seems to have the same bewildering issue.

If I have $8M 'budget' left to sign FA's, why can't I trade for a $3.2M contract?

[olivertheorem]

The bigger problem is that the top image shows you have over $16 million in projected budget room, while the bottom one says you have a projected deficit of over $18 million. It won't let you make the trade because it thinks you're already over budget on that screen.

[Cinnamon J. Scudworth]

Originally Posted by olivertheorem

The bigger problem is that the top image shows you have over $16 million in projected budget room, while the bottom one says you have a projected deficit of over $18 million. It won't let you make the trade because it thinks you're already over budget on that screen.

The negative projected budget room in the trading screen is not taking into account cash.

I don't know if that's a deliberate design decision.

[kylemmie]

Correct.

For some reason, it appears that the Trade screen does not use the same 'Available Budget' as the rest of the game.

Makes zero sense financially. (to me anyway)

[megamanmatt]

Your current budget is $134,000,000; your payroll is about $100,000,000 and you have $34,000,000 in offered contracts. Basically that's the issue.

My guess would be while extra cash can be used for FA signings for some reason that doesn't apply to trades.

[kylemmie]

Originally Posted by megamanmatt

My guess would be while extra cash can be used for FA signings for some reason that doesn't apply to trades.

Yeah - sorry, I was irked and could have done better at explaining that I understand the math of 'why' - just not the logic.

I am supposed to have complete financial control (that's what I thought the setting meant) - And I do. Normally, I can use saved up cash from previous seasons.

Unless I want to trade - than I have to suddenly be constrained by a 'budget'.

[snepp]

You're right, it doesn't make any sense to be able to use those dollars for free agents, but not for a player in trade.

[megamanmatt]

Originally Posted by kylemmie

Yeah - sorry, I was irked and could have done better at explaining that I understand the math of 'why' - just not the logic.

I am supposed to have complete financial control (that's what I thought the setting meant) - And I do. Normally, I can use saved up cash from previous seasons.

Unless I want to trade - than I have to suddenly be constrained by a 'budget'.

Don't worry man. I'd be the first on board for better financials since that problem is really minor compared to some, but then again that's a matter of opinion.

The problem is once you start talking about improving financials you get half the community who "want a baseball game not a financial simulator" and half who argue that the business part is a much a part of the game as bats and balls. That keeps people busy for long enough the issue usually dies.

[Matt Arnold]

We don't need a perfect financial simulator, but it would be nice if the numbers are consistently applied. I mean, even to the point where if I'm deep in the red, I can sign a free agent to a minor league contract, and then call them up immediately, but I cannot sign them to a major league minimum contract directly. If I'm that much in the red, my owner should probably not even let me call up a player.

Similarly, I don't like how arbitration estimates are "locked in" to future budgets. I occasionally have an arbitration eligible player that I know I'm going to cut, but his few million dollars sometimes prevents me from dealing for a new player in-season, or re-signing the players I really want to keep. When I get to the off-season, if I don't have the cash, my owner should simply refuse to let me offer arbitration unless if I get under budget (or if that's too harsh, it could refuse me offering arb to certain players).

Last point that gets me annoyed is with that last one, if a player has an arb estimate of 5M, even if I'm in the red, I should be able to offer him a new contract for less than 5M without problems. If the 5M is already "locked in" according to the game, you would think anytime I resign someone for less than that my owner should be happy. The current way I always need to go through come convoluted order in offering contracts to make things work out.

They're not major problems - it is true that they don't impact the day to day operations, but they can make it frustrating and cause lots of micro-management.

[snepp]

Originally Posted by UWHabs

I mean, even to the point where if I'm deep in the red, I can sign a free agent to a minor league contract, and then call them up immediately, but I cannot sign them to a major league minimum contract directly. If I'm that much in the red, my owner should probably not even let me call up a player.

Yes, you should always be allowed to sign a free agent for the minimum, even when over budget. It is no different than bringing up a minor leaguer.

Similarly, I don't like how arbitration estimates are "locked in" to future budgets. I occasionally have an arbitration eligible player that I know I'm going to cut, but his few million dollars sometimes prevents me from dealing for a new player in-season, or re-signing the players I really want to keep.

I'm guessing this is probably for the protection of the AI. Partly to keep them from blowing up their future budget, and partly to help keep them on even footing with the player. It would be nice to be able to flag a player as a "non-tender candidate," freeing up that budget space if it's needed.

Last point that gets me annoyed is with that last one, if a player has an arb estimate of 5M, even if I'm in the red, I should be able to offer him a new contract for less than 5M without problems. If the 5M is already "locked in" according to the game, you would think anytime I resign someone for less than that my owner should be happy.

It doesn't already work that way? Or is it only during the time between the start of the offseason and the arb day where it works?

[endgame]

I don't know if I fall into a majority or minority, there's so many different opinions, but what I'd still advocate is having a financial menu that articulates without a great deal of confusion just what each entry means, what it influences and what it's influenced by.

Certainly, there's been discussion after discussion about how it should work, what this person wants, what that person wants. What I want, still, is to know how it's designed to work, i.e. give me a line by line summary of the screen detailing best as possible, the desire expressed above. FWIW

[hefalumps]

Originally Posted by endgame

I don't know if I fall into a majority or minority, there's so many different opinions, but what I'd still advocate is having a financial menu that articulates without a great deal of confusion just what each entry means, what it influences and what it's influenced by.

Certainly, there's been discussion after discussion about how it should work, what this person wants, what that person wants. What I want, still, is to know how it's designed to work, i.e. give me a line by line summary of the screen detailing best as possible, the desire expressed above. FWIW

This. That's been the big problem I've had with financials in OOTP is trying to figure out how each screen comes up with the numbers they do. Usually I end up running sims and doing tests to try to figure it out. And at least with previous versions, I remember there was this issue where one tab (either the main one or the salary obligations) would factor this year's playing time into determining whether a player would be arb. eligible or FA eligible the following year, but the other tab wouldn't - so they'd come up with different numbers for next year's projected payroll. If we could just understand where the numbers come from so we know what to expect, then we as OOTP players can figure out how to work the existing system (just like owners do in real life) instead of being surprised when we suddenly can't afford to trade for a player or make a waiver claim and don't know why.

The Financials is one place that could use a very, very thorough write up in a user manual. If some people don't want to be bothered with every detail about how each calculation is made, they don't have to read it. But for those of us who want to know EVERYTHING so we can make the most out of every dollar we have, it sure would be nice.