Question for those using all international leagues

[BIG17EASY]

This question refers specifically to the MLB Quickstart while using all international leagues.

Has anyone noticed a slightly unrealistic amount and type of MLB free agent signing with international leagues? I just finished my first offseason and had what I believe to be a few unrealistic signings, specifically Yovani Gallardo and Justin Masterson both signing with the same Mexican team on back-to-back days in mid-January. I also had Justin Smoak sign with an international team (can't remember which league), during the first week of spring training.

To me, those are guys who should sign with MLB teams. At first glance, the Smoak signing didn't bother me until I saw he had hit 23 home runs and drove in 70 runs in about 450 at bats in 2014.

Just something that kind of "wrinkled my nose" and made me wonder if I should ditch the international leagues or at least find a way to maybe stop players of this caliber from going outside the U.S.

[Cowboys3356]

Originally Posted by BIG17EASY

This question refers specifically to the MLB Quickstart while using all international leagues.

Has anyone noticed a slightly unrealistic amount and type of MLB free agent signing with international leagues? I just finished my first offseason and had what I believe to be a few unrealistic signings, specifically Yovani Gallardo and Justin Masterson both signing with the same Mexican team on back-to-back days in mid-January. I also had Justin Smoak sign with an international team (can't remember which league), during the first week of spring training.

To me, those are guys who should sign with MLB teams. At first glance, the Smoak signing didn't bother me until I saw he had hit 23 home runs and drove in 70 runs in about 450 at bats in 2014.

Just something that kind of "wrinkled my nose" and made me wonder if I should ditch the international leagues or at least find a way to maybe stop players of this caliber from going outside the U.S.

I think it just depends on their ratings. I checked my league just to see what happened to the two players you mentioned and ironically they both signed with Mexican League teams in 2015 (but not the same team). In both cases despite solid stats in 2014 I would say each guy made the right decision because they were both 1 star players that MAYBE could have been backup types or AAA players. Not defending what is or is not realistic. I guess for me the only time I would have a problem with it is if highly rated guys in their prime started leaving for another league but I have not seen that yet.

One thing you can do to adjust the signings is lower the prestige of the other leagues relative to the MLB. If MLB is set to 10, then make the next highest something like 7 and just keep lowering from there. My Mexican league is set around 5 I think with the Japan league the highest at 8.

[BIG17EASY]

Originally Posted by Cowboys3356

I think it just depends on their ratings. I checked my league just to see what happened to the two players you mentioned and ironically they both signed with Mexican League teams in 2015 (but not the same team). In both cases despite solid stats in 2014 I would say each guy made the right decision because they were both 1 star players that MAYBE could have been backup types or AAA players. Not defending what is or is not realistic. I guess for me the only time I would have a problem with it is if highly rated guys in their prime started leaving for another league but I have not seen that yet.

One thing you can do to adjust the signings is lower the prestige of the other leagues relative to the MLB. If MLB is set to 10, then make the next highest something like 7 and just keep lowering from there. My Mexican league is set around 5 I think with the Japan league the highest at 8.

Thanks. I was originally going to lower the prestige, but decided to see if the forum community had any feedback first. I forget Masterson's star rating, but I don't think it was one star. Gallardo was 3.5 stars overall, which is what jumped out at me.

I guess maybe whether or not these signings are realistic isn't so much the question. To steal a line from Wolf, I want to play the game my way, and I don't want established, successful big leaguers signing with international leagues like this, so I wanted to see if this was something others were seeing or if these moves were just irregularities that might not happen for another 20-30 years of play.

I really like the idea of the international leagues, particularly the player posting process (although there wasn't one player posted in the 2014-15 offseason, and I've seen grumblings on the boards that it's not working properly), so I'd like to leave them in. But now I'm not so sure.

[jpeters1734]

Originally Posted by BIG17EASY

Thanks. I was originally going to lower the prestige, but decided to see if the forum community had any feedback first. I forget Masterson's star rating, but I don't think it was one star. Gallardo was 3.5 stars overall, which is what jumped out at me.

I guess maybe whether or not these signings are realistic isn't so much the question. To steal a line from Wolf, I want to play the game my way, and I don't want established, successful big leaguers signing with international leagues like this, so I wanted to see if this was something others were seeing or if these moves were just irregularities that might not happen for another 20-30 years of play.

I really like the idea of the international leagues, particularly the player posting process (although there wasn't one player posted in the 2014-15 offseason, and I've seen grumblings on the boards that it's not working properly), so I'd like to leave them in. But now I'm not so sure.

I've had postings but if i try to sort, it all blanks out

[BIG17EASY]

Originally Posted by jpeters1734

I've had postings but if i try to sort, it all blanks out

Where did you see the postings? Did you get an e-mail or some sort of news item that told you about them?

[jpeters1734]

Originally Posted by BIG17EASY

Where did you see the postings? Did you get an e-mail or some sort of news item that told you about them?

As soon as you change a view or sort, it will blank out. You have to change the tab then go back.

[jpeters1734]

although, no one has been signed yet

[BIG17EASY]

Interesting, thanks. That page has always been blank for me, but maybe I need to check filters or other things.

[jpeters1734]

Originally Posted by BIG17EASY

Interesting, thanks. That page has always been blank for me, but maybe I need to check filters or other things.

Well you do get an email saying the players have been posted.

[BIG17EASY]

Originally Posted by jpeters1734

Well you do get an email saying the players have been posted.

OK. I haven't gotten any and I have all e-mail settings on, so I get all news for all leagues.

[BIG17EASY]

Had James Shields (2.5 stars) sign with a Korean team midway through MLB spring training this morning, which pushed me over the edge. I checked the prestige rating for the Korean league and saw it set at 9 (MLB is 10, the highest possible), and found that to be unrealistic to me. I don't think on a scale of 1-10, the Korean league should be one away from top level baseball in the world. Maybe Japan and Cuba would be (I set them to 8), but not Korea. I switched Korea to 7 and Mexico to 6 to see if that might make things work the way I want them to.

[MUFC1878]

Originally Posted by BIG17EASY

Had James Shields (2.5 stars) sign with a Korean team midway through MLB spring training this morning, which pushed me over the edge. I checked the prestige rating for the Korean league and saw it set at 9 (MLB is 10, the highest possible), and found that to be unrealistic to me. I don't think on a scale of 1-10, the Korean league should be one away from top level baseball in the world. Maybe Japan and Cuba would be (I set them to 8), but not Korea. I switched Korea to 7 and Mexico to 6 to see if that might make things work the way I want them to.

I read somewhere--can't remember the thread--that league rep is separate from each level. So an international or indy set at 10 should still be lower than the MLB at 10. An indy level league set at 10 can't be as prestigious as the MLB.

I leave them at the default level, except for CPBL. I set it at 7 (they still manage to make Freddy Garcia-type signings), and I've seen unrealistic signings only a couple of times. It's usually fringe and AAA and AA players that end up in the international leagues.

Everything's at default, except for AI settings. Not sure if that might cause/prevent those unrealistic signings.

[SirMichaelJordan]

My vote is on AI settings. I haven't experienced any MLB quality players signing over seas. I play with stat heavy settings so a guy is value if he had a few good seasons despite if he's coming out of his prime.

Only problem I have is that international leagues (Japan and Cuba) are not posting players.

[nutt]

what is ETY?

[BIG17EASY]

Originally Posted by MUFC1878

I read somewhere--can't remember the thread--that league rep is separate from each level. So an international or indy set at 10 should still be lower than the MLB at 10. An indy level league set at 10 can't be as prestigious as the MLB.

I really hope that isn't the case. What's the point of having a league reputation setting if the different leagues in a world are independent of each other in that setting? I always assumed they were all relative, that way you could set an independent or international league to have the same reputation (and consequently, a similar talent level) as a minor league. In other words, you could have an independent or international league that's roughly equal to Double-A level by simply setting the league reputations in both to the same number.

Originally Posted by SirMichaelJordan

My vote is on AI settings. I haven't experienced any MLB quality players signing over seas. I play with stat heavy settings so a guy is value if he had a few good seasons despite if he's coming out of his prime.

Only problem I have is that international leagues (Japan and Cuba) are not posting players.

Are you referring to AI settings in the MLB, or in the international leagues? I'd prefer not to change my AI settings for MLB because it took me a long time to get them to the point where I see the type and frequency of trades that I want to see while also keeping teams from releasing top draft picks.

And FWIW, I'm also not seeing any posted players.

[Jupiter]

Originally Posted by SirMichaelJordan

My vote is on AI settings. I haven't experienced any MLB quality players signing over seas. I play with stat heavy settings so a guy is value if he had a few good seasons despite if he's coming out of his prime.

Only problem I have is that international leagues (Japan and Cuba) are not posting players.

In my ten year test run after adding Japan, I saw David Justice (age 32) sign in Japan, which bothered me. But after reviewing, the move was not quite as bad as it seemed. He was still productive in the ML, when he played, but his injury rating had fallen to Fragile and he one year contracts had fallen from 9 million to 6.2 million. A team in Japan apparently offered him 6.4 and he jumped. I may need to tweak how much money Japanese teams have to offer (I had set superstar salaries at 4.5 million, so an offer this high was unexpected), but at least the logic makes some sense.

For the record, this is on MLB prestige 10 and Japan prestige 8.

As for postings, they are happening in my league, though I don't know the frequency. After ten years, I tried searching through all Japanese players in the US to find them, but with all the International Free Agents and Scouting Discoveries, it was hard to find. I did finally stumble on one, a fringe Japanese reliever who was posted for close to the max value and for some reason signed by the Cardinals, where he proceeded to not be very good.

Once I reset and started playing the league for real, after season 2 of the Japan/Cuba international leagues, a single Japanese team posted one player, a 4 1/2 starting pitcher for the max. Teams are currently bidding for him, but I don't know where or if he will sign.

[SirMichaelJordan]

Yea let me make it clear that there are postings but the frequency is lacking. I actually haven't seen a posting in 10 years in my test league. I since adjusted the PCM's for Japan but having started another 10 plus year sim on that save yet.

Sounds like you are having the same experience as I am with the posting system and come to think of it I think the only players posted were actually real life guys...