Issues with Trading Players

Cwisen · 03-12-2026, 08:47 AM

In my current save I am about 30 games in, and there still has not been a single player has been placed on the trading block, and when I shop players, nobody wants anyone from my team except maybe the top 3-4 players/prospects... And even, then it's only 1 or 2 teams. The only way of accumulating players is from waivers. I am assuming this is a bug because in the previous versions the trading block would be full by now and shopping players was always relatively easy to do with multiple trade options unless it was a bad contract.

Is anyone else experiencing this problem?

Lukas Berger · 03-12-2026, 08:57 AM

This is intentional.

As part of the trading AI adjustments this year, we've toned down the AI's occasional tendency to want to blow up its teams early on in the year by making a half-dozen trades in March or April.

So AI teams will only really start to think about trading around the time real-life teams do, sometime in June(ish).

Karl Pagel Blues · 03-12-2026, 09:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lukas Berger

This is intentional.

As part of the trading AI adjustments this year, we've toned down the AI's occasional tendency to want to blow up its teams early on in the year by making a half-dozen trades in March or April.

So AI teams will only really start to think about trading around the time real-life teams do, sometime in June(ish).

Very good. This is much more realistic.

miggy · 03-12-2026, 11:02 AM

I noticed this also in a league I created for the 1972 season, although it didn't make for a very smart AI manager or realistic experience since a GM's job is a 365 a day per year reality.

I tried to trade a clone of a player -- Nolan C Ryan, plus an additional $100,000 for the real Nolan Ryan who played for the Angels' organization. The trade was an insult to the AI GM. When I pressed the "Make this work now" button, the AI GM responded with "You have no player who make this work", although the 1972 Cincinnati Reds were loaded with players such as Pete Rose and Joe Morgan on its roster which would be an outrageous haul given I was also trading the Ryan clone plus $100K. However, the Angels AI GM would not even consider the trade at the start of the season by design it appears. Not even an additional 1st-rounder made a difference.

So no trading until June(ish) -- at all, or did the Ryan clone testing throw the AI GM off?

davetarzana · 03-12-2026, 11:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lukas Berger

This is intentional.

As part of the trading AI adjustments this year, we've toned down the AI's occasional tendency to want to blow up its teams early on in the year by making a half-dozen trades in March or April.

So AI teams will only really start to think about trading around the time real-life teams do, sometime in June(ish).

Yet it does this too during the preseason / off season too So that makes it unbearable too.

pfholden · 03-12-2026, 01:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davetarzana

Yet it does this too during the preseason / off season too So that makes it unbearable too.

I've run multiple test sims and had plenty of trading in the off-season

gigispeed1333 · 03-14-2026, 02:57 AM

I have also noticed its almost impossible to make a reasonable trade for even many average players in Off-Season. I can appreciate trying to make the game more realistic, but that doesn't always equal more fun. People can just choose not to trade if they don't want too. Or make a setting/slider which we can modify? I enjoy rebuilding my team in off-season through trades and now that seems impossible. Maybe its only like this pre-season? At beginning of off-season trades will be easier?

Lukas Berger · 03-14-2026, 04:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gigispeed1333

I have also noticed its almost impossible to make a reasonable trade for even many average players in Off-Season. I can appreciate trying to make the game more realistic, but that doesn't always equal more fun. People can just choose not to trade if they don't want too. Or make a setting/slider which we can modify? I enjoy rebuilding my team in off-season through trades and now that seems impossible. Maybe its only like this pre-season? At beginning of off-season trades will be easier?

There are sliders and settings for both general game difficulty and trading difficulty specifically as well.

codelode84 · 03-14-2026, 10:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lukas Berger

There are sliders and settings for both general game difficulty and trading difficulty specifically as well.

I'm with you I am mid-May and not one guy on the block. Hell teams don't even want to trade over priced veterans. The sliders aren't doing anything. Sorry I don't want to trade Elly or Hunter. Hopefully this gets better.

gigispeed1333 · 03-14-2026, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lukas Berger

There are sliders and settings for both general game difficulty and trading difficulty specifically as well.

I definitely have tried using the sliders. But it feels awkward that even with trade difficulty to Easiest, it still seems like the changes were talking about went way too far in the other direction? Just my opinion and possibly others anyway. Feel like there is some middle ground that can be made. Not even being able to find trades for 50 overall players pre-season with the Trade sliders set all the way to easy, I can safely say I think its overtuned a little bit. Even if I offer Eury Perez (75 potential) for many 50 overall/potential players (for example Chris Bassitt), teams still won't even accept, even with trade difficulty at easiest. Insane.I don't see how this is acting as intended. No team would reject that trade lol. I should be getting many player offers for Eury Perez I'm finding both AI trading sliders are making zero difference. So, it feels almost impossible to find any reasonable trade.

gigispeed1333 · 03-14-2026, 11:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by codelode84

I'm with you I am mid-May and not one guy on the block. Hell teams don't even want to trade over priced veterans. The sliders aren't doing anything. Sorry I don't want to trade Elly or Hunter. Hopefully this gets better.

Ya, I hate it. Atleast make the "easiest" set of sliders work like how OOTP 26 acted or atleast similar.

gigispeed1333 · 03-14-2026, 07:28 PM

There is no way this is acting as intended. I can't fathom, I think it needs to be looked further into. I shopped Eury Perez 65/75 22yr old starter with trading difficulty at easiest and the value of prospects at max --- and the best offers I get are veteran players like Chris Sale or Edwin Diaz. There is no way you can convince me the sliders and trade offers are working as intended. Needs to be adjusted.

Rain King · 03-15-2026, 07:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gigispeed1333

There is no way this is acting as intended. I can't fathom, I think it needs to be looked further into. I shopped Eury Perez 65/75 22yr old starter with trading difficulty at easiest and the value of prospects at max --- and the best offers I get are veteran players like Chris Sale or Edwin Diaz. There is no way you can convince me the sliders and trade offers are working as intended. Needs to be adjusted.

It seems like they are trying to make trading more realistic.

When/why are you trying to trade Perez? Is it a realistic time to be doing that?

I get that some people want to immediately start wheeling/dealing and blowing up their team, that is a big part of the fun. However, that is also a complaint many people make about the AI (that it immediately blows up teams upon new starts). So, they've tried to adjust when/why the AI thinks about trading. If you wait until June I doubt you have a problem making a good trade for Perez.

In the end, maybe they will figure out some sort of option to allow the people who want to trade like crazy to do so. It seems there are enough complaining that is should probably be an option, but I think this shows how difficult it is to appease all of the types of ways people play OOTP.

malor · 03-15-2026, 09:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lukas Berger

This is intentional.

As part of the trading AI adjustments this year, we've toned down the AI's occasional tendency to want to blow up its teams early on in the year by making a half-dozen trades in March or April.

So AI teams will only really start to think about trading around the time real-life teams do, sometime in June(ish).

Is there a way for the human to blow up their team and have the AI accept reasonable trades or is trading just locked down for 3 months?
No trades does not seem realistic.

gigispeed1333 · 03-15-2026, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rain King

It seems like they are trying to make trading more realistic.

When/why are you trying to trade Perez? Is it a realistic time to be doing that?

I get that some people want to immediately start wheeling/dealing and blowing up their team, that is a big part of the fun. However, that is also a complaint many people make about the AI (that it immediately blows up teams upon new starts). So, they've tried to adjust when/why the AI thinks about trading. If you wait until June I doubt you have a problem making a good trade for Perez.

In the end, maybe they will figure out some sort of option to allow the people who want to trade like crazy to do so. It seems there are enough complaining that is should probably be an option, but I think this shows how difficult it is to appease all of the types of ways people play OOTP.

I think they could limit the AI trading and blowing up teams while still allowing the ability to receive offers from other teams. I just find it befuddling that we would overtune it so far in the direction and basically remove trading completely.

Rain King · 03-15-2026, 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gigispeed1333

I think they could limit the AI trading and blowing up teams while still allowing the ability to receive offers from other teams. I just find it befuddling that we would overtune it so far in the direction and basically remove trading completely.

I think you probably underestimate the difficulty of that balance.

If they just allow users to be the ones that initiate trades over a period of time, that isn't very balanced for the AI either. This is where they then get complaints that it is too easy to completely re-build a team while the AI sits there with the decisions that were made in the previous off-season.

Maybe if you want to start out wheeling and dealing it would make more sense to use the Off-season start?

gigispeed1333 · 03-15-2026, 02:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rain King

I think you probably underestimate the difficulty of that balance.

If they just allow users to be the ones that initiate trades over a period of time, that isn't very balanced for the AI either. This is where they then get complaints that it is too easy to completely re-build a team while the AI sits there with the decisions that were made in the previous off-season.

Maybe if you want to start out wheeling and dealing it would make more sense to use the Off-season start?

Maybe but it clearly needs to be adjusted. I couldn't trade Eury Perez for Kyle Bradish with the trade slider difficulty set to easiest. Teams should still make reasonable offers for players when they are shopped/offered. Or for another example, the Blue Jays have Berrios on Waivers. They wouldn't even accept Eury Perez for Jose Berrios. Unreal.

artbutmakeitsports · 03-15-2026, 07:17 PM

Just to make sure this is the same issue, just did a regular start with default settings with the Nats, and shopped Dylan Crews, and didn't get a single offer.

I understand wanting to make the game realistic, but I'm not sure how getting no offers is realistic? Teams might have rosters set but they'd at least offer something, and at least a team or two would pony up something.

As someone who likes breaking down the roster a bit before heading into the season, this is a massive shift in AI and makes the game basically unplayable for me

omg_pwnasaurus · 03-15-2026, 08:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rain King

I think you probably underestimate the difficulty of that balance.

Yeah I'm guessing that was the trade off here where the unrealistic AI -> AI trades were improved at the cost of "shop a player" not really working until the AI is "ready to deal". I'm fine with it behaving that way if it makes the AI -> AI trade logic much better but I can see how users being essentially locked down outside of the offseason and trade deadline could be a negative for folks as well. Selflishly it is kind of fun to just randomly throw out peak Rickey Henderson in May to see what offers come back just for giggles.

ChrisG · 03-15-2026, 10:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by omg_pwnasaurus

Yeah I'm guessing that was the trade off here where the unrealistic AI -> AI trades were improved at the cost of "shop a player" not really working until the AI is "ready to deal". I'm fine with it behaving that way if it makes the AI -> AI trade logic much better but I can see how users being essentially locked down outside of the offseason and trade deadline could be a negative for folks as well. Selflishly it is kind of fun to just randomly throw out peak Rickey Henderson in May to see what offers come back just for giggles.

Yeah. I mean I think people will just have to wait a few months to blow up their teams, just like they would if they took over as an actual GM in March. Is it such a big deal to wait until June if you're playing for the long haul?

Perhaps "realistic trade logic" is something you could turn on and off one day, but count me in as someone who would rather sacrifice the ability to trade in April/May, when significant trades almost never happen, in favor of better overall logic.

03-12-2026, 08:47 AM	#1
Cwisen Bat Boy Join Date: Mar 2026 Location: Spring Lake Michigan Posts: 1	Issues with Trading Players In my current save I am about 30 games in, and there still has not been a single player has been placed on the trading block, and when I shop players, nobody wants anyone from my team except maybe the top 3-4 players/prospects... And even, then it's only 1 or 2 teams. The only way of accumulating players is from waivers. I am assuming this is a bug because in the previous versions the trading block would be full by now and shopping players was always relatively easy to do with multiple trade options unless it was a bad contract. Is anyone else experiencing this problem?

03-12-2026, 08:57 AM	#2
Lukas Berger OOTP Developments Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Nice, Côte d'Azur, France Posts: 22,216	This is intentional. As part of the trading AI adjustments this year, we've toned down the AI's occasional tendency to want to blow up its teams early on in the year by making a half-dozen trades in March or April. So AI teams will only really start to think about trading around the time real-life teams do, sometime in June(ish). __________________ lukas@ootpdevelopments.com Buy Out of the Park Baseball 27! Need to upload files for us to check out? Instructions can be found here

03-14-2026, 07:28 PM	#12
gigispeed1333 Minors (Single A) Join Date: Apr 2019 Posts: 84	There is no way this is acting as intended. I can't fathom, I think it needs to be looked further into. I shopped Eury Perez 65/75 22yr old starter with trading difficulty at easiest and the value of prospects at max --- and the best offers I get are veteran players like Chris Sale or Edwin Diaz. There is no way you can convince me the sliders and trade offers are working as intended. Needs to be adjusted. Last edited by gigispeed1333; 03-15-2026 at 12:48 AM.

03-15-2026, 07:17 PM	#18
artbutmakeitsports Bat Boy Join Date: Mar 2025 Posts: 5	Brutal Just to make sure this is the same issue, just did a regular start with default settings with the Nats, and shopped Dylan Crews, and didn't get a single offer. I understand wanting to make the game realistic, but I'm not sure how getting no offers is realistic? Teams might have rosters set but they'd at least offer something, and at least a team or two would pony up something. As someone who likes breaking down the roster a bit before heading into the season, this is a massive shift in AI and makes the game basically unplayable for me

03-12-2026, 11:02 AM	#4
miggy Bat Boy Join Date: May 2013 Posts: 2	I noticed this also in a league I created for the 1972 season, although it didn't make for a very smart AI manager or realistic experience since a GM's job is a 365 a day per year reality. I tried to trade a clone of a player -- Nolan C Ryan, plus an additional $100,000 for the real Nolan Ryan who played for the Angels' organization. The trade was an insult to the AI GM. When I pressed the "Make this work now" button, the AI GM responded with "You have no player who make this work", although the 1972 Cincinnati Reds were loaded with players such as Pete Rose and Joe Morgan on its roster which would be an outrageous haul given I was also trading the Ryan clone plus $100K. However, the Angels AI GM would not even consider the trade at the start of the season by design it appears. Not even an additional 1st-rounder made a difference. So no trading until June(ish) -- at all, or did the Ryan clone testing throw the AI GM off?

03-14-2026, 02:57 AM	#7
gigispeed1333 Minors (Single A) Join Date: Apr 2019 Posts: 84	I have also noticed its almost impossible to make a reasonable trade for even many average players in Off-Season. I can appreciate trying to make the game more realistic, but that doesn't always equal more fun. People can just choose not to trade if they don't want too. Or make a setting/slider which we can modify? I enjoy rebuilding my team in off-season through trades and now that seems impossible. Maybe its only like this pre-season? At beginning of off-season trades will be easier?