Your strategies for an MLB team?

[TheEquinox]

Hey there,

I'm fairly new to OOTP and relatively new to baseball as well (I'm from Europe). I've started a game in OOTP16 with the Red Sox which I continued in OOTP17 and I just finished the 2019 season.

I think I did quite okay, made it to the playoffs in every season so far and won the World Series in 2018. In 2019 I lost the ALCS to the later winners, the Texas Rangers.

So, I was wondering what your approach to the game is. How do you build your roster, what are you looking for in players? How much effort do you put into the minor leagues and did it ever pay off? I seem to have troubles getting any worthwhile players from the minors. I got one draft SP with 5* potential, but he didn't really turn out well so far. Other than that, the guys from my minor leagues rosters haven't been more than replacements for injuries so far.

Here is my current team for the upcomping 2020 season (ratings 0-100):

Pitching staff:



Kolby Allard is the minors prospect I mentioned. As you can see, my attempts to use him in the MLB roster more or less failed so far:



He just lost one star in potential, but I really want to put him into the starting rotation this upcoming season. Especially because my budget has been stretched to the limit and it will be helpful to have an SP at minimum salary.

Here are my fielders/batters:



The guy at the bottom, Brody Wofford, is from my minors as well. He had 85 GS last season an went up to 3 of 3 stars during the season. He also won the rookie of the year award in the past season. No idea why he now dropped down to 1.5/2 stars. His contact rating dropped from about 60 to 24 in the off-season. Could this be because I hired a new scouting director a few weeks ago?

Here's my team homepage:



As you can see, my outfielders are only average, but I can't afford anyone better. Especially since just about every team in the MLB seems to be at their budget limits, which makes any significant deals practically impossible.

And finally here the results of the 2019 season:



Playoffs:



---------------------

So yeah, any hints or strategies about squad building and prospect development you guys use in your dynasty games would be appreciated.

[NoOne]

when you are winning year after year, it's much more difficult to develop all-star calliber players.

Shift budgets around to fit where you will find the best talent. i still scout majors with big $$$. i sim games and more accurate info = better ai decisions. there are other reasons too, but you may find it has a different value than i, if you play games out yourself.

one thing you can try is shift some money from amatuer scouting to international ama. scouting. i typically short budget international spending, so when i am doing well i will actually swap their budgets.

i always keep my development high, but if you have 1 prospect of note in your minors, maybe a year or two of cost-cutting there will be inconsequential.

instead of overspending on a FA or extension that won't play everyday or any other money sink that doesn't provice a large return... save that money for spending on international FA amatuer maket in alternating years and spend upto the 250k limit per player in off-years - sign anything you can.

you don't have to overspend every other year.. i always allow talent to decide. sometimes i might got 3 years without a splurge. take note of financial penalties, not just what you can spend the next year. you get a 100% tax on the overage, i believe. if you have 50M budget space, why let it go to waste? spend it! This is key to know on your own and not rely on projections... if you dynamically increase ticket prices as you win throughout the year, the estimate will be WAY off. I roughly know what i will make based on the success i am having, so i spend on MY projections, not the game's. i also set my projected budgets - accurately, i might add. the game underprojects my gate revenue by large amounts that i find unacceptable. (non-default setting used: no owner control on budget)

if you can max out scouting, when i say "short" ama draft spending, i mean drop it to ~4M, which is probably league average or above average, guessing. so, your scout should still be copetent. smaller budgets may stil be a good idea to do this, but less of a good idea the more extreme the market size is.

if you have draft pick trading on... start trading low picks with any trades you do and try to upgrade them in any way possible. if i have this option on, i don't want a pick after round 2 or 3, lol. if i have 5-10 picks in round 1-3 i'm going to get way better talent than 35 picks 1-35. with this setting on you should win 140+ games every year, and if you really abuse it, 150+ and even a perfect season is possible. at that point it mostly depends on the randomly generated talent during that time peiod - quantity and quality.

FA spending should always be with an eye to future - either expensive and short or long and cheap. rarely do you find a suitable long-term solution. a player that will be post-30 during any contract is a gamble. as it should be. your money is the key. know when to spend, and when not... everytime you have to deal with a mistake don't chalk it up to bad luck.. realize the mistake you made and whether it's avoidable... it's all about gambling/risk/chance, but be smart about it.

the common denominator for everything is cost. every dollar can matter, although not as much in a market like boston. a 200+ payroll and overspending on scouting, development and minor league coaches is possible, so you should be able to maintain continued success. spend 30-50m on international amatuers when it's appropriate. spend more on those budgets when it becomes more important to talent procurement than the draft.

your focus may shift depending on context... mold all options that you have control over to maximize that focus at that particular time.

coaches MiL:
i don't think "handling" players really matters. i think that has to do with how the players are used in the game... all i care is that they play in the minors. i don't care about winning games whatsover, although if you follow my lil starter guide you should have winning teams, nonetheless. so, get coaches that teach well - even the manager.

I used to like special focus, but have been favoring the neutral coaches more and more lately. if you have duplicate levels of minors, that's where i'd hire some specialty focus coaches... that way if someone has a crappy eye you send them to the 'other' a-ball team. definitely don't bother with "power" in any low-level minor league - minimal returns at those ages from what i have experienced - i could be wrong.

of all the factors, this is where you should skimp in money, first. scouting and development budget trump this most likely. since you are in boston, i'd spend what you can on mil coaches and still be able to spend like a drunken sailor on scouting, develpment, a huge payroll, and 10-30M to spend on international amatuers.

Prospects:

batters - Learn babip vs avoid k components of contact - rough weights of each component. do not invest alot in a player with a huge weakness, even if rated as a 80/80. extremely bad babip, avoid k or eye/patience can make a seemingly HoF player be very inconsistent and possible even an underperformer. these guys are high risk. sometimes you need the guy that isn't as spectacular but is well-rounded. becareful, it's the managerial equivalent to trying to hit too many homeruns -> reaching too often for "the one." if they have an extreme weakness and there is a quality alternative, let the state of your team (3-7years out) dictate how often you can reach.

pitchers- pitch selection is just as important as the ratings! pitchers are complicated, but i focus on pitch selectiona nd have been very happy with results. love a great curveball or changeup.... i think sliders are underrated in the game vs RL. i'll take an equally rated curveball over a slider anyday -> even if the stuff rating is a bit lower and all other facotrs are the same that add up to that rating - i.e. it's the pitch type causing the "lower" stuff rating.

think of Stuff like OVerall/Potential - an average-to-good estimate of quality, but not absolute. overall/potential is way less precise, but just meant to give an idea about Stuff.

i don't like pitchers below 93-95mph unless they are a knuckleballer. i think more velocity = more consistency, otherwise. an all-star caliber knuckballer SP is the golden goose... you see one, grabe it and develop it!! a workhorse that can nearly hit 300IP in 34-35 starts with modern mlb settings for stamina - which is even lower than previous years. anyway the low velocity, highly rated prospects are traded before they fully develop, or possibly they may spend a year in my bullpen / 5th starter. either way sell while they are young and still some time of club control if in the majors.

Just because you won't use or like the well-rated prospect, if you knwo the AI will covet it, draft it if their aren't suitable alternatives. I'd much rather invest a first round draft pick in a player i need, but if i can create more value by drafting someone i intend to trade, i will do that...... the situation always dictates the choice you should make... if oyur perceptions are good, you will do well... if you do poorly over a long period of time, change your perceptions.

[rj58]

Originally Posted by NoOne

when you are winning year after year, it's much more difficult to develop all-star calliber players.

Shift budgets around to fit where you will find the best talent. i still scout majors with big $$$. i sim games and more accurate info = better ai decisions. there are other reasons too, but you may find it has a different value than i, if you play games out yourself.

one thing you can try is shift some money from amatuer scouting to international ama. scouting. i typically short budget international spending, so when i am doing well i will actually swap their budgets.

i always keep my development high, but if you have 1 prospect of note in your minors, maybe a year or two of cost-cutting there will be inconsequential.

instead of overspending on a FA or extension that won't play everyday or any other money sink that doesn't provice a large return... save that money for spending on international FA amatuer maket in alternating years and spend upto the 250k limit per player in off-years - sign anything you can.

you don't have to overspend every other year.. i always allow talent to decide. sometimes i might got 3 years without a splurge. take note of financial penalties, not just what you can spend the next year. you get a 100% tax on the overage, i believe. if you have 50M budget space, why let it go to waste? spend it! This is key to know on your own and not rely on projections... if you dynamically increase ticket prices as you win throughout the year, the estimate will be WAY off. I roughly know what i will make based on the success i am having, so i spend on MY projections, not the game's. i also set my projected budgets - accurately, i might add. the game underprojects my gate revenue by large amounts that i find unacceptable. (non-default setting used: no owner control on budget)

if you can max out scouting, when i say "short" ama draft spending, i mean drop it to ~4M, which is probably league average or above average, guessing. so, your scout should still be copetent. smaller budgets may stil be a good idea to do this, but less of a good idea the more extreme the market size is.

if you have draft pick trading on... start trading low picks with any trades you do and try to upgrade them in any way possible. if i have this option on, i don't want a pick after round 2 or 3, lol. if i have 5-10 picks in round 1-3 i'm going to get way better talent than 35 picks 1-35. with this setting on you should win 140+ games every year, and if you really abuse it, 150+ and even a perfect season is possible. at that point it mostly depends on the randomly generated talent during that time peiod - quantity and quality.

FA spending should always be with an eye to future - either expensive and short or long and cheap. rarely do you find a suitable long-term solution. a player that will be post-30 during any contract is a gamble. as it should be. your money is the key. know when to spend, and when not... everytime you have to deal with a mistake don't chalk it up to bad luck.. realize the mistake you made and whether it's avoidable... it's all about gambling/risk/chance, but be smart about it.

the common denominator for everything is cost. every dollar can matter, although not as much in a market like boston. a 200+ payroll and overspending on scouting, development and minor league coaches is possible, so you should be able to maintain continued success. spend 30-50m on international amatuers when it's appropriate. spend more on those budgets when it becomes more important to talent procurement than the draft.

your focus may shift depending on context... mold all options that you have control over to maximize that focus at that particular time.

coaches MiL:
i don't think "handling" players really matters. i think that has to do with how the players are used in the game... all i care is that they play in the minors. i don't care about winning games whatsover, although if you follow my lil starter guide you should have winning teams, nonetheless. so, get coaches that teach well - even the manager.

I used to like special focus, but have been favoring the neutral coaches more and more lately. if you have duplicate levels of minors, that's where i'd hire some specialty focus coaches... that way if someone has a crappy eye you send them to the 'other' a-ball team. definitely don't bother with "power" in any low-level minor league - minimal returns at those ages from what i have experienced - i could be wrong.

of all the factors, this is where you should skimp in money, first. scouting and development budget trump this most likely. since you are in boston, i'd spend what you can on mil coaches and still be able to spend like a drunken sailor on scouting, develpment, a huge payroll, and 10-30M to spend on international amatuers.

Prospects:

batters - Learn babip vs avoid k components of contact - rough weights of each component. do not invest alot in a player with a huge weakness, even if rated as a 80/80. extremely bad babip, avoid k or eye/patience can make a seemingly HoF player be very inconsistent and possible even an underperformer. these guys are high risk. sometimes you need the guy that isn't as spectacular but is well-rounded. becareful, it's the managerial equivalent to trying to hit too many homeruns -> reaching too often for "the one." if they have an extreme weakness and there is a quality alternative, let the state of your team (3-7years out) dictate how often you can reach.

pitchers- pitch selection is just as important as the ratings! pitchers are complicated, but i focus on pitch selectiona nd have been very happy with results. love a great curveball or changeup.... i think sliders are underrated in the game vs RL. i'll take an equally rated curveball over a slider anyday -> even if the stuff rating is a bit lower and all other facotrs are the same that add up to that rating - i.e. it's the pitch type causing the "lower" stuff rating.

think of Stuff like OVerall/Potential - an average-to-good estimate of quality, but not absolute. overall/potential is way less precise, but just meant to give an idea about Stuff.

i don't like pitchers below 93-95mph unless they are a knuckleballer. i think more velocity = more consistency, otherwise. an all-star caliber knuckballer SP is the golden goose... you see one, grabe it and develop it!! a workhorse that can nearly hit 300IP in 34-35 starts with modern mlb settings for stamina - which is even lower than previous years. anyway the low velocity, highly rated prospects are traded before they fully develop, or possibly they may spend a year in my bullpen / 5th starter. either way sell while they are young and still some time of club control if in the majors.

Just because you won't use or like the well-rated prospect, if you knwo the AI will covet it, draft it if their aren't suitable alternatives. I'd much rather invest a first round draft pick in a player i need, but if i can create more value by drafting someone i intend to trade, i will do that...... the situation always dictates the choice you should make... if oyur perceptions are good, you will do well... if you do poorly over a long period of time, change your perceptions.

I thought BABIP was only useful when talking really large sets of data (say 3 years worth of at bats). This is typically not the type of data you see when developing prospects, where if the prospect is doing well with measurements like wOBA, OPS, OBP, WAR, you may not have enough data to have a stable BABIP on him. I've always thought of BABIP as a career mean average of a player over a longer period of time (not league average mind you.. but an average level of performance for that batter.. so if league average BABIP is .300, but the batter is consistently .320, he is doing much better than the league in batting).. and that BABIP fluctuates a lot more short term but ends up normally regressing to their career mean average.

Do you find BABIP is a good general indicator of performance from a prospect?

Secondly, fantastic post.. lots of useful info here.

[NoOne]

sorry this is way late i don't check this forum much.

i didn't say you could do it with limited sample :P

you'll have to lookup suitable samples for each... 75% confident can be enough in some situations ... i.e. a top quartile (or any extreme result good/bad) result can't be too much differnt if ~75% confident about hte results.

it's just a way to verify a particular rating. all stats require a suitable sample in order for that to work.

for pitchers it takes MANY years for BABIP against to be know... for a batter i don'w know offhand, but 3 years doesn't sound too unrealistic if youread that somewhere.

it's just to understand BABIP portion of contact... contact is part avoid k, babip and power. i don't know the % weights, but you could deduce that to make better decisions, if you feel it's worhtwhile.

keep things in their proper areas... if you are verifying a contact ratings, you are looking at those three things and their results... wOBA is for different types of things.

so, what directly relates to the 5 main offesnive atrributes

babip
avoid k
gap
power
eye

you use stats directly tied to these thigns to verify the ratings you see.... ratings should translate to resutls

whether random or not, sometimes results do not match ratings even in a large sample... is it pesonality or some other effect or is it just bad luck? no idea

that's when you can use the aggregate type stats.. if yo feel they are underperforming relative to ratings, it's usuall best not to invest in them and or time to trade them before they lose trade value.

if i see a guy have a low babip one year, and he's down roughly that amount releatively speakin on other statistics... i'm willing to chalk that bad year up to bad babip luck.... i'm not using it to verfy a rating... all about context as to how you approach it. You can defintely use a smaller sample in a meaningful way... just not in a specific way or absolute way.

if it's the third or second year in a row... now it's not bad luck it's a poor babip portion of contact rating. even that might not be enough... but i make decisions before it's 100% known and live with the mistakes.. i find it's more important to avoid a dumpster fire year rather than react to one. (proactive is better!, progress is better! reactionaries fearful, insignificant, meaningless specks, sorry got political)

[Bad Scooter]

Originally Posted by NoOne

if i have 5-10 picks in round 1-3 i'm going to get way better talent than 35 picks 1-35.

How are you getting these kinds of returns? I can barely get the AI to trade anything fair at all.

[bjohn13]

I think my greatest overarching strategy when it comes to playing this game is that I like to have players who are versatile. If there aren't any superstars left come my turn to pick in the draft, I'm looking for defensive stalwarts who can play multiple positions.

People get hurt in this game of baseball. When one of my star players gets hurt, I like to have multiple players available to fill in so I can plug in whoever has the hot bat. Sometimes, no one has a hot bat. In those cases, if I'm going to have someone in the lineup hitting .170, I like to try to make sure that he is at least an asset in the field.

I invest my maximum into player development, and I tend to skimp on minor league scouting. I play my farm clubs in a heavily performance based way, so I don't really feel like minor league scouting is important. I rely heavily on my farm systems. I try to sign as many young UFAs as possible every year so that they stay well stocked. I find one of the biggest challenges in this game is juggling the 40-man roster.

I also tend to have a lot of pitchers around, especially starting pitchers.

And I typically stay away from the free agent market. I view free agent signings as ways to add depth. I like to develop my stars in my own farm system simply because it's cheaper, and if I had a specific need that is preventing me from advancing to the next level, I'll try to pursue that need via a trade.

[NoOne]

Originally Posted by Bad Scooter

How are you getting these kinds of returns? I can barely get the AI to trade anything fair at all.

you build up to that, if you have draft pick trading on. so, this is all from the perspective that it's allowed and you have fed the pig well for a few years...

the first 1-3 years you may only have 1-2 of the top picks each year. the more luck you have initially with these picks, the sooner you build up... they don't even have to pan out for you, a trade is just as good..

but, as you build up a monster of a MiL system, you'll be forced to trade away 3-5 decent prospects a year, and if they are young and 1/2-3/4 developed they give a great return due to lower risk. extremely high rated and young is fine too, but i typically let them pan out first unless i have zero faith in that 'type' of player. always add as many picks, too... even when trading for a #1, if possible. maximize every trade. *** obviously, you keep the ones you really like.

i get more luck mixing in picks with prospects in trades rather than consolidating them (as in trading 15-20 for a lower 15... no good up that high no matter what, actually.. but same with 7-10 for a whatever... not the best way to go.. mix them in with prospects, get as many picks sub-12ish in return for future trades.)

you can also use them as a way to guage interest in a prospect... compare 1 at a time to see what the AI values the most in order to build the best package for greatest return possible. i typically eye-ball it by comparing team needs of multiple/simultaneous trade partners, but you need to compare each one before submitting ahead of time in some way... the 'best' package for trade-partner A may cause the other 2 trade partners' returns to be worthless, where as a slightly lesser package for team A will allow for 2 great returns from b and c and still suffice for what is needed from team A. or maybe it causes you to pick an alternate 3rd team and accept a slightly reduced return in order to get the other 2 trades done.. etc etc etc... maximize everything!

start signing those international free agent amatuers... there didn't used to be a cap on this... now there is... depends on your setting as to how much you can take advantage. without a cap, you can get 1+ high end prospect/year + multiple good ones, too, but likely miss out due to the cap -- comes down to luck. basically a cap on this ruins it, but still try.

again, even if they don't fit a profile you like, their trade value is the key (same with most draft picks - draft for value, if no a sure-keeper available)... you may very well draft some great prospects that you will use.. .but invariably more will slip by... trade for these guys asap, especially if you invest more into development than the average team (baseline).

the key is finding a happy medium of trading stuff away before it ages(prospect age, not getting old) or drops in potential that inevitably occur the longer they are in the minors vs X players per year needed to replenish your MLB team (1-3 integral pieces at most, if you space it out well. ignoring bench and lesser pitchers.)

when you start dealing solely with high-end players, you start to look at things differently. you can more easily plan out replacements... you can get really picky about wht you like and trade away the many that do not fit this bill -- either for that 'mike trout' you missed in recent drafts or a top-10 pick, etc.... don't get too "draft happy" though... like i said you wil miss more of the "amazing" players than you will draft... once you get going 3-5high first round picks a year you probably snag ~1/3rd to 1/2 of them, stab in the dark, but probably close to correct.

however, if a trout or harper exists and you missed them, that's way safer than a future draft pick... always go that route even if you sacrifice some potential draft picks.

you should have a hefty portion of your team under control or in the first couple cheaper years of arbitration. this gives huge advantages to being able to buy that extra FA or expensive extension or international FA (they are really nice this year!).

i agree with spending alot on development, i do not know where negligible returns exists, i typically have a large budget and a max development budget reduces my payroll by force.

i like to spend more on MiL scouting in my normal leagues, though... only when i am drafting high will i reduce that to spend more on amatuer spending... if i am drafting ~30th(last), i skimp on amatuer budget. i also max scouting, so 24M to spend is easy to give alot to most...

tip, unless changed recently: international scouting is virtually useless unless you have those league active and simulating in your game world... the ones creted on jul 2nd and for FA are not ruled by this budget -- last i checked from playing. most likely this will give you a few ore million to toss into the other 3 budgets. at tht point, those three should all be hefty that it won't matter much which has more.

[chazzycat]

Originally Posted by NoOne

start signing those international free agent amatuers... there didn't used to be a cap on this... now there is... depends on your setting as to how much you can take advantage. without a cap, you can get 1+ high end prospect/year + multiple good ones, too, but likely miss out due to the cap -- comes down to luck. basically a cap on this ruins it, but still try.

The cap is great! As far as I can tell it basically guarantees you your choice of one top player per year. Just offer them the whole 5M and they sign on day 1.

[NoOne]

without the cap and a rich team, you get them all

when you start winning that many games you can earn a hefy chunk more off gate revenue... 54k stadium translates to ~$200+M in revenue.

this was too much of a loophole though... like draft pick trading you can have seemingly unlimited young assets to get the players of your choice with some planning. 140+ - 150+ wins within a few years... 120-130+ with a "0" market size, maybe lol.