Strategy in Free Agency?

[frankiegonzo]

does anyone use a particular strategy when signing free agents

do you prefer to spend more on pitching or batting?

do you give out big contracts years or salary wise?

what do you do when you dont have to much money what strategy or what stats do you most look at in that situation??

do you take ball park factors into consideration?

[sc_superstar]

I very rarely go after big names, I usually pick up the scraps prior to Spring Training, similar stats at a big discount.

If I do go after an elite player they would have to be a late 20's superstar and I wont get into a bidding war, and it would almost never be a position player unless it was something extremely rare like a .300 AVG 25+ HR Gold Glove SS or something insane like that.

Also player consistancy is key, I hate paying for a career year. If you've gone 100-30 over the past 5 years with a sub 3 ERA and good stats all around (normal levels of BAPIP FIP, High ERA+ ect) Then i'll give you the mega deal

I always take positional strength, ballpark factors and things like D/Speed into account. I don't block prospects with a FA, I would rather sign a stop gap for 1/3 of the price

[OBSL Commish]

I deal players when they either hit 30 years old or they start to get expensive. I usually just deal for high draft picks but occasionally pick up other prospects. So I don't go after free agents unless they are cheap and young and show some promise. Usually IFAs, but there are the occasional prospects who somehow slipped through the AI's farm systems as minor league FAs. I'm not very active in free agency as my 40-man roster is usually full and I almost never participate in the Rule V draft.

[RPage]

I usually don't sign free agents until almost spring training. I will not sign long term or high dollar contracts. I do not shy away from older players, for my bench or to fill out my pitching staff. I will usually offer 1 yr deals only. You can usually get good deals on players the closer you get to Spring Training.

[Scottiedog]

I pretty much follow RPage's and sc_supersta's theories. I generally wait til after Spring Training and find guys that put up decent numbers. I will occasionally go after a Free Agent early in the off season, if he's just too good to pass on.
However, if I do go after a big name signing. I will make a couple fair market value offers. If the player balks at the idea....I move on.
I have learned that two decent players making say 10 million combined is just as good as one great player making 20 million a year. Sure, may not have the sexiest of rosters some years. However, wins all count the same.
As far as overall roster strategy. I will stretch a little further for pitching (usually only starters....relievers are easier to find IMO).
As a side note....a lot of times, you can find an ok hitter (not a super star by any means...but at least a solid bench player) after Spring Training looking for a team. By that point, his price will have dropped a lot.
I absolutely use my home park factors when considering signing a player.
For example:
In a hitter's park - I try to find ground ball pitching and big boppers.
In a pitcher's park - I find solid pitchers that may have a slightly higher fly ball to out ratio vs a hitter's park. The park will protect them more. I will also try to find hitters that are good "gap" hitters in a pitcher's park.

[ezpkns34]

Totally depends on my team. If I feel I'm a SP or 3B or something away from becoming a legit contender & there's a good one in FA that fits under my budget, I'm going after them

If I have multiple holes on the team, then I'm waiting til February or so to start offering contracts on players that I think can upgrade my roster while giving me some value (if any such players are left)

[hit_or_miss54680]

I tend to make a lot of minor contracts, whatever decent players who are only asking for $1 or $2 million and let them duke it out against prospects in spring training. Whoever is the front runner gets to to be the starter and the other gets to be backup. Once I have two many, I trade excess for more low prospects. After a few years, this allows me to field a mostly 4+ star team at very low $ amounts. After that, in order to make things interesting, I start making "Bad GM" or "Owner Dictated" decisions to be interesting. I'll pretend that I was asked to sign the top free agent pitcher no matter what the cost, or extend an aging player to a bad contract. Then I build around those scenarios.

[Honorable_Pawn]

Originally Posted by hit_or_miss54680

After that, in order to make things interesting, I start making "Bad GM" or "Owner Dictated" decisions to be interesting. I'll pretend that I was asked to sign the top free agent pitcher no matter what the cost, or extend an aging player to a bad contract. Then I build around those scenarios.

Great thoughts. I'm going to borrow some of these ideas.

[hit_or_miss54680]

Originally Posted by Honorable_Pawn

Great thoughts. I'm going to borrow some of these ideas.

Actually, I think I just decided what it was missing. Randomness. I'm going to create a deck of cards with bad decisions on it. I'm going to draw one random card per year and do what it says. New Thread to follow.

EDIT: Here it is! Crowd-sourcing 52 bad decisions: http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/boar...ions-deck.html

[ELDoro]

My strategy is totally dependent on the market and that can be entirely different depending how your player. Solo or Online can dictate a lot of difference right there.

I mostly play online. In online leagues I usually just try to sign quality backups and platoon players that might have good splits against either RHP or LHP. I find if your try to sign stars your almost always caught up in a bidding war with someone willing to over pay.

The way your fellow GMs dictate the importance of offense, defense, and pitching is another factor. In one league I'm in quality pitching is hard to come by so people tend to overspend for it on the market. My strategy is gunna start moving toward acquiring pitching prospects and developing them and signing positions players. I feel like that strategy in this particular league will save me $ in the long run.

Also I like bidding low on aging vets. People tend to think a player 33 or older is broken down and not worth it but they usually have atleast 2-3 good years left. I try to bid low on them without committing into contracts that would keep them with me into their late 30's. Players 35 years and older I wont commit more than a single season to. You can often find a steal for a few million for a single season just because your fellow GMs don't want to sign an old guy. Everyone has a vision that they are gunna build young and have a 10 year dynasty for the ages!

[JMDurron]

Originally Posted by OBSL Commish

I deal players when they either hit 30 years old or they start to get expensive. I usually just deal for high draft picks but occasionally pick up other prospects. So I don't go after free agents unless they are cheap and young and show some promise. Usually IFAs, but there are the occasional prospects who somehow slipped through the AI's farm systems as minor league FAs. I'm not very active in free agency as my 40-man roster is usually full and I almost never participate in the Rule V draft.

This is generally my strategy as well. My strategy in Free Agency is to let other teams sign away my free agents so that I can get compensation picks. Otherwise, draft pick trading is on so that I can try to constantly build from within, and trade aging/expensive players for future picks as other prospects come up to take their place. I will extend players I already have, I avoid free agency entirely outside of minor league deals to potential prospects and/or positional filler in my minor leagues,