Trading and negative overall balance

Avindian · 05-26-2014, 05:07 PM

So, after reading some threads here, I wanted to get clarification on a point:

1) At what point does the "negative balance problem" officially kick in? That is, when does the negative balance neuter your scouting and player development budgets? Opening day? And, if you get rid of the negative balance, does the problem disappear? I remember OOTP 14 making it very clear when you were doomed; since OOTP 15 always lists the warning, even when it doesn't apply, I'm a bit confused.

2) Does trading on "Very Hard" place an exorbitant weight on salaries? I'm running 13/43/29/16 for evaluation, so you have a baseline. Here's a concrete example: started with 2014 MLB Indians, in 2017 right now.

Decided it was time to part with Dorssys Paulino, who hits really well for a shortstop but is a subpar fielder (the anti-Francisco Lindor -- oh, if only I could have Lindor always play defense and Paulino always hit). Since the aforementioned Lindor is blocking him and Paulino's bat wouldn't play at DH or the OF (my open positions at the moment), I decided to trade him. The Cubs needed a SS (I don't know why -- maybe Castro got hurt?), so I wanted to flip Paulino for a prospect or two. The Cubs had two pitchers I wanted -- we'll say a #3 starter and a back end bullpen guy.

On very hard, I couldn't get either. In fact, the Cubs wouldn't give me a 20/20 hopeless prospect (on the 20-80 scale) for Paulino. I couldn't sell him for $1. I just wanted to get rid of his contract, even if I got nothing in return, so that scenario #1 wouldn't give me trouble (I'm at the day after Opening Day). He's league minimum and at least one guaranteed year away from arbitration. Nothing doing. I got the feeling the AI knew I was in trouble and was just laughing at my suffering.

I switch to hard, and I get both prospects by throwing in a scrub. However, I had also manually edited my budget in Commissioner Mode to give myself the $30,000 I was short, so I don't know if it was switching the settings, fixing the budget, or a mixture of both.

Any assistance on one or both matters would be greatly appreciated!

05-26-2014, 05:07 PM	#1
Avindian Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 274	Trading and negative overall balance So, after reading some threads here, I wanted to get clarification on a point: 1) At what point does the "negative balance problem" officially kick in? That is, when does the negative balance neuter your scouting and player development budgets? Opening day? And, if you get rid of the negative balance, does the problem disappear? I remember OOTP 14 making it very clear when you were doomed; since OOTP 15 always lists the warning, even when it doesn't apply, I'm a bit confused. 2) Does trading on "Very Hard" place an exorbitant weight on salaries? I'm running 13/43/29/16 for evaluation, so you have a baseline. Here's a concrete example: started with 2014 MLB Indians, in 2017 right now. Decided it was time to part with Dorssys Paulino, who hits really well for a shortstop but is a subpar fielder (the anti-Francisco Lindor -- oh, if only I could have Lindor always play defense and Paulino always hit). Since the aforementioned Lindor is blocking him and Paulino's bat wouldn't play at DH or the OF (my open positions at the moment), I decided to trade him. The Cubs needed a SS (I don't know why -- maybe Castro got hurt?), so I wanted to flip Paulino for a prospect or two. The Cubs had two pitchers I wanted -- we'll say a #3 starter and a back end bullpen guy. On very hard, I couldn't get either. In fact, the Cubs wouldn't give me a 20/20 hopeless prospect (on the 20-80 scale) for Paulino. I couldn't sell him for $1. I just wanted to get rid of his contract, even if I got nothing in return, so that scenario #1 wouldn't give me trouble (I'm at the day after Opening Day). He's league minimum and at least one guaranteed year away from arbitration. Nothing doing. I got the feeling the AI knew I was in trouble and was just laughing at my suffering. I switch to hard, and I get both prospects by throwing in a scrub. However, I had also manually edited my budget in Commissioner Mode to give myself the $30,000 I was short, so I don't know if it was switching the settings, fixing the budget, or a mixture of both. Any assistance on one or both matters would be greatly appreciated!