Trade AI gives free players negative value

h0peiambag · 06-16-2020, 02:26 PM

I wasn't sure whether to post this in the bug reports forum or here; it may be intentional (in which case I've beaten the game). I tried a quick search of the board and didn't find anything on this, but my apologies if it's a duplicate. I'm sure someone else has noticed this before.

Sometimes when I trade for players and have the other team retain 100% of the salary, the AI still treats them as negative value. E.g.

Often these players are the ones that keep popping up when shopping players, and they are often, but not always, on the trade block. When it gets close to the trading deadline, I can often get three star relievers for free (100% retained, sending $1) and I can build trades that look something like "4 star reliever/3.5 star hitter (retaining X amount) + 2.5 star free player + 3 star free reliever====2.5 star reliever (retain 100%) + 2 star 3B (retain 100%) + 2 star reliever (retain 100%)."

Interestingly, you can then flip these players to another rebuilding team, who puts the players on their trade block the following day, and sends that player back to you for more negative value. This creates a bit of a racket.

This seems to be a broader feature of the trading block. I tried to see how far I could take it, and the answer seems to be...pretty far. See Jose Quintana here, who isn't free, but discounted while on the trading block

I'm on Challenge Mode, and I haven't tinkered around with any trade settings, and while I support the intuition that players on the trade block have a discount attached, maybe there should be a floor where the AI says "we'd be better off releasing this guy".

BBGiovanni · 06-16-2020, 02:36 PM

Thanks for posting this, I had noticed that I could get the AI to retain 100% in cases I wouldn't expect it, but I didn't test to see if I could get "free" players. The AI seemed pretty (overly) aggressive with salary dumps in the ML season I just played, but I was running the Mets so I was more excited to get rid of my bad contracts in the deals

This is the first time in a while I've played a whole ML season so I don't have recent versions to compare it to. I didn't notice it in v.18 though.

hluraven · 06-17-2020, 09:27 AM

Similar, and possibly linked, the AI puts a significant negative value on future year salaries that they can void (team option with $0 buyout, arbitration they can not offer).

This means that you can pick up these negative value players (including using your trick with 100% retained) and then just release them for $0.

06-16-2020, 02:26 PM	#1
h0peiambag Bat Boy Join Date: Mar 2018 Posts: 3	Trade AI gives free players negative value I wasn't sure whether to post this in the bug reports forum or here; it may be intentional (in which case I've beaten the game). I tried a quick search of the board and didn't find anything on this, but my apologies if it's a duplicate. I'm sure someone else has noticed this before. Sometimes when I trade for players and have the other team retain 100% of the salary, the AI still treats them as negative value. E.g. Often these players are the ones that keep popping up when shopping players, and they are often, but not always, on the trade block. When it gets close to the trading deadline, I can often get three star relievers for free (100% retained, sending $1) and I can build trades that look something like "4 star reliever/3.5 star hitter (retaining X amount) + 2.5 star free player + 3 star free reliever====2.5 star reliever (retain 100%) + 2 star 3B (retain 100%) + 2 star reliever (retain 100%)." Interestingly, you can then flip these players to another rebuilding team, who puts the players on their trade block the following day, and sends that player back to you for more negative value. This creates a bit of a racket. This seems to be a broader feature of the trading block. I tried to see how far I could take it, and the answer seems to be...pretty far. See Jose Quintana here, who isn't free, but discounted while on the trading block I'm on Challenge Mode, and I haven't tinkered around with any trade settings, and while I support the intuition that players on the trade block have a discount attached, maybe there should be a floor where the AI says "we'd be better off releasing this guy".

06-16-2020, 02:36 PM	#2
BBGiovanni All Star Starter Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Republic of California Posts: 1,911	Thanks for posting this, I had noticed that I could get the AI to retain 100% in cases I wouldn't expect it, but I didn't test to see if I could get "free" players. The AI seemed pretty (overly) aggressive with salary dumps in the ML season I just played, but I was running the Mets so I was more excited to get rid of my bad contracts in the deals This is the first time in a while I've played a whole ML season so I don't have recent versions to compare it to. I didn't notice it in v.18 though. __________________ Let's Go (San Jose) Giants, Let's Go Mets! Current Project: WBAT/AABBA: Organized Base Ball And the "New Normal" World Baseball Aid Tournament 2023 trophy round underway!

06-17-2020, 09:27 AM	#3
hluraven Major Leagues Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: London, England Posts: 357	Similar, and possibly linked, the AI puts a significant negative value on future year salaries that they can void (team option with $0 buyout, arbitration they can not offer). This means that you can pick up these negative value players (including using your trick with 100% retained) and then just release them for $0.