New Player looking for a easy/fun rebuild and tips

[StevenP04]

Hi OOTP 25 is my entry into the series and so far I just about suck. I am a Marlins fan so I've been trying to rebuild them but it's been hard. I've done about 3 or 4 saves with no luck of even sniffing .500. I don't know if the Marlins are just hard to rebuild or if I'm just bad. My question is, what are some good, pretty easy, rebuilds that I can play to sort of get a feel for the game without completely struggling? Also, any tips you would give someone who just started playing?

[Pelican]

For a team like the Marlins - and most, if not all, of the current candidates for rebuilding, the problem is money - finances. Lousy teams are spending a fraction of what the Dodgers, Yankees, Braves invest. The Rays are (or were) an exception to this; but the exception proves the rule.

So, you are going to be fighting with one hand tied behind your back with the Fish, the Pirates, KC, don't even mention the Oakland/Sacramento/Las Vegas A's. No money for blue chip free agents. No money to invest in scouting and player development. No money to extend the few good players on your roster.

One solution to this is - as Commissioner - to give your team more cash, and redo its budget. Some would say this is cheating, or cheesing the game. I personally don't see how leveling up these teams is wrong, unless your goal is simply to replay their dismal seasons. By making them competitive, you are leveling the playing field.

A more creative solution is to expand, and allow established teams to keep no more than twelve players (plus all those with less than three years service), while allowing a team to lose as many as five players (or more) in the draft. This has the effect of spreading the wealth and leveling the playing field for the current weak teams. You can either manage/GM an expansion team, or improve one of the present weak teams. (Hint: If you give the expansion teams a decent budget, they will improve quickly, particularly if they draft/sign free agents.)

Or, circling back to your original question, you could take on the Colorado Rockies. They draw well despite being awful, and thus are flush with cash. If you reinvest the profits, you should be able to develop a solid farm system. You would also have plenty to spend on top free agents. Just don't make the kinds of mistakes that current management has.

[mytreds]

This is old (9 yrs! Time flies…) but it’s a good base to start learning..

https://www.reddit.com/r/OOTP/commen...and_trick_ive/

Some things have probably changed since then but the tips are largely still good to use.

Here’s also a great thread on minors management.

https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/...d.php?t=305472

I advise you don’t use commissioner mode to give money or any other overt advantage to your team. In my experience the best way to rebuild is to not get attached to players and focus on your farm system, make trades for decent players that have no chance to start for the bigger clubs but will play for chips and do decently for your club. Pitching is more important than hitting. Catcher rating is more important than his hitting ratings. Getting a solid defense up the middle (C, SS, 2B, CF) will go far. As a smaller club you really have to scour the FA, waiver wire, Rule 5 draft to find gems that other teams won’t use. In the end the enjoyment should be the journey not the destination.

[renojedi]

I second the expansion team option. I like that I can decide what contracts to take on, can learn about players I wouldn't normally follow closely, and can build the way I want (groundball pitchers, good defense, and low strikeout batters for example).

I use 35 rounds, 18 players, 2 years of pro experience or more, and 3 picks per team. I also allow Expanded teams draft first in the rookie draft.

The 18 players protected is based upon the last MLB expansion draft allowing teams to protect 15 players and each time a player was picked, they could protect 3 more. So 15, 18, and 21. I just went with the middle number.

The real draft (and game) makes players with 3 years or more automatically protected. In real life, the Arizona and Tampa had an amateur draft before the expansion draft. Since we can't do that in game, I dropped it to 2 years of pro experience to get some younger players on the expansion teams. I also let them draft first in their inaugural season. It is not perfect, but it is a little more fair.

I then average the budgets of all teams in the expansion team's division and make either the budget assigned by the game or that average (whichever is higher) is the new team's budget. My thought is no one is getting an expansion team if they plan to run it like the Marlins but there also won't be a Dodgers, Padres, or Mets situation either. Either way, it gives me a decent challenge and I am middle of the pack...like 12-18th budget in the league

This allows for a decent team to start and not a bunch of AAA players but also makes me really work to get the team up to speed and I usually can have a wild card time within 1-3 years which is also fair in a modern MLB (NHL is the model for how leagues want expansion teams to come in to maintain fan interest). It makes me focus on coaches, chemistry, waiver wire, rule 5, drafting, and international FAs and, this year, the development lab which is very rewarding when it all comes together.

I have been playing this way for over a decade (almost 2) and don't see myself ever playing any other way.