Now what? Welcome to FOOL (1964)

[Young Drachma]

Ok, so tomorrow night, I'll fast-forward to the start of free agency. What does that mean?

In a normal season, tomorrow would be the sim for the playoffs. We would've simmed the entire season this past weekend and at 9pm CENTRAL tonight, exports would be due for playoff teams (or anyone else, feeling froggy) and then we'd sim the FOOL playoffs and FOOL Classic tomorrow night.

On Tuesday night, I'd sim to the start of FA. On Wednesday night, to the start of the pre-season and then Thursday night to the start of Opening Day (no games simmed, just a last chance to look over things, set your lineup and get ready for the year) Exports are due by 9pm on Friday and the sim takes place sometime over the weekend.

Got all of that?

Because this is the first season with a full slate of owners and no season last week, we're starting things tomorrow. The schedule will go like this:

Monday night at 9pm: Sim to the start of free agency
Tuesday night at 9pm: Sim to December 1st
Wednesday night at 9pm: Sim to the start of pre-season
Thursday night at 9pm: Sim to Opening Day, TRADE DEADLINE
Friday night at 9pm: LAST CHANCE TO MAKE ROSTER/LINEUP CHANGES
Saturday-Sunday: Season gets simmed.

It's a little stretched out this time, but I figured we ought to try something different. As for signing players, the idea is you sign players in-game and the game will compare offers or whatever it does and then we sim and find out who got who. I have no idea how this happens, I just know we get in the game and someone gets the player.

I think that the best rule of thumb is -- make your best offer the first time -- because it's unlikely you'll get a second try. The guy will come back to you, naturally, but it's not likely you'll get a chance to talk to him again because of the way we sim in FOOL.

That's part of the challenge.

Finances have been depressed largely because of the fact that most of the guys are on min sal deals. But eventually, the salary cap will come into play at some point down the road.

I think there are bound to be kinks and things we'll discover that might work better than others. This first season with the whole gang is a bit of a test run, so don't be daunted or anything. Ask questions and we'll try to work it out together. It's going to be a trial and error sort of thing.

I'm willing to evaluate how we do things and other than making the season longer, I think we can try to figure out ways to make things more interesting/competitive or whatever as we need to. I've got a few ideas in my head and I'm sure after you all play a bit, you might too.

Feel free to ask any questions you have here and good luck!

[Chief Rum]

So I don't have to make any decisions tonight?

[Young Drachma]

Well anyone in the FA pool now is fair game. So you can evaluate what decisions you want to make there. Also, any players on your own squad that you'd like to make offers to and re-sign before they become FAs are also worth getting hooked in now, because if you don't, they'll become FAs after I do the sim tomorrow and upload the file and you might not get them back.

But other than that? Nope.

[muns]

Thanks for the update DC

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

Well anyone in the FA pool now is fair game. So you can evaluate what decisions you want to make there. Also, any players on your own squad that you'd like to make offers to and re-sign before they become FAs are also worth getting hooked in now, because if you don't, they'll become FAs after I do the sim tomorrow and upload the file and you might not get them back.

But other than that? Nope.

Thanks, DC. I'll take a look at that.

What about rookie FA vs regular FA? Is that done in a separate pool? Or are you they out there, too, right now? And how does it work with them and the salary cap?

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

Thanks, DC. I'll take a look at that.

What about rookie FA vs regular FA? Is that done in a separate pool? Or are you they out there, too, right now? And how does it work with them and the salary cap?

They're out there. And they're just like regular free agents. Most will take a minor league deal though. We haven't really had too many of them make their way in or if they have, the AI teams got to them before we did as humans, so...it'll be new to all of us together. I suspect most of the talent rich prospects out there have come from the feeders. They go under the salary cap just like regular players.

So the trick basically is, do you spend a lot on a young stud who might help you down the line? Or do you spend it on a proven vet?

No free lunches in FOOL.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

They're out there. And they're just like regular free agents. Most will take a minor league deal though. We haven't really had too many of them make their way in or if they have, the AI teams got to them before we did as humans, so...it'll be new to all of us together. I suspect most of the talent rich prospects out there have come from the feeders. They go under the salary cap just like regular players.

So the trick basically is, do you spend a lot on a young stud who might help you down the line? Or do you spend it on a proven vet?

No free lunches in FOOL.

Cool deal. Well, that certainly makes things interesting. Thanks for all the help, DC!

[Alan T]

If the patch comes out today before the sim, I assume we should still run on pre-patch for tonight's sim correct?

[muns]

DC I have a question

ive been sitting here doing my file, and when I look at the rosters page, there is only an active roster. Does that mean we get to promote and demote as many times as we want to as long as the player doesnt refuse it?

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by Alan T

If the patch comes out today before the sim, I assume we should still run on pre-patch for tonight's sim correct?

No, install the patch first. In fact, I might wait to run the export until after it's been uploaded and distributed. I'm tainted because I test the patches before they come out, it's easier to wait for you all to get it. Though given that you all were able to open my league file I uploaded last night gives me hope.

[Young Drachma]

I'm stalling to see if they upload the patch for you all tonight. If not, I'll go ahead and run the export in an hour or so. I don't think it apparently matters much, since if you were able to download the new file I put out yesterday, than there must not be any material difference.

[Tellistto]

It mainly fixes the import issue, and we've already done that. Other than that it seemed to fix some crashes and minor updates to the MLB rosters.

Tell

[Young Drachma]

Ok, then I';ll import in 10 minutes or so.

[muns]

sounds good to me

[Young Drachma]

New file is up!

[Young Drachma]

The sim will take place at 9pm central (7 pacific, 10 eastern) today and everyday of the off-season. Tonight's sim file will sim to December 1st. There are free agents available that you ought to make offers on. You can also make trades now!