30 Team Control Free Agents

[millertime98]

How do you handle free agents in 30 team control?

I am doing a 30 team control franchise with two separate file associations. One is total control with the Reds, the other is a mix of manual and auto for the computer. I control the trades so that it can be realistic. Anyway, I just ended the 2018 season and did a few sims to see where the big time free agents landed. In 5 sims here were the results:

Harper - Toronto (twice) Oakland (twice) and the Cubs when I went threw and made offers for the realistic teams.

Machado (in a surprise, the O's lead the division for most of the season so they were buyers at the deadline and I couldn't trade him or Britton)
- Dodgers (twice) Indians (twice) Phillies when I made the realistic offers.

Britton - Cubs, Dodgers, Red Sox, Indians (twice)

Dozier - Washington every time.

In one sim the Dodgers had Machado, Seager, Turner, Daniel Murphy in the infield. Then signed Britton, Andrew Miller and Pedro Strop for the bullpen.

So I was wondering if anyone does the 30 team control how do you handle the free agents? Do you make offers for realistic teams? Let it play out?
I thought about just making trades if certain players end up in unrealistic places like Harper in Toronto (they're rebuilding) or Machdo in Cleveland.
But most likely I'll wait until I have some time and make the realistic offers from teams who want, need, can afford these players

Happy Franchising!

[Armor and Sword]

Re: 30 Team Control Free Agents

Hey...great topic.

So I do 30 team control and for all the top tier and second tier free agents...I create the storylines, look at the teams that make sense depending on location, opportunity, player morale and of course $$$$$.

So all those things are taken into account. I will have multiple teams bid as well. And then see where they land.

In my first off-season I kept Free agency on manual till the day before the last possible day...then flipped it on. Watched the offers...then went in and tweaked it.

For example in my first off-season on 17 I saw Jake Arrieta land on the Dodgers and Cutch go to the Nationals.

Very cool landing spots.

I won't let Altuve leave Houston. No way. He is a lifer with the Astros.

Harper....that will be a huge storyline for me in my second off-season (and first on 18). Will he leave Washington? Will he be dealt to the Yankees for Stanton? Will he head to the Mets? Will he go west to Arizona? So many juicy storylines to be had with that one.

In my current Yankees Year 2 trade deadline frenzy the following have been moved thus far:

Machado and Britton to the Cubs
Gerrit Cole to the Nationals
DeGroom to the Cardinals
Verlander to the Yankees

[Councilmann_Jamm]

Re: 30 Team Control Free Agents

Hey...great topic.

So I do 30 team control and for all the top tier and second tier free agents...I create the storylines, look at the teams that make sense depending on location, opportunity, player morale and of course $$$$$.

So all those things are taken into account. I will have multiple teams bid as well. And then see where they land.

In my first off-season I kept Free agency on manual till the day before the last possible day...then flipped it on. Watched the offers...then went in and tweaked it.

For example in my first off-season on 17 I saw Jake Arrieta land on the Dodgers and Cutch go to the Nationals.

Very cool landing spots.

I won't let Altuve leave Houston. No way. He is a lifer with the Astros.

Harper....that will be a huge storyline for me in my second off-season (and first on 18). Will he leave Washington? Will he be dealt to the Yankees for Stanton? Will he head to the Mets? Will he go west to Arizona? So many juicy storylines to be had with that one.

In my current Yankees Year 2 trade deadline frenzy the following have been moved thus far:

Machado and Britton to the Cubs
Gerrit Cole to the Nationals
DeGroom to the Cardinals
Verlander to the Yankees

So my understanding is say we have 10 days of Free Agency. For the frist day you will make bids on top tier FA for teams. Sim to day 9 and switch Manuel to CPU and let them throw out bids on any leftover FA?

[Jr.]

Re: 30 Team Control Free Agents

So my understanding is say we have 10 days of Free Agency. For the frist day you will make bids on top tier FA for teams. Sim to day 9 and switch Manuel to CPU and let them throw out bids on any leftover FA?

There are 5 days of negotiation with your own FA then everyone is allowed to negotiate with everyone.

I used to control all of FA myself. When I did that, I went team by team to check needs and match up with the best available FA. If only one team needed a player, I offered what they were asking. If 2+ teams were interested, I gave the same offer from each team that filled up the interest bar fully.


From there I simmed day by day and adjusted players depending on who signed where. It was fun but extremely tedious. Offseason took me about 20-30 hours to finish.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Operation Sports mobile app

[coach422001]

Re: 30 Team Control Free Agents

I sign guys to their new real teams, or if they re-sign IRL I'll sign them back. When teams can't afford an FA, or when there are FA who are no longer playing, I go through the teams to see who has needs at a position and lay out who is in the running for various FA at different positions. This year I used Excel to generate random numbers, next year I'll probably do dice rolls. Anyway after the roll whoever has the highest number gets the top FA at the position, then I move down the list. Likewise, during the season I'll make logical trades that mimic real life where it makes sense, but Machado is on the first place O's so it makes no sense for him to be traded. So Chris Johnson, still in the FA pool was signed by the Dodgers instead.

[kenp86]

Re: 30 Team Control Free Agents

I try and keep it realistic. Create my own storylines as well. I had Harper go to the Cubs, Kuechel to Yankees, Machado to Miami(they were front runners in division somehow year before which put owners in buy mode),

Altuve, Springer, Correa will never leave Houston for me. I had McCutchen go back to Pittsburgh. Bour, Pollack and Trea Turner went to Seattle. Donaldson signed with Philly. Schwarber signed with Yankees(Short porch love for him lol), Starlin Castro with Dodgers.

I put multiple offers in on all players. Like with Harper, I had offered him contracts from teams that made sence. Washington, Yankees, Cubs. I let him decide. Machado had deals from Yankees, Miami and Philly. Kuechel had offers from Washington, Yankees and Houston. So i put the sensible offers out there and let the storyline write itself with why said player chooses where he goes

At the same time, i created my own storyline for Ohtani. After bad individual and team performances by Ohtani and The Angels, i created a storyline that he wanted out and Angels FO were thinking it mightve been a bust signing and were seeking a trade. Had Seattle empty their prospect pool i built up for Ohtani, so i could use him correctly(pitch and DH). Both sides benefitted. Will do the same in the 2020 offseason with Trout if Angels yet again miss the playoffs. Most likely Philly

[millertime98]

Re: 30 Team Control Free Agents

I try and keep it realistic. Create my own storylines as well. I had Harper go to the Cubs, Kuechel to Yankees, Machado to Miami(they were front runners in division somehow year before which put owners in buy mode),

Altuve, Springer, Correa will never leave Houston for me. I had McCutchen go back to Pittsburgh. Bour, Pollack and Trea Turner went to Seattle. Donaldson signed with Philly. Schwarber signed with Yankees(Short porch love for him lol), Starlin Castro with Dodgers.

I put multiple offers in on all players. Like with Harper, I had offered him contracts from teams that made sence. Washington, Yankees, Cubs. I let him decide. Machado had deals from Yankees, Miami and Philly. Kuechel had offers from Washington, Yankees and Houston. So i put the sensible offers out there and let the storyline write itself with why said player chooses where he goes

At the same time, i created my own storyline for Ohtani. After bad individual and team performances by Ohtani and The Angels, i created a storyline that he wanted out and Angels FO were thinking it mightve been a bust signing and were seeking a trade. Had Seattle empty their prospect pool i built up for Ohtani, so i could use him correctly(pitch and DH). Both sides benefitted. Will do the same in the 2020 offseason with Trout if Angels yet again miss the playoffs. Most likely Philly

That's fantastic. In my '17 Marlins franchise with January 2018 rosters (Stanton on Yankees) the Yanks signed JD Martinez to a 5 year deal. It drove me nuts and I had to trade to remedy it. I try to use a mix of real life deals and completely new world once I start.

[millertime98]

Re: 30 Team Control Free Agents

There are 5 days of negotiation with your own FA then everyone is allowed to negotiate with everyone.

I used to control all of FA myself. When I did that, I went team by team to check needs and match up with the best available FA. If only one team needed a player, I offered what they were asking. If 2+ teams were interested, I gave the same offer from each team that filled up the interest bar fully.


From there I simmed day by day and adjusted players depending on who signed where. It was fun but extremely tedious. Offseason took me about 20-30 hours to finish.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Operation Sports mobile app

This is my fear. It will take way too long and after about 8 minutes I realize what a big dork I am.

[millertime98]

Re: 30 Team Control Free Agents

I try and keep it realistic. Create my own storylines as well. I had Harper go to the Cubs, Kuechel to Yankees, Machado to Miami(they were front runners in division somehow year before which put owners in buy mode),

Altuve, Springer, Correa will never leave Houston for me. I had McCutchen go back to Pittsburgh. Bour, Pollack and Trea Turner went to Seattle. Donaldson signed with Philly. Schwarber signed with Yankees(Short porch love for him lol), Starlin Castro with Dodgers.

I put multiple offers in on all players. Like with Harper, I had offered him contracts from teams that made sence. Washington, Yankees, Cubs. I let him decide. Machado had deals from Yankees, Miami and Philly. Kuechel had offers from Washington, Yankees and Houston. So i put the sensible offers out there and let the storyline write itself with why said player chooses where he goes

At the same time, i created my own storyline for Ohtani. After bad individual and team performances by Ohtani and The Angels, i created a storyline that he wanted out and Angels FO were thinking it mightve been a bust signing and were seeking a trade. Had Seattle empty their prospect pool i built up for Ohtani, so i could use him correctly(pitch and DH). Both sides benefitted. Will do the same in the 2020 offseason with Trout if Angels yet again miss the playoffs. Most likely Philly

Love it. I try to do the same. For example, nobody would have expected Jayson Werth to sign with the Nationals when he did so a Macho to Miami for a long term contract could be realistic. I'm just sick of continuously doing franchises (my favorite mode) and after 5 years I'm the only team that has rebuild. Every year it's the Nats, Cubs, Cards, Dodgers in the NL and Boston, Yanks, Indians, Angels and Mariners in the AL. A lot of this is because teams like the Reds, White Sox, Marlins and Padres would get the top picks, take a blue chip and immediately put him in the bigs. None of their guys ever develop and they never get better. They were never in the running for free agents either. It was top teams and middle teams. It's rare for me in my franchises that a 2017 Twins or 2018 A's happens. Let alone an '88 Dodgers or '90 Reds, '91 Twins and Braves occur.
I like the storylines and your free agent style. I think I'll try something similar. And the 9 out of 10 days option mentioned before.

[Jr.]

Re: 30 Team Control Free Agents

This is my fear. It will take way too long and after about 8 minutes I realize what a big dork I am.

It does take time; time that I just don't have as much of now. But when I did, it made the anticipation of the next season more because it had been a while since I played a game.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Operation Sports mobile app

[millertime98]

Re: 30 Team Control Free Agents

It does take time; time that I just don't have as much of now. But when I did, it made the anticipation of the next season more because it had been a while since I played a game.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Operation Sports mobile app

Exactly, time needs to be extended for this game. Maybe that should go on the list items wanted for 2019: make more hours in the day.

[mattm7x]

Re: 30 Team Control Free Agents

Exactly, time needs to be extended for this game. Maybe that should go on the list items wanted for 2019: make more hours in the day.

Oh! add that to the wish list thread!

[AUTiger1]

Re: 30 Team Control Free Agents

I have no idea how anyone has the time to devote to doing a 30 team control franchise.

[countryboy]

Re: 30 Team Control Free Agents

Not going to lie, sometimes I really wish there was the option to turn on 30 team control after already having started a franchise.

[millertime98]

Re: 30 Team Control Free Agents

Not going to lie, sometimes I really wish there was the option to turn on 30 team control after already having started a franchise.

technically you can. Just start a franchise with 30 team control with the other 29 teams on the default setting. I do with you could update rosters but I digress.