For The Indecisive Franchise Player

[jcar0725]

Re: For The Indecisive Franchise Player

I was indecisive the first 10-14 days after the game dropped. Then, I dove into a Baltimore franchise. I did something different this time; I played every spring training game. I got the emergence of some storylines in that initial spring training and used them to get my heart into the team. I'm now in May of year 2 (I play every game) and am fully ensconced.

One of the storylines in that first spring training: Bryan Baker. A 56 OVR D potential reliever; pitched well in that ST (over a number of better pitchers) and made the squad. He's now up to a 63 OVR in May 2023 and is still lights-out (while I have seen other better-rated arms falter - so it's not one of those "pitching is too easy" things). For whatever reason, he "clicks" for me....and to me; everyone needs a "Bryan Baker" on their team....

But when I started the franchise, I also had "a plan" - to get more depth and more high-potential players by recycling players and dealing quantity for quality.

Part 1 was to snare a handful of veteran free agents to reinforce the squad and flip them later for more farm system depth. A couple of those FAs (Rosenthal in particular) blew-up and gave me back far better value than I ever could have expected when coupled with a couple of mid-tier guys.

Part 2 was to move a couple of established players to gain better potential players. One such move was my reacting to a beautiful trade made between Miami and Atlanta (Riley for Aguilar/Sixto being the major pieces) that left a major void in Miami at 1B. I used that void to move Mountcastle (and others) to Miami, getting back a pair of solid young pitchers (Meyer/Holloway plus Cooper - who got flipped himself). I also moved Means at the deadline as he wasn't clicking for me...

In short, I had a general plan going in but I did not know what the final shape would be. It wasn't "I'm going to trade Player X" or "I am going to acquire Player Y". I let the results on the field and the moves made by other teams help dictate what I did within the umbrella of that general plan. And THAT is where the immersion comes in...truly role-playing as that GM in that fictional universe.

My core team is still built around guys I started with (Cedi, Adley, DL, Grayson, Mateo, Hays, Mancini, etc.) but I also am having fun with it. The way I feel about my franchise right now, I may not even bother moving-on when MLBTS23 rolls-out next year....

We have such similar franchise styles of play. Not sure what to call it but hopefully you know what I mean lol

Sent from my thoughts

[DarthRambo]

Re: For The Indecisive Franchise Player

Best way I have found for me to stick with a season is to edit the players updating them alongside the live roster updates.

It's been great seeing guys like Julio Rodriguez get huge rating boosts since I started my franchise with the Mets. It keeps the franchise feeling fresh and takes away that itch to restart with "updated" rosters.

If the game seems too easy for you with certain teams than adjust sliders or something. No team should feel completely overpowered and no competition from the AI. You'll have a difficult time keeping a season going if it's that way no matter what team you choose.

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[kinsmen7]

Re: For The Indecisive Franchise Player

I am very pleasantly surprised by the amount of guys, myself included, who have gone with the O's and are finding Franchise happiness.

As a Jays fan doing an O's franchise, things I love:
-Love Camden.
-Happy that I'll be able to roll with Adley from day 1 and see how his career plays out.
-Couple good young arms there.
-The farm system isn't outrageously great...Adley/Gunnar/Grayson/DL are a fun little group to build around, but it's not like you're starting day with with any of them as bonified MLBers (yet). You actually get to spend the time developing them.
-Payroll constraints mean that I've actually got to make smart moves.
-Ced Mullins is reaaaaaally fun (So is Means).

Things I don't love:
-Roughned Friggin' Odor.

[jcar0725]

Re: For The Indecisive Franchise Player

I'm currently trying to get my home town Guardians a championship. So part of what I did this year was look at what challenge I would take based on teams recent (or lack thereof) success. Cleveland has had it share of postseason appearances but no titles. So I need to get them a WS win before I do anything else.

Seattle, Colorado, Oakland, Milwaukee, San Diego, Pittsburgh, Texas, etc. Are all nice options for my next challenge since none of these teams have had any postseason success in a very long time. My point is it could be another fun story line for a franchise. Be the GM that gets hired to save the franchise !

[Bullit]

Re: For The Indecisive Franchise Player

I'm currently trying to get my home town Guardians a championship. So part of what I did this year was look at what challenge I would take based on teams recent (or lack thereof) success. Cleveland has had it share of postseason appearances but no titles. So I need to get them a WS win before I do anything else.

Seattle, Colorado, Oakland, Milwaukee, San Diego, Pittsburgh, Texas, etc. Are all nice options for my next challenge since none of these teams have had any postseason success in a very long time. My point is it could be another fun story line for a franchise. Be the GM that gets hired to save the franchise !

I have a soft spot for Cleveland. My longest running franchise is with them. Started it The Show '14 was still playing it in The Show '20 we are currently in year '28. I thought about doing a restart with the Guardians. It just seems weird with the name change and all.

I have really wanted to do them and the Brewers. I may have to do them sooner than later. LOL

[Bgrd1080]

Re: For The Indecisive Franchise Player

I was contemplating Cleveland myself. Possibly moving Bieber for pieces but not sure what makes sense. Would like ready now prospects. Being kind of picky but the big black tarp behind CF bothers me in Cleveland so much... Naylor, Reyes and Ramirez could be fun though. Yall got me thinking Baltimore now too though.

[jcar0725]

Re: For The Indecisive Franchise Player

I have a soft spot for Cleveland. My longest running franchise is with them. Started it The Show '14 was still playing it in The Show '20 we are currently in year '28. I thought about doing a restart with the Guardians. It just seems weird with the name change and all.

I have really wanted to do them and the Brewers. I may have to do them sooner than later. LOL

That is awesome. I usually don't go with cleveland just so I can see some different teams.

I'm considering a Brewers one also.

Sent from my thoughts

[kinsmen7]

Re: For The Indecisive Franchise Player

So yeah, apparently if you want to stick with a franchise long term, you absolutely should not start it up 2 weeks before the trade deadline

[Bullit]

Re: For The Indecisive Franchise Player

So yeah, apparently if you want to stick with a franchise long term, you absolutely should not start it up 2 weeks before the trade deadline

Right!!? I have built team after team, always played with pretty much the same teams. I really want to do a Padres Franchise now. Never really started with a stacked/ big budget team.

[JoshC1977]

Re: For The Indecisive Franchise Player

Was looking at SDS' trade deadline roster - thought of this thread.

Man....it's crazy how massively player ratings have changed from launch to now - it's like they threw out any sort of 3 year weighting and just built it on this year. While I know people have this impulse that they need latest rosters for "realism"; I just think you're begging for problems.

Raise your hand if you think Brandon Drury is a better baseball player than Juan Soto. Do you think you'll get the same haul in a franchise for an 82 OVR Soto that the Nats did IRL?

Think about all of the big ratings changes - expensive players with much lower ratings; cheap players with high ratings. It's a total player valuation nightmare. You're just BEGGING for a lot of wonky trades, strange signings and nothing at all close to realism.

If you want to seriously divorce yourself from realism and create a truly unique landscape - this is one way to do it. But if you're on that "I want realism" train and want to move through multiple seasons....you might want to hold-off on suspending that ongoing franchise for a new one with a later roster and really think it all through.

Just my two cents anyways....

[kinsmen7]

Re: For The Indecisive Franchise Player

Right!!? I have built team after team, always played with pretty much the same teams. I really want to do a Padres Franchise now. Never really started with a stacked/ big budget team.

The most fun I've had was with a good team. If you plan on running it for the long haul, I found that it was a lot easier to get immersed, and made roster decisions so much harder.

Purely my opinion, but...It's easy to take a bad team, sell off the assets for prospects, and then role with the rebuild. It's so much harder to take a high payroll team, attempt to add more talent, and try to keep it sustainable for years down the road.

In the Jays franchise that I had on the go for 3+ seasons, it was really one of the first times that I was trading AWAY top prospects, some of whom I had grown attached to because I had drafted them. I was still trying to keep a sustainable farm system, but the focus was 99% on being better than the Yankees and Rays, and having a good enough team come playoff time that I could beat them. Biggest thing I found was that there were a few times when my depth was absolutely stretched to the limit. I lost Springer for 4 months and had to roll with Jonathan Davis in CF

Pads would be super fun because you're going to have to deal with the Dodgers, plus the fact that your farm is gone.

I'm having a tough time settling on who I'm going to roll with going forward right now though...I really liked the idea of doing the Orioles one, but turning them into a buyer (ie. Don't trade Mancini, Mullins, Means, etc. for prospects), but I also don't know if I want to go back now that the rosters have changed dramatically. Maybe the Pirates? Love that stadium and their fans deserve better.

[kinsmen7]

Re: For The Indecisive Franchise Player

Was looking at SDS' trade deadline roster - thought of this thread.

Man....it's crazy how massively player ratings have changed from launch to now - it's like they threw out any sort of 3 year weighting and just built it on this year. While I know people have this impulse that they need latest rosters for "realism"; I just think you're begging for problems.

Raise your hand if you think Brandon Drury is a better baseball player than Juan Soto. Do you think you'll get the same haul in a franchise for an 82 OVR Soto that the Nats did IRL?

Think about all of the big ratings changes - expensive players with much lower ratings; cheap players with high ratings. It's a total player valuation nightmare. You're just BEGGING for a lot of wonky trades, strange signings and nothing at all close to realism.

If you want to seriously divorce yourself from realism and create a truly unique landscape - this is one way to do it. But if you're on that "I want realism" train and want to move through multiple seasons....you might want to hold-off on suspending that ongoing franchise for a new one with a later roster and really think it all through.

Just my two cents anyways....

I don't know...I'm a 30 team control guy, and I do a lot of my own edits to ratings anyway. When it comes to realism, I don't reallllly care that much about minor prospect for prospect trades, and will just reverse any outrageous trades that come along. I also use baseballtradevalues.com to make most deals. I also don't intend to be too trigger happy with trades until I'm getting closer to the deadline.

I also don't get too hung up on a players overall though (But yes, Soto is mid-high 90's in my current roster). Trades in '20 (I'm assuming that even though they 'fixed the trade engine' it's still reasonably similar) are far more weighted on potential than on overall. Drury's overall might be 82 (it's 77 in my roster), but his potential is in the low 70's because odds are that he regresses.

I think at the end of the day though, it all comes down to how you want to play the game. Personally, the idea of the watching the Pads and Dodgers beat the crap out of each other seems extremely satisfying

[jcar0725]

Re: For The Indecisive Franchise Player

The most fun I've had was with a good team. If you plan on running it for the long haul, I found that it was a lot easier to get immersed, and made roster decisions so much harder.

Purely my opinion, but...It's easy to take a bad team, sell off the assets for prospects, and then role with the rebuild. It's so much harder to take a high payroll team, attempt to add more talent, and try to keep it sustainable for years down the road.

In the Jays franchise that I had on the go for 3+ seasons, it was really one of the first times that I was trading AWAY top prospects, some of whom I had grown attached to because I had drafted them. I was still trying to keep a sustainable farm system, but the focus was 99% on being better than the Yankees and Rays, and having a good enough team come playoff time that I could beat them. Biggest thing I found was that there were a few times when my depth was absolutely stretched to the limit. I lost Springer for 4 months and had to roll with Jonathan Davis in CF

Pads would be super fun because you're going to have to deal with the Dodgers, plus the fact that your farm is gone.

I'm having a tough time settling on who I'm going to roll with going forward right now though...I really liked the idea of doing the Orioles one, but turning them into a buyer (ie. Don't trade Mancini, Mullins, Means, etc. for prospects), but I also don't know if I want to go back now that the rosters have changed dramatically. Maybe the Pirates? Love that stadium and their fans deserve better.

Man, purely opinion, but I find it much more difficult to rebuild a team and win the WS with it, if you do it "right". Especially within the 3 year GM window.

Do it "right" meaning, don't just cheat the system.

[kinsmen7]

Re: For The Indecisive Franchise Player

Man, purely opinion, but I find it much more difficult to rebuild a team and win the WS with it, if you do it "right". Especially within the 3 year GM window.

Do it "right" meaning, don't just cheat the system.

Completely fair! I've just found that I can shed off contracts fairly easily in season, in exchange for prospects, then turn around and spend that money on better free agents in the offseason (which I don't find to be particularly realistic) which is usually an immersion killer for me.

I guess I just found with that Jays franchise that keeping my players and also trying to improve my team kept me immersed, because trading away top prospects like Moreno/Groshans/Martin/SWR (at the time) was extremely tough to do, especially when you're trying to keep yourself within the games budgetting system. Maybe it was because it was the first time that I really held myself to a standard where I did my best to keep the game truly (in video game form at least) realistic.

Hilariously, it took me a couple of video game months to pull off the deal that I really wanted, which was for a top of the rotation guy (Jack Flaherty in this case, because the Cards finally floundered), and while it kicked the crap out of my farm (Moreno+Martin+++), I also found that I struggled to pitch with Flaherty . He still put up decent enough numbers (Probably a #4 for me), but Moreno ended up being an allstar for the Cards in year 3, and Flaherty's contract demands were too much for me at the end of the day, so I had to let him walk.

I think I'm sold on doing a Pirates franchise though, with the intention of adding, not subtracting. Think I'm going to put in a house rule where I don't sign anyone in the year 1 offseason that's over an 80 OA or something along those lines.

Do you have any house rules that you follow when rebuilding?

[IndianSummer]

Re: For The Indecisive Franchise Player

Completely fair! I've just found that I can shed off contracts fairly easily in season, in exchange for prospects, then turn around and spend that money on better free agents in the offseason (which I don't find to be particularly realistic) which is usually an immersion killer for me.

I guess I just found with that Jays franchise that keeping my players and also trying to improve my team kept me immersed, because trading away top prospects like Moreno/Groshans/Martin/SWR (at the time) was extremely tough to do, especially when you're trying to keep yourself within the games budgetting system. Maybe it was because it was the first time that I really held myself to a standard where I did my best to keep the game truly (in video game form at least) realistic.

Hilariously, it took me a couple of video game months to pull off the deal that I really wanted, which was for a top of the rotation guy (Jack Flaherty in this case, because the Cards finally floundered), and while it kicked the crap out of my farm (Moreno+Martin+++), I also found that I struggled to pitch with Flaherty . He still put up decent enough numbers (Probably a #4 for me), but Moreno ended up being an allstar for the Cards in year 3, and Flaherty's contract demands were too much for me at the end of the day, so I had to let him walk.

I think I'm sold on doing a Pirates franchise though, with the intention of adding, not subtracting. Think I'm going to put in a house rule where I don't sign anyone in the year 1 offseason that's over an 80 OA or something along those lines.

Do you have any house rules that you follow when rebuilding?

I thought I would throw this out there. I am doing a Reds franchise this year, rebuild. I’m using a SDS roster, not really sure which live update but the Reds only have two players under contract past 2022. That’s right….I have 91 of 93 players to sign after the season. I wanted a rebuild but this will be a challenge and in 2023 it will truly be a team I built.