Year 1 complete(possible spoilers)..?'s feel free to ask

[The Chef]

Re: Year 1 complete(possible spoilers)..?'s feel free to ask

My one and only question is, did you play all 162 games or did you simulate a portion of them countryboy?

[mjh91]

Re: Year 1 complete(possible spoilers)..?'s feel free to ask

This thread helped get me excited about my own, LOL. It's cool reading about other people playing their Franchise, cause it gets me wanting to play mine.

Question...did you sim any games? When did you start playing? How many games a day did you play? Are you playing year 2?

[Slaughter4Heisman]

Re: Year 1 complete(possible spoilers)..?'s feel free to ask

You can dominate free agency with the budgets they give you. To be realistic its best to know your teams budget but I did a test with the Giants to see what kind of team I could put together after free agency. I signed Jayson Werth, Carl Crawford, and Adam Dunn. Plus I signed Lincecum, Sandoval, Posey, and Cain to extensions of at least four years. So my line up was

Carl Crawford LF
Buster Posey C
Pablo Sandoval 3B
Jayson Werth RF
Adam Dunn 1B
Mark Derosa 2B
Aaron Rowand CF

I'm not sure of my short stop. I think I had to put Brandon Crawford there because I finally hit my budget. My bench was pretty bad too.

My rotation was

Lincecum
Cain
Zito
Sanchez
Zack Britton (Acquired from Orioles during in season trade.)

Obviously you can choose to be realistic with your signings but its crazy how much damage you can do in free agency if you want to.

[Mr. Franchise]

Re: Year 1 complete(possible spoilers)..?'s feel free to ask

You can dominate free agency with the budgets they give you. To be realistic its best to know your teams budget but I did a test with the Giants to see what kind of team I could put together after free agency. I signed Jayson Werth, Carl Crawford, and Adam Dunn. Plus I signed Lincecum, Sandoval, Posey, and Cain to extensions of at least four years. So my line up was

Carl Crawford LF
Buster Posey C
Pablo Sandoval 3B
Jayson Werth RF
Adam Dunn 1B
Mark Derosa 2B
Aaron Rowand CF

I'm not sure of my short stop. I think I had to put Brandon Crawford there because I finally hit my budget. My bench was pretty bad too.

My rotation was

Lincecum
Cain
Zito
Sanchez
Zack Britton (Acquired from Orioles during in season trade.)

Obviously you can choose to be realistic with your signings but its crazy how much damage you can do in free agency if you want to.

But in the long run, you're screwed. Every year a players salary goes up, so if you have a bad year, BOOM, you have to dump salary.

[countryboy]

Re: Year 1 complete(possible spoilers)..?'s feel free to ask

My one and only question is, did you play all 162 games or did you simulate a portion of them countryboy?

played them all, including having to replay the most of the month of September due to a save mixup caused by me.

[countryboy]

Re: Year 1 complete(possible spoilers)..?'s feel free to ask

Hey CB, who did you end up getting as manager?

Joe Maddon.

[UncleMo]

Re: Year 1 complete(possible spoilers)..?'s feel free to ask

....please?

[countryboy]

Re: Year 1 complete(possible spoilers)..?'s feel free to ask

As he should be. Good job getting him to re-sign. I am still a couple of months behind you but getting excited for the offseason. I have to try to re-sign Carlos Pena so I understand on a smaller scale what you have to go through with Pujols. I am hoping that with Pujols a free agent, Carlos will sign right away and not have to compete for him with other teams. Btw, I used your format from last year to create my end of season records like award winners, stat leaders, play off winners, etc. So thanks for that.

On to the questions I have for when you get to that point.

How difficult was it to stay under budget?
How hard was it to sign coaches you wanted? Last year I could usually get one of the top manger, hitting coach or pitching coach, but not all three no matter how much I offered.
Did you pick up anyone from rule 5? Or did any big name go rule 5 to a different team? I did a test run and no draft picks were picked up in rule 5 unlike last year.
Any trades made in the off season? I never saw any the first season last year, but saw a lot the second season.
Any good players left in free agency come spring training?
I am sure more question will come, but I can't think of any now

#1: Honestly..I'm having a difficult time staying under budget. Could be the ridiculous contract that was offered to Pujols, but I'm to the point where Pujols and Reyes were the only two "big contracts" I could offer. Of course, Carpenter's $17M this year doesn't help.

#2: Actually not that bad considering I had to replace mgr, pit/hit coach. Outside of not getting La Russa, I had no issue getting the hitting/pitching coach, nor Joe Maddon. Given, there wasn't that many teams after managers.

#3: Picked up a SP and 3B in the rule 5 draft. No big names changed teams, and there were probably only about 25 selections.

Haven't gotten far enough to answer the rest of the questions, but will

[The-BigGeorge]

Re: Year 1 complete(possible spoilers)..?'s feel free to ask

countryboy do you play all 162 games?

[DJ]

Re: Year 1 complete(possible spoilers)..?'s feel free to ask

Joe Maddon.

I don't have the game yet, CB, but was curious if Maddon wears the hoodie in the game or not?

[cardsleadtheway]

Re: Year 1 complete(possible spoilers)..?'s feel free to ask

#1: Honestly..I'm having a difficult time staying under budget. Could be the ridiculous contract that was offered to Pujols, but I'm to the point where Pujols and Reyes were the only two "big contracts" I could offer. Of course, Carpenter's $17M this year doesn't help.

#2: Actually not that bad considering I had to replace mgr, pit/hit coach. Outside of not getting La Russa, I had no issue getting the hitting/pitching coach, nor Joe Maddon. Given, there wasn't that many teams after managers.

#3: Picked up a SP and 3B in the rule 5 draft. No big names changed teams, and there were probably only about 25 selections.

Haven't gotten far enough to answer the rest of the questions, but will

Thanks CB. I appreciate it. I just realized that on the player's card, there is a page that has certain status elements listed. On it, there is a yes or no for rule 5 eligible. I had not noticed this before. That could be why the rule 5 draft is much better this year than last.

I also need to replace my manager. Geren is finished with the A's as far as my franchise is concerned, even if we make the playoffs. I am considering Dave Magadan. Mike Scoscia is also available sometimes when I sim, but I remember watching Magadan play and I figured why not give him a shot. I will also have some big contracts due up, but nothing on the scale of your team. Actually, I Carlos Pena and Carlos Quentin should be the only high dollar contracts I need to sign. Most everyone else is either renewable or else just now arbitration eligible.

That brings me to another question, for anyone this time. At what point do you give your young players long term contracts? The real life A's signed Anderson to a very long contract a month or so ago, even though he is only in his second year. I wonder what the risk/reward is on this game for signing young players who are still renewable to contracts that extend them beyond their arbitration years. Obviously you will be paying more than you need to the first year or two, but it might work out better in the long run to not have to pay them big contracts in arbitration or to avoid free agency. Any thoughts?

[Reaman]

Re: Year 1 complete(possible spoilers)..?'s feel free to ask

just signed my first big time FA:

Jose Reyes is now a St.Louis Cardinal!!!!



It was a battle between myself, the Giants and the Mets. Lot of jostling in terms of contracts, but at the end of the day, he is now with us!!! Big time fill for a position that we sorely needed to address.

And its a good thing to because the Astros landed Derek Jeter from the Yanks.

Now to get Pujols to resign and land one 2nd tier pitcher and we are set to go after the Central Division crown and the NL pennant.

Still waiting for abritration date to come and go so that more guys will be available, but I didn't wait for Reyes. Neither did the ChiSox when they landed Jimmy Rollins, 1 day after the FA signing period started.

[skeletore2002]

Re: Year 1 complete(possible spoilers)..?'s feel free to ask

Jeter ended up on the Pirates in my game...

[countryboy]

Re: Year 1 complete(possible spoilers)..?'s feel free to ask

I don't have the game yet, CB, but was curious if Maddon wears the hoodie in the game or not?

don't know. Will report back after first game.

But I don't believe so.

[countryboy]

Re: Year 1 complete(possible spoilers)..?'s feel free to ask

countryboy do you play all 162 games?

yes