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

[countryboy]

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

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?

Myself..whenever there contract is up and they are close to being able to file for free agency.

Right now, I'm fighting with Rasmus trying to lock him up for a long term deal, but he isn't going for it. The contract he wants would end when he is able to declare for free agency, and I'm trying to lock him up beyond that. If all else fails, he'll get his 80% more than previous salary and we'll go through the same ordeal next offseaon.

[cardsleadtheway]

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

Myself..whenever there contract is up and they are close to being able to file for free agency.

Right now, I'm fighting with Rasmus trying to lock him up for a long term deal, but he isn't going for it. The contract he wants would end when he is able to declare for free agency, and I'm trying to lock him up beyond that. If all else fails, he'll get his 80% more than previous salary and we'll go through the same ordeal next offseaon.

Good deal. I tested it out a bit in a sim and was unable to lock anyone up beyond their arbitration years without offering them the kind of money they would garner in free agency. The whole purpose for me to sign them to a long term contract is to give them more money early and avoid paying them the big money later. In most of my test runs, I end up paying them the contract renewable or 80% discount rate. I would also like to sign players that are bound to have a much higher overall rating by the time they reach FA than they have now, thus costing me an arm and a leg. One example for me is Andrew Bailey, who just happens to have the highest overall rating on my team and wants the kind of money reserved for superstar bats or pitching aces. I am not about to fork over that kind of money for a closer, no matter how good they are. Now if I can lock him up long term for a lower price now I may go for it.

[countryboy]

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

off-season complete...pretty excited to start the new season!! Although, my bullpen and my bench worry me...

[DJ]

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

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

But I don't believe so.

Well, I will check for myself CB. I just happened to stumble upon a 250gb PS3 Slim and MLB The Show 10 today at a Best Buy near me

Funny thing is, I had no intention of buying a PS3 today. Wife and I went to check out a new shopping center on the other side of town and there happened to be a BB there. So, I went in, looked at the video game section and saw 1 PS3 box on the shelf. I didn't hesitate to pick it up

My wife rolled her eyes a little, but she gave the green light. I think it was easier for her to do so since I made sure she had an awesome birthday the day before.

OK, end of my thread hijack

[cardsleadtheway]

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

Well, I will check for myself CB. I just happened to stumble upon a 250gb PS3 Slim and MLB The Show 10 today at a Best Buy near me

Funny thing is, I had no intention of buying a PS3 today. Wife and I went to check out a new shopping center on the other side of town and there happened to be a BB there. So, I went in, looked at the video game section and saw 1 PS3 box on the shelf. I didn't hesitate to pick it up

My wife rolled her eyes a little, but she gave the green light. I think it was easier for her to do so since I made sure she had an awesome birthday the day before.

OK, end of my thread hijack

Well played sir!

[phenom1990]

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

Hey, I was just wondering how enjoyable did you find the Rule 5 and Amateur Draft? Did you find that your scouts provided accurate information?

[mjh91]

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

Could you post all of your Off-Season moves and other big moves from around the league?

[countryboy]

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

Hey, I was just wondering how enjoyable did you find the Rule 5 and Amateur Draft? Did you find that your scouts provided accurate information?

Both are uneventful, especially the Amateur draft, which is a shame. The Rule 5 wasn't too bad, but I don't expect much in the Rule 5 draft, since teams are forced to keep players on their 25-man roster the entire year if they select a player.

But the amateur draft needs some TLC is a big way. Hopefully next year will be the year.

Scouts do a decent job. Hard to tell how valuable their information was the first year the player is on your team. Going to take a few years of development to determine just how valuable the scouts were.

[cardsleadtheway]

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

Both are uneventful, especially the Amateur draft, which is a shame. The Rule 5 wasn't too bad, but I don't expect much in the Rule 5 draft, since teams are forced to keep players on their 25-man roster the entire year if they select a player.

But the amateur draft needs some TLC is a big way. Hopefully next year will be the year.

Scouts do a decent job. Hard to tell how valuable their information was the first year the player is on your team. Going to take a few years of development to determine just how valuable the scouts were.

I am curious as to how you think it could be improved. I have my own ideas on the subject, but love hearing from others. All in all, I thought the draft was pretty fun, but then again I had a high pick (10) making my choice all the more important. I even had a "draft board" set up and scratched off those that went before I could take them. I did manage to get two players that were on my top 20 list though.

[Smitty730]

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

I believe I found a fix for relievers pitching in a ridiculous amount of games.

If using 30 team control, fool around with the others' teams relief set up. I believe that most middle relievers who are slotted No. 1 in middle relief are used the most, regardless of energy or fatigue.

So, to work around this, just swap Middle Reliever 1 with Middle Reliever 3, so on and so forth. It works for me, but it takes some time sifting through all the teams' staffs.

[Phillies2010]

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

I believe I found a fix for relievers pitching in a ridiculous amount of games.

If using 30 team control, fool around with the others' teams relief set up. I believe that most middle relievers who are slotted No. 1 in middle relief are used the most, regardless of energy or fatigue.

So, to work around this, just swap Middle Reliever 1 with Middle Reliever 3, so on and so forth. It works for me, but it takes some time sifting through all the teams' staffs.

This seems like a good idea, but in mine i still see some teams first second and third relievers coming into way to many games, just something I will have to deal with then?

[cardsleadtheway]

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

This seems like a good idea, but in mine i still see some teams first second and third relievers coming into way to many games, just something I will have to deal with then?

I played a series against the Yankees. They used no less than 5 relievers in every one of the three games. What I noticed is that each reliever was just about out of stamina when they came in, thus were unable to pitch more than a batter or two. I don't quite know what caused this. Perhaps the series before their starting pitching got rocked hard and early enough to burn out the bull pen. The reason I bring this up is to ask if anyone that has noticed the excessive amount of appearances if they also took note of the actual innings pitched to see if that number is closer to what you should see in real life. Perhaps that is where the problem is coming from.

[countryboy]

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

I am curious as to how you think it could be improved. I have my own ideas on the subject, but love hearing from others. All in all, I thought the draft was pretty fun, but then again I had a high pick (10) making my choice all the more important. I even had a "draft board" set up and scratched off those that went before I could take them. I did manage to get two players that were on my top 20 list though.

In all honesty, unless they expand the rosters, the amateur draft is pretty handicapped in its current state. Most draft picks end up in Rookie Ball or A ball, amongst others, but given that you only have 90 players per roster, with 75 of them dedicated to AA thru MLB ball, the remaining 15 slots just don't utilitze enough space to hold a big draft, unless of course you force the user to choose between a draft pick and who's on his roster currently.

What I would like is to see rosters be expanded to 125 players. 25 for each A thru MLB ball, and then 25 slots for Rookie ball. You could have the user decide once he drafts players to choose whom he wants to replace with the incoming rookie. This would be done by a combination of; retirements, trades, or simply not renewing or releasing a player.

Until then, the draft has to be kept pretty much the way it is, to accomondate the small, in regards to baseball, roster spots available.

[Phillies2010]

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

I played a series against the Yankees. They used no less than 5 relievers in every one of the three games. What I noticed is that each reliever was just about out of stamina when they came in, thus were unable to pitch more than a batter or two. I don't quite know what caused this. Perhaps the series before their starting pitching got rocked hard and early enough to burn out the bull pen. The reason I bring this up is to ask if anyone that has noticed the excessive amount of appearances if they also took note of the actual innings pitched to see if that number is closer to what you should see in real life. Perhaps that is where the problem is coming from.

I know guys are getting crazy amounts of apperances in a season, ive seen as many as 114 or even 120, and i havent checked yet but i think they dont have many innings either, because they come in for a hitter or two.

The only way to maybe fix it is change the reliaver stamina slider?

[NAFBUC]

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

First bit of news...Tony La Russa left me high and dry for Florida. I offered him $2M more a year than they did, but I guess he's had enough of St.Louis.

Off to search for a new coach, with the possible candidates I'm looking at being:

Spoiler

Joe Maddon and Mike Scioscia

Thanks for the overview of season 1 Countryboy. I enjoyed your season overviews last year as well.

Did Tony take Dave Duncan with him to Florida?