For those that have completed a season, what should I expect during the off-season?

[dragon4ever]

1. Do any star players retire?
2. Are there any good free agents available?
3. Is the new schedule the same as the previous one?
4. Are there any prospects rated over 80?
5. Does the progression system actually work?

Thanks in advance.

[tril]

1. Do any star players retire? yes

2. Are there any good free agents available? no. most seem to get resigned

3. Is the new schedule the same as the previous one? didnt notice

4. Are there any prospects rated over 80? good prospects tend to be ranked in the mid to upper 70s.

5. Does the progression system actually work? yes

Thanks in advance.

[bulls23]

Quote: Originally Posted by tril

1. Do any star players retire? yes 2. Are there any good free agents available? no. most seem to get resigned 3. Is the new schedule the same as the previous one? didnt notice 4. Are there any prospects rated over 80? good prospects tend to be ranked in the mid to upper 70s. 5. Does the progression system actually work? yes Thanks in advance.

I simmed a franchise on PC and next years schedule was broken. 3 game series starting on Saturdays, ending on Mondays, strange offdays (like Wednesdays and Fridays), interleague opponents don't seem to change. All-Star Baseball 2005 had the best future scheduling. Why can't current games get this crap right?

[kram438]

Quote: Originally Posted by bulls23

I simmed a franchise on PC and next years schedule was broken. 3 game series starting on Saturdays, ending on Mondays, strange offdays (like Wednesdays and Fridays), interleague opponents don't seem to change. All-Star Baseball 2005 had the best future scheduling. Why can't current games get this crap right?

I agree here, but I'm less passionate about the annoyance. To me, a schedule is a schedule, but like I said, a broken one with the weird stuff that you mention is kind of lame. I think the biggest thing to me would be the interleague opponents not changing. I haven't gotten through a season yet, but let's hope that "seems" is as unreliable as it sounds

I see this in NBA and NCAA Basketball games as well. Once the original year is through, the next season's schedule is ALL over the place. I've learned to deal. I just like playing the games, really, so it's OK.

[JBH3]

Quote: Originally Posted by dragon4ever

1. Do any star players retire? 2. Are there any good free agents available? 3. Is the new schedule the same as the previous one? 4. Are there any prospects rated over 80? 5. Does the progression system actually work? Thanks in advance.

1. Yes

2. No - And I think this is due in part to a lot of stars having incorrect contract amounts, and lesser players having too low a contract amount too. Which makes it easier for the CPU to resign its FAs. Guys like Markakis, Roberts, Teixiera, Braun, CC, countless others, have their contracts too low. You can edit contracts, and I have but it's been a lengthy process and I'm still waiting to see it's effect in another offseason w/ more potential FAs.

3. No, but it's whacky like others have mentioned. For instance, w/ my KC team they play almost every interleague series back to back to back to back...there's like 4 NL teams they play in a row spanning most of July.

4. I haven't seen any...yet. I had the 3rd pick w/ KC and my pick was a LHSP rated a 71 OVR...I actually think that's a good thing.

5. To an extent. I won a Cy Young w/ Joe Blanton of all people in my 1st year, and his overall rating went down one point and down one point across the board on all his pitches. However, I hit for the triple crown w/ Ryan Howard and his OVR went up 3 or 4 points.

[Deadeye15]

Quote: Originally Posted by dragon4ever

1. Do any star players retire? 2. Are there any good free agents available? 3. Is the new schedule the same as the previous one? 4. Are there any prospects rated over 80? 5. Does the progression system actually work? Thanks in advance.

1. Yes

2. Yes and No. It depends what you mean by good. There is a decent amount of guys between 75-85. I was messing around just simming to FA just to see what was there and the highest guy was around 85. It took me like 4-5 times of exiting and re-simming to it to get one of the top guys to come out. Although I will say I was simming a few years when I was bored and Albert Pujols came out one of the years.

3. Seems to be a new schedule each year.

4. Not that I have seen. Ive only done 1 draft thus far in my franchise. The highest I have seen is 77 who was taken first overall. And the next highest was 71 but judging by the other posters the guy is a freak so I wouldnt expect guys that high all the time.

5. As JBH3 said, it works to an extent. Some guys progress because of stats when they are at an age youd expect them to be going down which is cool. And some of the younger guys will progress in spite of awful stats. The biggest jump in progression my first offseason was my top prospect in the organization who dominated the first year. Nick Markakis progressed 4 overall points I believe after killing the ball as well. But also like JBH, I won the Cy Young with Jeremy Guthrie my first year and he dropped an overall point so Im not really all too sure what the biggest factor is on progression.

[VDusen04]

You must make sure you are offering free agent contracts only to players you are prepared to sign. I was looking to acquire a backup 2nd Baseman and was unsure if I'd be able to lure Freddie Bynum so I put an offer out for Bynum and then another to Luis Hernandez. After simming a day of Free Agency, both agreed to my offers and were automatically signed to my ballclub. I should have used discretion, but I was expecting to see a situation presented in other 2K games where, if a player agrees to your offer, you are presented with a pop-up window that asks if you wish to sign that player, modify your offer, or cancel.

[kram438]

Quote: Originally Posted by VDusen04

You must make sure you are offering free agent contracts only to players you are prepared to sign. I was looking to acquire a backup 2nd Baseman and was unsure if I'd be able to lure Freddie Bynum so I put an offer out for Bynum and then another to Luis Hernandez. After simming a day of Free Agency, both agreed to my offers and were automatically signed to my ballclub. I should have used discretion, but I was expecting to see a situation presented in other 2K games where, if a player agrees to your offer, you are presented with a pop-up window that asks if you wish to sign that player, modify your offer, or cancel.

Thanks for the heads up!