Free Agency and Trading borked

[Amazinin06]

Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but it seems like there's something wrong with free agency. It seems like the bidding for the top players get to ridiculous levels and involve teams that would never bid so high in real life.

For instance I made a mistake in (playing the Mets) letting Jose Reyes reach free agency without signing an extension. When I tried to sign him as a free agent, the bidding eventually went over $30 mil/year over 7.... with teams like Milwaukee and KC making out bidding me. I wound up (with cheating to add cash) to sign him for $34 million/year. There needs to be some kind of free agent bidding difficulty slider because as it is now, it's impossible to sign top free agents...

Also with trade difficulty, normal is waaaay too easy (I can trade a single 5 star prospect and get Albert Pujols, wtf?)... and hard is waaaaay too hard (that same 5 star prospect can't be traded for anyone 1 to 1)...

[neojonas]

Originally Posted by Amazinin06

Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but it seems like there's something wrong with free agency. It seems like the bidding for the top players get to ridiculous levels and involve teams that would never bid so high in real life.

For instance I made a mistake in (playing the Mets) letting Jose Reyes reach free agency without signing an extension. When I tried to sign him as a free agent, the bidding eventually went over $30 mil/year over 7.... with teams like Milwaukee and KC making out bidding me. I wound up (with cheating to add cash) to sign him for $34 million/year. There needs to be some kind of free agent bidding difficulty slider because as it is now, it's impossible to sign top free agents...

The game figures out how much cash is in your league and players demands adjust accordingly. If a league has tons of cash, players will want more of it.

Originally Posted by Amazinin06

Also with trade difficulty, normal is waaaay too easy (I can trade a single 5 star prospect and get Albert Pujols, wtf?)... and hard is waaaaay too hard (that same 5 star prospect can't be traded for anyone 1 to 1)...

Remember OOTP does not know who Albert Pujols is. To OOTP Albert Pujols is just a set of ratings and stats. Maybe the AI was rebuilding and trying to unload an expensive player like Pujols and rebuild with awesome prospects.

[dagmar]

Search for "house rules" on the forum's search function. These are self-imposed restrictions people put on themselves to make the game more immersive than it already is. Without these restrictions on one's self, it is easy to build a team of all-stars.

[highandoutside]

Originally Posted by dagmar

Search for "house rules" on the forum's search function. These are self-imposed restrictions people put on themselves to make the game more immersive than it already is. Without these restrictions on one's self, it is easy to build a team of all-stars.

Exactly, since I play as the Pirates I impose a strict 50 or 60 million cap on my team (I forget which). I then pump up the TV Revenue and merchandising revenue of the teams in NY, Bost, Chi etc to make them big spenders. They usually have payrolls around 200 million. I only play with 2-six team divisions and it works perfectly. I compete every once and awhile when I can coordinate the emergence of my prospects with the 1 or 2 long term big money guys I can afford to pay. However, every injury, prospect-bust, or poor signing really sets me back. On the other hand, the Yanks and Red Sox are always in the mix. Detroit and St. Louis emerge every once and awhile and they can sustain winning for a period of time since the attendance burst they get allows them to drive up their spending for a period. Note: I don't play with a salary cap on all teams, only my own. I get more flexible with it by a couple million if we are coming off a great season and I feel ownership would do it in real life, but I don't go beyond certain parameters.