Random Online League Advice

[Nutlaw]

I was sitting around thinking and figured that I might as well point out a few tips for players in online leagues, who as we all know have to work a bit harder to gain an edge over their opponents than those playing in single player leagues.

• Watch your team's finances and popularity carefully and don't be so quick to blow up your season in hopes of drafting a few spots earlier. Unless your league is overfilled with money, the most important thing that you can do to help out your team long-term is to make sure that your budget grows. Prospects are hit and miss, but fan interest leads to guaranteed money year after year that you need to sign free agents and contract extensions. Keep an eye out for nationally popular free agents to sign.
  
  
• Don't overspend on average players. You only have so much money and you don't want to be caught spending it on a quality of player who is easily obtainable. You want to spend your money on the elite guys who are in short supply. Make sure to keep a steady supply of young, inexpensive players to round out your roster. Pay special attention to your bullpen, as individual relievers don't spend much time in games over the course of a year yet can still cost you a lot of money. If they have the ability to be used as starters, they will cost you even more. Also, be wary of losing compensation picks on any quality below top notch relievers as the threshold for MR compensation is low.
  
  
• Don't release or waive players who have value to other GMs. Find a way to trade them for something, even if it is small. Don't let good players hit free agency unless you can get compensation picks for them. Trade them or sign them to reasonable extensions if possible, even if you only plan to trade them later.
  
  
• Conversely, don't let valuable players pass through waivers or sit in free agency. Pay attention to the free agent list even during the regular season, as some players will be cut and others will improve on their own. Players will sign very cheap once Spring Training or the regular season starts, which will allow you to trade away similarly rated but more expensive players on your roster, usually netting you both budget space and prospects. Keep a close eye on young free agents, as well. There is a big difference between players at the bottom end of the OVR/star scale and you should not keep inferior prospects on your minor league rosters if you can upgrade for free. Sure, most of these guys won't pan out, but if you gather enough free lottery tickets, you'll hit it big sooner or later.
  
  
• When offering trades to other GMs, actually look through their rosters and figure out how a trade might benefit them. If you can't figure out their current gameplan, ask them. Unlike the AI, real people will stop paying attention to you if you continually offer them a star first baseman when they already have two. Also, unlike the AI, they will curse at you and actively plot your downfall if you regularly offer them bad trades.
  
  
• Keep an eye on platoon splits, particularly for batters. Players who hit left handed pitchers extremely well might be missed if you only look at their overall ratings. If you don't have a star player at a position, find two guys with heavy opposite splits to platoon your way to star production. Keep in mind that right handers are more rare at 1B and OF while left handers are more rare at 2B, SS, 3B, and C.
  
  
• Similarly, keep an eye on your ballpark effects (and those of your opponent during the playoffs, at least). Use players who play to your ballpark's strengths. Don't pay big money for a left-handed slugger if your stadium doesn't give up many HRs to LHB. Most importantly, find pitchers who make sense in your stadium. If your park doesn't give up many home runs, don't overpay for high Movement ratings. If your park doesn't give up a lot of hits, don't worry as much about Stuff as strikeouts become less necessary. If your park gives up a lot of hits, don't worry as much about Control since balls in play will result in plenty of baserunners already.
  
  
• Find and develop multi-position players. You don't care about your Spring Training and minor league records, so use that time to teach players as many new positions as possible. There is little to no drawback and it greatly increases your options when acquiring new players and when guys go down to injury. You need fewer quality backups when the guys you have can backup everything.
  
  
• Target prospects with good defense and base stealing ability. The game doesn't model much variation or decline in these areas except with extreme injury or old age, so if you're looking to get lucky with contact and power boosts in the development engine, make it happen with guys who already have defense and speed.
  
  
• Make sure to fine tune your players' running games. OOTP models base running to make reproducable historical numbers, not to make sense from a GM standpoint. A player's stealing bases rating indicates how often he will be successful at stealing. A player's running speed rating indicates how often he will attempt stolen bases. If a player's running speed is a lot higher than his stealing bases rating, he will get caught stealing. A lot. Set his game strategy to steal bases less often. If a player has a good stealing bases rating but a poor running speed, tell him to steal a little bit more often in order to take advantage of his ability.

That's all I've got for now. I'll post more if they come to me. Others can feel free to add their own tips.

[Nutlaw]

Oh, here's another:

• Resist the urge to sign your players to contract extensions when they are playing well. They take their performance into account when demanding money, even if your overall rating system doesn't. When possible, offer players long term deals when they are underperforming their ratings and hold off when they are overperforming.