One Thing You Know About HBD That's Not Common Knowledge, OR, 1 Of Your Strategy Tips You'd Be Willing To Share

(NCK) = Not Common Knowledge
(ST) = Strategy Tip


(NCK) A and B designation for free agents goes off the day that the draft prospect list shows up so you can sign them without losing a draft pick.

(ST)  I think base-running is a vastly undervalued skill.  If I can manage it, I like to have a 14th position player who I use strictly as a pinch-runner and late-inning defensive replacement (usually a 2B/CF).  I can usually directly attribute 2-3 wins a season to pinch-runners who steal a base late in the game and score the game-winner on a single.  These guys are generally plentiful enough and not valued highly enough that you can fill up your minors with them and always have 1 at minimum salary on your ML roster.

(NCK) Free agents all drop their contract demands to 1 year on the 3PM cycle after the 8th game of Spring Training; they also start losing rating points after that cycle (although they're fractional and might not even show up on the next "ratings event").

(ST)  I think starting pitchers are a bargain compared to relievers in the salaries they ask for when negotiating contracts with the teams that control them.  When they hit the open market, I think that's reversed - relievers go for lower $ per inning pitched than SP's of comparable quality.  I think this is provable (I'm not going to bother trying).  It suggests a strategy of drafting SP's but getting your RP's in free agency.

(NCK) The only time players are not subject to the demotion penalty is preseason (not exactly true  - when an injured player is brought off the dl, the player demoted to make room isn't subject to demotion penalties) - from the cycle after budgets are set to roster freeze day.  After that, the season has started and you risk a penalty when you demote.  There is a common misperception that demotion penalties are not in effect once ML playoffs have started.  I assure you from personal experience that demotion penalties DO apply during the playoffs.

(ST)  If you look at all the ways to acquire players - draft, trade, FA, IFA - it seems like the most consistent bargains are always the age 35+ pitchers taken on the 4th day of free agency or later.

(NCK) Unless specifically demanded by the player, no-trade clauses do not add any value whatsoever to the Max Contract offer ($10MM bonus + $20MM salary x 5).

(ST)  There was a hint during the latest update and subsequent developer chat that development for both position players and pitching prospects may be impacted more by games played than ABs or IPs.  I am trying to set my better prospects to still get around the same numbers of ABs and IPs, while maximizing games played. For pitchers, that means setting lower pitch counts so they can go more often, which is easy. Position players are more complicated. They can be set to be half a platoon with rest/def/PH settings trying to get them in as many games as possible, or play every day, but with other players rest/def settings set up to spell the prize prospects. This is, of course a lot of extra fiddling that may mean no gain, but it is something to think about.

(NCK) Players involved in trades that complete within 24 hours of the roster freeze are not exposed to the Rule 5.  If a trade completes more than 24 hours before the roster freeze, the players can be eligible for the Rule V.

(ST)  (time management) I try to absolutely minimize time spent on minor league stuff.  I make sure each level has 13-14 position players and 14 pitchers.  Then I set SIM to manage everything...DL moves, the works.  The only thing I check is whether my prospects are actually playing.  Sometimes I can go through a whole season without checking minors.

(NCK) If a player is selected in the Rule V Draft, any outstanding trade offer involving the player is automatically canceled. If the drafted player is on the waiver wire, any pending claims are canceled and the player is also removed from the waiver wire.  Rule V trumps trades and waiver claims. 

(ST) The key to winning WS is to know exactly when you want to be good. You want to time your prospects to arrive at (roughly the same time). The reason for this is because we all only have 185 mil to work with.  The more solid (and above) ML production you can get for $343,000, the more money you have to spend on the players you will have to buy. Its almost hard to overestimate how much more valuable a guy with 900 OPS is making the minimum then the same guy making $5.6MM.


(NCK) I am not sure any of my strategies are not common knowledge or not. lol :-) Is it common knowledge that free agents will agree to shorter contract lengths in the FA period, but they will not accept less than their asking price?

(ST) You cannot pay enough for greatness. We all only have 8/9 spots in the batting order and 4/5 spots in the rotation. If you can get a guy 1000+ OPS or a 2.50 ERA you almost cannot overpay. Because you have so few spots in the rotation or batting order to "play" with its really hard to find those extra runs somewhere else.


(NCK) Near the end of coach hiring, ML coaches will accept offers of 50% of their demands.

(ST)  If you can get greatness you do it, but if you can't, you worry about the bottom of your line up more than the top of it. Going from a good lead off man to a great one might mean 80 runs created to 100 runs created. Going from a no-hit SS to a some-hit SS of the same defense might mean going from 20 runs created to 60. The returns on your investment for taking care of the worst is more than the best unless they are truly great.


(NCK) All 100% rested pitchers are not the same. Take two pitchers assuming near identical stamina/durability ratings and zone in on 'Current/Next Day' rest rating on your Pitching roster. Player A: 60%current(red)/100%next day; Player B: 80%current(blue)/100%next day. If Player A pitches the next day at 100% rest, they will take a bigger Rest ratings hit and subsequently take longer to recover then Player B, who is also at 100% rest. Go figure.

(ST) Offense begets more offense, but great pitching negates the need for more great pitching. Every hit, every walk gets you deeper in the guys PC lowering his effectiveness and then eventually deeper into his bullpen. Scoring runs increases the chance you will score more runs. On the other hand when a start gets you 8.1IP 4H 1R 1ER 2W 7K there are only 2 outs left for your bullpen. The better pitching you get, the less other pitching you actually need.


(NCK) The "non-trainable" player traits (range, arm strength, durability, health, speed, patience, temper, makeup, power, stamina, velocity) only improve over the offseason, and don't start improving until the player's second offseason (always wondered about the logic behind those traits not improving after the player's first pro season).