What Are Your Favorite Baseball Mogul Stratagies?

[Cardinals2005]

Title says all. How do you like to play BM? Post any type of strategy here, by it team building, player drafting, pitching preferences,etc. Personally, I like to begin by building a strong starting rotation, ( 3 90-plus at the head, no less then 81 lower), then concentrate on building up my minor league position players.

[HoustonGM]

I actually don't have any one set strategy. With my Indians dynasty, I've mainly been trading for and developing pitchers, while focusing on OBP for my offense. I make a good deal of trades and sign maybe 1-2 free agents a year.

[Parabraves]

Without reading Houston's, I'll provide my personal list of building franchises:

1. Before you do anything, look at salary, look at rating, and if those don't correspond in your favor, use those players along with a couple fringe players to try and get a decent prospect.

2. Be patient early in the season. If you simulate the first two weeks and your team and a couple players are struggling, don't overreact. My pattern: get through April, and evaluate pitching. By then you've had many journeys through the rotation and your pen has most likely racked up some innings. Excellent time to get those good minor leaguers a shot, as you will always find a slacker. Also: Don't touch your starting lineup until the end of May. A single month is a small sample size as it is, and the worst thing you can do is flip and flop ever other week of the season. You won't get an accurate number against lefties yet, but at least you'll be better prepared to face the majority, the righties.

3. Get money via trades. Don't ask for more than roughly 5 million alongside a trade offered you as that would be unrealistic, but they did offer the trade so they want the players more than the very small amount of cash. That small amount will make you feel better in the long run, and could add up eventually.

4. Use the payroll budget as a major indicator or ignore it altogether. If you have a great team, surpass the sucker as it inaccurately predicts what you'll make many times. If you're stuck with a questionable squad however, you might want to take the number seriously. Your one star that you paid as your franchise player yet won't be carrying the franchise to anything soon, so trade him. Teams pony up the young talent when they're one player away from playoff contention, and will sometimes deal you player a single year away from the majors with a 90s peak.

5. While drafting position players, make sure the contact and eye ratings are higher than other ratings. Speed is useless without OBP, and even if they might not project to hit 30-50 HRs some day, their on-base skills will be of great help. Best thing is you can get these guys from the 3rd-5th rounds.

6. Draft that pitching overload. Sure, you could go for the highest-rated position player realizing a low-90s peak pitcher will be available, or you can take the guy who'll anchor your staff for however long your payroll will allow. Drafting pitchers with my first three picks is VERY common for me and it works well.

7. Know good draft ratings. I suggested taking players with good contact and eye ratings. In the draft, don't accept anything below 65 unless you're blown away by a different combination of rankings.

8. That being said, always draft the guys with over 75 health ratings. Don't let the computer snake you into trading for a highly rated star with a 60s health rating either.

9. If you find a rare good offer from the computer, make sure to scower the entire screen. I've dealt for many an injured player, wasting a year of his salary and more importantly, wasting your team's time.

10. Of the 3 expense ratings, pay most attention and money to Farm System. I've put myself 5-10 million over 1st in health budget and had multiple players go down for long periods of time. You saw my tips on health rating, no I'm not erring in that respect. I would report this as a bug but won't waste the time. I'm not saying to ignore the medical staff, just don't overdo anything thinking you'll stay injury-free, because you won't, sometimes by a couple hundred miles.

11. Build your team through the draft and trades, not the FA market. Only waste money on a guy if he's that last piece.

12. Lowball the suckers, I mean every time. This is best done through offering more in team and player options. Never check the no trade box.

13. Last thing I can think of off-hand is take a flier on a bad hitting C if his handling and defensive ratings are high. They come VERY cheap oftentimes, and they most definitely improve your pitching numbers across the boards. Cs are the rarest of players the further you get into fictional drafts, and while other teams are shooting for the higher overall ratings, the most important ratings are those two numbers.

[Red Sox Fan 734]

When i start a new game i will trade for some good prospects. Then trade some of my current prospects for some good players. Ill also trade for a few of the top draft picks every year. Then ill fill my holes with trades and if i cant make a trade then ill sign free agents.