Is there a good thread with Newbie instructions & Basic "what we know" about the game?  I remember contributing to one in HD way back in the day.

Thanks all

There are several but they're old with some irrelevant information I'm sure.

If you pick through it, the WKRP thread gives a ton of good information about how the game works.  It seems to miss the Rule 5 draft and probably a bunch of other things.

Let's start one up. I am by no means as much an expert as MikeT or some of the others that frequent the forums but feel free to ask away. Someone will give good info.

Important newbie rules I wish someone had told me.

1) bump training up to $20 million and keep it there. Don't ask questions.

2) You don't have to bump medical up to $20 million but I would. You no longer have 'career ruining injuries' and instead big injuries can be a positive.

3) try not to make any trades for the first 5 seasons. If you do, post here or ask a mentor if it's a reasonable deal.

4) players start taking ratings hits at 32-33 and most become pretty useless by 36. Keep in mind when signing older players to long yet deals. Pitchers start losing ratings at 34 and are usually good until 38.

5) always! Always! Always! Make the last year of a contract you offer a player a 'mutual option'. They never turn it down and it could save you a ton of money when that shining free agent turns to a dog turd in their 4th year.

6) put your important prospects on the 40 man ASAP. You will forget, they will be available for the rule V draft and no one will feel sorry for you.

7) for high school, college and international scouting, a budget of $13 million or less is useless. Put $15 million into two of them and leave the third at 0. If you can afford to get HS or College up to 20 I'm told it's worth it with the new update.

6) No.  Put them on your 40 in their 4th season or when they're ready to call up to the bigs.    No need to burn options, or clog up your 40, with players who aren't R5-eligible.

Things I am learning as a noobie right now -

I'm learning the value of NOT signing free agents to long term contracts until you learn the game. The money you pay out - for the most part - in free agency should be on the field, accumulating innings pitched or at-bats. Dead money cramps you up big time when budgeting. Also, signing a player over 32 to a multi year contract is usually gonna be a loser towards the end of it.

The Rule 5 draft can be a good way to fill in bench positions and middle relievers if you are rebuilding. No need to spend FA money.

DON'T trade! Don't do it!!! There are tons of experience owners out there that earn their championships via trade rape. Then their rationalize it on the chat board. If they are telling you how much a team will help YOUR team out, its probably not a good deal. If you think there's a deal that makes sense then message someone outside your world that's won some championships in a reputable world.

Spend a lot of time learning how the draft works. Accumulating talent while you learn the nuances of the game is key. The hope is that once you really get a grip on lineups, setting your pitching staff, etc, that you have a low payroll and plenty of options in your minor league system. Mike T has some good forum posts regarding this that have helped me.

Players turn down mutual options all the time.

6) Spend 3 minutes looking through AAA/AA between the end of budget setting and the R5 draft. There's a can't-miss icon alerting you to R5 players. If the icon is next to a player who will have any major-league value, add him to the 40 then. If you have to drop another player from the 40-man, the task might expand to 5 minutes. Putting a prospect on the 40 before you have to is foolish.

I have been doing some reading, so here is what I am budgeting: Payroll 90, Prospect 8, Coaches 13, College 12, High School 12, International 12, Advance 14, Training 12, Medical 12.

I guess I am just trying to find a jumping off point.  My team is just ok, and I am looking to do a partial rebuild, but not complete.


Also, I am enough of a baseball nerd that I do understand the Rule V draft and the 40-man.  Where I think I need initial direction as to what are "good" player ratings, and how to identify good prospects, and what constitutes a lot of money for a player.

Maybe number eight should be:

8)  Don't believe everything you read in the forums.  Sometimes it's bullshit. 


Seriously, when someone says "Always", you should probably question it.    For me, there's only one absolute in this game.   Get your training to 20m.  18m might be fine but training affects improvement and decline of the physical skills.   Saving a couple mil on such an important aspect of the game seems dumb to me.

Most of us consider ADV to be useless.   Newer owners might benefit from having it while they get their feet wet but I think, at this point, 80% of all veteran owners are at 0.

Ahhh, I was reading from the early early posts (like when the game first started), that ADV was important.  I may look to reduce it.

Want to get an idea of what ratings are the most important?

Take a look at regular season stats extended for the RC/27 stat for hitters by position, see who the leaders are, and what ratings they have. I have found it's hard to overcome poor vL and vR ratings and be a category leader.

The big league averages for fielding are helpful, but some positions affect runs allowed more than others. Fielding is tricky to evaluate because the fielding stats are distorted by other factors like pitching staff gb/fb ratios and strikeouts. There is a big thread on 'The Rightfielder' and that provides some analysis on fielding. Here is the positive impact defensive formula by MikeT23: [(('+' + PO + A) - (E+'-'))/INN]*1458.

PPPS averages for OF
LF-318.3, high end comes from range and glove, arm doesn't matter.
CF-398.8, high end comes from high range and good glove.
RF-231.4, high end comes from 65/65 arm guys.

Each out given up means you should get at least another 2/3 run of offense out of a player, otherwise stick with the better glove.
Also, when evaluating defensive performance, know that errors are attributed to glove/arm accuracy, while +/- plays are attributed to range/arm strength according to themergerguy.

While I think it's okay to care less about defense for outfield spots, it's kind of critical to have a good one a SS where the PPPS are more like 800-1000.

Pitching ratings can be a little harder to pin down, but looking at arms with high SO totals and low WHIP and getting an idea of those ratings help as well. It seems that pitching has more variables involved with control, vL/vR, velocity, gb/fb, and pitch quality.

Ok, what is considered good for a particular rating though?  Is 60 good and 90 amazing?  What do the numbers mean.