I can actually help you.
Coop S10: Got into a disagreement with ADMIN because they gave me a 3 day ban AFTER someone dug 6 pages deep into Happy Jack's chat to find me saying something "offensive". I made a comment about another owner taking walks on the beach with his boyfriend. Real offensive. Why did someone do that? I refused to let them join MG/Coop. blacksnake or something like that. Total dick. Anyway, I did nothing during FA to improve my team because I was leaving WifS.
Coop S14: Stopped throwing band-aids on the bleeding limbs I got in S11-13. I made dumb signings because I was trying to recover from the S10 debacle.
MG S17: I had a pretty good 16 season run. 12 playoff appearances. Like I always do, I held on too long. Hence the high payroll, low wins. It happens in tougher worlds.
Mantle is the one you should look at. I knew my run was over(MG17-style) and made a conscious effort to not put myself into the Coop/MG holes I'd dug in the past. I switched to a pitcher's park, concentrated on defense and refused to overpay FA that season. It resulted in a poor offense(30th in RS), very good defense and slightly below league average pitching. That's the one you could say "TANKER" to. But, if you pick out a player, I'll find a similar guy on one of my other teams or, like the guys you picked, show you that they had long careers. Guaranteed.