My budget is due in a few hours. I took over a team that's been bad for 5 years, and picked up some nice young prospects along the way. Most of them are ML ready now, and I have the #2 overall pick this coming season.

My current player payroll is $34M, and projected payroll is $51M

As of now I maxed out Player payroll at $20M, kept Coach Payroll at $10M, and maxed everything else at $14M. That leaves me with $71M in player payroll, which I doubt I'll come close to spending this year.

Obviously I'm still rebuilding, and with the #2 overall pick this year I'd like to sign whoever I draft. Also, I want to go after a few IFA's this year. My question... is $20M in Prospect Payroll enough to sign my #2 pick and an IFA or two? or do i have to transfer more $ into Prospect Payroll?

Any advice before I submit this budget would be great. Thanks

You are going to want to transfer some money over to prospects.  Better IFAs seem to go for $20 million+, at least in my league.  Keep your actual payroll low this season. It will remove the temptation to overspend on free agents when you still don't know what you are doing.

That's what I thought. Isn't there some sort of penalty for transfering $ over to prospects?

Also, I just noticed my minor league rosters are pretty depleted. What's the best way to fill them, just sign minor league FA's on the cheap?

Manny, it's a 2 for 1 penalty when transferring money.  So, $10 million of payroll becomes $5 million of prospect money.

It is always a pain to fill out the minor league roster when taking over a new team, but there will be a lot of minor league FA's available for you to sign.  If you get outbid on them, try offering "Minor League + Spring Training Invite".  That should get you a few extra players.  Don't worry about having the best minor league teams...just get enough guys to avoid fatigue, especially with pitching.

Good luck - it's a great game!

Yes, if your looking to fill rosters, filter your searches by durability and health.  When your looking for fodder, don't get caught up in getting a guy who numbers are pretty good but can only play 100 games and would never make your BL club.  Just find filler guys who can play most of the season.  That helps keep your payroll down.  Although I tend to have about 15 to 17 pitchers (some inactive obviously), just for fatigue issues at the lower levels (lowA hiA AA).

I wouldn't sign a single free agent.  Keep your talent in the minors, get as high a player payroll as you can, and then transfer that into prospect payroll and have like $45M in there.  You will be able to sign your draft picks for about 6M and then grab two excellent IFA's with the rest.

Posted by rangerup on 7/28/2011 6:09:00 PM (view original):
I wouldn't sign a single free agent.  Keep your talent in the minors, get as high a player payroll as you can, and then transfer that into prospect payroll and have like $45M in there.  You will be able to sign your draft picks for about 6M and then grab two excellent IFA's with the rest.

And that's why some worlds implement a Prospect Payroll Cap.