Mike - didn't take it as a criticism. What I was saying that any trade I probably made was the wrong one for the short term success of my team. But we'll see what happens with the rest. I value your option.

For Training I wanted to max it to 20. 14 was as high as I could go actually. I will always max training. It helps (I think) with durability. injuries, and probably power - ot it wouldn't be there in the first place. Plus, I am guessing better training helps somewhat offset the medical budget.

Training helps with physical ratings.   Development and preventing decline.

And supposedly minimizes the incidence of injuries.  Medical is supposed to reduce the length and severity of injuries.  I say supposed to, but I pretty much go 20 in training every year and skimp on medical, I may one day take medical to zero out of curiousity, but not yet.

So sj, which deal did you like better - the aborted one or the one finally made with BBmogul?

Gotta say, the deal was horrible.

Hardball Dynasty – Fantasy Baseball Sim Games - Player Profile: Jeurys Hernandez   Will be a bad BL pitcher but might get a few innings.
Hardball Dynasty – Fantasy Baseball Sim Games - Player Profile: Wily Cruz  No development pattern but 32 control is a bad starting point.
Hardball Dynasty – Fantasy Baseball Sim Games - Player Profile: Eddie McMahon  No development pattern but he might be the only legit future BLer in the deal.

Although, to be fair, I looked at trading for this guy Hardball Dynasty – Fantasy Baseball Sim Games - Player Profile: Graeme Baker and decided against it because he would be about the 6th-7th best SP(turning him into a long reliever).    The salary owed over the next three seasons turned me away(I have cap room) so I'm not sure how much I give up for Stairs. 

I was surprised there wasn't a veto discussion about that trade.

If SJP has a master plan to compete in S5 and beyond, those guys are of no use to him.   However, as I said earlier, that's 400 quality innings for someone for the next 3-4 seasons.   That's over an entire season of innings.   That's a lot.   You have to get value.  SJP has felt the value was ridding himself of Stairs salary.  But it hurts the rest of the league because BBM gave up nothing for a full season of quality innings.

yeah, seems we finally answered the thread subject:  "yes, but not how you thought"

He was self-screwed. 

I think that's illegal in some states. 

I love these threads.  First of all, they are very informative.  Secondly, it never ceases to amaze me that new owners think they have it all figured out and refuse to listen to advice about not making trades.  The deal posted above is a straight ripoff.

I knew this would be fun starting from the OP's first post quoting Overall rating.  Overall rating is nearly meaningless.  It's only meaningful in that it artificially inflates the game's perception of that player's value and therefore their contract demands will be higher than normal and they are more likely to be a Type A/B FA, but in general it's best to focus on the 6-7 key categories for each player and put minimal weight into the others.

They're "confirmation" threads.   n00b asks a question but really just wants his opinion confirmed.   If/when that doesn't happen, he becomes defensive about his strategy and will go to great lengths to defend it.    To SJP's credit, he seems to have done quite a bit of research and even admitted that he might have learned something from these 5 pages.

But he still made a horrible deal as soon as he could submit it.   I think he'd have been better served to wait until FA started and, if nothing suitable came along, kept the two pitchers.   I assume he intends to turn that 22m payroll into 11m in prospect.  But he only has 14m in IFA scouting so there's no guarantee he'll see the best.   Most likely, he's get a couple level 2 IFA at 8-10m each. 

It's a good thread.  I think the only problem I have with any of it is the commish publicly stating he would have made an offer on those players in question.  Just bad form (as a commish I do not comment on the merits of a particular trade - ever, nor do I try to let any self-interest get in the way of those matters) - although I also think he meant well for the world.

The balance of self-interest and world stability is very important.  That's a hard thing to convince some people of, but if you can get a group of owners who do value that balance, you get a great world in the long run.

Lessons learned. I never said I knew everything schnoogens. I obviously have a lot to learn. But I have to learn them. And thats the fun if the game. If all I had to do was follow all the suggestions and I won the WS each season, I'd be done with all this within a few seasons.

SO no worries. And I won't apply the "Secondly, it never ceases to amaze me that veteran owners think they have it all figured out and enjoy sitting back and criticizing noobs." label to you. :-)

The more I play, and the more I see these types of trades by other noobs, the more I realize how hard it is to communicate all this to a new owner...