Quote: Originally Posted By MikeT23 on 2/06/2010Fatal n00b mistake. Doing something before you know what you're doing

EXACTLY!!!! Way too many new owners make trades and sign FAs etc before they have a real clue..

1. Read the ________ Manual. Seriously.

2. Make note of your questions; find someone to answer those questions. As a brand-new owner, asking general questions in your world chat can be helpful. For more specific help, find a veteran owner to act as a mentor or sounding board.

3. Learn baseball's transaction rules. The difference between waivers, designate and release is especially key.

One mistake I made early on was trusting the position given for a player. I saw "SS" and assumed the guy should be a SS. I later learned to trust ratings and switch player positions.

Don't leave valuable prospects eligible for the Rule 5 draft. Almost missed protecting one of the best prospects on one of my teams, but fortunately caught it late.

Quote: Originally Posted By edw1225 on 2/09/2010
Don't leave valuable prospects eligible for the Rule 5 draft. Almost missed protecting one of the best prospects on one of my teams, but fortunately caught it late.

Along those same lines, always check your MILB FAs for the following season at the end of the year. I've seen some phenomenal prospects go to free agency simply because they weren't added to the 40 man roster the season before.

Quote: Originally posted by sanderbear on 2/07/2010
One mistake I made early on was trusting the position given for a player. I saw "SS" and assumed the guy should be a SS. I later learned to trust ratings and switch player positions.

Never trust the position unless you listed it yourself.

If you feel you must "do something" when you first get your team, spend some time going through your entire system and list players only at the positions they're qualified to play. (Roster management screen, click the position name.)

This will give you a better idea of what you've got and familiarize you with the defensive ratings, and is time well spent. Some guys like to list players at every position they can handle, and other guys (like me) list them at three or fewer.

(1) Get a mentor.

(2) Never accept an unsolicited, incoming trade straight off. I know a lot of vets will tell the newbies not to make any trades, and that isn't bad advice at all, but I think that tends to fall on deaf ears. But the trades that can kill a team are the ones where a vet see you're a newbie who doesn't understand ratings, and he offers you one or more high OVR/low actual value types for your best assets. BEWARE. If you feel the need to make moves, advertise a player for trade in World Chat, or advertise that you have a need to fill, then field multiple offers and go over them with your mentor.

(3) Remember that $14m Advanced Scouting is not as accurate as you think.

(4) Understand that Free Agent demands will DROP as the FA period ends and spring training begins. These kinds of low $/low risk FA signings can be a great place for a 1st year owner to get his feet wet in the transaction market.

Don't feel obligated to go to arbitration with everyone. Some guys -- particularly average-hitting 1B/LF/DHs -- can be signed during spring training for less.

Some players will ask for less per season if you sign them to a multi-year contract. Some players will ask for significantly less in arbitration than what they'd want per year in a multi-year contract. Pay attention to this, and factor in how important the player is to your team's future, before deciding whether to go to arbitration, sign a guy to a multi-year deal, or release him.

Compare your arb-eligible players and free agents to other players at their position across the league and in your own system to see whether they're a valuable asset. A guy who fields like a 3B and hits like a SS is probably not worth taking to arbitration.

Be cautious when promoting prospects to the majors. By waiting ~23 minor league games, a franchise can extend it's cheap, pre-arbitration control of a player by an additional season.

Make sure you have full minor league rosters. Sign minor league FA in the first few cycles of bidding. Get guys with good DUR/STA to pitch innings and position players who can play defense, so that your prospects don't get overly fatigued (increasing, slightly, the chance of injury).

And RTFM.

Great posts. When you say have full minor league rosters, do you also mean including inactives?

Yes.

Especially in the low minors, where DUR and STA (where applicable) haven't reached projections.

Quote: Originally Posted By opie100 on 2/10/2010Great posts. When you say have full minor league rosters, do you also mean including inactives

Don't completely fill your inactives, as you will be adding players through the season through the draft, IFA, trades, as well as promoting through your system, so you need a couple of free slots at every level. There are 45 total inactive spots. Most teams seem to fill 20-30, some more. But get a C, a SS, a couple of SPs, an RP or 2, and an extra bat or 2 at each level on inactive and you should be fine.

I usually carry 30-32 at AAA/AA and full HiA/LoA. Then when the draft comes I can promote to the higher levels and open spots at the lower levels. You aren't going to trade for 3-4 LoA players during the season.

The one I remember in my first season was forgetting that the prospect budget was for both IFAs and draft picks.

So I went nutty on the good IFAs that came across. Then the draft happened. And I had, like, 2 bucks to spend.