Averages are still there.    With 4m increments, it takes about 2 seconds to figure out where someone could be now if we see the previous season's budgets.   And, in my case, when I want to evaluate an owner's draftee, I want to know how much he spent on scouting when he picked his player.   If he had low scouting, he picked the best from a limited pool.   If he had high scouting, a much larger pool.

Posted by damag on 5/27/2015 9:05:00 AM (view original):
Took me awhile to articulate why I dislike complete hiding of all budgets, but here it is.  And I'll be fine with it if someone talks me down, BTW.

Been pointed out that IRL teams don't have this specific information about each other.  True.  But IRL teams know how each other does business, from real life information other than numbers.  Just a very broad example, but when Team A goes after a big IFA, they know the Yankees, Sox, Dodgers will be bidders, too.  But in HBD, unless you're a longtime owner in a world with the same other owners, you often don't know a single thing about some other players in your world.

I've been in my current world in the NL for ten seasons, and I know for sure there are some AL franchises who I've never had a single interaction with... not even TC or world chat.  They're just a name to me... other than the historical information the game shows me.

Why do I care?  For things like this... every now and then one of these guys who I have no history at all with sends me an unsolicited trade offer, with no TC or commentary.  While I never touch those, my first thought when another owner approaches me is, who is this guy?  The information the game shows me is the only way to see his history, try to figure out what he's after when he makes a play toward me.

When I started out, very early on, I received an unsolicited trade offer from the then-commish.  I recognized right away that it was trying to steal one of my better prospects, but c'mon, why would the commish be trying to bone me?  Looking at his budget tipped me off to the way he did things differently to other owners, which led me to dig through his trade history... I realized that I shouldn't trust this guy in any future transaction. 

It's just a single extreme example, but that's my worry... that concealing information about your fellow owners will leave more naïve owners prey to manipulation.  We've all heard complaints that "not everyone has time to spend on this game all day long."  Even partial budget information gives you a snapshot of who these guys are and how they play the game, and sometimes that's the only information you have about them.

I understand exactly that IRL no one knows these numbers.  But I wonder if, similarly to the new standard of showing only Projected Ratings for prospects and not currents, that showing budgets, while unrealistic, is just a structure to make the game work better for its users.

Posted by MikeT23 on 5/27/2015 7:21:00 AM (view original):

Averages are still there.    With 4m increments, it takes about 2 seconds to figure out where someone could be now if we see the previous season's budgets.   And, in my case, when I want to evaluate an owner's draftee, I want to know how much he spent on scouting when he picked his player.   If he had low scouting, he picked the best from a limited pool.   If he had high scouting, a much larger pool.

Posted by tufft on 5/29/2015 12:14:00 PM (view original):

Posted by MikeT23 on 5/27/2015 7:21:00 AM (view original):

Averages are still there.    With 4m increments, it takes about 2 seconds to figure out where someone could be now if we see the previous season's budgets.   And, in my case, when I want to evaluate an owner's draftee, I want to know how much he spent on scouting when he picked his player.   If he had low scouting, he picked the best from a limited pool.   If he had high scouting, a much larger pool.

You are funny when you make your mind up about something and then desperately try to come up with reasons.

In 2 seconds with last season's budget you will know what someone has to spend on IFAs within $8M. On salary within $40M. I think we can all live with giving you that competitive advantage.

Your point about scouting budget history helping when trading for prospects is correct, but that's just one of many factors you probably consider. It's possible to blow a 5-15 pick with any amount of scouting if a GM doesn't know how to rank prospects. And there can be studs at pick 10-20. IMO, it's more important to know if a GM drafts well than their budget.

Again, your blind spot seems to be that everyone isn't Mike. I don't need past budgets anymore, either. They helped a lot when I started playing. I think they should be there for newbies.

Posted by ltlbird3 on 5/29/2015 12:56:00 PM (view original):
I'll agree on the points:

That it greatly helped me as a new owner to see these items. Knowing the averages helps, but I wanted to know what the successful owners were doing. I know we have an HBD mentor thread, but not everyone visits the forums.

And knowing the scouting budget helps inform me on the quality of a young player being offered in a trade. This one isn't as realistic as RL, but it does help and I'm not trying to game the system out of it.

Player/Coach budget doesn't matter at all to me.