Strat-O-Matic Baseball 365

Hi

Question for some of the more experienced players on here. I play ATG 80m cap about 90% of the time now. I am almost always tweaking my roster over the course of the first 40 games based on my perceived strengths and weaknesses of my division and the league (and my team of course). I know how wasteful roster moves can be when done in the midst of the season. My question is: has anyone ever held back some of their cash at the start of the season (something in the 10m-20m range) to allow for more flexibility for moves on high impact players without losing as much in the FA penalty? Would testing this type of approach be frowned upon by other players in the league for fear it would look like tanking and affect the competitive balance? I certainly would not be looking to offend anyone, just trying to think of creative ways to tweak the roster without taking as much of a financial hit.

In a 80 cap I'll make changes up to game 40; I try to limit it to losing a million off my salary or at max 2 million. But your suggestion would likely annoy other managers and It's hard to see the real value. If you hold back that much cash you're not getting a realistic look at your team so as to make changes because you've starved the team of cash. Try to adjust against teams in your division/league before the year starts. But if you're confident after a slow start that's due to some miscalculation that needs to be fixed--and not random luck--then make changes. The important thing is to be pretty sure of your expensive players because they're expensive to replace. You can make quite a few changes with cheap players that you perhaps gambled on but a ten mill player is a different story.

freeman wrote:In a 80 cap I'll make changes up to game 40; I try to limit it to losing a million off my salary or at max 2 million. But your suggestion would likely annoy other managers and It's hard to see the real value. If you hold back that much cash you're not getting a realistic look at your team so as to make changes because you've starved the team of cash. Try to adjust against teams in your division/league before the year starts. But if you're confident after a slow start that's due to some miscalculation that needs to be fixed--and not random luck--then make changes. The important thing is to be pretty sure of your expensive players because they're expensive to replace. You can make quite a few changes with cheap players that you perhaps gambled on but a ten mill player is a different story.

Thanks--very helpful. Not sure it is worth it because the of the annoying part alone haha. I am more thinking of it as the money held back could be because the league is more pitching heavy or hitting heavy, and I invest in the midst of the season accordingly. I do find the "predictability" (as much as there can be in a game that uses dice) of the high priced offense a little more consistent than the high priced pitching (especially in the 7m-8m range).

Maybe the answer is to not be so extreme, and only hold back like 7.5m versus 20m.

Danchiacchia wrote:......I am more thinking of it as the money held back could be because the league is more pitching heavy or hitting heavy, and invest in the midst of the season accordingly. .....

But you should know pre-season whether the league (or more importantly, your division) is hitting or pitching friendly by looking at opponents rosters before opening day. Like freeman said, make adjustments to your team before Game 1.

Danchiacchia wrote:Maybe the answer is to not be so extreme, and only hold back like 7.5m versus 20m.

If I was in a division with a team that hadn't maxed out their RV I would not be annoyed. If my team has a RV of $80M, and yours is at $72.5M, when we meet 6 times in the first 18 games I'll probably win 4.

So you're off to a slow start and want to make some adjustments before game 40. Now you are at $77M.
Divisional games (55-63 and 94-102) come around and you finish 7 - 11. The last 36 games, within your division, will have a similar outcome.

Managers do try to improve their roster with drops/adds. Rarely does it work out. If you want to tweak your roster try doing it game by game.

Danchiacchia wrote:Hi

Question for some of the more experienced players on here. I play ATG 80m cap about 90% of the time now. I am almost always tweaking my roster over the course of the first 40 games based on my perceived strengths and weaknesses of my division and the league (and my team of course). I know how wasteful roster moves can be when done in the midst of the season. My question is: has anyone ever held back some of their cash at the start of the season (something in the 10m-20m range) to allow for more flexibility for moves on high impact players without losing as much in the FA penalty? Would testing this type of approach be frowned upon by other players in the league for fear it would look like tanking and affect the competitive balance? I certainly would not be looking to offend anyone, just trying to think of creative ways to tweak the roster without taking as much of a financial hit.

it would be helpful to post links of your teams to see what moves were actually made. Yes,leaving unspent payroll is considered impacting the competitive balance.