2018 Offseason Suggestions

[dejota]

Nothing's imminent but I'd like to open the dialogue before the offseason get's rolling on a few items.

1) Japanese IFAs

Mhall has come up with an interesting idea for how to handle Japanese IFAs. I'm no longer allowed to dl the file from spendspace but here are the basics.

-Separate file with just Japanese player.
-GMs can download and scout Japanese IFAs at any point, a League Scout will post scouting reports and articles about the league in a thread so GMs scouting the file isn't mandatory.
-Players eligible to come over will be determined by interest level and a minimum service time. I need input on these guidelines from the league.
-Players coming over will have their personality traits taken into consideration and will decide which teams are eligible (or not) to bid on their services.
-Players who received highest posting fee then must negotiate a contract to join the respective team. If no contract is reached he's returned to Japan and the posting fee is refunded.
-American free agents who don't get signed in FA will be randomly selected to be exported into the Japanese league.
-Japanese IFAs coming over will be imported directly into our file.

2) Offseason Schedule

As of now the offseason is scheduled to begin in a week. I need to know how long you guys want it to last and and suggestions as for due dates for various offseason items.

3) Free Agency

Last offseason I noticed quite a few players were left unsigned that were useful, sometimes in favor of lesser players already on teams. I would like to get some feedback about why these players weren't signed and what we could potentially do to prevent tanking. IRL the Marlins were close to getting sued for not spending enough money and with revenue sharing I think there should be some sort of obligation on GMs parts to try and improve their team when possible.

4) Talent Levels

Again, nothing's imminent, but one issue that's bugging me is there seems to be too much talent. The only two ways to hedge this is with expansion (which isn't open for discussion at the moment) or by lowering talent levels. There's three things I see as downside to lowering talent levels.

-Even thought it's random, some teams will naturally get hit harder than others. Will GMs take it personally if a potential talent reduction coincided with a lot of untimely drops (especially if combined with untimely injuries)? And, perhaps more importantly, would it result in GMs being disenfranchised with FCM and/or frustration to the point of wanting to quit?

-If we don't lower the perfectly we could end up with a file that has too many prospects that flame out or not enough prospects that the draft becomes more of a crapshoot. We got lucky I think with the current balance but changing it could offset that balance.

-We go too low. This one worries me the least as we've increased talent levels successfully before without screwing over or giving major advantages to anyone, but it should be considered.

Please let me know your thoughts on these items and any other issues you'd like to see discussed/addressed in the off season. Lastly, please be polite to each other and let's try to avoid typical arguments when we open up league changes to general discussion.


Thanks,

DJ

[Peter]

I would figure that 1 or 2 days after the world series is done would probably be enough time to submit our resignings; i would figure most gm's already know who they plan on keeping so i wouldn't think a long period would be necesssary. I believe you guys have winterball and I would be imagine it would be fine if winterball and FA bidding was going on at the same time. Obviously this is my first offseason here so I wouldn't really have a solid feel on how the offseason goes here but I do believe most gm's will be wanting to be getting to ST and opening day.

As far as the talent levels go, I thought the talent levels in this years draft were actually pretty solid so i think the best solution to the long term talent would be monitering the talent level of incoming players and not editing the current players in the league. I do think people would be against the random lowering of players in the league and probably wouldn't be a very good solution. Another thing that might be worth mentioning here, it seems the average peak end is about 30 which seems pretty young to me. Im not sure what its set to now but I would figure it should be 32 or 33

[AndyP]

My thoughts:

Offseason: We need more time between free agency and spring training. I say we put resigning deadline at 24 hours from the World Series file, sim directly to the sim of death for the offseason file, put a two day opening hold on free agents signing officially (rather than 3, I think it is now), and then give at least a week following that two day window.

Talent Levels - STOP the IFA!!!! Almost every IFA player is an empty rating who stinks terribly. If we don't stop it, then we need to limit it to one or two players, most of whom are complementary players. IFA prospects, however, should continue.

I would combine that with a very slight reduction in talent levels. Not a lot, because I think if the talent was better spread out we wouldn't see such a problem. There are many, many empty ratings too. *Cough* Cassidy *Cough*

[dejota]

The Draft class and talent levels have no correlation whatsoever. A lot of GMs seem to think you can curb talent levels by lower the draft class depth but that simply isn't the case. The game will adjust the talent back to normal levels, so the the only end result to lower draftee talent is making the draft even more of a crapshoot.

Hollow ratings are actually helping the talent issues IMO. If they actual average talents levels of 90s and 80s players are below normal then if we were to head back towards the average we'll have even more teams stocked full of 90s players. As it stands now useful 80s players barely show on championship teams while earlier years of FCM (and reality) featured good but not great guys. If anything that would serve as another reason to lower talent I would imagine.

[psbaseballfan27]

"American free agents who don't get signed in FA will be randomly selected to be exported into the Japanese league.
-Japanese IFAs coming over will be imported directly into our file."
I like this idea especially since so many players have not been signed
FA I like toronto idea espically since this can speed things up.

The last idea im concerned with. Through out the league there are many big contracts signed as a result of the current ratings and thsu you would be punishing gms with long term contracts.

[AndyP]

Hollow ratings are actually helping the talent issues IMO. If they actual average talents levels of 90s and 80s players are below normal then if we were to head back towards the average we'll have even more teams stocked full of 90s players. As it stands now useful 80s players barely show on championship teams while earlier years of FCM (and reality) featured good but not great guys. If anything that would serve as another reason to lower talent I would imagine.

I would argue we've had loaded teams from the get-go. I think our problem is distribution, not total talent. Just my opinion.

[mike]

1) Japanese IFAs

I think we should completely do away with IFA's. For every 90 rated IFA you bring in mogul then has to decide what 90 player on one of our teams has ot get dropped a rating point, and to me that just isn't right. Howevere I realise that will never happen so I do like your idea but I have a few issues.

Issue 1) Get rid of the posting fee. I know they have it in real life but all that does is allow teams that hoard money or the bigger markets to gain an advantage. And instead of bidding in a silent auction allow us to the ebay style bidding that we use for our own FA. If you do need some kind of fee make it like 5mil to be allowed to see the file. As you would need to send extra scouts to japan to scout a whole league.


Issue 2) IFA prospects. Instead of bidding on them, put them in our ammy draft file. The MLB has already been talking about this and its a more realistic way than the spec going to the highest bidder. The teams that need the specs in the first place are already the ones who can't afford to waste money.

2) Offseason Schedule

I think a nice 2 week break works. It gives people time to trade and just in general a time to not think about mogul. So we allow teams either more time to trade and/or more time to keep a fresh mind. Also it gives us time to consoider any league issues.

3) Free Agency

I think some were not signed simply due to the fact they wern't needed. Why pay someone the league min when we have a solid guy makign a rookie contract that we could call up. As far as tanking is concerned, I htink it was Bill James who said "you will always win a 3rd of your games, and lose a 3rd of your games. Its that last 3rd that determines everything." So that means any team shoudl win 54 games no matter what. Give or take a few due to luck. So any team under that magic number should be up for review. Allow tanking has a fine line. I mean tanking basically means your trying to lose. But anyone who isnt trying to win by defenition is trying to lose. Unless your one of the teams on the bubble who thinks they have an outside shot. If you go into the season knowing you are not going to be a success if my view you are tanking. We should however punish the teams that are blatently tanking. If we did that I think we wouldnt see any usefull players on FA, or at least not many.

4) Talent Levels

I would like some more info on this. Every team doesnt seem to be stacked, but the top teams do see to have way too many 90's. I would like osme numbers though as Andy said maybe its a distribution thing. If it isn't then well the only way to fix it is to lower it. However, there is no way you will be able ot lower and not piss anyone off. Because Mogul will end up screwing some teams over more than others. Even though it takes 2 seasons to fully have its effect. If it needs to be done then do it, but if there is any uncertainty then it should be left alone. Pitching in the league is already in a HUGE demand, more so then in real life. But still take a look into it at least.

[terrythek]

I know I am just talking for myself here but my record sucks but I don't see me as tanking, I see it as I want to get some cash and wait for contracts to come off the books and then hoping that some specs actually pan out and maybe get a FA or 2, the problem is I don't want to try and get the top FA's b/c if they are offered comp I don't want to lose a high 1st round draft pick when it might just get me to the middle of the pack, so I am hoping that by developing players and making wise trades is the only way that a team like mine can get back to the top. With the talent level all I have to say for that I wish I saw some of this talent come up on my team haha, gezz if you lower it anymore I will have everyone on my team in the 70's lol j/k.....I do understand that this is a realistic hard league, one of the reasons why sometimes I get frustrated b/c it can get so difficult and frustrating. Seeing teams so much better then you with a much better farm on top of that doesn't help me feel any better, nothing can be done there but better GMing

[rockybull]

Mike, a lot of people have different definitions of "tanking". I completely did a rebuild with Braves, and with rebuilding like I did, you have to be patient and take your beat down for a few mogul years. Even in real life, when you are rebuilding you develop the farm and make wise decisions in FA. Sorry but I'm not gonna do what the Nationals did when they signed Werth in the offseason to that huge deal, I don't do retarded things like that for a guy that age. Free Agency is the worse thing in mogul leagues, dumbasses go completely insane in free agency. A team rebuilding can go 1-2 years for free agents, but anymore years is crazy, you don't build a team through FA, you build it from within. Plus not wise to give up a pick for a comp guy either, pretty much defeating the purpose of rebuilding...

[KillaCal AKA JS]

It took me a about 4 seasons but I think I'm finally starting to see some results. Of course my record have yet reflected it I think it will just be a matter of time before I compete. Just give us time to be competitive and truly rebuild our team. I think we should just leave the talent level how it is.