New FAQ, GM List, etc. with a little less clutter & b.s.!

[nick]

Roster/Team Moves:


LINEUPS & PITCHING
For each sim, you have the right to alter your line-ups and pitching. We generally sim in 15-game timespans.

Line-ups look like this:
LINEUP VS RHP Pos
1) R T. Beckham SS
2) L J. Pierre CF
3) L K. Fukudome LF
4) L B. DeWitt 2B
5) R A. LaRoche 3B
6) R R. Martin C
7) S W. Betemit 1B
8) R M. Kemp RF
9) PITCHER/DH

There's 4 line-ups you can fill out. RHP, RHP+DH, LHP, and LHP+DH. I encourage everyone to have DH or non-DH line-ups filled out by the time interleague comes around (which is usually mid-May on the OOTP schedule), but if you want to wait until interleague play approaches to send them, that's fine.

Feel free to fill out your line-up cards how you wish. Just make sure they are clear and easy for me to understand.

Same thing goes for pitching. You can alter it every sim if you wish. Some info on pitching:

Please make note if you would like your rotation to be a 4-man or 5-man, and if you would like it to run in strict order, or have the most rested starter start on a daily basis.
Starting Rotation
1) L C. Sabathia
2) R C. Billingsley
3) R K. Uehara
4) R B. Penny
5) L S. Elbert

Spot Starter
While the spot starter slot doesn't show up on the league site, it is available. If wanted, please also state what percentage you would like your spot starter to start (anywhere from 1-100% is allowed to my knowledge, but something around 7-15% would work well I'd assume).

Mopup Reliever
1) L M. Riley
2) R J. Fogg

Middle Reliever
1) R Y. Brazoban
2) R L. Vizcaino
3) L B. Fuentes
4) R J. Fogg

Setup Reliever
1) R L. Vizcaino
2) R T. Pena

Closer
1) R J. Broxton You do not have to fill every slot. You can leave some open, you can put some players in double slots, etc. All up to you as a manager. Much like the line-ups, fill your pitching cards out as you'd like, as long as it makes sense.

PROMOTIONS/DEMOTIONS/RELEASES/etc.
When you list out your promotions/demotions/releases/etc., try to list them by position in this order:

SP
MR
CL
C
1B
2B
3B
SS
LF
CF
RF
DH

That's how it lists them out in your minor leagues in my in-game interface, if you don't have the game and don't already know from experience. You're not required to put them in order or anything, but if you have the time, it makes things easier on me. Just something to consider.

There are 3 minor league affiliations in this league- AAA, AA, and A. Each level can only hold 50 players at one time.
If you're promoting a player from one minor league affiliate to another, just make note of where the player is headed. You can also ask me to auto your entire minor league system, and then the cpu will take care of things down there.
Please try to keep your minors sorted out, and release players from time to time that are not in your plans. This way the 50-limit at each level will not be reached.

If you want an example of an outline to do promotions/demotions/releases... here is how I usually do it. Don't know what else to go by:

DEMOTIONS
SP Scott Elbert (MLB to AAA)
MR Matt Riley (MLB to AAA)
C Russell Martin (MLB to AAA)
SP Gil Carrasco (AAA to AA)
MR Michael Guinn (AAA to AA)
SP Mart Otte (AA to A)
RF Pascual Montero (AA to A)

PROMOTIONS
SP Bronson Arroyo (AAA to MLB)
MR Ray King (AAA to MLB)
C Dave Ross (AAA to MLB)
LF Casey Blake (AAA to MLB)
SP Kevin O'Neal (AA to AAA)
MR Dallas Braden (AA to AAA)
1B Samuel Reno (AA to AAA)
SP Jason Barnes (A to AA)
C Rene Martin (A to AA)

RELEASES
SP David Armstrong (AAA)
MR Aaron Heilman (AAA)
SP John Slay (AA)
CL Celso Pantaleon (AA)
SP Aldo Domenech (A)
MR Michael Nader (A)
SS Mark Rollison (A)

You don't have to do it like that-- you can list them any particular way, as long as it is clear to you and I. Most GMs have their own style of sending stuff in, and that's fine.

TEAM/PLAYER STRATEGIES


This is your team strategy board. If you would like to alter your team's strategy, tell me how many clicks from center you want me to notch each category. From ccenter, you can click 5 left, or 5 right. Left is decrease, Right is an increase in each area... If you want it maxed one way or another and that's easier to type out than listing numbers for each one, just let me know and make sure you list which way to max it out. As with everything else, as long as it makes sense in the end and I can read it...


Exact same thing as before, only these are individual player strategies. You have the ability to alter anyone's settings, as long as they are on your 25-man roster at that moment (or 40, if we are in September). I don't think I need to go into any more detail here.

PROMOTIONAL DAYS
[Promotional days are days that increase fan interest, but cost money to schedule. You must have "TEAM CASH" to be able to schedule one, and it has to be during a home game.

Here is a picture of the options you have for the promotional days, their prices, etc.:

[nick]

TRADING:

Simple rules here:
- No trading draft picks and probably never will. Not the NBA...
- No three-team deals. Too hard to work on. If you want to make a deal with one GM with intention of trading player X to another GM, that's fine. But because the game can't accept 3-way deals technically, it's preffered if you work out each trade individually.
- You can send cash to help pay for a players' salary you may be dealing, but only 2/3rds of it can be covered in cash. Feel free to match contracts to make up the rest. This shouldn't come into play, but if it does, it's in here just incase so I can COMBAT YOUR ASS.
- We have a trade council. It's first to 3-votes either way, pass or fail. Once the trade makes it through council, we post it in the transactions board.
- No *****ing about failed trades, whatsoever. This has caused a lot of issues in the past. We will not tolerate it.
- If team X and team Y have failed to get their trade through council after 2 attempts, they cannot rework the same deal a 3rd time. This is a new rule, but for every 10 trades that come in, maybe 1 fails. Usually, it will pass the 2nd time around anyway, especially if it is reworked fairly. I or someone on council will try to give each GM an adequate explanation as to why the deal failed initially and even the 2nd time if neccesary, but there will be no rebuttles or back and forths with this.
- When writing up a deal, I need both parties to confirm it with me. If you are on trade council, you may post your own trades. No problems with that.

If you need an example of how to write up a deal, here you go:

Team A sends:
Position-Player Name-Star or Spect Rating-Salary
Salary Subtotal: (Salary)

Team Y gives
Position-Player Name-Star or Spect Rating-Salary
Salary Subtotal: (Salary)
Here's an example of trade from ages ago:

LAN sends:
SP/MR James Adkins, 5.0 Spect ($ 300,000)
MR Johnathan Meloan, 4.0 Stars ($ 596,429)
OF Shane Robinson, 3.5 Stars (MLC)

$ Total:
896,429

ATL sends:
RF Cody Johnson, 5.0 Spect ($ 300,000)
2B Kelly Johnson, 2.0 Stars ($ 1,378,571)

$ Total:
1,678,571

Like everything else, you don't have to specifically follow that outline, as long as all of the info is there and it makes sense.

Here are some tips on trading, compliments of mission's old S3SL write-up. I think it's handy for newer managers with us, so I'm including it again:

1. Consider the financial consequences. A trade is not only based on talent, money is a very big factor in trading. Always be sure to consider whether trading your 7-7-6 SP making 350k is worth upgrading to a better player, but absorbing 12.5 million in salary. Some times are in dire straits because they did not consider salary problems. Sometimes, finances can be more important then talent.

2. Be reasonable. GMs don't like to deal with other GMs who make ridiculous offers. If you want my SP with a 4.0 star rating who I put on the block, offer something good up, either a similar pro player or a great prospect, or maybe a lesser version of each.

3) More often then not, if a team has a trade block, and x player isn't on that block, he is either difficult to get or not available. If you make an offer for him, make it good or don't make it. Even better, inquire if said player can be gotten at all.

4) Make sure your trade has an upside for both teams. If I am going to trade a 2.5 SP for your 2.5 SP who has the exact same everything or who is very similar, what is the point unless I asked for such a thing?

5) Financials:

OK, here is how to judge if you can do a trade financially.

The team that takes on less salary has no problems, so this is only to the team taking on more salary.

Look at the format, specifically the subtotals of annual salary. Take the higher subtotal and subtract the lower subtotal, and compare it to your available FA money. If the subtotal amount is more then your available FA money, you cannot do a trade, if it is less, you can do a trade, for instance

PHI gives:
Player X (9,000,000, SP, 4.5)

HOU gives:
Player Y (1,000,000, 2B, 3.5)

OK, HOU receives the 9m dollar SP, so they take on 9 million dollars (SP) - 1 million dollars (2B), meaning they have to take on 8 million dollars.

HOU total FA money: 4,584,403

In this case, 8 million is more then the 4.5 million and change, so they could not make this trade.

6: Value of Players
OK, the value of a player is different for everyone and I cannot tell people how to play. If anyone wants to submit their ideas of values, be my guest and I'll put them here.

[nick]

OFFSEASON ACTIVITIES:


SPRING TRAINING
First off, you can go with the option of "Ask Coaching Staff" if you'd like and they'll do their recommended spring training moves. You can also do your own spring training modifications and go with Ask Coaching Staff. If you want me to go with the coaches' recommendations though, please post about it in this thread or PM me. If you don't post anything about spring training, I will leave it default.

Two more important things before I get into how spring training works.

Please limit your spring training mods to around 15 players.
When listing your spring training mods, please seperate the batters from the pitchers, and if possible, it would be great if you could try to list the players in alphabetical order (not perfect alphabetical order, but just be the letter at the least).
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...training-1.jpg

As you can see, the game seperates pitchers and batters into two categories, and lists it in alphabetical order. So when there is a lot of players listed, it would be much easier to scroll from top to bottom and just a lot quicker.

Hitters:
Four categories (contact, power, eye, defense) with 20 points to spend for each player. You can also teach a position, but in order to do this, you'll have to spread out only 15 points and put 5 towards teaching a new position to the selected player.

Please list the points in this format:

Randall Simon: 5,5,5,5 +Learn Position (if needed)



There's a picture for more explanation if anyone's still confused.

Pitchers:
Four categories (stuff, velocity, control, stamina) with 20 points to spend for each player. You can also teach a new role, but in order to do this, you'll have to spread out only 15 points and put 5 towards teaching the new role to the selected player.

Please list the points in this format:

Kevin Tapani: 5,5,5,5 +Learn Role (if needed)



Again, if anyone's confused still, there's a picture of the pitchers' spring training.

=======

FREE AGENCY COMPENSATION & RULES
First and foremost, at the end of every year I will figure out which FAs are comp-elligible, and make a post. You do not have to do this on your own, so don't worry. Most of this need not be known until we approach this point, and if you have any issues with it, I'm around to answer questions. Also, this is because OOTP 6.5 does not have comp built in, incase you are wondering.

1. Free agency will now be 5 rounds total every year. The first 4 rounds will all be compensentary now, and each will be simmed 5 days at a time, and then a final 10 day round which is compensentary free.

2. Class A type free agents will now grant a draft pick through the first 20 days (4 rounds), rather than only the first 10. Class B compensation will stay as it was, through the first 10 days (2 rounds). We feel this will help things and now people won't be able to or want to wait to sign free agents.

3. Class A type free agents will net compensation in the form of a pick from #16 overall to #45 overall, depending on the signing team.

4. Class B free agents will net compensation in the form of a pick from #46 overall to #75 overall, depending on the signing team.

5. The class of the free agents is decided by statistics. I changed some of the Class-A and B qualifications very slightly, but nothing dramatic. We also now have ratings act as a factor in compensation, but statistics still play the dominating role.
Nonetheless, when signing FAs keep your eyes on ratings, because some players may not be rated in comparison to their class (meaning, 1-star players can infact be compensatary free agents, even type-a in a lot of cases. We will always post the list of who is a compensentary FA before free agency begins, but just keep your eyes peeled, because we don't want to fix anyone's snafu).

6. Ratings come into play in TWO situations now.
a) injuries, in which case Hammer or I will decide if a player who had a lost season but was on pace and has a good history or not deserves to net a comp pick.
b) players who didn't meet the statistical standpoint, whether it be due to a bad fluke season or what, will now have a chance to net your team comp pick through our new ratings requirements which is built around actuals and talent ratings. I will list the options below for this.

7) If you sign 2 players of the same class, the team whos player you signed officially FIRST, will be given the correct compensation. The team whos player you signed SECOND, will be given your NEXT ROUND pick, as well as a sandwich pick in between rounds.

This is known as the dave rule, since Diamond Dave initially asked the question which prompted this rule. To translate it and make it more understandable... and I'll use Dave as the example.
Dave signed Michael Young, a Class B free agent at the time, from the New York Yankees. Thus, the Yankees will be getting a 2nd round pick from Detroit, wherever he would pick in the draft. Now, let us assume dave signs another class b free agent that belongs to team X. He would send his 3rd round pick to team X, and team X would also get a sandwich pick in between rounds 2 and 3.

================

New STATISTICAL Qualifications For Class A & Class B Free Agents

A) Class A hitter compensation will be decided by...
1. A minimum of 500 PLATE APPEARANCES
2. An OPS of .830 or higher

B) class B hitter compensation will be decided by...
1. A minimum of 400 PLATE APPEARANCES
2. An OPS of .750 or higher

C) Class A starter compensation will be decided by...
1. A minimum of 200 IP
2. 25 starts
3. An ERA of 3.70 or lower

D) Class B starter compensation will be decided by...
1. A minimum of 150 innings pitched
2. 18 starts
3. An ERA of 4.25 or lower

E) Class A reliever compensation will be decided by...
1. Either 70 appearances or 70 IP
2. An ERA under 2.85

F) class B reliever compensation will be decided by...
1. either 50 appearances or 50 IP
2. an ERA under 3.25

============================================

New RATINGS Qualifications For Class A & Class B Free Agents
**Hitters must still have 500 PA to be elligible to qualify for Class A, or 400 PA to be elligible to qualify for Class B**
**Relievers must still have 70 appearences or 70 IP to be elligible to qualify for Class A, or 50 appearences and 50 IP to be elligible to qualify for Class B**
**Starters must still have a minimum 200 IP to be elligible to qualify for Class A, or 150 IP to be elligible to qualify for Class B**

Htter requirements:
There are two different possible point totals, and if a player reaches either, they are elligible. Why two? Because lead-off men and power hitters are completely different in ratings, and points need to be added in a different fashion to reach a set number.

There are two formulas here...

1.) Add "Talent" and "Overall" ratings including contact, gap, power, eye/discipline, and avoid k's. The total for Class A is 80, class B is 75.
2.) Add "Talent" and "Overall" ratings including contact, gap, eye/discipline, and avoid k's. That's still everything EXCEPT the power category. In place of it, add the player's running speed and stealing ability. Total for class A is 80, class B is 75.

Pitcher requirements:
Two here. One for MRs, one for SPs since MRs usually tend to be rated better.

Add "Talent" and "Overall" Stuff, Control, and Movement.

SPs:
Class A total: 55 points
Class B total: 45 points

MRs:
Class A total: 55 points
Class B total: 50 points

However, requirements for innings, like I said above, still applies.

Like I said above, at years' end I work out a list, so you don't really have to worry about this unless you want to know if the player is going to be type-A or type-B before you re-sign them. You can always PM me and ask if having difficulties.

[nick]

Ok, this isn't a lot better from the previous FAQ, but I tried to make it more user-friendly for everyone and less intimidating. I know there's a lot of content, but I felt most of it would need to be read if you're a new user to sim leagues or haven't had OOTP 6.5 at any point. I will add a little part on free agency itself, but since it changes on a year-to-year basis, I don't know what to put right now.

Anyone can free to ask individual questions via PM, if anything is still unclear. This is for those who are newer though, so you might not even want to bother reading it if you've been around for the longrun.

Thanks guys.