Baseball Newbies Campus

[BradZ]

Thanks to everyone who's offering advice.
I'm still getting the hang of this game so this thread has been very helpful.

I wanted to ask about the Financial Reports.

First, Projected Balance, is basically an estimate of how much the team stands to lose or gain in the upcoming season?
So if I look at that report now, it shows my team as -19M.
Is this still all projected?

Also, what does CASH mean? Is that money my owner gives me to spend?
And can any explain the dynamic regarding how much money my owner will take from me?
So if I show a surplus of $10M, will the owner take it and then adjust my budget so that I have $10M less the following season?

Thanks!

That -19mil is your projected budget room figure. It is simply,

BUDGET
(TOTAL EXPENSES TO DATE)
(REMAINING EXPENSES)


So, at this point, Total Expenses to Date would be comprised of Scouting and Development costs (they can still be adjusted, but the model shows current figures). So if you have 10mil for scouting and 10 mil for player dev, right now you would see -20mil for Total Expenses to Date. (buyouts on player contracts accumulate here as well)

Remaining Expenses is made up of player and coach salaries. As we start playing regular season games you'll see money move from remaining expenses into total expenses to date.

Example: I have a player that has a salary of 1.62mil. In essence that player earns $100k per game. So, before the season his 1.62mil would show in the remaining expenses bucket. after 100 games, 1mil would now be accrued in Total Expenses to Date with the remaining 620k still showing in Remaining Expenses.

Again, that number is against BUDGET. So if you are more successful at bringing $$'s in the door, that number becomes less relevant because you'll exceed the budgeted $$'s you were expected to receive. If you underperform, the number becomes less relevant in the other direction.

The game uses that projected budget room for FA calculations; to determine how much you "should" have available to sign free agents.

The cash figure is how much cash (profit, really) you brought with you from the previous season. The owner will take anything above $10mil, so if you start the year with exactly $10mil, it's likely the owner took the excess for his pockets. Anything south of $10mil (including negative balances) carries into the new season. Your cash balance figures into that FA calculation as well.

So, if you have -19mil projected budget room and $10mil cash, you would have -9mil available to spend on FA. Not that helpful. But, right now in your situation you control that -19mil figure, because it's made up of the $27mil you have allotted for scouting and development. If you back those figures down you can lower your expected shortfall.

[umd]

Brad is great with the financials and should be able to help. Until the calendar flips, what you are seeing is projections that are impacted by team options and arbitration among other things. Check your scouting and PD budgets also because there is extra money in there.

[Hank]

Thanks to everyone who's offering advice.
I'm still getting the hang of this game so this thread has been very helpful.

I wanted to ask about the Financial Reports.

First, Projected Balance, is basically an estimate of how much the team stands to lose or gain in the upcoming season?
So if I look at that report now, it shows my team as -19M.
Is this still all projected?

Also, what does CASH mean? Is that money my owner gives me to spend?
And can any explain the dynamic regarding how much money my owner will take from me?
So if I show a surplus of $10M, will the owner take it and then adjust my budget so that I have $10M less the following season?

Thanks!

[Sharkn20]

Managing your bullpen is probably the most difficult part of a manager's job during the season and in each game.

Relievers can be a fickle bunch. Dominant performances can be followed by blown appearances that lose a game.

Most importantly you need to monitor the health of your reliable arms, navigate the ups and downs of a game to properly choose which arm is needed in a situation.

There are often times you have no choice but to use a less reliable reliever to rest your most valuable ones.

It's all a balance. It's part of knowing that baseball isn't meant to be successful 100% of the time. The best teams still only win 3 of 5 games.

sent from my mobile device

Interesting stat man... I am happy with my current 11-16 record then :)

[Carlos]

I am slaving my relievers! Good to know!! Haha, since I don't have more than 3 trustful relievers is hard to give a full inning to young players... However I try when we are all the way up or down during the game to develop them...

When the ratings of the player improve?? During the season as they are playing?? Or during the off-season with the change of year??

Managing your bullpen is probably the most difficult part of a manager's job during the season and in each game.

Relievers can be a fickle bunch. Dominant performances can be followed by blown appearances that lose a game.

Most importantly you need to monitor the health of your reliable arms, navigate the ups and downs of a game to properly choose which arm is needed in a situation.

There are often times you have no choice but to use a less reliable reliever to rest your most valuable ones.

It's all a balance. It's part of knowing that baseball isn't meant to be successful 100% of the time. The best teams still only win 3 of 5 games.

sent from my mobile device

[Z]

I can't see any progression in my pitchers who are the players that I am monitorizing at the moment... Kind of regression maybe dropping some points or at times winning 3 or 4... But with 27 games played and the fact that they played only 5 (5-man rotation) maybe is the reason... I should be more patient I guess... In FOF you can see improvements every game or 2 if they are playing enough snaps

It's more of a long-term thing in baseball. You won't see much day-to-day, week-to-week change. It's more of a month-to-month thing where you have to look over more of a yearly scale to appreciate the changes.

[Sharkn20]

Both! Year-round.

I can't see any progression in my pitchers who are the players that I am monitorizing at the moment... Kind of regression maybe dropping some points or at times winning 3 or 4... But with 27 games played and the fact that they played only 5 (5-man rotation) maybe is the reason... I should be more patient I guess... In FOF you can see improvements every game or 2 if they are playing enough snaps

[Z]

When the ratings of the player improve?? During the season as they are playing?? Or during the off-season with the change of year??

Both! Year-round.

[Sharkn20]

I am slaving my relievers! Good to know!! Haha, since I don't have more than 3 trustful relievers is hard to give a full inning to young players... However I try when we are all the way up or down during the game to develop them...

When the ratings of the player improve?? During the season as they are playing?? Or during the off-season with the change of year??

[Z]

Well I get my 1st 5 winning streak in my rubbish DSL team!

3 pitchers, (pitcher 1st 5 innings, reliever 3 innings and the closer) per game and 5 man rotation during the week seems to work fine... Is it typical??

Three innings for a relief pitcher is on the high side in the current era of baseball. It's more normal for a relief pitcher to throw about one inning per appearance. Sometimes he might go two, occasionally even three.

[Sharkn20]

Well I get my 1st 5 winning streak in my rubbish DSL team!

3 pitchers, (pitcher 1st 5 innings, reliever 3 innings and the closer) per game and 5 man rotation during the week seems to work fine... Is it typical??

[Sharkn20]

You trying to get this man's head to explode?

He loves to take me to the edge :)

Seriously the game reflects that aspect as well??

[Carlos]

(Also, turn off ratings. Play stats only. )

You trying to get this man's head to explode?

Shark, 10 games isn't nearly enough time to evaluate people. Baseball seasons are looooooong and it takes about 200 at bats to get a good feel for a player.

This isn't FOF where you have 16 games to judge by.

By all means pay attention to hot and cold streaks, but don't go nuts and make too many changes because it becomes much harder to figure out if what you did had any effect, positive or negative. What you may take to be bad play may simply be a cold streak. Or the opposing team is on a hot streak. Or too many away games in a row. Or it could be a string of night games with the wind blowing 7 mph from the southwest while the moon was waxing gibbous.

Tldr: Don't micromanage too much when starting out.

(Also, turn off ratings. Play stats only. )

[Sharkn20]

You also need guys who get on base by drawing walks (the eye rating). For me they serve 2 fold. 1) Your power or high gap hitter have someone on base to drive in runs and 2). Forces the opposing pitcher to throw pitches and wear them down (pitchers stamina rating)

Your using a 1-100 rating system so best guess is no matter how high the kids power rating is probably should never start a hitter was a contact rating lower then 35.

Great!! Thanks! ! Let's try this one and see how it goes! [emoji1]