Budgets Make Deadline Deals Unrealistic

[Mosier77]

I'm doing a franchise with the Reds and at the deadline I was determined to move Brandon Phillips and Johnny Cueto. Trading Phillips went as expected, but trading Cueto was ridiculous.

Any trade that would have netted me a good young prospect or two was impossible to bridge the budget gap, and any trade that worked budget-wise netted me no prospects and made no sense for the team getting Cueto becuase they were giving up valuable veteran players for their post-season push. For example: with the Nats I had to take Gio Gonzales in return to make the budget work, with Red Sox I had to take Hanley, with the Mets I had to take Wright, etc.

In the end the only trade that was even remotely realistic was with the Cubs, in my own damn division, but I had no choice really. I spent hours trying to find other realistic trades and couldnt.

Anyone else trying to rebuild find that the budgets are way to strict and make getting young talent impossible? Contending teams never have qualms about adding salary at the deadline.

[Gosens6]

The franchise mode in this series has a LONG way to go. While theyve made some improvements this year, they really need to do a full rebuild of this mode to get it up to par. Things like this, along with the unrealistic ai trades, awful stat tracking, no ability to offer in season contract extensions, and, after 8+ years of play, cpu generated pictures are dominating the league because of the subpar progression system, offense is almost rendered obsolete.

Also to your point, I never see the ai pull off trades that involve prospects for established players . It's always 1 for 1

In its current state, it's pretty much a waste to play franchise mode.

[Mosier77]

Quote: Originally Posted by Gosens6

The franchise mode in this series has a LONG way to go. While theyve made some improvements this year, they really need to do a full rebuild of this mode to get it up to par. Things like this, along with the unrealistic ai trades, awful stat tracking, no ability to offer in season contract extensions, and, after 8+ years of play, cpu generated pictures are dominating the league because of the subpar progression system, offense is almost rendered obsolete. Also to your point, I never see the ai pull off trades that involve prospects for established players . It's always 1 for 1 In its current state, it's pretty much a waste to play franchise mode.

I still very much enjoy franchise mode, but there are a few things absent that are inexcusable:

1. In season extensions
2. Expanding budgets for playoff bound teams making a deadline push
3. AI trades are so bad I turn them off
4. No international signing market. That would be a fun addition.

[johntait1]

They should just add in a real owner mode with a working economic system like Madden. Madden is inferior to this game in pretty much every single way, but you can actually turn off the salary cap in Madden and just pay your players by how much money you make from tickets, food, merchandise, etc. Since that it how the MLB budget actually works, they really need to add it in the game.

[Mosier77]

Quote: Originally Posted by johntait1

They should just add in a real owner mode with a working economic system like Madden. Madden is inferior to this game in pretty much every single way, but you can actually turn off the salary cap in Madden and just pay your players by how much money you make from tickets, food, merchandise, etc. Since that it how the MLB budget actually works, they really need to add it in the game.

They should at the very least have "Dynamic" or "Smart" budgets. Right now the only option to ignore the budget or use a hard budget. A "Dynamic/Smart Budget" system could give you and offseason budget, then adjust mid season based on performance.

For example: My Reds budget is $130 million. It could be a $130 million offseason budget but if I'm in first place near the deadline I could receive a budget increase to $145 million. Conversely if I'm out of it I could get a message stating that the owner would like to shed some payroll if possible.

[rjackson]

When you start a new franchise, the game takes a teams current players salaries, adds them up, and then adds about $10MM to come up with the budget. I think that is the source of the problem when dealing with a Cueto and his salary.


If you are using 30 team control, you could force the trade through or even spend some stubs to increase the team's overall budget to squeeze Cueto in. Hope this helps.

[tabarnes19_SDS]

The cpu used to be able to take on extra salary and go over budget during the season.

[Heroesandvillains]

Quote: Originally Posted by tabarnes19

The cpu used to be able to take on extra salary and go over budget during the season.

Has that changed?