Squad-building questions in frachise

[LocoBielsa]

I am quite good at franchise modes - played Football Manager since I have memory, and Im good at Madden and NBA - but, even tough I get most of baseball rules and stuff - I know how contract works and all that - I dont have any idea which positions I should value. Whats the best way to build a winner, how many players per position are needed and that sort of stuff.

Any tips would be super useful.

[TheWarmWind]

Hmm, I can give you a few tips, but really your mentality should be to build whatever squad works best for you. There are some general suggestions, but there can always be exceptions, so don't treat these as hard and fast rules. Also your slider settings can make a huge difference. If your playing default sliders, I'd prioritize offense at almost every position, whereas on my personal sliders you're going to find defense is of increased importance.

Also keep in mind that this is all within context of the game, which while it's one of the best simulations around, still isn't 1 for 1 with real life.

Defensive:

The most basic rule of thumb is that you generally want speed up the middle and power on the corners. I'll break down each defensive position.

C: I like to prioritize defense over offense in this position. Blocking is your most important attribute, followed by arm strength and fielding. Reaction is also important for getting to those dropped balls quickly.

1B: Prioritize offense here. Fielding is the only real attribute of importance, though reaction can be occasionally helpful.

2B: Kind of a mixed bag here. Reaction and arm accuracy are the only truly important defensive attributes, as the 2B only has short throws and usually has the time to recover and retry if they boot the ball. You will notice defensive specialists being difference makers here, but it's not exactly bad to prioritize offense here either.

SS: Prioritize Defense. Every attribute is important here, but reaction and arm strength are the most so.

3B: Reaction and arm strength are also important here, but it's ok to prioritize offense at this position.

LF: Prioritize offense. Arm strength and accuracy can be difference makers, but are not required.

CF: Prioritize defense. Reaction and speed are the most important attributes.

RF: Prioritize offense. Arm strength and fielding are the most important attributes.


In terms of offense, there are three mentalities to lineup construction.

Old School

1. Speed
2. Contact
3. Best Overall hitter or 5 tool hitter
4. Power
5. Power
6. Contact
7. Contact
8. Contact
9. Whatever is left or Speed.

New School

1. On Base Percentage
2. Best Overall Hitter
3. 3rd Best hitter
4. 2nd Best Hitter
5. Power

The second half of the lineup is just build on OBP unless you have a good basestealer and a guy who excels at hitting singles. Then you put the basestealer in front of the singles guy.

Dual Lineup

This means you construct the top half using either the new school or old school strategy, then start a secend, mini top half starting at the #6 spot. The 8th batter acts as the anchor to this lineup, similar to the #4 spot above it.

You should use whatever strategy fits the players you have best.

Hopefully you found all of this helpful.

[fnz21]

Most teams go with something like this:

5 Starting Pitchers
6 Relievers - at least 1, maybe 2-3 lefties here
1 Closer

2 Catchers - usually one catcher has first base as a secondary position

6 Infielders - 4 starters, and a few utility guys - maybe some who can play 1B/3B, or SS/2B, or SS/3B. The only real reason to have an extra person whose main position is 1B is if 1, you are in the AL and need a DH, or 2, he can play multiple IF/OF positions.

5 Outfielders

Over the course of a lineup there's many positional stereotypes.
Catcher - A catcher that hits over .300 is hard to find. Most teams employ a catcher who is good at defense, and/or can hit for power.

First Base - Most first baseman, hit for either average or power (hopefully both!). They're usually less agile than the rest of the infield, or have weaker throwing arms. Usually older players gravitate towards this position due to the skills/lackthereof mention above.

Second Base - Second basemen all over the map. They might have weaker arms than the shortstop, but you still want an agile guy here. Some 2B hit 30 home runs, some hit .300, some do neither because they play good defense.

Shortstop - Probably the most athletic of the infield positions. A strong throwing arm and great fielding attributes are necessary. Speed could come in handy, too.

Third Base - 3B kinda mirrors 1B, but with a stronger throwing arm. Definitely a must have for a 3B.

Left field - Outside of 1B, LF is where poor fielders can be hidden. This might be a power guy, or just someone who is slow.

Center field - The anchor of the outfield. You need someone with speed to cover ground, and hopefully a good arm.

Right field - Some sort of combination of the other two outfield spots.

Bench - This is where you keep specialists, or platoon guys. Your extra outfielder maybe a good hitter against lefties, so maybe he starts against them. Your backup infielder might be really fast, so maybe he pinch runs or comes in as a defensive replacement.

A lot of these things can be moved around if you find the right group of players.

[TheWarmWind]

After re-reading your post I realized I didn't answer your question.

The roster screen does a good job giving you an idea how many players you need at each position. Just remember RP (relief pitchers) and CP (Closing pitchers) are interchangeable, so it's ok to be in the red on one as long as you have enough in the other to fill in those numbers.

As for contracts, players have three years of renewable and three years of arbitration before they are eligible for free agency. A "year" is a season in the majors (minor league time does not count for this), so the numbers after the decimal point on a players MLB service time represent days, not a percentage.

Renewable means that a team has the choice to unilaterally renew a contract for a year if negotiations don't work out, for as little as 80% of last year's salary. The team just has to offer any contract of any value to maintain the rights to the player. The two parties can continue to negotiate on a new contract (including multi-year deals) until near the end of the off season, where the team must either renew the contract or let the player go.

Arbitration means that the team and the player each get to submit a number value for a one year salary. As long as the team offers an arbitration amount, they maintain the rights to the player. The two parties can continue to negotiate for a contract (including multi-year deals) until an arbitration date, where a third party decides which of the two submitted numbers is more appropriate. The team then either has to sign the player to a one year deal at the arbitration value, or the player becomes a free agent.

Free agents only have 5 days of exclusive negotiations at the end of a season with a team, then any team can bid on them. Team's can can make what is known as a qualifying offer on the free agent, which is a one year contract that if rejected, means the team losing the player will get a compensation pick in the draft from the team that does sign the free agent, but qualifying offers are quite expensive and are usually only used on star players. Teams can continue to negotiate even after offering a qualifying offer, and are still free to make bids on the player after they hit free agency.

There is also a rule called super 2, where if a player is exceptional then they only have 2 years of renewable contract as opposed to three.

Players can't play in the MLB unless they are on the 40 man roster. Once on the 40 man roster, a player only has 3 options. When a player on the 40 man is sent down to the minors, an option is used. Once an option is used, they can be called back up or sent back down freely for the rest of the year with no more consequences. Once all three options are used, a player must first clear waivers before being sent down, giving other teams the opportunity to claim them.

There is more but I'm getting lazy. I suggest checking out the transaction handbook in game. It is quite a useful tool.

[LocoBielsa]

All of the responses have been super useful. Such an amazing community. Thanks everyone!

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