Franchise Mode 2021 Edition

[tabarnes19_SDS]

I'm putting my annual thread here with issues/workarounds for franchise mode. As I said during the stream, logic changes can be more important than new features, and that is true here.


1.) Players still cannot be traded as a renewable or arbitration player until they have a contract although the cpu can make those trades. Players on DL are traded by the CPU although that is a violation of the CBA.

I am very early in testing and will be adding things here as I go, but contract logic is vastly improved. Players are receiving much larger contracts and more to scale with what real contracts are. I believe that performance has some affect on the contract received. I need to really chart it, but multiple sims I am seeing higher values after a better season. I love the fact that contracts look like real MLB contracts. It has also helped with trade logic IMO.
correa.jpg

2.Trade logic seems improved, but there are the occasional headscratchers. I think rebuilding teams are too quick to trade young controllable superstars. Think Bichette and Mondesi etc. Trades now are more prospects for established players. I would like to see more vets, guys with big deals and expiring contracts, traded for the final push. Too many of the trades are guys in arbitration years. *I would like to see more vets, guys with big deals and expiring contracts, traded for the final push. Too many of the trades are guys in arbitration years. *I believe the system sees players in arbitration and renewable years as in final year of contract and does not take into account team control. Maybe a way to check if they have 5 years service time to determine* final year for renewable and arb players to be flagged for rebuilding teams to trade.] There seems to be bug whenever G. Torres is changed to a SS he is traded and the Yankees use an outfielder at SS.

Team statistics used to get inflated in the past over multiple years. ERA, BA, HR, batting average. So far it is holding pretty consistent in 6 and 7 year sims. I am going to also look at Starting pitchers(Minor leaguers that progress) and what their stats look like. Stamina now DOES progress on occasion!

The draft and scouting is largely the same. I was hoping to draft occasional high ceiling high rated player or 2 way player. I have yet to see those type of players in the draft.



Some things I need to investigate more which concern me.
3. Teams are not filling their 40 man as the season progresses. This in itself is not a bug since they technically don't have to have a full 40 man, but teams often do or are short a player. The CPU has been at times with only 31. This causes issues with rule 5 protection, playoff eligibility and callups.
10man.jpg

rosterreduced.jpg

4. The bigger issue seems to be callup/send down logic. Teams are not filling active roster after injury or roster move. You can see in the picture here a team that has a 10 player positional roster and 12 pitchers. This is a big one I hope is addressed in a patch. There is only 22 players on the active roster. This happens every sim and in every season including 2nd on.

5. The other issue is that teams will designated for assignment young high potential players. These players become claimed and the cpu could hold onto them by just optioning them down. I'm not sure yet if that is why the teams 40 man rosters are reduced. I don't know yet, why they are designated them either.
released.jpg



6. Players are picked up in the rule 5 that are 77/78 B potential players aged 22-23. I think this is because they are not being added to the playoff roster. The rule 5 is overpopulated because teams are not protecting the players. You can see in this clip after year 1 and it also occurs 5 years in future. Year 2 had 6 rounds of Rule 5.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kicV3lSo5o

7. Players are being signed and traded shortly after in offseason again. An example is Verlander re-signed and then traded a month later. Lynn is re-signed and then packaged in a trade. MLB rules prohibit this: "8. An Article XX-B MLB free-agent who signs a Major League contract after 11:59 PM (Eastern) on the 5th day after the final game of the World Series has an automatic "no trade" right through June 15th."

Minor stats are there, but only for the current season. I thought they would be archived and you could track a player. Similar to how it was before, but it doesn't track each level unless they also played in the MLB. They are wiped at the end of the season.

I worked on progression and long term franchise stability today. The positive is that stats seem to hold pretty close to normal. Team stats hold true and so do individual stats on average.

8. One issue I see is progression especially at the SS position. I believe the cause is the starting roster has too many high potential players at that position. CF also seems to be a little high in that regard. This is one team's roster at the end of season 6.

Here is a video showing what the roster composition looks like then as well.
https://youtu.be/zWtqqvspgtg

Progression in itself is not bad. I ran a test with some players and drafted players and compared overalls over the year and levels they were at. There is the ability to drop potential as witnessed by Jackson a SS.(That may be a product of too many SS)

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...33U/edit#gid=0

9. The bigger issue came later with strange salaries. The trade logic and budgets changed. Players were signing very low salaries and trades were occurring with high rated players making 100-500K. Here is video evidence I am sending to SDS. I thought the contract was a result of no salary room available which you can see by the picture was not the case. This is disappointing hopefully it can be fixed.
https://youtu.be/_eZxmEwysG8

The playoff eligibility rule is now corrected. As long as the player is on the 40 man by Sept 1 he is eligible for the playoff roster. No longer does the player have to be on the active roster. Injured players prior to Sept. 1 and return after are now eligible, as they should be! Great news!

10. There is a bug though, where if a player comes off dl in playoffs, it won't allow them to be removed or added. They kind of disappear and you play short handed. Shows they are on the roster. Video shows Gio on roster and playoff roster full. He is not on lineup screen and can't be removed from playoff roster. It says can't remove injured player.

https://youtu.be/R5mgj5CxOaU

11. Players that are young with options and B to A rated are being designated for assignment. Some are not even on ML roster.

12. Doing some deeper testing in the offseason and I'm seeing some issues with arbitration a few years down the road.

Many players are accepting low contracts in final year of arbitration. Kory Lee a 99 overall with 5 years MLB time accepts 8.2 mil. As well as others that are highly rated and final year.

https://twitter.com/tabarnes19/statu...019325442?s=19

Devi Garcia a 94 overall with 5 years service time accepts 6.2 mil coming off 2 season of 20 plus wins.

Their contracts should be at least double what they are.

It seems to be a product of not offering arbitration correctly from first year eligibility on appropriate value. You can see Sanchez in the video making more on his 4th year than Lee does on his final year.

The rules of not paying less than the year before are correct because after year one you can see that Judge and Turner win their arbitration cases and make more. That is because the rosters have a higher contract value, their real one.

[TheBleedingRed21]

This should definitely be something that is fixed in a patch, surely...

Wonder (as much as it would suck) if we manually make every 40 man stay full throughout the season if it’ll help some of these issues? Would suck.. but would suck more to see some of those issues.

[tabarnes19_SDS]

I believe a fix is on the way for the roster management (not filling active roster.)

The mode is getting some more polish.

If there is anything, franchise related, someone wants me to look into later, let me know and I'll try to get to it this afternoon.

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[countryboy]

Quote: Originally Posted by tabarnes19

I believe a fix is on the way for the roster management (not filling active roster.) The mode is getting some more polish. If there is anything, franchise related, someone wants me to look into later, let me know and I'll try to get to it this afternoon. Sent from my SM-N986U using Tapatalk

Wonder if this mornings patch fixed it??

Thanks for doing this tabarnes


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[tabarnes19_SDS]

Quote: Originally Posted by countryboy

Wonder if this mornings patch fixed it?? Thanks for doing this tabarnes Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

Doesn't look like it made it in yet.

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[countryboy]

Quote: Originally Posted by tabarnes19

Doesn't look like it made it in yet. Sent from my SM-N986U using Tapatalk

Have you seen the CPU do in season contract extensions in your sims?

One thing I was hoping was added this year


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[tabarnes19_SDS]

Quote: Originally Posted by countryboy

Have you seen the CPU do in season contract extensions in your sims? One thing I was hoping was added this year Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

I haven't looked directly for that, but nothing appears in the logs that I have seen, to show the cpu does extensions.

They do buy out arbitration and free agent years occasionally during the arbitration process as in years past.

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[flamingoezz]

Impressions of changes to progression and trade logic? Does it feel better?