MLB ’12: The Show – A Beginner’s Guide to Building a Successful Franchise
First off, my name is Kevin and I’ve been playing sports games for as long as I can remember. I decided to make one of these guides for the OS Community so I can share some of my wisdom with all of the people who share their talents. My username on the OS Forums is “KDWilliams85” so if you have any questions, comments, or whatever… address me there. J
In this guide, I will discuss all of the monetary implications, just how contracts are worked out, what are “good” and “bad” contracts, and some tried and true techniques to build your team up to a successful contender.
So, let’s get started.
Chapter One: The Basics
You can’t build a successful dynasty without first knowing just what your team has to contend with on a yearly basis. It is important to know if you have a big market (Yankees, Mets, Dodgers) or a small market (Colorado, Miami, Oakland) or a team that is in the middle of the road. This dynamic plays a very big role because it will set just how much wiggle room you have to start with. Not just in terms of how much money you’ll have to start with, but also in terms of talent levels and just how able you will be to attract top-level talent.
So, there are two fundamental numbers that you’ll have to keep track of from the start. These two figures are called your payroll and your budget. Your payroll is the amount of money that each player who is under contract occupies for the fiscal year. Your budget is how much money the “owner” will allow you to spend every year. It’s pretty straight forward. Whenever you start your Franchise, every single team will be under budget. You will never start out over budget. For example, I’ll use the Texas Rangers. These numbers are FAR from accurate but they’ll do justice for this manual.
2012 Texas Rangers Payroll - $113,000,000
2012 Texas Rangers Budget - $140,000,000
Looking at those two figures, as the “general manager,” I am left with $27,000,000. Now, $27,000,000 seems like a lot of money, doesn’t it? However, that figure is allocated for your team as a whole. So, any promotions you want to run, upgrades to the stadium, and things of the like will come out of that pot. That figure is not just limited to your team’s contractual obligations to players.
Now, I’m not saying that your secondary fiscal obligations aren’t important because they in turn develop revenue for you. What I am saying it isn’t central to your effort. Roughly 78% of whatever your payroll is will be from your team’s Major Player contracts. The rest will come from your Minor League affiliates and secondary expenses.
So, let’s get to the meat of this manual…
Chapter Two: Player Contracts – What Are They?
To start, let’s define what a contract is. In “The Show,” it’s nothing more than a gauge of just how important your players are to you. The more money they want, the better they are and more vital to your efforts.
For example, I’ll use Josh Hamilton. He is my favorite player on the Texas Rangers. Mr. Hamilton is slated to make $13,000,000 this year. Now, let’s look at my payroll figures from the first chapter.
2012 Texas Rangers Payroll - $113,000,000
2012 Josh Hamilton Salary - $13,000,000
He is making a lot of money! He is worth it. However, from a monetary standpoint, he kills me. He accounts for roughly ten percent of my payroll for the year. $13,000,000 is a lot of money in any market. However, since I have a budget of $140,000,000, I can afford to keep him long term. He is on the last year of his contract on the default roster so he’s looking for a raise. But, we’ll get to that later…
So, to recap, a contract is a measure of how much money a player makes during the year. You have roughly 80-100 of these to manage year in and year out. They’ll range from $20,000 to $20,000,000. It just depends on who it is and how talented they are.
Contracts aren’t limited to players, either. Your manager, coaches, and scouts all have them too and they are factored into your payroll.
Now, technically speaking, MLB does not have a salary cap. But, “The Show” does use the budget system that acts as a make-shift cap. As mentioned before, your budget is influenced by a lot of things. How big/small your franchise is and your successes are two major ones. Maintaining a competitive balance against what your owner allows you to spend is the challenge.
One other major influence in just how much or how long a player would be willing to play for your team is how old they are. In baseball, a player’s “prime” age is typically anywhere from 26-31 years old depending on their position. Your position players can remain at a high level for many years after their prime. Pitchers will decline later due to the nature of their position. It isn’t always a bad idea to give a player out of their prime the type of contract they want. However, it is common place to not do so due to their declining talent level and restrictions of your future efforts. Here are some broad tips in which to help build your talent base with equally appropriate contracts:
1) Never, under any circumstances, sign a player that is over the age of 35 with the intention of having him as a cog in your plans. Never. You cannot build a dynasty with players past their prime. That isn’t to say that they aren’t useful. They just aren’t useful long-term.
2) Signing often injured players is like playing Russian roulette. You never know when you’re going to eat the bullet. Injured players aren’t useless but you don’t want to pay them while they ride the pine and recover.
3) There is no such thing as a good way to save money. The only way you can save money is to not spend it. MLB institutes guaranteed contracts so there is no point in waiving your “bad” contracts. They will still eat you alive unless someone claims them off of waivers.
4) Trading can be invaluable. You can save money by offering your larger contracts for several smaller ones or to teams that have the space to absorb it. You can’t always count on this tactic, however.
5) You can build a winning team without elite talent. Consistency will trump star power any given day. I cannot emphasize the importance of this one enough.
6) Never sign players that are above average through good in talent level to one year deals. One year deals are good on paper, but you’ll never be able to determine just how impactful they are until they play. I would rather have the player for three years on a manageable contract than have him for one year at a low amount and then attempt to re-sign him at a significantly higher figure. Regardless of how talented he is.
7) This one is my favorite: Play the market. Don’t spend what money you have on clearly inferior talent. Keep the money if nobody interests you. Free agency won’t yield you a championship on its own. Just ask the Yankees. They tried to buy a championship and have failed miserably the last three years.
You don’t have to always follow these guidelines but if you do, you’ll be a lot wiser about where you spend your money.
Chapter Three: Player Contracts – How Do They Work?
Player contracts are the monetary side to their impact for your team. They vary widely and they have an equally varying impact for your team. I’ll use Josh Hamilton’s contract as a reference.
Josh Hamilton is making $13,000,000 during the 2012 season for the Texas Rangers. Now, using the payroll numbers from earlier, you’d know that the Rangers have an $113,000,000 payroll. He accounts for 10% of the annual total of everyone who is under contract. How much one person impacts the whole isn’t always important. But, if your high salary talent is sitting on one year deals, it becomes very important.
So, let’s start off with just how he impacts my finances in 2012. To start, let’s review my two important figures:
1) 2012 Payroll - $113,000,000. The payroll is the summary figure of everyone who is under contract for the 2012 fiscal year. It is not the total figure of all existing contracts. This number will tend to vary widely from year to year depending on who is under contract or not.
2) 2012 Budget - $140,000,000. The budget is a projection of how much the “owner” will allow you to spend. It is a summary figure of what you can spend period. It includes your player/coaches contracts, stadium improvements, and promotions to help your attendance.
Now, there is a clear difference between those two figures. As a “general manager,” you can see that I am $27,000,000 under budget. Meaning, I have $27,000,000 to spend as I choose on upgrades to my stadium, talent acquisition, and whatnot. So, how does Hamilton fit into these?
Josh Hamilton will fit into the “Payroll” column. He is under contract. His salary is compiled into the initial $113,000,000 figure. Any coach/player you wish to add will raise your payroll for the year regardless of when you add him. If you add $3,000,000 late in the year, you are accountable for every penny.
Here are some common questions about adding to your payroll:
1) How does a waiver claim affect your payroll? If you land a waived player, you become accountable for the difference in total salary and paid salary. For example, if Player A is scheduled to make $5,000,000 and he already has been paid $3,000,000 by his former team, you have increased your payroll by $2,000,000. You are not responsible for anything already paid. You are only accountable for what is left.
2) What monetary impact can making a trade do? Trading assets works both ways; however, trading works better when you’re looking to trim payroll. But, you can add to your payroll in this manner. The only caveat really is that the asset’s total yearly salary must be less than the difference between your payroll and your budget. For example, if I want to make a trade that sends Joe Schmoe (who makes $500,000 for the year) in exchange for Barry Bigstar (who makes $15,000,000 for the year), I have to have $14,500,000 left in the budget. Using my model, I have $27,000,000 to play around with beforehand. So, in theory, I can make this trade without making a move that would require trimming my payroll.
3) Does signing a free agent late in the year add to my payroll? Yes, it does. Signing a free agent at any time increases your payroll. Signing a free agent late in the year gives you some flexibility in future negotiations due to a missing benchmark of performance versus pay rate. I advocate for doing this if there is a significant talent who hasn’t played at all.
So far, we’ve discussed implications and techniques that add to your payroll. Now, we’ll discuss measures to decrease your payroll.
1) Does waiving a player relieve me of their total salary for the year? No, it does not. MLB contracts are guaranteed so it does not matter when you waive them. If they clear waivers, you are responsible for every penny. If a player gets claimed by another team, then you are responsible for only what has been paid.
2) How does trading help me trim payroll? It works in the same manner of adding payroll. Except when you’re looking to trim your payroll, you’ll be looking to make deals that decrease your obligations. Using the earlier model, if I wanted to trade Barry Bigstar (who makes $15,000,000 for the year) for Grant Good (who makes $8,000,000 for the year), his team would have to be able to absorb the difference between the two figures (which is $7,000,000) while staying under budget. Since there is more parity between these two figures, it is a more amicable deal to make in terms of talent level and financial flexibility.
3) Does waiving a player who has a longer term contract save me money in the long term? No, it does not. His salary per year is counted in your payroll for however many years he has remaining. MLB contracts are guaranteed and every dollar is required to be paid. This negative aspect is usually counter-balanced by the notion of the player being claimed off of waivers. In which case, as mentioned earlier, you are responsible for what was already paid.
Contractual obligations can be very easily managed. When you’re building, it is important to know when to add or trim payroll accordingly.
Chapter Four: Player Contracts – The Good, Bad, and Ugly
As stated earlier, all MLB contracts in “The Show” are guaranteed. Which means that every dollar you sign an asset to is accountable to someone. Whether or not that someone is you will be determined by how well you manage them. So, what constitutes a friendly or an unfriendly contract?
Here are some tips that can help you determine what a friendly contract is.
1) Any player that has a one or a two year contract that can be easily replaced regardless of how much money he makes. While players who make over $9,000,000 isn’t ideally friendly, the fact that it is easier to make a trade for someone who either makes the same amount or is on a shorter contract is ideal.
2) Any player, regardless of how much money he makes, who is on a one or two year contract and is over the age of 33 has a friendly contract. If said player is 34 and on the last leg of a $15,000,000 deal, he would likely re-sign at a significantly smaller figure. It’s this tactic that will open your long term finances up enough to keep your rising stars on the team.
3) Any player, especially if he is under the age of 30, which has multiple years remaining on a contract, is generally friendly. It leaves you options further down the road as to being able to trade it away for appropriate value.
4) Any player under a one year contract, regardless of how much money he makes, is friendly. Once it expires, it expires. The dollar amount instantly comes off the books period.
Here are some tips to determine what an unfriendly contract is.
1) Any player, over the age of 33, who is on a contract of four or more years and makes more than $6,000,000 per year, is unfriendly. You can’t easily move a 33 year old player who makes a significant amount against your payroll over longer periods. Not just because of his age, but because it is very possible you will not get value in a return investment.
2) Claiming a player over the age of 33 off of waivers who has a contract of over $10,000,000 per year and has multiple years remaining, is unfriendly. It is essentially adding $5,000,000 or more in payroll in one year and doubling that amount the remaining years is crippling to a budget especially when your budget is governed by small market logic.
3) Arbitrated salaries against your previous year’s payroll are always unfriendly.
4) Any contract that increases by 750% or more the next year.
In any case, there are going to be ugly revelations in learning how to manage your finances in “The Show.” While it is just a video game, players are going to get older. They are also going to decline, slump, and exceed their value. The downside to having guaranteed contracts means that you can’t immediately rid yourself of that responsibility. You can’t always make good decisions regarding your talent base and keeping your competitive balance. You won’t be able to rectify bad decisions all the time either. Sometimes, you’ve just got to sleep in the bed you’ve made yourself. It isn’t always pleasant but it’s just something you can’t escape.
Chapter Five: Player Management
When you’re building a successful team, age will always be a factor in personnel moves. It’s inevitable that you’ll have to make decisions based on age and ability. It’s part of the business. However, there are four ways to start, develop, maintain, and transition your Franchise.
1) Start: Many, if not all teams, have one or two players that you can build around. However, most of the teams that are rebuilding don’t have enough to warrant high end assets to join the effort. So, if you’re in this position, you have to be able to land prospective talent in the draft. As for free agency, you’d be able to entice good players to join you. But, your elite talent is going to have to be homegrown or be gained at the expense of a lot of others. The difficult part is getting the pieces in place.
2) Develop: 20-25 of the 30 MLB teams are in a position to develop enough talent to make a competitive push. There’s enough talent in place to where you don’t necessarily need to make a big impact, but a few key pieces here and there to aid your budding talent to bring hope to fruition.
3) Maintain: Maintaining a competitive team means that you’d have to be able to put a team out that can win every single game. You can’t expect mediocrity to become elite overnight. “The Show’s” ownership system rewards great seasons by expanding your budget and reprimands failure by shrinking it. Winning isn’t a make-all to being the next Steinbrenner, but developing a consistently competitive team will let the CPU’s logic to include your team in future endeavors.
4) Transition: Knowing when your mainstays have exceeded their usefulness will be important in developing a long-term competitive team. I’m not saying that you should get rid of them because they’re older. I am saying that you’ll have to know when to promote your younger talent. Transitions are aided especially through free agency. Skill weaknesses don’t always have to be addressed through the draft if you just need a stop-gap so you can develop other talent. Hopefully, by this stage, you should have enough young talent and consistent play from your veterans to make bolder moves.
Chapter Six: Player Management – Kevin’s Personal Criteria for Success
Everyone has their own way of running a successful team and that’s fine. It’s your Franchise and you could run it however you like. But, I’d be remiss if I didn’t share some of my secrets of building a successful team.
Here are some basic overall tips I’ve gotten over the years.
1) Offense wins games but defense wins championships.
2) You can never have too many aces.
3) Slow and steady wins the race. Or, in this case, you need consistency.
4) Star power is something special. But, there is no I in team. An overall great team with talent everywhere will trump an okay team with one or two stars on the field.
5) The importance of matchups cannot be overstated.
Here are some tips for player management.
1) I don’t like having multiple aces on the pitching staff. That eats your payroll. Give me an ace, three solid starters, and a decent bullpen and you can win pitcher’s duels.
2) In the batting lineup, aim for contact over power. If you can land both, go for it. “Small ball” is so much easier when your guys can land singles and doubles consistently. You only find success in swinging for the fences if the ball goes over the fence.
3) The prime number of all personnel is 28. By then, they should all be free agents and free of any arbitration. If they are key players, you could sign them to long term deals without any significant complications in maintaining your payroll.
4) Anyone over the age of 34 would be the first to hit the waiver wire. More often than not, they are on manageable contracts and your financial obligations to them are limited.
5) Blockbuster trades are overrated. If you have to make a move mid-season, be on the dealing end of the trade. Be rid of your superstar and gain a prospect or two. What you lose in immediate talent, you gain later on in developing assets and you trim payroll.
6) When making trades, aim for assets that have a year or two left unless you’re trading like players. Lateral moves, on paper, will be more successful than moves made with the intention of making an immediate difference.
And perhaps the biggest and most controversial of all…
7) Everyone is expendable under the right circumstances. If an opportunity exists to make a deal for both short and long-term success, DO IT.
This guide is just a basic strategy guide to help you Franchise players (such as myself) to get you going with some basic tips and strategies that I’ve found to help. Baseball, I think, it’s the ultimate expression of how winning teams are built.
If you have any questions, additions, comments, or anything… don’t hesitate to look for me on OS. I may want to build a team-by-team tip and strategy guide and I’d need you guys to help!
Thanks for reading and good luck to all of you!
-Kevin “KDWilliams85” Williams