What is your Franchise Strategy to make Profit?

[iRaphahell]

I am really curious, I am trying to figure a way to make profit in the Franchise mode but I can't find one, I am interested in building the strongest team but the problem is that I build up players with player development points but when they retire, their salary doesn't go up so I cannot trade them with a good player and I end up losing

[GotRum?]

Yeah, I'm on season 5 of my franchise and see similar issues. The salaries of free agents keep creeping higher but the cap doesn't go up. It's a bit disappointing because the S players end up stuck in free agency most of the season and I don't get to play with or against them. At the start of the franchise S players are in the high teens for salary. After they leave and get resigned a few times, they're way up in the 20s an 30s. They become too expensive to get so sit in free agency. The CPU will sometime sign them in the 20s, but then get rid of them during the season because their team sucks because they spent sooo much on one player. This happens multiple times and keeps inflating salaries.

At the start of Franchise mode, most A level players are under 10 million. In my 5th season the CPU usually signs A level players in the 13-16 M range.

My strategy is to only have 2 RPs that can actually pitch, get Ds at really low salary for the other RPs. Same with back up players, I get the cheapest ones that I can find with good fielding and throwing. I only play them for injuries. This way I can at least get some Bs and B+s in free agency.

I wish the salary didn't creep up like this or that the cap went up instead. It would allow to have a more balanced team and do pinch hitters, runners, etc...

I still like to stay 4-8 mil under the salary cap too so I can use player developments, because they're fun. :)

[lord_zbyszko]

As with real baseball you'll never have a team that's "the best". I like to wait until near the end of the season to hire free agents that are B or higher, if any, because salaries for free agents drop as the season goes on.

Even the best players have to take days off, and having a very weak replacement can cost you games. Keep that in mind when splurging on really good players. I like to always have at least one utility player that can play at least IF or OF. Also you always want at least 2 C since they get injured faster.

I try not to spend more than 3-4m on each reliever since they pitch so little. Closers, while nice, are usually a waste. Keep in mind velocity is pretty worthless against the AI since they have perfect eye for fast pitches. Focus on junk and accuracy, all my relievers have 15 or less velocity and do well, also they're cheap. SP/RPs are awesome, they can relieve but also have a ton of stamina to play game after game. Try to have one or two, and they don't need to be expensive either. I usually go for 4 SP, 1 SP/RP, and 3 RP.

I agree that development isn't as permanent as it should be, and that's an unfortunate risk in the game right now. I try to only develop players in their 20's and ignore the older players that tend to want more money and might retire. Also try to only develop the key players that play every game.

[iRaphahell]

Good tips, I appreciate the details, it is indeed unfortunate that the computer doesn't have problems with the speed of pitches in higher difficulty, getting the corners is more difficult to them rather than the speed.

I hope they will modify the situation a bit with player development as well, but one other problem that I face right now is that I play on 55-60 ego and there are couple of teams in the franchise that I play against and are powerhouses, maxed out on all the stats literally, and it is odd that it's very difficult to me to build an all stars team and here is the cpu with at least 3 teams with most of their players A's and S's, pretty odd

1 meatball and it's a home run