[CurlyKarkovice]

A few long winded things off the top of my head for major league and minor league GM of a franchise....

Pay up if you have a crappy scout. Get someone who is good or great at scouting everything. Depending on your team rebuilding or going for a world series the priorities are mostly good or great at Major league scouting (trades, free agents, the opponent), Minor leagues (trades, promotion/demotion), Amateur (the June 5th draft) then international (really young pieces you won't see for a long time). In that order.

Not a mistake but if you struck out on some free agent signings or executing trades at the beginning of the year, around opening day every team Waives and DFAs some pretty good players. Check it to see if you want to claim someone (check their contract to fit your budget) to fill any roster gaps or depth issues you may have for pro or minors. You will need room on the 40 man roster for pros or you will have to waive a player to make room.

40 man roster stuff. When the September call-ups happen you do not need to bring every minor league player that had a good season or high potential up from there unless they have a legit shot at getting some quality playing time for improvement into the next season of Major league playing time.

For one, the 40 man gets full and in the offseason you may need to possibly waive players (bench OR farm system depth) to sign major league free agents.

Two, when a lower prospect plays (if they haven't been called up earlier for whatever reason, injuries etc) they will lose a minor league option year. It is not worth it to lose an option year on a 20 year old who may not be a pivotal major league piece (bench or otherwise). No matter how excited you might be for the potential of your 1st round draft pick.

Players only get 3 option years and if they are fringe AAA and major league and you need to send them up and down for development reasons in 4 years they will have to be waived and DFA'd to get them that experience. Read up on 40 man roster rules and option year rules in the manual.

I would say the first offseason there a lot of things to learn from. I was a rebuilding team year one and made a lot of trades before the deadline. Then I signed some big time free agents after year one. I went all in on offering big contracts in the first week of the offseason. This is NOT necessary. Don't low ball a player you really want or need, they will get frustrated and demand an enormous contract. But don't meet the demand of a 35 million dollar player on day one.

Try 30mil with incentives (player opt out, starting lineup/roation, bonus for all-star team, PAs or IPs) and they will give you feed back on the offer. Or offer 15 mil to someone demanding 18, etc etc
The offseason menu of your Pro league will also show how many teams are in demand of said player. Pay up for high demand you need. Stay firm on low/no demand guys. The week before and during the Winter Meetings (December 15ish) is when things heat up for the big candidates. Trades are easier during and after the meetings because teams know their roster after some signings and know who is expendable. Veterans demanding huge long term contracts and average players can be negotiated with well into January, February, even after spring training starts.

Just some details from my one experience in year one. I am in my fourth year of the league now. Like everybody else said get after it and learn from mistakes on the fly. I don't think any one thing is detrimental that you can't come back from. Except not saving enough!

I have the setting on automatic save daily. Daily as in each calendar day of your league. That way if a crash causes a corrupt league data file, you can always paste the files from the "Auto-Save" folder in your *.lg directory. You will only lose one "day" of work. I use Windows 10 and that has only happened to me once though and I updated my video drivers and hasn't happened since. Avoid having any other programs open during in-game playing/managing.

Love this game!