Shields for Mercer? Are you kidding me!

[Greenbay]

I'm playing as the Brewers. The Padres just traded James Shields to the Pirates for Jody Mercer and a minor league pitcher. Pretty lopsided trade, unless the Padres are already dumping payroll (again).

[Yick]

Considering they just got Kimbrel I highly doubt it.

[Airdrop01]

Originally Posted by Yick

Considering they just got Kimbrel I highly doubt it.

?????

One is a game. One is real.

[The Wolf]

Originally Posted by Airdrop01

?????

One is a game. One is real.

[The Wolf]

At least I hope it was a joke.

[Fyrestorm3]

Per the OP, yes, that may be far-fetched in real life, but the AI doesn't know names; it sees only an objective collection of ratings. Shields is a 33-year-old with a huge contract, on a pitching staff that is just loaded with talent. Mercer is a young(er) guy who's just about to hit arbitration, and Shortstop is one position the Padres could actually use an upgrade at.

The computer sees: dump some money, take a minor hit at SP, get younger, vastly improve SS. And so it makes the deal.

And objectively, it works. The problem is your subjective view of the real-life players involved. And I'm not saying that's wrong. But the computer doesn't have the context that someone who follows the actual MLB does.

[majesty95]

Originally Posted by Fyrestorm3

Per the OP, yes, that may be far-fetched in real life, but the AI doesn't know names; it sees only an objective collection of ratings. Shields is a 33-year-old with a huge contract, on a pitching staff that is just loaded with talent. Mercer is a young(er) guy who's just about to hit arbitration, and Shortstop is one position the Padres could actually use an upgrade at.

The computer sees: dump some money, take a minor hit at SP, get younger, vastly improve SS. And so it makes the deal.

And objectively, it works. The problem is your subjective view of the real-life players involved. And I'm not saying that's wrong. But the computer doesn't have the context that someone who follows the actual MLB does.

It also doesn't think like the real life GM. It may not value the pitcher the same or be in extreme win now mode like the real life Padres seem to be.

[Greenbay]

Thanks for your input(s). Computer AI isn't quite the same as human. I'm only 15 games into my season and teams are unloading salary. The Tigers traded Victor Martinez for prospects. The Padres also traded Brandon Morrow (5th starter) for Everth Cabrera. In real life the Padres released Cabrera during the off season. (I know - the AI doesn't know that)
The AI is making a trade almost every day. Is there a way to adjust the AI controlled teams to reduce the number of trades?

[thehatfield]

Originally Posted by Greenbay

Is there a way to adjust the AI controlled teams to reduce the number of trades?

Yup, there's a global control here:

Game Settings > League Settings > Rules

At the very bottom on the left is "AI Trading Frequency" which you can change. I'm not sure how drastic the changes are between the settings, there might be something about it in the manual but I'm not positive.

[Greenbay]

Originally Posted by Purple Cowboy

Yup, there's a global control here:

Game Settings > League Settings > Rules

At the very bottom on the left is "AI Trading Frequency" which you can change. I'm not sure how drastic the changes are between the settings, there might be something about it in the manual but I'm not positive.

Thanks. I set it to very low to see what happens. As I get into the season and closer to the trade deadline I'll increase it.

[SwedishChef]

so as a reg padre user, i'm wondering if i should tweak the financials a bit. with the current OOTP setup you have to enter a firesale on opening day to survive. the problem is padre reality (financial and ownership structure) is unknown. no one knows their pain tolerance or payroll threshold.

[Fyrestorm3]

There's always going to be a large number of trades in the first season of an MLB game. This is because you're handing the AI a bunch of rosters that were put together by humans. The AI doesn't always see them as "optimal", and tries to rectify that. Think about if you took over a team put together by someone else - would you have exactly the same vision as he did? Chances are, you'd make a few moves off the bat to get it running the way you like it.

So yes, turning down the trade frequency is a good idea to try and keep the real-life rosters relatively intact. Just know that down the road, things will start to even out, even if you leave it at Normal.

[swampdragon]

The Padres have made a conscious decision to increase payroll. If there's no in-game allowance for that, then we've just explained Shields for Mercer. I think my solution would be to edit the finances to give them a cash infusion reflecting the new level of ownership commitment. Then the AI would be more likely to keep the team intact. You may need to do that with some other teams as well. I can think of a number of cases where either that or the reverse happened. Ownership AI may be the coming thing.

[thehatfield]

Originally Posted by Greenbay

Thanks. I set it to very low to see what happens. As I get into the season and closer to the trade deadline I'll increase it.

No problem.

Just remember that's only going to adjust the frequency of the trades, not the quality of them.

For less "unbelievable" trades, folks like The Wolf also recommend going to Global Settings > Game Settings and checking the box for: Overall rating based on AI evaluation, not pure ratings.

Then go to Game Settings > AI Settings and under Player Evaluation AI Settings change to:

Ratings Weight: 0
Current Year Stats Weight: 67
Previous Year Stats Weight: 22
2 Years Ago Stats Weight: 11

(or, 10/60/20/10 if you want to have some rating evaluation included)

[Fyrestorm3]

Originally Posted by Purple Cowboy

No problem.
Then go to Game Settings > AI Settings and under Player Evaluation AI Settings change to:

Ratings Weight: 0
Current Year Stats Weight: 67
Previous Year Stats Weight: 22
2 Years Ago Stats Weight: 11

ONLY set the ratings weight to 0 if you're playing stats-only. Otherwise you're gimping the AI even further, if you're making decisions based on ratings while forcing the AI to ignore them.

EDIT: To clarify, setting the AI Eval this way actually might increase the realism of the trades you see. But unless ratings are also turned off for you (and I do recommend playing that way, but to each their own), you're giving yourself yet another advantage over the AI.

[majesty95]

I use the following:

Ratings Weight: 15
Current Year Stats Weight: 50
Previous Year Stats Weight: 25
2 Years Ago Stats Weight: 10

Its reasonable. Of course, I'm playing as commish only so those may be really easy to screw the CPU.

Moral of the story: the more the AI uses ratings in their calculations, the harder the game will be but the less you will understand their decisions.

[The Wolf]

Originally Posted by Fyrestorm3

ONLY set the ratings weight to 0 if you're playing stats-only. Otherwise you're gimping the AI even further, if you're making decisions based on ratings while forcing the AI to ignore them.

Try it and see what happens.

[The Wolf]

Originally Posted by Fyrestorm3

EDIT: To clarify, setting the AI Eval this way actually might increase the realism of the trades you see. But unless ratings are also turned off for you (and I do recommend playing that way, but to each their own), you're giving yourself yet another advantage over the AI.

If you use 0/67/22/11 and feeder leagues and keep the trade settings on very hard, you'll be surprised at how strong the trade AI suddenly becomes. You will not be taking advantage of it, whether you can see ratings or not, because it will not let you. And other teams' trades suddenly become very reasonable.

[Fyrestorm3]

Originally Posted by The Wolf

Try it and see what happens.

You know I play stats-only.

Originally Posted by The Wolf

If you use 0/67/22/11 and feeder leagues and keep the trade settings on very hard, you'll be surprised at how strong the trade AI suddenly becomes. You will not be taking advantage of it, whether you can see ratings or not, because it will not let you. And other teams' trades suddenly become very reasonable.

Never said you'd be taking advantage of the trade AI - just that you'd have an advantage over the AI in general. That means free agents, drafts, etc. If the idea is only to make the trade AI better, then I say go for it. But I feel like if you can see something the AI can't, even if it's ratings that I don't personally use, you have even more of an advantage than a human player usually does.

[The Wolf]

I play stats only too - so I agree with you.