STEP 2 -- BUDGET
Setting your budget for the season is probably the most important offseason event. If you don't budget correctly, you can end up with excessive injuries (if training or medical are too low), no progression of your minor leaguers (if coaching is too low), or not enough money to land that player you need (if budget is too low). With the Cincinnati Venus Flytraps, money is incredibly tight. I start the season with 99.2M committed to player payroll already and that is before any free agents have been signed. I also noticed that my minor leagues are pretty barren of players and odds are I will need to sign 10 or more minor leaguers just to fill my rosters. I have the extra problem of about half a dozen minor leaguers starting the season on the disabled list, in all likelihood due to the prior owner not budgeting properly for training and medical.
Due to the nature of the Draft Theme World, where everyone was on a 3 year timetable, almost all of the Sockeye’s contracts have 1-2 years left on them since the second season would have been the third and final one in the tournament from DTW. There are also a lot more arbitration cases, because under the three year timeframe the 3rd year arbitration would have been less of an issue. All in all, these factors combine to create a low Player Payroll for the Sockeye organization as we enter the Brave New World.
Because I do not intend to go after any high priced free agents, and I intend to move as much salary as I can via trades, I decide to spend no more than 105 million on player payroll. This gives me only a small cushion for minor league free agents and promotions, but if I am lucky I can free some more cap space during the season. I would normally likely more cap room for waiver wire claims on a rebuild project, but the money just isn't there for it.
Since I have such a low payroll, I am going to focus my attention on the other categories and feel confident that whatever is leftover to spend on players will give me enough to be a significant player in Free Agency.
Next, I look at scouting. 14 million for advanced scouting. I always spend this amount with all my teams. I also invest 14 in both high school and college scouting -- I have the #2 overall draft pick and need as much in these categories as I can get. Internationals will go as low as I can set it, to 6. See the prior post for my reasoning there.
In the last season of DTW I only had $6M Advanced Scouting, and I did luckily end up having my budget transferred properly, but that’s still close enough that I can get my ADV budget to the recommended level this year.
Even though I only won 53 games with this roster last year, there are some strong pieces in place (as I mentioned earlier) and I went into Budget Day with the intention of being aggressive in Free Agency to add to an already strong core and contending right out of the gate. As a result, I set my High School scouting to $14M and my College scouting slightly lower at $10M.
48 million spent in non-payroll already. I need to cut a few more corners. Training and Medical are up next. Because I don't expect to contend this season, I am willing to drop Medical down to 8 million (I normally like 11 or 12). Training, on the other hand, helps keep veterans from declining. With all the age on my problem, I need more money here. I would normally go with 14 million here with a veteran team, but due to my budget problems, I set it at 11.
I had both training and medical at $13M in DTW, which means that I can set both categories at the recommended levels and move on to begin my time here in the Brave New World.
67 million down and still coaches and prospect payroll to set. I would like at least 13 million for coaches but that would leave me with no money at all for prospects if I set my player payroll at 105. I need to trim a few more corners to get some prospect payroll money. I therefore cut coaches down to 10 and hope I can find some guys from lower levels to promote up to the major league jobs and get them at lower salaries. I also cut my player budget down to 102 (only 3 million cushion now!) and set prospect payroll at 6.
Once again, both numbers are achievable based on the budget that I brought over from the Draft Tournament World with me so setting them at the right level is quick and easy.
Now the big question is how I can go so cheap on prospect payroll. I agree that it is a gamble. However, I will set my entire draft to Very Conservative to help keep the dollars down. Also, as I hopefully unload my veterans, I should free up some player payroll. What I don't need to sign free agents and make promotion to set my rosters, I figure I can transfer to prospect payroll if I need it. It is still a huge gamble, especially with the risk of not having enough money for my #2 overall draft pick, but it is my only chance to keep the categories that cannot be modified through transfers where I need them to be.
Here in Seattle, I am rolling in money when compared to csherwood’s Fly Traps from the initial thread and therefore set these and move on as well. All in all, the only categories that aren’t exactly where I want them this season are the IFA budget, College Scouting and Player Payroll. The good news is that minor adjustments to IFA and College scouting next season will result in the ideal budget for a rebuild here in Seattle should that be necessary. If it’s not, I can continue building towards my ideal contending budget.
TEAM OPTIONS
You can check on "options" status before doing your budget and take that into account. You do have to have enough in the player budget to cover all existing salaries, including the option salaries you intend to decline. But you can decline the options before resigning any of your free agents or doing arbitration. This potentially allows you to cut the player budget right to the necessary minimum knowing you can generate some ca$h by declining the options after the budget is finalized.
There’s one option here in Seattle, or there was supposed to be, but it seems it automatically got picked up when we merged. I am not upset about this development, however, because I was going to pick up the option even if it hadn’t been done for me. I’m not sure if this is a regular occurrance during merges or not, but it’s certainly something to keep your eye on if you are ever involved in another one at some point.