MLB 17 The Show – Running Your Franchise

As we near the All Star Break it is starting to become a bit easier to tell which teams are going to make a run for the World Series. Unfortunately, my Indians are sitting close to .500 and are seemingly okay with sharing the AL Central with the Twins.  The real question most of you might be asking if you are playing MLB 17 The Show Franchise Mode is how your team is going to do down the stretch. Unless you already know how things are going (for better or worse).  In that case, as you come into July and enter the second half of the season you will have some big decisions to make.

By the time I made it to the middle of the 2017 season with the Cincinnati Reds I had made a few roster moves and my team was sitting just five games behind the Cubs.  It was in the spirit of making a push to hit my contract goal (make the post-season) that I decided to take a few risks and make a couple moves.

If you are in the opposite boat and have a team that is under-performing at All Star Break you might also want to make some moves and focus on the coming year(s).  If you have a veteran that is under 29 and has a rating of 85+ and A or B potential – it might be time to see how many prospects you can get for him from a team making a run for the playoffs.

In my case, I had come into the 2017 season with a lineup that didn’t intimidate many pitchers. 

Billy Hamilton, CF

Eugenio Suarez, 3B

Joey Votto, 1B

Adam Duvall, LF

Scooter Gennett, 2B

Zach Cosart, SS

Scott Schebler, RF

Tucker Barnhart, C

My Pitchers were generally at the same level of ineptitude… although, I had a few prospects.

By the time I made it through Spring Training I decided that my pitching staff needed drastic help and so I signed the two Japanese pitchers (Otani and Fujinami) with the house rule that I would trade each player to a big market team by the end of my third year with the Reds.  This is primarily to allow them to make the kind of big money that both players will get in real life while allowing my team to benefit in the short term with better pitching on the cheap.

I also made deals that brought Evan Gattis in to rotate as catcher and 1B, sent Cozart and a Arroyo (old SP) away for some prospects and tried to find a replacement for Schebler – he would eventually win his job back and give me a prime reason for signing him to another contract (with a 507 FT home run that went under the right field score board and into the Ohio River during a game with the Pirates).  I also managed to pick up Adeiny Hechavarria to come in and play 2B and traded for 3B, Rio Ruiz to play AAA ball and hopefully improve his game enough to get called up.

By the time I realized we were making a push and over-achieving to a point that I could no longer ignore the needs of my team to succeed – I made a few big moves in my Franchise that might differ from your own.  I was buying at the All Star Break and there were a few teams selling (the Rockies were 25 games back in the NL West and were selling, but at a steep price).

I ended up trading Billy Hamilton, Gattis, and a Top 50 Prospect for Nolan Arenado. 

I wish I could tell you that he made all the difference in the second half of my season. He really didn’t help us much, and there were more times I could have used Hamilton’s speed over Arenado’s disappointing performance after the trade.

Regardless, the 2017 season finished with the Reds making the playoffs as a wild card team carrying a 92-70 record.  We lost to the Giants and suddenly the season was over.  The Dodgers beat the Astros in seven games to win the World Series and the off season started with a few interesting occurrences from CPU teams – primarily, the Yankees when they signed RF, Andrew McCutcheon and moved Aaron Judge to AAA.

They had agreed to a trade the year before that allowed me to bring in Clint Frazier who disappointed more than Arenado, but still having his A Potential and young age I was able to package him up with Homer Bailey and another player for Aaron Judge to come in and play RF.

The Dodgers offered a trade I couldn’t refuse during Winter Meetings.  Looking to remain a World Series favorite in 2018 and with far more money to invest in expensive players they offered OF, Joc Peterson, OF, Yasiel Puig and a Relief Pitcher for Arenado.  I jumped at this opportunity and then signed C.C. Sabbathia to a one year deal as well as Bud Norris.  Suddenly, the Reds were looking fantastic on paper and I was looking forward to 2018 more than 2017 at the All Star Break.

The lessons to take away from this brief story about the first year of my Franchise Mode are valuable for anyone looking for help to build a lower tier team as well as how to enjoy your Franchise Mode enough to keep going for years.

1. ALWAYS play your franchise the way YOU want to play it.  If you want to make a lot of trades and find a way to field a team with players you want – do it.  Don’t go onto sports gaming forums and ask for Trade Advice from Sports Gaming Nazis that seem to think they know everything about ‘fair trades’.  Run your team the way you want to and make it your own story.

2. Don’t worry about trading away aging veterans in order to invest in a player you believe in as a prospect.  Make the move and see what happens.  If you have to cut bait with a Prospect that has A or B potential you can usually get a nice amount in return with a trade as long as the prospect is 24 or younger.

3. If you can’t afford to keep a star player when you know a huge contract demand is going to be huge you should wait as long as you can and trade him during the last year of his contract for a couple cheaper players that have attributes you need in the long term. (See the Arenado Trade for Pederson and Puig, above.)

4. Read #1 Again. You decide what you want your Franchise to be. I will be tweaking mine quite a bit in hopes of making it through multiple seasons.