When we set out this year’s plan, one of our goals was to blow out the personnel aspects of the Franchise experience. Starting with the beginning of spring training, the rosters you will carry into spring will be those of their real-life counterpart, the long awaited 40-man rosters. Now you will have to manage your Spring Training roster a little more carefully to ensure your young players get the looks they need.

Moving on to the regular season, you will now be dealing with many of the various roster-related items all GMs have to deal with. You will be in control of designating players for assignment, waiver transactions, handling Minor League options, and managing your 40-man roster. Once in June, you will have the Amateur Draft to participate in. Along with drafting players, the Amateur Draft also includes Supplemental picks for those teams that failed to re-sign Type A or Type B free agents in the offseason.

Once your season hits September, your 25-man roster will expand to the full 40-man where you will then have to decide who get’s the call and who doesn’t. If your Franchise is successful enough to make the playoffs, you will have to manage your rosters accordingly, and will only be able to replace players on the roster between series.

The Offseason is where the real fun starts. We’ve changed the Offseason system so that instead of traveling from menu to menu, going in and out of various screens, now all of your responsibilities can be found within the schedule. There are several important dates for you to be aware of in order to ensure your rosters are setup for the next season.

• The 15th day of the offseason marks the end of exclusive free agent negotiating.
• November 20th is the final day to align your 40-man roster in order to protect your players from the Rule 5 draft.
• December 1st is the final day to offer arbitration to eligible players, or to offer any Type A or Type B free agent compensation.
• December 7th is the deadline for any free agents offered arbitration to accept or decline the offer. If a player accepts the offer, they will go back on your roster. If they decline, they will become a free agent and are allowed to sign with any team.
• Between 12/5 and 12/12, the Rule 5 Draft takes place.
• December 12th is the deadline to tender contracts to players or they will become free agents.
  Arbitration hearings take place in early February.
• After 2/15, any player with less than 3 years can have their contract renewed if they remain unsigned.

As you can see, a lot of focus has been placed on bringing increased depth to roster and team management within Franchise mode. But these enhancements aren’t limited to only Franchise mode, and the same depth can be found in Season and Road To The Show modes.

- Kolbe Launchbaugh and Aaron Luke