----------------------------------------------- MVP Baseball 2005 Owner Mode FAQ Created by: MetsRule Updated: 4/03/05 ----------------------------------------------- Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2. Choosing/Building Your Team 3. Stadium Upgrades 4. Making Money 5. Random Facts 6. Top 100 Prospects List 7. Players With Potential 8. Media Revenue Contract 9. Trades Section 10. Custom Covers 11. Young, Cheap Team 12. Copyrtight/Credit ----------------------------------------------- 1. Introduction I created this FAQ to try and help the many peOple that have been complaining that they are having trouble making money in owner mode. If you have any qustions or comments about this FAQ please email me at [email protected]. If you are viewing this FAQ on GameFAQS I would really appreciate it if you rated my FAQ. You can do this by clicking on the rate button next to my FAQS name. Then just say if you found the guide informative or not. It would really help me know how I'm doing. As of today my FAQ has about 8,000 views since its been posted and nobody has rated it saying if it was informative or not. :-( ----------------------------------------------- 2. Choosing/Building Your Team I always choose my favorite team,the Mets, when I begin Owner Mode. If you don't have a favorite team I would reccomend using a team that has a low payroll or a team that fits your playing style. While building your team you should obviously look for young players with low salaries. It is good to have a young pitching staff with long contracts. Pitching is the key to becoming a winning team. Your lineup should be be filled with atleast 5 young players. You should keep some veteran players on your team as the leaders. Make sure you don't overpay the veteran players though because they usually have a higher asking price. Here is an outlook of about how much you should spend for each position and what type of player you should look for. C: Your catcher should have a good arm because in this years game there are a lot more stolen bases compared to last years version. Try for a lot of power here. Don't try to get a top player here. A prospect usually will do good. If you can't get a prospect just get a decent player who is consistent. Try to spend about $500K-$1.00 Million for a prospect and about $1 million-$2 million for a veteran. Only sign the veteran to a one year deal. 1B: For first base you need a power hitter. Make sure he has decent contact and a good glove. Spend about $4 million here. 2B: A speedy player with very good contact will do good here. You should spend about $1 million - $2 million here. SS: Same as second base, a fast player with good contact. You should spend a little more here then second base though because he needs a stonger arm because its a loger throw. 3B: For me good third baseman are hard to come by. It would to get a young guy here and sign him to a longterm deal fast. Spend about $2 million - $4million here. LF: For here all you need is a guy who has power. You should spend about $3 million - $6 million here. CF: This is one of the important positions one the field. Get a fast center fielder and it should help your pitching staff out by having a fast guy to chase down the balls hit out there. Spend about $4million-$7million here. RF: This should be a very strong player who is a threat to hit it out of the park every time he steps up to the plate. You should spend about $2-$4 million here. Bench: Make sure the bench has a few fast guys for pinch running and contact hitters for pinch hitting. You should have a backup catch here since catchers tire quickly. Only spend about 500K or less for each player here. SP: Every team needs an ace. About $8 million should be spent here. SP: The second pither isn't as important as the first but is still important. Spend about $4 million on this guy. SP: A decent pitcher who has potential for big games. Should have an E.R.A. around 3.50. The 3rd pitcher should average around $2 million. SP: Pitcher #4 should be a veteran who is ok but has seen his better days. Spend about $1 million-$2 million. SP: This should be a young prospect that has potential to be your #1 in a few years. This players should make $1 million-$2 million. Bullpen: The bullpen should consist of a closer that WILL hold the lead no matter what. Have another decent pitcher ready in case your starter gets hammered. Spend about $3 million for your closer and about $800K or less for the rest of the bullpen. You can spend more on a position if you have the chance to land an all star caliber player. Total Payroll: Your total payroll should come out to be about $80 million-$100 million dollars. ----------------------------------------------- 3. Stadium Upgrades This is all courtesy to Hollywood nWo: I did this with the high RF wall stadium so things may be slightly different if you choose another one . Different stadiums seems to only affect the restaurant placement though . Scoreboard -------------- Level 1- $0 default Level 2- $2.5M added advertisements and light towers on both sides Level 3- $5M replay screen added Level 4- $10M 2 animation screens added to both sides of scoreboard , now making it a rectangular shape . Level 5- $15M audio speakers connecting the two light towers , enhancing the p.a. audio Level 6- $20M pyro shoots out of sides of scoreboard . Seating Capacity --------------------- Level 1- $0 (20,000) default Level 2- $4M (25,000) added seats along the lines to the OF. Level 3- $10M (33,000) OF seats added with gap in center . Level 4- $20M (42,050) adds 2nd tier all around the stadium and luxury boxes . Level 5- $30M (52,050) upper deck put behind home plate . Level 6- $40M (65,050) upper deck put around rest of stadium , also a platform behind left center wall. On the platform is a large bat and ball . HR Celebrations -------------------- Level 1- $0 none default Level 2- $1M 1 big firework's explosion , 2 small ones different colors . Level 3- $2M 5-6 firework explosion's , different colors . Level 4- $3M 8-10 firework explosion's , different colors . Level 5- $4M about same display as above except now at the end a bee mascot drives across the screen in an atv. Level 6- $5M like above but slightly smaller firework display , a close up of the scoreboard, then the bee drives toward the camera . Lighting Banks ------------------ Level 1- $0 default 1 light Level 2- $2M another light is added on top of the default one Level 3- $3M two lights added to either side of bottom light , like an upside down T Level 4- $4M two lights added to the top lights like an I Level 5- $5M 2 more lights added to either side of the middle to make a big square. Ad's & Logos ---------------- Level 1- $0 default none Level 2- $1M ad's near dugout Level 3- $2M ad's on OF wall Level 4- $3M ad's in bullpen Level 5- $4M welcome ad on dugout roof Level 6- $5M backstop ad's Restaurants ---------------- Level 1- $0 default none Level 2- $1M concrete platform behind right field wall , 2 small buildings , and 14 picnic tables Level 3- $2M 4 canopy's added Level 4- $5M big diner added some tables lost Level 5- $7.5M picnic tables added to roof of diner Level 6- $10M a second floor added to diner , making it much bigger and American flags added to the roof . ----------------------------------------------- 4. Making Money This seems to be a problem that many people are experiencing. When you start out in owner mode you should use the large budget. With that money you shold buy the first seating upgrade. After that you will have $1 million left. After this buy one consession stand and one store venue. First of all I would like to say that it takes time to make money in owner mode. At the beginning of the season the games have a lower impact on your team so less fans will come out to see the games. For the first month or two you should lower ticket prices about $5 from your normal price. Ypu should also lower your consession prices about 50 cents - $1. Merchandise prices should be lowered according to there original price. Don't try to make a lot of trades in owner mode. There is a good chance it will have an effect on your player happiness and team chemistry. You don't need to trade all of your players away to grab some talent for your team. After the first year you can sign a lot of great free agents during the off season. If your team has a bad year the draft is a good way to build too. If you have a late pick in the draft though you probably wont wind up with much talent. If you have a high pick the player should be MLB ready within a year or two. Promotional days should be used only for games that have a low impact ratings. Try to schedule around 5-10 promotional days a year. Setting your promotional days is important becuause promotional day make your fans happy. This is a good way to bring fans into the seats. If you make the playoffs your team will make much more money. This is usually were your team will make the big bucks. Try to play all of your home games in the playoffs. I let the CPU win a few games just so I could get some extar money. I made about $10 million during my first year in the playoffs. You must WIN a lot of games if you want to be a successful owner. Fans want to see a winning team not a team of losers. After you win a home game you will reliaze that in your next game you will probably earn more money. You also need to spend all of your money at the end of a homestand. If you don't all of that money you eared will go to waste. You may not be able to get a big upgrade like this but its good for buying conceesion stands, store venues and scheduling promotional days. ----------------------------------------------- 5. Random Facts Here are some things from the message board that I thought might be helpful. - When a player retires he will not come back as a coach like in Madden. - The purpose of the coaching staff is to help your players progress. - If one of your top prospects isn't dpong to good you should fire youR hitting/pitching coach and hire a new one. - Spring training is after the first season and you can play mini games there to help progression. - Barry Bonds isn't in the game because he is not a part of the MLBPA. His name is John Dowd. - Arguing a call will never reverse the call. All it does is raise the attributes of some of your players if you do it at he right time. - There will most likely not be an MVP Baseball 2006 because Take Two bought the rights to the MLBPA. The only way EA can make a baseball game is if they team up with Sony or Microsoft. - Don't complain about being in debt in owner mode. You probably wont have a positive amount of cash untill around the all star break. - Cooperstown Effect is when you play in the classic stadiums. It makes the screen a grey like color. It gives you a feel of the old t ime games. - Variable stuff is if your pitcher will have his on or off days. When you have this feature on your pitcher can play really bad even if they have good stats. I love this because it makes the game more realistic. - After you unlock all the upgrades, concession stands and store venues in Owner Mode you will unlock something called "The Making of Owner Mode." ----------------------------------------------- 6. Top 100 Prospects List Angels: SP B. Bath = Ervin Santana 1B J. Bukvich = Kendry Morales SS L. Baert = Erick Aybar C D. Roberts = Jeff Mathis A's: CF B. Brinkman = Javi Herrera C A. McDonald = Daric Barton RP P. Lidge = Huston Street Blue Jays: SP B. Nielson = Francisco Rosario SP R. Perez = Dustin McGowan Braves: CF J. Doonan = Jeff Francouer 3B E. Rodriguez = Andy Marte C J. Berroa = Brian McCann SP S. Blancard = Kyle Davies Brewers: SP R. Samuels = Mark Rogers SS S. Gent = J.J. Hardy 1B W. Collier = Prince Fielder Cardinals: SP D. Larmour = Anthony Reyes Cubs: SP I. Krystal = Angel Guzman CF D. Doluntap = Felix Pie 1B G. Wegner = Brian Dopirak Devil Rays: RF K. Morales = Delmon Young Diamondbacks: RF B. Jarvis = Carlos Quentin LF J. Ennis = Conor Jackson SS J. Mowatt = Sergio Santos Dodgers: SS D. Driediger = Joel Guzman 1B D. Estrella = James Loney SP K. McCracken = Chad Billingsley SP J. Choi = Greg Miller Giants: SP R. Santiago = Matt Cain Indians: RF R. Sullivan = Franklin Gutierrez 1B T. Gray = Michael Aubrey SP K. Barrera = Fausto Carmona SP R. Auschrat = Adam Miller Mariners: SS M. Smith = Matt Tuiasosopo CF M. Thomas = Shin-Soo Choo SP D. Buhler = Felix Hernandez Marlins: SP N. Pena = Scott Olsen SP L. Ordonez = Yorman Bazardo RF B. Lecroy = Jeremy Hermida Mets: CF B. Tyner = Lastings Milledge SP T. Tucker = Yusmeiro Petit Nationals: SP S. Payne = Mike Hinckley 1B Y. Vuu Carinha = Larry Broadway Orioles: RF M. Alvarez = Nick Markakis SP R. Rodriguez = Hayden Penn SP J. Wilson = Adam Loewen Padres: 2B G. Devore = Josh Barfield Phillies: SP O. Uttuslien = Cole Hamels Pirates: SP R. Sanchez = Zach Duke C J. Cardona = Neil Walker Rangers: SS F. Garcia = Joaquin Arias SP M. Mondesi = Thomas Diamond SP T. Mulder = John Danks Red Sox: SS M. Derksen = Hanley Ramirez RF G. Lewis = Brandon Moss Reds: 3B M. James = Edwin Encarnacion SP R. Perez = Homer Bailey Rockies: SS A. Murphy = Chris Nelson 3B R. Klann - Ian Stewart Royals: 3B B. Pioveson = Mark Teahen Tigers: SP J. Snare = Justin Verlander Twins: SP T. Coleman = Francisco Liriano SP R. Sanchez = Kyle Waldrop White Sox: CF M. Alicea = Brian Anderson SP T. Berrie = Brandon McCarthy RF C. Rae = Ryan Sweeney Yankees: SP R. Cho = Phillip Hughes SS M. Smallenburg = Marcos Vechionacci 3B M. Francis = Eric Duncan ----------------------------------------------- 7. Players With Potential Here is a list of some young players that progress very well for me. If there are some players I may have missed please email me with the email address I posted in my introduction. In the email please post the player team, league/class, and star potential. A player with an * next to there name means that it is a player on the Top 100 Prospect List that needs to have there name changed. There names are listed just as it they were when the game came out. Catcher Quinn Abbot (PHI) AA 5 Star Potential * Juan Berroa (ATL) AAA 3 Star Potential Ricky Fuentes (CIN) A 5 Star Potential Thomas Jackson (OAK) AAA 5 Star Potential Joe Mauer (MIN) MLB 5 Star Potential Dioner Navarro (LA) AAA 3 Star Potential First Base Andy Bako (ATL) AA 5 Star Potential Matt Barkett (NYY) A 4 Star Potential * Wayne Collier (MIL) AAA 5 Star Potential Jose Perez (CWS) AAA 5 Star Potential Greg Rushton (SF) A 5 Star Potential Chris Smallenberg (NYY) AA 5 Star Potential Second Base Hideki Inoue (NYM) AA 5 Star Potential Chris Lopez (MIN) A 5 Star Potential Rickie Weeks (MIL) MLB 5 Star Potential Shortstop Chad Borland (NYM) A 4 Star Potential * Matt Derksen (BOS) AA 5 Star Potential Royce Merced (PIT) A 5 Star Potential Antonio Perez (LA) AAA 3 Star Potential Third Base Dallas McPherson (ANA) MLB 4 Star Potential Joe Rogers (OAK) A 5 Star Potential Left Field Craig Simontachi (SD) A 5 Star Potential Center Field Seth Anderson (CLE) AA 5 Star Potential Ramon Baez (STL) AA 5 Star Potential Joey Gathright (TB) AAA 4 Star Potential Eric Jacinto (TEX) A 5 Star Potential Grady Sizemore (CLE) AAA 4 Star Potential Rich Thompson (PIT) AAA 3 Star Potential Matt Williamson (ARI) A 5 Star Potential Right Field Brad Barnes (DET) AA 5 Star Potential Ace Connolly (CLE) AAA 5 Star Potential Wes Krukow (SF) A 5 Star Potential Starting Pitchers Miguel Asencio (SD) AAA 1 Star Potential (Plays better though) * Randy Auschrat (CLE) AA 4 Star Potential Edwin Jackson (LA) AAA 4 Star Potential Lee Jones (BOS) AA 5 Star Potential Scott Kazmir (TB) MLB 5 Star Potential Jake Peavy (SD) MLB 5 Star Potential Jose Penny (CWS) A 5 Star Potential Michael-Sea Morgan (COL) A 5 Star Potential Chin-Hui Tsao (COL) AAA 3 Star Potential Relief Pitchers Luke Hudson (CIN) MLB 2 Star Potential Merkin Valdez (SF) AAA 4 Star Potential Ryan Wagner (CIN) AAA 4 Star Potential ----------------------------------------------- 8. Media Revenue Contract The media revenue contract in owner mode is a great source of earning money. The higher your payroll is the more money you will earn from your media revenue contract. Your media revenue contract will also increase when you start winning a lot of games and when you are selling out games. If might also increase if your fan happiness is high but I'm not 100% sure on that. If you have a high payroll though you will have to pay more expenses daily for your player slaries. So the media revenue contract basically evens everything out. ----------------------------------------------- 9. Trades Section Here is a list of some great trades that you are able to pull off in the game and rip off the CPU. Some of these trades were sent to me by other people so I'm not 100% sure if some of them will work. NYM Trade SP Jae Seo and CF Ron Calloway to TB for SP Scott Kazmir. This is a great trade for the Mets. With this trade the Mets get back there former coveted prospect and they are able to get rid of Jae Seo since the Mets have no need for him. Ron Calloway was just thrown in the trade because he is 28 and the Mets have Beltran so he has no future with the team. Calloway is just thrown in to get the Devil Rays to accept. TB Trade C Toby Hall to LA for C Dioner Nivarro. Great trade here for the Devil Rays because they get a future all star. Nivarro is much better then Hall and has a lot more potential. CLE Trade Juan Gonzalez to CIN for Willy Mo Pena and Ryan Wagner This is an amazing trade for the Indians. They are able to dump an old player who is on the the decline for two young players who are going to become very good. Willy Mo Pena becomes an all star within a year. He is fast and has decent contact and power ratings. Ryan Wagner is a great relief pitcher with four star potential. He is a great addition to any bullpen. WAS Trade 3B Vinny Castillo and SS Henry Mateo to Tex for 3B Hank Blaylock This is a good trade for the Nationals because they are able to get younger at the third base position. Hank Blaylock is a great player to build your team around with Jose Vidro. ATL trade CF Andrew Jones to NYM for CF Carlos Beltran This is a good trade for Atlanta because Carlos Beltran is a much better player then Andrew Jones. I'm pretty sure Beltran is a year younger so that also favors the Braves. ----------------------------------------------- 10. Custom Covers Some people are not satisfied having Manny Ramirez on the cover of MVP Baseball 2005 so they decide to make there own cover. To create a cover for MVP 2005 you need to have a program called Photoshop or Microsoft Picture It!. There may be other programs you can use but these are the only two I know of now. If you are tired of seeing Manny on the cover you can email me and I will create a cover for you of any player you want. I just started creating these though so they may not look perfect. In the email specify which player you want and for what game system. If you don't I will just delete your email. If you would like to create your own custom covers here is how you can do it. First open up Photoshop or Microsoft Picture It!. I have Microsoft Picture It! so the instructions I give you may be a little different if you are using Photoshop. First you need to copy and paste the blank MVP Template. Resize this image so that it is 5.693" wide and 7.12" tall. If you don't do this the cover will not fit onto the box. Then find a picture on Google or Yahoo and copy and paste that onto the template. You can also add in a background if you want before the picture. Then layer the pictures so the MVP logo is in front of the player. Some people have trouble with this so I will post the MVP logo at the bottom of the section. Here are the templates that I use to create my covers. PS2 Template http://img237.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img237&image=mvp05templateps27 hx.jpg XBox Template http://img201.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img201&image=mvp05templatexbox9 tv.jpg Gamecube Template N/A PC Template N/A MVP Logo http://img66.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img66&image=mvp05logo7uf.jpg ----------------------------------------------- 10. Covers Made You can find all the covers I have made at: http://www.geocities.com/ metsrule_101/ ----------------------------------------------- 11. Cheap, Young Team The following recommended players can be bought for very low salaries. In owner mode, a team like this has a good chance at winning a title. They are cheap and better yet they are young. 1B: Texeira (TEX) 1 yr - 300k Morneau (MIN) 1 yr - 300k 2B: Rivas (MIN) 1 yr - 1.50m 3B: Wright (NYM) 1 yr - 500k Blalock (TEX) 4 yr - 3.00m SS: Young (TEX) 1 yr - 500k Uribe (CHW) 1 yr - 300k LF: Mench (TEX) 1 yr - 300k Bay (PIT) 1 yr - 300k CF: Baldelli (TB) 1 yr - 300k Nix (TEX) 1 yr - 300k RF: Rios (TOR) 1 yr - 300 k SP: Prior (CHC) 1 yr - 300k Webb (ARI) 1 yr - 300k Greinke (KC) 1 yr - 300k Harden (OAK) 1 yr - 300k Bonderman (DET) 1 yr - 300k RP: Nathan (MIN) 1 yr - 300k Rincon (MIN) 1 yr - 300k Ayala (WAS) 1 yr - 300k Bauer (BAL) 1 yr - 300k C: Martinez (CLE) 1 yr - 300k Mauer (MIN) 3 yr - 1.30m ______________________________________________ Total: 23 Players 45,899,996 With the 2 extra players left you should get 2 big name players who will help your franchise get more fan support. I added Pujols and Ordonez to my team bringing the total to 69 million. You might want to go after bullpen help however. All players with exception to Rivas and Blaylock will be very unhappy and you will notice your team chemistry meter will be very low. You can choose to re-sign some of these players to help bring up your bar or you can just turn off chemistry effect. ----------------------------------------------- 12. Copryright/Credit Credit to: Hollywood nWo for the stadium upgrade list. Jeff "CJayC"Veasey for creating GameFAQS. Copyright 2005 Thomas Barnett Note: This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. The only websites with my permission to use this FAQ are GameFAQS.com and IGN.com.