Posted by aftermath8 on 7/30/2012 5:29:00 PM (view original):
Do I have any real chance when I got put into a league who just finished their season 25? What should my expectations really be for my first few seasons?
You won't be competitive with veteran teams in your first season, simply because your "starter" team has only six roster spots for you to fill immediately with quality free agents. And you have to wait till after your first season for your starter players' contracts to expire.
Don't re-sign any of your starter players unless you
somehow were given one or a few very good ones, or young ones who look promising for development.
Spend your first season building your stadium to maximize your cash income. Read this thread on how to do that.
Your placement in the first season will depend on how many real and how many AI (unowned) teams are in your league. I would set a goal of at least trying to be better than the AI teams. But they may still have a few really good players on unexpired contracts, if their owner abandoned them recently. Veteran teams will beat you down mercilessly, but you can at least try to give them a fight.
Going into your second season, if you've done it right, you should have a very small roster turning over, and a lot of cash to go shopping with.
One team in my league came in 13th last season (his first), and in his second season with probably 75% roster turnover he is now in 7th at the halfway point, dead even with many veteran teams. Good luck.