In franchise mode, use the following trick to build up your team instantaneously rather than through game play. For example, if you want to get hitting greats such as Albert Pujols, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, or Vladimir Guerrero, go to create-a-player in the "Roster" menu. Once there, create a player with whatever visual and physical characteristics desired, then proceed to the attributes screen. Give the player 99 in Contact vs. Lefty and Contact vs. Righty, 99 in Power vs. Righty and Power vs. Lefty, 99 in Throwing Strength, and 99 in Throwing Accuracy. Make the player be born in the oldest possible date allowed by the game, so that he retires after about one season. Also, set his Durability to 36. Thus, he is extraordinarily injury prone. Once you have created this player, sign him but make sure you have the salary cap room as he will be very expensive. Once you have him, deal him off for one of the aforementioned superstars. More often than not, this superstar will have a lower contract than the created player, allowing you to repeat this process as long as you can afford it. If you need to open up cap room, trade away the players that the superstars replace or release unnecessary, high contract, players.