There is the section that determines how teams evaluate talent in various stages (dump salary, pennant drive, etc). This was the section that SittingDuck was tweaking for working on trade AI? Does this also impact roster and lineup setting?
With the default XML the Red Sox who were in last place started a younger LF in place of Ted Williams when Williams was 29. I think this was driven by the fact that they were in a get younger phase and started building for the future.
Shaun really has commented on how he changed the trade AI, only to mention that trade activity would be down somewhat. Nothing in the XML file indicates this, so it must be internal to the program.
It would be nice to know if AI trade/talent evaluation has changed somewhat, and the criteria for that.