Primer on minor league management in OOTP

[Vic]

The attached guide was posted by a GM in my other league (the Brewster), and it has some interesting ideas on when to promote players, etc.

The author plays in a league with more levels of minors than PEBA has, but a lot of it could still be applicable.

If nothing else, it's interesting ...

[Arroyos]

Thanks for sharing, Vic, but I'm not sure how applicable the advice is to the PEBAverse. Just one example:

Players should never be demoted, skip levels, and very rarely should repeat levels.

If we followed that advice, we wouldn't be able to fill our rosters each sim. When players get injured or traded, someone from the league below has to fill that spot. That means promoting a player. Then when the injured player returns, or you trade for or acquire from waivers a replacement player, the previously promoted player needs to be returned to his former league. Demoted.

That sort of thing happens nearly every sim. Some player is moving up, another down, several onto the IL, one or two off the IL, etc., etc. Perhaps that doesn't occur in the league the advice writer plays in, but it's commonplace in our good ol' PEBAverse.

[Borealis]

Thanks Vic - It'll be interesting to see what his thoughts are!!

[Alleghenies]

The attached guide was posted by a GM in my other league (the Brewster), and it has some interesting ideas on when to promote players, etc.

The author plays in a league with more levels of minors than PEBA has, but a lot of it could still be applicable.

If nothing else, it's interesting ...

Thanks. Though a lot of it flies in the face of WV way minor leaguers should be handled.

[Alleghenies]

And they have 6 minor league tiers

[Evas]

Interesting stuff. That league must have an absolute torrent of players coming in to be able to fill a system how he described.

To me, this is another example of why we need a sub-age-21 level.

[Denny]

Well, not all of his comments really apply to PEBA--for example, we have far fewer minor league levels than he does, making it unlikely we could use his "one season at a level ONLY" edict; and likewise we are now forbidden to use DFA to house fill-in taxi squad players through the season as he suggests--but I really liked a couple of the writer's insights and suggestions:

1. The important note that if you promote a deserving player to a higher level, it leaves a gap at his previous level--which can lead to a chain of unqualified players moving up to a level beyond their qualifications if you aren't careful.

2. His idea for a twice-a-year reviews of all the minor league teams to handle most of the promotions/cuts at one time. This is something I've thought about but never fully done; I think Palm Springs will try to implement his systematic bottom-up approach for our minor league clubs going forward.

All in all very interesting. Thanks for posting, Vic!

[Lions]

That league must have an absolute torrent of players coming in to be able to fill a system how he described.

This is the primary reason I don't want another level. I don't want to deal with all the transactions and tracking all of the players. I have the "best" farm system in the game according to BNN, and it's full of chaff that will never amount to anything.

To me, this is another example of why we need a sub-age-21 level.

I don't see how the article argued for or against having multiple levels. From my perspective, the statement above is an argument against it. I also think that if you can get to the point where it's just formulaic, then it's not fun anymore. There needs to be tension and variety of viable approaches to keep things interesting. Risk creates tension and engagement.

[DrewV]

The debate rages on, ad infinitum!

[Lions]

I've been collecting data on HS vs. College guys... will post it today or tomorrow if I have time.

[Denny]

I have the "best" farm system in the game according to BNN, and it's full of chaff that will never amount to anything.

But that is the case for all farm systems. By that logic we might as well get rid of all our minor league teams and not bother developing anyone at all.

I do understand not wanting to go to the trouble of fiddling with players at all those levels. Personally I go the other way; I think it would be GREAT fun to have seven levels of minors as the writer's league apparently does, and tinker with them endlessly, as that has been the part of the game which has given me the most pleasure...but I understand that is not everyone's cup of tea.

[Borealis]

I've been collecting data on HS vs. College guys... will post it today or tomorrow if I have time.

I can't wait to see this!!!

[Lions]

I have the "best" farm system in the game according to BNN, and it's full of chaff that will never amount to anything.

But that is the case for all farm systems. By that logic we might as well get rid of all our minor league teams and not bother developing anyone at all.

I do understand not wanting to go to the trouble of fiddling with players at all those levels. Personally I go the other way; I think it would be GREAT fun to have seven levels of minors as the writer's league apparently does, and tinker with them endlessly, as that has been the part of the game which has given me the most pleasure...but I understand that is not everyone's cup of tea.

Likewise, I can understand that being fun for folks. For me, it's tedious busy work. If there are 30 (arbitrary guess) guys in a system that are likely to develop into something useful, I'd rather have 90 not useful players than 120 or more not useful players. I like managing the 30 guys and accept that to get those 30 up I have to deal with the rest, but I don't find managing the chaff fun. That's why I prefer to keep the ratio as low as possible.