[NoOne]

Ratings > personality, however, work ethic and intelligence do affect probability of developing and probably should be considered when comparing 2 "~equivalents".

i concentrate on development of ratings. i keep all scouting reports for a visual aid. (still not familiar with '19, so what i say needs mini-translation maybe.) player profile -> Scouting reports is a great visual even in '18. '19 has graphs now? if they are steadily improving, i'm not worried about much.

i used to be all about promoting asap.... even now, i still default to that behaviour, but i react to certain hiccups in certain contexts.

in those cases i let results dictate a bit more -- especially if they are young players. (like an 18y.o. rookie anywhere above Rookie-level league). rarely do i see any problems with age-appropriate players and appropriate ratings for level.

if they are well-rated for the next level but severely underperforming at current level, i wait until their stats uptick before promoting -- since even good players have bad results form time to time, i am very forgiving about this. when i find a younger player hits a wall most likely due to age/pro svc years, i keep them where they can succeed. most times the following year they can play at the next level at least.

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a theory i've wanted to explore lately is about pitchers. sometimes control lags, more so than the others, at around 20-35/100 current ability. i've been wondering if it's better to leave them at A-ball even though they could probably do okay at AA or higher until the control starts to develop......

(same with that third pitch lagging at 1-10 / 100.... this is why i suspect this theory would fail to be proven true.)

or is keeping them below where they "should be" going to hinder the other ratings that have developed and 'too high' for that level

bottom line is that if you watch the ai, it's not the most efficient at this compared to a human and their prospects turn out fine. heck, i've missed a TCR or scouting update on a player before and they wallowed at a low level for ~2 or more years and still nearly fully developed at a-ball and lower.


edit: def max dev budget as much as you can each year. you can set this budget up until the day before preseason begins, i believe. so, you can easily predict any potential future payroll needs or wiggle room and spend that cash before your owner steals it at end of year.

not just with this, but my goal is to only make $10M a year and use that as an "oh, s#@%" i need more money moment. (=carryover cash default limit is $10M)