[zonk84]

As a longtime - going all the way back to OOTP2 - player, just thought I'd scribble down some thoughts on player development, scouting, and managing the organization... Call it half curiosity for opposing/alternate views on the topic, half knowledge sharing.

This, of course, used to be a lot a easier - once upon a time, you just signed a bunch of 'LEGENDARY' coaches, paired with a LEGENDARY scout - and voila... an assembly-line prospect mill. Changes over the last half dozen versions or so have have this process a lot more opaque - presenting a far bigger challenge, but also, I think, mimicking the reality of churning out a self-sustaining dynasty far better.

I strictly play with the standard MLB setup - and since the introduction of 'challenge mode', I've likewise learned to live without an edit (or some would say, cheating) here or there. I should also note - as a diehard Cubs fan - I've never had the heart to helm any team other than my beloved northsiders, so I'll also admit that team's market size and finances give me an obvious leg up.

In any case...

Game Settings
I generally use out of the box settings with a few minor changes - I do bump the aging/development settings a bit, though not as much as most might suggest (.950 aging/1.050 dev for hitters; .940 aging/1.055 for pitchers). I generally keep the talent change randomness where it is. I do absolutely enable the player personality settings... and I also go with the 20-80 scale for all ratings - as a min-maxer in all games strategy, I want a broader and more precise distribution than just 1 to 5 stars.

Front Office Spends
More is of course, more... so yes - unless absolutely impossible, I do max out both player development allocation (36m) and scouting (24m). The smart money will surely point out that this leads to diminishing returns - something closer to ~20m/~15m still more likely puts you in the relative top spenders - plus likely gives you room for a superstar contract, but churn baby, churn... As Branch Rickey once said - better to trade a guy a year too early than a year too late. I also control my minor league lineups - if you don't like micro-managing, then this advice is probably not for you... I micro-manage the hell out of my system, all demotions/promotions - and lineups/rotations - are at MY discretion.

Scouting settings
With higher scouting spends, I can likewise more or less equalize my individual allocations. If I'm spending 24m on scouting - this means I don't necessarily need to keep my major league scouting above minor league, amateur, and INTL - i.e., ~25% split with the top spend means I'm still likely outspending everyone else in each subset anyway.

If contract obligations start eating into this and I do have to bump it down - it pays to keep in mind WHAT you'll be paying for the following season. Did you lose a couple comp FAs, plus maybe fail to sign someone from the top three rounds? Make sure your amateur scouting remains a priority. Alternately, did you sign a comp FA or two? If anything is gonna slide, let it be amateur scouting.

In a neutral world, I find that INTL scouting is paramount - less to get good reads on the July INTL FA signings, but to up your chances on getting a real 'gem' of a discovery. Still - and you'll notice a recurring theme - don't expect dumping 6-7-8+ million into INTLs to lead to a steady stream of 60-80 prospects. Most of your discoveries are still going to be chaff hardly worth the effort. In my initial season, I like to also to make sure my minor league scouting is way, way up - Trader Jack is a piker compared to my trade-a-rama.... and generally speaking, I've found that the first out-of-the-box amateur draft is the most loaded.

It's tinkering around the margins, but my initial season is usually ~20% MLB, ~30% minor leagues, ~22% amateur, ~28% INTL. I adjust in subsequent seasons.

Your Scout
... matters a lot, of course. As a farm builder - even if/while the big club is in the midst of a dynasty - what matters most to me is higher ratings for the minors/amateur/INTL realms. I virtually ignore the Majors rating - I've got stats for that. As with most of this stuff, though - patience is the key. At least, don't be so quick to change scouts unless there's a clearly better option available. Give your scout a couple seasons - regardless of his ratings - to succeed or fail.... But - and here's where more micromanaging comes into play - I like to seek his advice and dump his advice into shortlists that I review from time to time. Especially in the early rounds of an amateur draft - don't LET him pick, but seek his advice and stash that advice away in a shortlist tracker. Monitor his hits or misses over time.

On the Ability vs Tools - as the manual says, ability is going to get you a lot of high floor/lower ceiling guys; tools will yield more top shelf guys who have a ways to go to hit the higher ceilings... but - note below - what are you spending on player development? I prefer neutral scouts - but in a change from editions past (where I used to lean towards ability), the fact that I'm spending a lot on player development means I've since discovered that I prefer tools a bit more. Which leads to...

Player Development Spending

I max it. I'll give away a SP before I consider cutting it. It's the first budget item I work towards maxing out.

But - patience is a virtue. I've read a lot of complaints about the lack of returns on this investment, but the complaints always seem to be about individual players... that's the wrong view to take - because we're working with the aggregate. The nature of the beast is that there are no sure things - so it happens... sometimes that can't miss prospect just misses and no amount of development dollars and coach coddling can prevent it.

What I've noticed over time is that this spending pays off at the aggregate level - sure, it hurts when that beloved top draft pick turns into nothing but org fodder... but meanwhile, I find that my system is brimming with guys that exceed expectations. Don't fall in love with just one or two guys. What's more - don't fret so much over the month to month reports. Monitor them to be sure - but more for purposes of selling high (again - another micromanagement shortlist use... throwing guys who seem to drop onto a shortlist makes for a ready list of trade bait - before other teams notice a prospect is no longer as highly thought of).

In short - you should be measuring your farm system progress and success by taking a broader, more holistic view of your prospects - not just the cream and truly judging it is a multi-season, not multi-month endeavor. Be patient.

Minor League Staff
The bane of the modern OOTP farm director... because it's extremely difficult to figure out who is actually any good at developing talent and who isn't... but actually, isn't this the case in real life?

First, I think the "reputation" ranks are damn near bunk. Sure - all things being equal, the blue-green-yellow-orange-red flags are better than nothing. But especially for purposes of filling out your farm staff - you're mostly going to living with yellow or lower hires.

It goes without saying (or should) - but you should always check the coach 'narratives'... prioritize the guys who 'prefer young players'; avoid like the plague the ones who like veterans.

On the rare occasion you're able to lure a well-thought-of prospect lover coach - it's also a good idea to max out the contract offers (i.e., coaches will almost always agree to more years than they request - so by all means, give that rare gem 5 years).

For hitting and pitching coaches - it pays to know your system. I like power arms and I like guys who throw ground balls. This means I don't have a lot of use for pitching coaches that match up with finesse pitchers - coaches work best when paired with strengths. Stay away from 'neutral' coaches - my experience is that they're only "last resort" hires... they won't hurt, but they don't seem to help. On the hitting side, I like OBP and I like HRs... but - again, know your system. Is your AA lineup comprised of a lot of high contact guys? Organizational philosophy be damned - you want an AA hitting coach who preaches contact, at least for the coming season.

At the A and rookie levels - where you've probably got multiple teams - this where more of that micromanagement comes into play. Generally speaking, I try to spread out the coach types - and assign players accordingly. Keep your power hitters with a coach that specializes in it as long as you can, etc. And above with coaches - the best way to evaluate them is by looking at the numbers. To be sure - if they don't have the horses, they don't have the horses - but a pitching coach with a couple season of 5+ ERA staffs isn't going to get a 3rd season.

Managers are a bit easier - with a trick... First - for minor league managers, you can completely and totally ignore reputation. With apologies to the good fans at Boise, I really couldn't care less if they win the NWL title - and wins/losses seems to be the prime reputation mover. Instead, when viewing a potential minor league manager hire - check his second tab ("development impact"). While the results you'll get are geared towards the major league roster - I've found that guys "good" or better only get even better when signed to manage a minor league club. Guys with "poor" aren't going to improve when handed a minor league team to run. Oddly enough, the favor prospects/favor vets doesn't seem to matter much - at least, not if you're populating the lineups yourself.

I know some people swear by the idea that you should seek out the 'controlling' sort - I generally do, too - but I think this is more important only when you happen to have a fair number of low work ethic minor leaguers... something I avoid.

Player Acquisition Strategies

Good prospects are good prospects, but it pays to pair your targets with your settings. Ordinarily, guy with high talent/low ability ratings - the 'raw' prospects - are red flags. A 60 talent/30 ability prospect is usually better than a 70/20 prospect... but if you're maxing out your development spends? You can buy more lottery tickets. I'll still generally lean towards a slightly lower ceiling with a higher floor - but especially the middle rounds of a draft or in trying to get the AI to toss in a lottery ticket or two? Your system with a maxed player development budget and finely tuned coaching staff has a better chance than most to see one of those toolsy guys hit paydirt. Just remember to be patient - and remember those sorts are still going to crap out more often than they pay out.

I suppose it's also pretty obvious - but I avoid guys with low work ethics, fragile injury histories, etc. That's not to say I won't grab one if he's clearly a notch above anything else available, but if it's close? No brainer. Take the hard worker. Take the intelligent hard worker. etc.

Another key component to pay attention to is service time when you're making trades. If we're going to be plowing dollars into player development, stands to reason that we want guys who are going to max out taking advantage of those spends.... and unlike the ratings, with all their variances and aspects - a guy either has 3 years or he's got less than a year. When pillaging enemy systems in trades - I'm usually focused on acquiring farm hands I can get a good 2+ years of worry-free development out of before I have to start worrying about adding him to the 40-man to protect him from the rule 5, minor league FA, etc.

A few other odds and ends...

A prospect has to play to develop, of course - hence why I set my own minor league lineups and rotations. However, I don't worry too much about roster size. Until Markus lops off this exploit, I have no compunction about minor league rosters of around ~40 players per team (of course, yes - I know there's a game setting to be more stringent about roster size). All of my minor league rotations go 6 deep - which lets me squeeze an extra rotation slot.

I also tend to like multi-position flexibility, so all but the most prized (or defensively limited) players learn multiple positions... though - a warning - it pays to have a longterm plan. Most SS's can easily and quickly learn to play all over the IF - but if a guy is your SS of the future, time spent learning to play 2B/3B is time he won't be improving at SS. You have to pay attention to who looks like a future starter and who looks like a future utility player. You also have to pay attention to which position learnings aren't "taking" - a guy struggling to learn a new position is also likely to see his offense struggle. Micromanaging! Learn it, live it, love it! This is also true of SPs - as the evolving game manual notes - most pitchers start out with potential rotation futures... and most of them will fail out and end up in the bullpen. If a pitcher never seems to develop that 3rd pitch, sometimes its best to just move him to the bullpen and let him develop as a reliever.

The red/green arrows for promotion/demotion suggestions shouldn't be used a crutches - use them for "at a glance" only looks, but make your decisions based on the numbers. I don't care what the arrow says - if a guy is hitting 190 - he's not ready to be promoted. Promotion decisions are best made by examining the stats and the ratings AND the arrows. Also - keep in mind that there are times where it is necessary to fish or cut bait. A 23 yo with 2.5 years of service time still in shortseason ball? It's time to move him up to A and let him sink or swim.

Don't be too jumpy with promotions/demotions - generally speaking, I prefer to give guys a slow, steady progression. Let the streaks even out, etc. Ordinarily, I'll do mass promotions three times a year - right after spring training, in the middle of June, and then finally with the Sept roster expansions.

As noted in several places above - I love using shortlists. I have internal shortlists and external shortlists. I have a couple dozen. I review them regularly. Plus - a shortlisted player will spawn news items, too - so it's a good way to keep tabs on who might be worth an out of sequence promotion... as well as track guys you might target for trade in other orgs.

Use "shop a player" and "make this work now" a lot - even if you don't pull the trigger on the trade. This can help you find your own scout's blind spots... Does a 20/20 minor leaguer keep coming up as a missing piece of a "make this work now" trade? Chances are, this is a guy your scout is never gonna appreciate - and onto a short list he goes (a "monitor by hand" shortlist)... but the fact that multiple other team scouts like him means he's probably worth more than your scout thinks. More data always beats less data.

Finally... and this is where the line between min-maxing and true exploits probably lies - hose the AI whenever possible.

I'm sure OOTP vets with more character than I will scoff, but -

Always monitor the waiver wire. While much improved, the AI still is far too quick to add players to its 40 man roster, and then far too quick to waive them. ABC -- Always Be Claiming. Whether you slide them through waivers yourself, find room on your own 40 man, or just immediately be flipping them in trade... ABC.

Ditto the free agents - the AI will often make... puzzling decisions to release players - I think because it hasn't discovered the beauty of over-stuffed minor league rosters, but check the available FAs regularly - and in particular, for teenagers.

Early in a dynasty - I tend to focus on quantity over quality. It probably goes without saying, but the first thing I do in starting a new game is sign the bejeesus out of the available FAs (minor league offers only!). This is another area where I've found the OOTP AI much improved, so it's no longer as potent a weapon as it once was, but by immediately scarfing up middling vets - I've now got a huge menu of trade offers to make... and I trade to a ridiculous degree in my first year. Like 30-40-50+ trades. Painstakingly maxed out trades. Trades where I slowly but surely add 3-4-5 players. Trades where I finagle a few spare dollars (I never complete a trade without first checking if the AI will kick in some cash). Cash never goes to waste. If absolutely nothing else - you can hobble AI teams with draft bonuses and minor league FAs. In some cases, the AI will essentially "buy" a minor leaguer not in my future plans anyway.

That's money you can use to blow past your amateur bonus budget. Money you can use to give yourself some budget padding (just keep in mind - your max cash resets to 10m every year, so you have to rinse/repeat to bump your reserves back up past 10m every offseason). This is no longer as valuable as it once was - I notice the AI no longer seems nearly so enticed to receive cash back in trades once you've built enormous reserves - but still... an extra 10 mil of budget padding is nice.

After a couple seasons - I go the other direction (quantity for quality) - if I've got 4 blue chip SS prospects, I'm a lot more willing to do 3-1 or 4-1 trades to get a top shelf prospect at a position I'm lacking... but early on, in the first season or two? I'm pouring a ton of money into my farm, so I want to spread it around.

Thus endeth the magnum opus on How to Build a Farm System for the Ages...