Alternatives to minor leagues?

[Cole]

I am thinking of starting a new fictional universe that will consist of a bunch of different leagues around the world, all of which are in an association with the league champions going on to the world championship.

Just for demonstration say it will consist of:
8-team North American league
8-team South American League
8-team European League
8-team Asian League
8-team Australian league
8-team rest of world league

Now, that's 48 teams total and I don't want to have 3 minor league levels for each team, making the entire game world enormous with tons of various teams.

I'm wondering, what are the alternatives to minor leagues?

Would it be possible in any way to have a system similar to the NHL, where every team has one minor league team (AHL) where they can shuttle players back and forth ... Optimally, I would love to be able to create just one separate league, which would be a 48-team league, with one of those teams being affiliated with each of the main teams in the individual 8-team leagues.... Then the North American League, South American League, Asian league, etc, would all hold their own separate drafts, but the players they draft could be sent down to the 48-team 'minor/development' league... (the AHL equivalent, in the NHL example) ...

Is such a thing possible? Basically I just want to try to reduce the amount of clutter that typically exists in bigger world leagues when they have multiple levels of minors for each team ....

What other alternatives are there to multiple levels of minors? I know there are reserve rosters but I like all players to be accumulating stats so I've never liked that much ...

Any input would be appreciated. Thanks!

[GiantYankee]

Originally Posted by ripwalk

I'm wondering, what are the alternatives to minor leagues?

Would it be possible in any way to have a system similar to the NHL, where every team has one minor league team (AHL) where they can shuttle players back and forth ... Optimally, I would love to be able to create just one separate league, which would be a 48-team league, with one of those teams being affiliated with each of the main teams in the individual 8-team leagues.... Then the North American League, South American League, Asian league, etc, would all hold their own separate drafts, but the players they draft could be sent down to the 48-team 'minor/development' league... (the AHL equivalent, in the NHL example) ...

Is such a thing possible? Basically I just want to try to reduce the amount of clutter that typically exists in bigger world leagues when they have multiple levels of minors for each team ....

What other alternatives are there to multiple levels of minors? I know there are reserve rosters but I like all players to be accumulating stats so I've never liked that much ...

Any input would be appreciated. Thanks!

Creating one level of minors shouldn't be a problem. The issue you may come across is that the younger prospects (I.E. right out of H.S.) won't get much playing time and development. Many people use reserve rosters which allows for regular development players. Downside is that you won't have stats to go by when deciding which minor leagues may deserve a callup.

[Fyrestorm3]

If you mess around with PCMs, Player Development, and Player Aging settings, you can actually get a league with a single level of minors that functions fairly well. I don't know the best settings off the top of my head, but I do know it's possible.

[Cole]

Originally Posted by GiantYankee

Creating one level of minors shouldn't be a problem. The issue you may come across is that the younger prospects (I.E. right out of H.S.) won't get much playing time and development. Many people use reserve rosters which allows for regular development players. Downside is that you won't have stats to go by when deciding which minor leagues may deserve a callup.

Two questions off this.. So you are saying I CAN create only ONE huge minor league that would be affiliated with all the 6 different main world leagues, even though those will all be their own separate leagues only joined by an association?

Secondly ... players develop while on reserve rosters?

Also, regarding HS players not getting much time... I'm thinking of perhaps having a pretty shallow draft, maybe only 5 rounds... So that all players would get a chance.. And any additional roster spots could be filled by minor league free agents and whatnot ...

[GiantYankee]

Originally Posted by ripwalk

Two questions off this.. So you are saying I CAN create only ONE huge minor league that would be affiliated with all the 6 different main world leagues, even though those will all be their own separate leagues only joined by an association?

Not sure. I missed the part when you said they would be in different league. You could test this out by creating 6 small leagues (i.e.4 teams each).

Secondly ... players develop while on reserve rosters?

I've been told in other threads that players do develop this way. I do believe that is confirmed in the manual.

Also, regarding HS players not getting much time... I'm thinking of perhaps having a pretty shallow draft, maybe only 5 rounds... So that all players would get a chance.. And any additional roster spots could be filled by minor league free agents and whatnot ...

..

[Cole]

I wonder what the equivalent minor league level of reserve rosters is? For example if I had say a 5-man reserve roster, plus one minor league level, what would be the "higher" calibre place for prospects to develop, reserve roster, or a A, AA, AAA minor league?

[GiantYankee]

Originally Posted by ripwalk

I wonder what the equivalent minor league level of reserve rosters is? For example if I had say a 5-man reserve roster, plus one minor league level, what would be the "higher" calibre place for prospects to develop, reserve roster, or a A, AA, AAA minor league?

You can't have both a reserve roster and minor leagues.