Farm System

[Essekks]

Just downloaded the game and set up a Historical League and absolutely love this game!.

I just have a question about managing the farm system. Should I actively release players in the lower levels that have little potential and underperform - to keep the rosters down to a level where the real prospects can get more playing time? There seems to be a imbalance of roster sizes around my farm system and conventional wisdom says to keep the rosters lean to develop the players better.

If doing this does not have an impact, I dont want to spend too much time and energy on it. Any suggestons?

[zekester91]

Using roster limits on all but your two lowest leagues should keep the upper leviles free of too many huge rosters and give those closes to making the majors playing time. You can not give roster limits to your lowest level of minors as it creates problems with draft picks and a few other problems. but it is much simpler to clean out one or two league as it is to keep all them in check. Plus I don't think there is much need to keep them clean as your top prospects will move quickly up to the higher levels and you'll just need to make sure that talanted players are moving off those lower teams within a year or two.

[Mel Ott]

Originally Posted by Essekks

Just downloaded the game and set up a Historical League and absolutely love this game!.

I just have a question about managing the farm system. Should I actively release players in the lower levels that have little potential and underperform - to keep the rosters down to a level where the real prospects can get more playing time? There seems to be a imbalance of roster sizes around my farm system and conventional wisdom says to keep the rosters lean to develop the players better.

If doing this does not have an impact, I dont want to spend too much time and energy on it. Any suggestons?

It depends.

If you're playing with the ghost players on, you don't have to worry about minor-league roster sizes, and you can cut just about everyone if you want. If you have ghost players off, you need to keep a certain number of players on each team so the game can simulate their seasons.

In either case, you can set your minor-league lineups and rotations so your top prospects get the most playing time.

AFAIK, the size of your rosters doesn't affect how frequently teams get talent bumps, so there's no real drawback to having a large roster as long as the best young players are getting the bulk of the playing time. Also, some of the scrubs will get talent bumps, and a few can wind up turning into solid major-leaguers; if you just cut all the guys with poor potential, that won't happen.

Another thing to consider is the accuracy of your scouts; if you have them turned off, this won't matter, but if they're on, it's quite possible that you have some good players that your scouts just don't fully appreciate. If you give them playing time, you should be able to judge them by their results.

Honestly, I think you can be successful either way, as long as you have enough players to run the sims.

[Curtis]

Mel has a good post. I'd like to highlight this portion:

Originally Posted by Mel Ott

AFAIK, the size of your rosters doesn't affect how frequently teams get talent bumps, so there's no real drawback to having a large roster as long as the best young players are getting the bulk of the playing time. Also, some of the scrubs will get talent bumps, and a few can wind up turning into solid major-leaguers; if you just cut all the guys with poor potential, that won't happen.

In the majors, just being on the primary roster, even if you never get into a game, will allow normal development. In the minors, the more you play the more you develop. Therefore, if you want to concentrate development on your 'top' prospects, trim roster size. (Basically a shorter version of Mel's post. His is better nuanced.)

[Essekks]

Thanks for the insight.... Just a meaningless FYI to many: I am playing the 1977 Cubs and didnt realize how good Steve Renko was. He is leading the League in Wins and ERA (As of May 15)