Question about a callup in July

[anks106]

Hey, in OOTP 2007, I have a prospect who is sitting in AAA. He is a ready for the bigs, if I call him up now will he use up a year of service time in the remainder of the season?

[conception]

I'm pretty sure service time is more a matter of days, as opposed to years. If you bring him up in July it will take up about 2-3 months of service time away but the total days still have to add up to 6 years of time.

[Sweed]

Yeah, the game uses "days of service". I believe the default is 172 days= 1 year of service and days will quit accruing once 172 is reached. So, if the season covers a 180 days of calender time a player will only accrue 172 days of service if he's on the MLB roster for the entire season. It's also customizable in your league setup\options menu.

So, to answer your question your player will accrue appox. a half year of MLB service time.

[anks106]

I guess my real question is as follows. As far as how long i control him (at min salary/arb) would calling a guy up on 7/11 have the same result as calling him up 4/1 of this year or 4/1 of the next?

[Sweed]

Originally Posted by anks106

I guess my real question is as follows. As far as how long i control him (at min salary/arb) would calling a guy up on 7/11 have the same result as calling him up 4/1 of this year or 4/1 of the next?

Well if I understand what you are asking I would say you won't really lose anything but will gain a half a year at minimum salary. Look at it this way, it takes a 172 days of service to be credited with a year. 172days x3yrs= 516 days of service to reach arbitration and 172days x6yrs= 1032 days to reach free agent status.

However you can't get arbitration or become a FA during an on-going season. So, if your player stays at the MLB level for three consecutive years, he will reach his 516 days of service in July but won't be declared arbitration eligible until after the season. Three years later he will reach his 1032 days of service, again in July, while on an arbitration contract and won't be declared a FA until the season ends. You will end up having him for 6 and 1\2 seasons before you lose control of his rights and he can become a FA.

Hope that helps.

[Left-handed Badger]

I probably cant anything but mention if they dont obtain 130 ABs or 50 IPs, they are still considered rookies. Not sure, how all that factors though.

[wlight1]

Originally Posted by anks106

I guess my real question is as follows. As far as how long i control him (at min salary/arb) would calling a guy up on 7/11 have the same result as calling him up 4/1 of this year or 4/1 of the next?

No, that's not the same. As Sweed said, OOTP no longer measures the countdown to arb & free agency in years. The countdown now increments in "service days." By default (so, probably in your league), 172 service days makes one service year. And, by default (probably in your league again), it takes 3 services years to get to arbitration and 6 to get to free agency.

So if you call your prospect up on 7/11 and your season ends (it counts right after the WS) in mid-October, that player will acquire about 90 days of service time, or about half a year. If you had called him up on 4/1 of the current season, he'd have acquired ~90 days more than that, and if you called him up 4/1 of the following season, he wouldn't begin counting-up his days of service time until that time at which you called him up.

[tysok]

Originally Posted by wlight1

No, that's not the same.

In terms of how long you control him it kinda is.

Here's the breakdown. If it's 3 years to arb, and 6 years to FA. Assuming he comes up and never goes back down:
He comes up in July 2007 and gets 90 days service time at minimum salary.
Next year 4/1 2008 he has 0 years 90 days time... still minimum salary.
Next year 4/1 2009 he has 1 year 90 days time... still minimum salary.
Next year 4/1 2010 he has 2 years 90 days time... still minimum salary.
Next year 4/1 2011 he has 3 years 90 days time... he had an arb contract.
Next year 4/1 2012 he has 4 years 90 days time... he had his 2nd arb contract.
Next year 4/1 2013 he has 5 years 90 days time... he had his 3rd arb contract.
He now has more than 6 years time, he's a FA or you signed a big deal.

You control him for 6 and a half seasons if you call him up middle of the year. So basically calling him up in July 2007 is the same as calling him up on 4/1 2008.

[wlight1]

Originally Posted by tysok

In terms of how long you control him it kinda is.
...So basically calling him up in July 2007 is the same as calling him up on 4/1 2008.

Oh. You're right, I'm dumb. In terms of how long you control him it is essentially the same. Assuming he stays on the ML roster for that entire period of time.