How to handle farm system?

[Isura]

Hey guys. Do you handle promotions/demotions, lineup setting, etc for your farm teams? I was thinking of choosing promotions but letting the AI (I hired managers) set the lineups. Does the AI do a good enough job of promoting players? I find there are a few 28+ players playing single A... which seems like a waste of a roster spot.

[Cubfan2001]

I know that in my case I let the AI do the farm system stuff except signing players etc... which makes me ask,.... I notice in R ball the short season one I have 105 players! Now my question is will the game atleast start the players who have a bigger future ahead of themselves with higher potential ratings or not necesarilly?

[Rondell Tate]

If you don't have a deep minors (I have only AAA and AA in a mostly historical league c. 1963) the computer can burn up a pitching staff.
My MLB club was getting hammered, so I ran off 2/3 of a season on autopilot and neglected to check on the minors.
For whatever reason, the system moved all but 7 pitchers to AA. The few remaining AAA pitchers all burned up from overuse and four of my top pitching prospects were hit w/ 4-12 month arm injuries, along with most of that staff (three torn biceps alone). Pitching on 0 to 2 days rest every start will do that to a starter.
The hitters on the AA team were similarly overworked, but not as injury-prone. I have not had any such problems w/ full minor leagues and would say it worked pretty well in that scenario.

[bigMatt]

Originally Posted by Isura

Hey guys. Do you handle promotions/demotions, lineup setting, etc for your farm teams? I was thinking of choosing promotions but letting the AI (I hired managers) set the lineups. Does the AI do a good enough job of promoting players? I find there are a few 28+ players playing single A... which seems like a waste of a roster spot.

I handle all promotions/demotions, but I use the scouting reports to guide me. This doesn't always work out for the best, as I always fight myself over a tendency towards a short leash with newly promoted guys. And I noticed I sometimes let guys scuffle around too long in the minors. But I really enjoy the GM aspect of the game, so tend to handle all player movement. I actually let the Minor league managers set lineups to some degree, although with AAA, I'll move things around if I want to get some guy more ABs, or try someone at a new position. I also do quite a bit of fiddling with the AAA pitching rotation. I'm sure I piss my AI managers off to no end.

[bjkat81]

I ran into a problem with allowing the AI to manage your prom/demotions, in that it was bringing up prospects to the majors whenever I had an open spot, and that uses up their 'ups' and their options. it'd be nice if there was an option to allow them to handle promotions and demotions with the exception of your MLB team.

[bigMatt]

Originally Posted by bjkat81

I ran into a problem with allowing the AI to manage your prom/demotions, in that it was bringing up prospects to the majors whenever I had an open spot, and that uses up their 'ups' and their options. it'd be nice if there was an option to allow them to handle promotions and demotions with the exception of your MLB team.

I'm not surprised. In my league, I am always bummed that the other teams promote some rookies basically the day after they are drafted.

I think this is a flaw in the game, but maybe that's just based on personal preference.

[jamescfs]

Originally Posted by bjkat81

I ran into a problem with allowing the AI to manage your prom/demotions, in that it was bringing up prospects to the majors whenever I had an open spot, and that uses up their 'ups' and their options. it'd be nice if there was an option to allow them to handle promotions and demotions with the exception of your MLB team.

There is that option. In your manager options screen, there is an option to allow the minor league managers to control minor league demotions/promotions. There is another option for MLB promotions/demotions as well. Set the former to minor league managers, and set the latter to yourself. Players in the minors will get promoted and demoted between minor leagues as the AI sees fit, but it won't touch your MLB roster.

[Isura]

Originally Posted by jamescfs

There is that option. In your manager options screen, there is an option to allow the minor league managers to control minor league demotions/promotions. There is another option for MLB promotions/demotions as well. Set the former to minor league managers, and set the latter to yourself. Players in the minors will get promoted and demoted between minor leagues as the AI sees fit, but it won't touch your MLB roster.

Does this include the 40 man roster?

[kq76]

Originally Posted by Rondell Tate

If you don't have a deep minors (I have only AAA and AA in a mostly historical league c. 1963) the computer can burn up a pitching staff.
My MLB club was getting hammered, so I ran off 2/3 of a season on autopilot and neglected to check on the minors.
For whatever reason, the system moved all but 7 pitchers to AA. The few remaining AAA pitchers all burned up from overuse and four of my top pitching prospects were hit w/ 4-12 month arm injuries, along with most of that staff (three torn biceps alone). Pitching on 0 to 2 days rest every start will do that to a starter.
The hitters on the AA team were similarly overworked, but not as injury-prone. I have not had any such problems w/ full minor leagues and would say it worked pretty well in that scenario.

I'm curious: do you have "create and maintain hidden players" selected?