Is this possible?

[d. tetree]

I play OOTP 9 and am in an online league as well. I want to know if people can tell me if this is doable for this coming version of the game, which I have pre-ordered. I am waiting to do this for the next version because I think the change to the pitching model will be a good one.

Here is what I want to be able to do:

*Solo game
*Expand after 2009 season to 32 teams, adding Portland, OR and Charlotte, NC.
*Re-align the major leagues to 4 divisions--AL's East/West, NL's East/West. Division winners and two wild card berths from each league
*Re-align the minors slightly--Charlotte and Portland have AAA teams that will need to be moved, for instance. I am very interested to know if I can easily change teams minor league affiliates, without losing the rosters of the teams.
*Also wondering if I can add the expansion teams' Short Season and Rookie League teams early, in 2009, ala the Devil Rays and Diamondbacks. I figure I can have the teams draft in the sandwich rounds and then sign free agents to fill the two low levels that start after the draft.

Anyway, does anyone have any opinions on whether having this specific setup is doable? Are there any hiccups, namely being able to shift the minor league affiliates of teams. In real life, this happens all the time---I know the Twins have had multiple AAA teams in the last decade or so. Any feedback would be very much appreciated.

[satchel]

This is all quite possible, and can be done relatively easily. That is, the game has mechanisms in place for accomplishing these things.

[Bluenoser]

You can do all that for the current version of the game, OOTP9.

[d. tetree]

Can I realign the minor leagues without losing the players or making them free agents? This is my big worry.

[Bluenoser]

Originally Posted by d. tetree

Can I realign the minor leagues without losing the players or making them free agents? This is my big worry.

Yes - League Setup, select the minor league you want to change, then under "Functions" - Edit League Structure.

Don't forget to create a new schedule when you do this.

[Who Killed Kenny?]

Originally Posted by satchel

This is all quite possible, and can be done relatively easily. That is, the game has mechanisms in place for accomplishing these things.

Originally Posted by BruceM

You can do all that for the current version of the game, OOTP9.

Is this true? Although I haven't changed minor league affiliates in 9, in 2007 what would happen is all the minor league team's players would also go to the new organization. I hope this had been changed in 9.

What I did was just swap the team names and cities (and colors and logos, etc) , but left them the same otherwise.

[satchel]

Originally Posted by Who Killed Kenny?

Although I haven't changed minor league affiliates in 9, in 2007 what would happen is all the minor league team's players would also go to the new organization.

I think that what the original poster is calling "change minor league affiliates" and what you're calling "change minor league affiliates" are two different things.

[Dan Theman]

To clarify, this past offseason the Cleveland Indians changed a minor league affiliate. Their AAA team had been the Buffalo Bisons and they moved it to the Columbus Clippers. Now the Clippers had been a Yankee affiliate, so the Yankees moved their AAA team to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The Buffalo Bisons still exist, but now they're a Mets affiliate. Players were never swapped between teams (nor should they have been, as it was just a matter of simultaneous moves).

All of that can take place in OOTP without any trouble. You can merely change the cities and names (and logos, if you like) for the teams in question.

[d. tetree]

That is what I'm looking to do. However, in some cases the teams will cease to exist. For instance, I'm putting teams in Charlotte and Portland, so their AAA's will no longer exist. But I can just switch their team names around and it should not be a problem, from what I am reading. Thank you to all for their responses.
With regards to Satchel, though....you mentioned that me and the other responder would have different ideas of what switching affiliations means. Can you elaborate on any possible issues this might cause within the game?

EDIT: Allow me to elaborate. If I change the Appalachian League Pulaski Mariners to be a Royals affiliate, and want to make the Burlington team unaffiliated for the first year (because it would be Charlotte's affiliate next year), what would happen to the players on the teams?

[Who Killed Kenny?]

Originally Posted by satchel

I think that what the original poster is calling "change minor league affiliates" and what you're calling "change minor league affiliates" are two different things.

Ah, semantics . I was talking about using the drop down in the league structure page and changing the affiliation. In my experience in OOTP 2007, all the players went with the team and not with the overall organization.

Originally Posted by d. tetree

Allow me to elaborate. If I change the Appalachian League Pulaski Mariners to be a Royals affiliate, and want to make the Burlington team unaffiliated for the first year (because it would be Charlotte's affiliate next year), what would happen to the players on the teams?

I believe (unless it was changed in 8 or 9 or 10), the Pulaski Mariners players would all become affiliated with the Royals and the Burlington players would not have any affiliation and thus not be promoted. When Burlington affiliates with Charlotte, then Charlotte gets the rights to all the Burlington players.

If you want to do it this way make sure to manually reassign all "essential" players with in the organization before making any changes.

Once again this was the case in 2007, I have not tried in in 9.

[satchel]

I can only echo the words of Who Killed Kenny, and I appreciate his input. He knows more about it than I do.

[crusadecat]

Forgive me for jumping into this post but it seems like the appropriate place.
I wanted to start a fictional league around the turn of the century with 8 teams , then expand it over the years to 16. can i create names that aren't era appropriate and keep the ones that are?

[fhomess]

Originally Posted by crusadecat

Forgive me for jumping into this post but it seems like the appropriate place.
I wanted to start a fictional league around the turn of the century with 8 teams , then expand it over the years to 16. can i create names that aren't era appropriate and keep the ones that are?

Yes. You can manually edit city names and team nicknames to your heart's content. As far as the game is concerned, you can create the Xcertiuyt Gramglers if you want, and play them in any baseball era.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by d. tetree

*Expand after 2009 season to 32 teams, adding Portland, OR and Charlotte, NC.
*Re-align the major leagues to 4 divisions--AL's East/West, NL's East/West. Division winners and two wild card berths from each league
*Re-align the minors slightly--Charlotte and Portland have AAA teams that will need to be moved, for instance. I am very interested to know if I can easily change teams minor league affiliates, without losing the rosters of the teams.
*Also wondering if I can add the expansion teams' Short Season and Rookie League teams early, in 2009, ala the Devil Rays and Diamondbacks.

Do not overlook expanding all the other levels of minors by two clubs to account for the two additional major league clubs. That will mean adding two clubs to one of the leagues at each of the AAA, AA, and A levels, as all of those levels work at a 1:1 ratio of major league clubs to minor league clubs. The Short Season A and Rookie levels do not have a 1:1 ratio, so you do not necessarily have to add two clubs to those levels.

[spitfire]

Originally Posted by fhomess

As far as the game is concerned, you can create the Xcertiuyt Gramglers if you want

I'd LOVE to see that team's logo!!!!!!

[d. tetree]

Originally Posted by Le Grande Orange

Do not overlook expanding all the other levels of minors by two clubs to account for the two additional major league clubs. That will mean adding two clubs to one of the leagues at each of the AAA, AA, and A levels, as all of those levels work at a 1:1 ratio of major league clubs to minor league clubs. The Short Season A and Rookie levels do not have a 1:1 ratio, so you do not necessarily have to add two clubs to those levels.

Right, I will have to have a 1:1 ratio of those teams. I simply wanted to add the SS and Rookie teams early, before the parent clubs come in, ala the D-Backs and Rays ten years ago. I am hoping that the adding of the sandwich rounds will allow me to give draft choices to my teams before they are created, as the previous real life expansion teams were able to draft players before they started playing games. I'm hoping to have the sandwich rounds be able to add young talent to the created teams, before they start play in 2010.