First half short season leagues halfway between advanced rookie and SSA

[tejdog1]

How would I go about doing this? What things would I have to change to get the AI to utilize this league properly?

Basically, I want a league that runs from March 15th to June 1st, roughly 75 days, 66 game league. And using the Mets as an example, I want the talent level to be roughly between Brooklyn and Kingsport.

How would I make this happen and ensure the AI does use it correctly?

Thanks!

[le receveur]

are you adding a league, or just changing an existing one to 1st half seasons?

[HawkyTom]

I'm glad you brought this up, because I just recently had a related concern after I finished tweaking my league setup. I basically ended up with a MLB Quickstart that I made all 30 teams have only one AAA/AA/A & a Rookie ball team. (4 minor league affiliates each = 150 teams total)

The problem that I'm experiencing is that I felt like I should be promoting all my rookie ball players that I'm intrigued in to A-ball so I can evaluate them a little bit before my Rookie league starts (after the amateur draft in June)...feels like a waste having them rot in rookie league for 2 months before that season starts! This method does however steal AB's and IP from actually A-ball players.

Basically with the AAA-AA-A-R minor league setup you end up having your Rookie League players not playing during April & May... My current solution involves me playing a couple young rookies who belong in Rookie League @ the A-ball level before they are actually ready for it...then I will demote them to Rookie league when it starts....is this counter productive to their growth/development??


Almost makes me want to implement some sort of Short-A/(Short-Rookie ball) league that runs during April&May, but I don't want a 5th ML!! (would multiple the number of feeder schools I need, which is already a lot). I also thought of possibly extending the Rookie League schedule to start when the others do. The amateur draft guys would be joining an already in progress league and I'm not sure if I like that or how it would effect the league!

I don't know what I should do come season 2! How would or do you guys handle this? Any other better solutions that I haven't thought of? Any pointers would be appreciated.

[le receveur]

curious who are the players you would like to see in SS that are intriguing (except maybe some international stars). The only real prospect i usually have in rookie leagues are draftees from the year, who come around mid-june. Actually if i had rookie leagues start early, i'm not sure who i would populate them with, i would have to sign a bunch of FA just to fill them

as i said, the one exception is international players, but with the introduction of DSL, which i might start early, in OOTP15 this pretty much solves it.

EDIT: i do wish we had on instructional league, to see how guys are evolving, but they are evolving even when not playing

[JohnHoward]

In the real world of MLB this is handled by Extended Spring Training, although different teams approach this in different ways depending on resources. It would be cool to have an Extended Spring Training "league" available for March 15 through June 1. I guess you could set it up at the Rookie level and just call it EST. It would be better as a separate league type, I think.

I also agree that instructional league would be an excellent addition.

[bwburke94]

Why can't you just convert the short season leagues to play a five-month, split-season schedule?

[le receveur]

Originally Posted by bwburke94

Why can't you just convert the short season leagues to play a five-month, split-season schedule?

you totally can.

the same way i start my AAA in mid-march, to act as me ST for non-roster invitees


edit: of course HT with his set-up will have to make sure it does not affect the draft signings, since those guys will not have open spots on AI team,

[HawkyTom]

Originally Posted by le receveur

curious who are the players you would like to see in SS that are intriguing (except maybe some international stars). The only real prospect i usually have in rookie leagues are draftees from the year, who come around mid-june. Actually if i had rookie leagues start early, i'm not sure who i would populate them with, i would have to sign a bunch of FA just to fill them

as i said, the one exception is international players, but with the introduction of DSL, which i might start early, in OOTP15 this pretty much solves it.

EDIT: i do wish we had on instructional league, to see how guys are evolving, but they are evolving even when not playing

In my situation I'm trying a MLB Quickstart that I've altered to only have 4 minor league systems, so I have a lot of excess players and I need to 'trim the fat' on my minor league system. I'm also playing 'stats only' so the main players I'd like to see are players that don't have much/any statistics listed or who have conflicting scouting reports vs their production. Basically while I'll be evaluating my MLB/AAA/AA/A players during April/May, my rookie level players would just be a mystery during that time and then I will have all those players + new draftees before Rookie league even starts.


Hypothetically I can also imagine being in a situation where you have a player with amazing peak potential, but who are very young and their development is off to a slow start (not ready for A-ball yet) and you feel they need a 2nd season in Rookie Ball. Or players who spent the majority of the time of last seasons rookie league on the DL or bench.

Originally Posted by JohnHoward

In the real world of MLB this is handled by Extended Spring Training, although different teams approach this in different ways depending on resources. It would be cool to have an Extended Spring Training "league" available for March 15 through June 1. I guess you could set it up at the Rookie level and just call it EST. It would be better as a separate league type, I think.

I also agree that instructional league would be an excellent addition.

I thought of adding some sort of custom Short-Rookie league that took place before the Amateur Draft...but I was worried that the other AI controlled teams would fail to use this league to their advantage. (possibly letting good prospects spend a whole year on a 2-month season league) I wouldn't mind having some sort of "EST" statistics from April/May on the rookie ball players that I could use to help decide the upcoming years lineups etc...

Originally Posted by bwburke94

Why can't you just convert the short season leagues to play a five-month, split-season schedule?

I'm not sure exactly how I would make a split-season rookie ball league...or if it would even run properly, etc...this is my first OOTP and my first league attempt I wouldn't mind having rookie ball start the same time as the other leagues (1st half) and then take a 2 week break or so for the amateur draft and then run the regular rookie ball season (2nd half) afterwards. Any advice?


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Bonus question: If I decided to have make a minor league a 30 team with a single sub-division and only 2 divisions, would an allstar game bug out my season/league?? EXAMPLE: if there was no American league...the MLB wouldn't be able to have a NL vs AL game. Not sure if the game would be able to adapt or if it would bug out...I removed them when I saw the allstar game listed as...."AA vs SL2" (name of my league "AA" vs 'Sub-League 2'/non-existant)on the schedule.

[TGH-Adfabre]

I'm not sure exactly how I would make a split-season rookie ball league...or if it would even run properly, etc...

Do not make it a split, make it a full season. Just clean it out after the last game before the draft or the day after the draft. Promote or cut the dead weight. You will have a full season of data broken into 2 1/2 seasons. After draft this season and pre draft next season.

[le receveur]

Originally Posted by TGH-Adfabre

Do not make it a split, make it a full season. Just clean it out after the last game before the draft or the day after the draft. Promote or cut the dead weight. You will have a full season of data broken into 2 1/2 seasons. After draft this season and pre draft next season.

i'm really worried how AI will use this.. so would love to hear how it goes.

[HawkyTom]

Originally Posted by TGH-Adfabre

Do not make it a split, make it a full season. Just clean it out after the last game before the draft or the day after the draft. Promote or cut the dead weight. You will have a full season of data broken into 2 1/2 seasons. After draft this season and pre draft next season.

This is a really good suggestion. I'm guessing the CPU should be able to adapt to that pretty easily as well. I'd hope to see a bunch of CPU controlled team transactions after the amateur draft as well, involving a bunch of promote/demote/releases to make room for plugging in new draftees into lineups/pitching staffs.


How should I manage the roster size limits?? I've read to always keep your lowest level of minors(rookie ball) as unlimited roster size. I'd like to limit the AAA/AA/A to somewhere between 25-35, players.


Currently have AAA/AA/A/R all set to unlimited because of approximately 200players in organizations from trimming from 7 to 4 minor league systems. I wont have any problems trimming my rosters down, but I might need to help the AI teams out or possibly slowly lower the limits over the next couple of seasons. *shrugs*

[le receveur]

Originally Posted by HawkyTom

In my situation I'm trying a MLB Quickstart that I've altered to only have 4 minor league systems, so I have a lot of excess players and I need to 'trim the fat' on my minor league system. I'm also playing 'stats only' so the main players I'd like to see are players that don't have much/any statistics listed or who have conflicting scouting reports vs their production. Basically while I'll be evaluating my MLB/AAA/AA/A players during April/May, my rookie level players would just be a mystery during that time and then I will have all those players + new draftees before Rookie league even starts.

i'm stat mainly also (use other ratings for Defense). I currently play with 6 minor league team, but because i like following career minor leaguers, and i promote really slowly. If minors were only for potential future majors leaguers, i would have so much dead weight, that i would be fine.
I think your only issue will be at the start, because you are using current rosters, and have so much excess players. within 10 simulation years, you probably won't have much problems with your current set up...

have you considered moving your draft earlier (start your feeders season March 1, so you could have draft May 1, and then start your rookie league for an 100 game season)?

[le receveur]

Originally Posted by HawkyTom

Currently have AAA/AA/A/R all set to unlimited because of approximately 200players in organizations from trimming from 7 to 4 minor league systems. I wont have any problems trimming my rosters down, but I might need to help the AI teams out or possibly slowly lower the limits over the next couple of seasons. *shrugs*

Curious how many players is AI keeping? I have found that no limit, was worse than High limit... (setting unlimited AI would only have 25, setting limit 50 AI would have 50).

also tier down your limits so AI doesn't have too many inactive guys in AAA and AA ball

[HawkyTom]

Originally Posted by le receveur

i'm stat mainly also (use other ratings for Defense). I currently play with 6 minor league team, but because i like following career minor leaguers, and i promote really slowly. If minors were only for potential future majors leaguers, i would have so much dead weight, that i would be fine.
I think your only issue will be at the start, because you are using current rosters, and have so much excess players. within 10 simulation years, you probably won't have much problems with your current set up...

have you considered moving your draft earlier (start your feeders season March 1, so you could have draft May 1, and then start your rookie league for an 100 game season)?

This is another amazing suggestion!! I might have to just rough it out season 1 and moving the draft/feeder leagues forward.


I'm guessing there isn't a way to go back in time on the season?? MLB Quickstart day 1 = march 30th, 2013...would be great if I could go back to march 1st for that earlier feeder league start! (if not then I'll have this setup by year #2)

[Cinnamon J. Scudworth]

Originally Posted by HawkyTom

I'm glad you brought this up, because I just recently had a related concern after I finished tweaking my league setup. I basically ended up with a MLB Quickstart that I made all 30 teams have only one AAA/AA/A & a Rookie ball team. (4 minor league affiliates each = 150 teams total)

The problem that I'm experiencing is that I felt like I should be promoting all my rookie ball players that I'm intrigued in to A-ball so I can evaluate them a little bit before my Rookie league starts (after the amateur draft in June)...feels like a waste having them rot in rookie league for 2 months before that season starts! This method does however steal AB's and IP from actually A-ball players.

...

I don't know what I should do come season 2! How would or do you guys handle this? Any other better solutions that I haven't thought of? Any pointers would be appreciated.

My advice is to leave it alone. As pointed out elsewhere in this thread, in real life teams typically have their short-season players spend their time doing other things that aren't modeled in OOTP. Don't feel pressured to promote them if they aren't ready. It won't affect their development in OOTP to have a longer offseason. And even if it hypothetically did, it would be affecting all teams equally so it won't matter in the long run.

Plenty of OOTP players play the standard MLB quickstart without any problems.

[le receveur]

Originally Posted by Cinnamon J. Scudworth

It won't affect their development in OOTP to have a longer offseason. And even if it hypothetically did, it would be affecting all teams equally so it won't matter in the long run.

Plenty of OOTP players play the standard MLB quickstart without any problems.

not sure if that is true playing stat only, since you get 0 info about the development, and you will not know a player who was borderline ready to make the jump to A-ball until mid august, delaying the learning curve. AI would have access to the info. that said i have no problem giving some advantage to AI

this is something i have been toying with, and the ideas put forth are interesting...

[ThatSeventiesGuy]

You could always take a page out of baseball history and add B level minors for the level you want.

[Cinnamon J. Scudworth]

Originally Posted by le receveur

not sure if that is true playing stat only, since you get 0 info about the development, and you will not know a player who was borderline ready to make the jump to A-ball until mid august, delaying the learning curve. AI would have access to the info. that said i have no problem giving some advantage to AI

this is something i have been toying with, and the ideas put forth are interesting...

I'm assuming most people would be promoting them at the beginning of the A-ball season based on last year's rookie or S-A season performance, so you'd certainly have those stats.

[le receveur]

Originally Posted by Cinnamon J. Scudworth

I'm assuming most people would be promoting them at the beginning of the A-ball season based on last year's rookie or S-A season performance, so you'd certainly have those stats.

i always get these guys who produced marginally, let say wRC+ and ERA+ in range 80-100 after the draft. especially guys drafted at 18... so the jump to A-ball may be a bit harsh. What the proposed solution would do, is give me the info that extended spring training/instruction league would... obviously those would be my preferred option, but until then i'm willing to use this palliative option to get info.

[Cinnamon J. Scudworth]

Originally Posted by le receveur

i always get these guys who produced marginally, let say wRC+ and ERA+ in range 80-100 after the draft. especially guys drafted at 18... so the jump to A-ball may be a bit harsh. What the proposed solution would do, is give me the info that extended spring training/instruction league would... obviously those would be my preferred option, but until then i'm willing to use this palliative option to get info.

Makes sense. I tend to be an up-or-out guy when it comes to promotions, especially in the lower minors. If a guy is borderline, I'll promote him rather than cut him. I'm willing to wait for him to find his footing in A-ball. If he's in a Rookie league, I might promote him to S-A rather than full A.