More Leagues = Less Challenging??

[PSUColonel]

Do any people find the more leagues you have enabled (more players available) the easier it might be to build depth in your minor league systems?

When you are using MLB or US Indy leagues only, there doesn't seem to be as many depth type players in the database. I would define depth players as those graded 45 or 40. It seems you can easily stuff your AAA roster full of these types of players, being in some ways you have unending depth. It would be one thing if the AI teams did the same, but they don't seem to.

Has anyone ever taken notice of this, or am I imagining it? Would there be just as many borderline/depth type players no matter what?

[Mat]

Yes.

A bigger world can be easier for the human player. I like to play stripped down with only MLB mostly for this reason. Less opportunity to build depth and find quality players that have been missed by the AI.

[BIG17EASY]

Is it the size of the league that's causing this? For me, it's always been easy to find those players in a standard MLB league as long as I'm willing to sign them early in free agency. The AI just isn't aggressive with minor league contracts, so if you target these guys before Jan. 1, you can pretty much sign the ones you want.

That said, I don't consider those players valuable (I don't use overall ratings, so my idea of a 40 or 45 player may be slightly different from what it actually is). I think they're helpful for filling a hole on a AAA team where I need a player, so I guess they're valuable in the sense that they can help the AAA team win, which has a small effect on the development of legitimate prospects. But I'm never looking to horde these players as if they're some sort of asset to help me win a World Series.

[Dave Stieb II]

Originally Posted by BIG17EASY

Is it the size of the league that's causing this? For me, it's always been easy to find those players in a standard MLB league as long as I'm willing to sign them early in free agency. The AI just isn't aggressive with minor league contracts, so if you target these guys before Jan. 1, you can pretty much sign the ones you want.

That said, I don't consider those players valuable (I don't use overall ratings, so my idea of a 40 or 45 player may be slightly different from what it actually is). I think they're helpful for filling a hole on a AAA team where I need a player, so I guess they're valuable in the sense that they can help the AAA team win, which has a small effect on the development of legitimate prospects. But I'm never looking to horde these players as if they're some sort of asset to help me win a World Series.

I agree with this. I find these sorts of AAA-4A type players fairly readily available but their impact at the major league level has been mostly non-existent (they never get there) or has ranged from extremely mediocre to poor for the few who've ever reached the bigs.
I really only sign them as minor league filler - placeholders until the next legitimate prospect at that position is ready for promotion.
I'm very hands on with my minor league system, and I wouldn't want one of these guys taking playing time away from legitimate or even quasi-legit prospects.
So it is a non-issue in my experience.

[PSUColonel]

Originally Posted by Dave Stieb II

I agree with this. I find these sorts of AAA-4A type players fairly readily available but their impact at the major league level has been mostly non-existent (they never get there) or has ranged from extremely mediocre to poor for the few who've ever reached the bigs.
I really only sign them as minor league filler - placeholders until the next legitimate prospect at that position is ready for promotion.
I'm very hands on with my minor league system, and I wouldn't want one of these guys taking playing time away from legitimate or even quasi-legit prospects.
So it is a non-issue in my experience.

Well, I think I was talking your AAA club (yes, it will help with winning and, yes this gives you a slight edge with payer morale/development) when it comes to injury depth. If I hoard these players on my AAA roster, I am in a much better position over the AI when it comes to injury replacement players. I play with modern day realistic injuries, so I am sure you can imagine there are plenty of injuries.

I realize you still need a balance between prospects and older players' such as these (reserve AAAA types) but I guess what I might be advocating for most, is a more aggressive AI when it comes to these types of Free Agent signings as well as waiver claims, and Rule 5 drafting. Obviously the AI is fairly good when it comes to MLB caliber players, so I am lobbying for the same kind of roster building aggressiveness for reserve type players, as well as reasonably decent "flyer" prospects.

[BIG17EASY]

Originally Posted by PSUColonel

Well, I think I was talking your AAA club (yes, it will help with winning and, yes this gives you a slight edge with payer morale/development) when it comes to injury depth. If I hoard these players on my AAA roster, I am in a much better position over the AI when it comes to injury replacement players. I play with modern day realistic injuries, so I am sure you can imagine there are plenty of injuries.

I realize you still need a balance between prospects and older players' such as these (reserve AAAA types) but I guess what I might be advocating for most, is a more aggressive AI when it comes to these types of Free Agent signings as well as waiver claims, and Rule 5 drafting. Obviously the AI is fairly good when it comes to MLB caliber players, so I am lobbying for the same kind of roster building aggressiveness for reserve type players, as well as reasonably decent "flyer" prospects.

I don't consider the type of players you described in your OP to be good injury replacements. If they're below average big leaguers, then they aren't good MLB depth. That's why they're often referred to as AAAA players - very good for AAA, but not good enough for MLB. Very rarely do I ever end up with this type of player on my 40-man roster, let alone on the active roster.

[Dave Stieb II]

Originally Posted by BIG17EASY

I don't consider the type of players you described in your OP to be good injury replacements. If they're below average big leaguers, then they aren't good MLB depth. That's why they're often referred to as AAAA players - very good for AAA, but not good enough for MLB. Very rarely do I ever end up with this type of player on my 40-man roster, let alone on the active roster.

Thanks. That's exactly what I was trying to say originally. Apparently, I failed.

[Dave Stieb II]

Originally Posted by PSUColonel

Well, I think I was talking your AAA club (yes, it will help with winning and, yes this gives you a slight edge with payer morale/development) when it comes to injury depth. If I hoard these players on my AAA roster, I am in a much better position over the AI when it comes to injury replacement players. I play with modern day realistic injuries, so I am sure you can imagine there are plenty of injuries.

I realize you still need a balance between prospects and older players' such as these (reserve AAAA types) but I guess what I might be advocating for most, is a more aggressive AI when it comes to these types of Free Agent signings as well as waiver claims, and Rule 5 drafting. Obviously the AI is fairly good when it comes to MLB caliber players, so I am lobbying for the same kind of roster building aggressiveness for reserve type players, as well as reasonably decent "flyer" prospects.

I thought I was addressing exactly these types of players per your OP.

1. I too, use modern day realistic injuries so I'm sure you can imagine that I can imagine what you are dealing with.

2. I would never sign these sorts of players to boost morale or win more games at the minor league level. While I do use 'personalities', I don't use the morale system and haven't for five versions. Too hokey for me but to each their own. So maybe it's easier for me to focus on development at the minor league level without concerning myself so much with who is and isn't playing nice in the sandbox. Regardless, my focus is on development.

3. So, assuming that good personalities help with development because everyone is bright and cheery, I would much rather sign journeymen or independent leaguers with good personality attributes to play utility roles to my prospects in the minors, rather than have them in the regular line up just to win more games.

4. Ultimately, the AAAA players you referred to in your OP hold little value to me so their availability is a non-factor, not an issue, imho, as per my earlier post.

Just trying to respond to your OP/question/participate/offer my opinion. Not trying to change anyone's mind or debate.

[Doc_Giggle]

I have a large fictional universe (1191 teams across 29 leagues). One work around I've had for this is creating a league association between two major leagues with a shared waiver wire and rule 5 draft, with the second major league being slightly worse than the league with the team you control. In my case, I play in the Cascadia League (36 teams), and the second major league is the European Baseball Union (50 teams), with a slightly worse draft pool. They still have a smattering of legitimate major league talent, some of which come over to Cascadia and do very well for themselves, but the rest of the league is made up of a blend of European talent and AAAA talent snatched from Cascadia via waivers or rule-5 draft, so you gotta be mindful of passing players through waivers and who to keep on the 40-man roster, because there's a good chance you'll never see them again, making it more difficult to hoard AAAA talent. But like other posters have said, a lot of these players really are just filler who may be able to be slightly above replacement level, but nothing to dramatically shift anything for you one way or another.

I then have these two leagues meet yearly in a World Series, of which Cascadia has won 8 times and Europe has won 2 times, which is sort of to be expected. To add to the challenge, I just added in a fictional "closed" Major League this year that's a tick above Cascadia in talent, but since no foreigners are allowed (draft pool consisting solely of fictional players from the "Solar System" country I created) and free agents can't leave, I don't have to worry about these players spilling over into Earth's talent pool. So now the winner of the World Series can really say they've accomplished something if they're able to win the Galaxy Series.