Too many players in Rookie Leagues

[Situational_Lefty]

I am running some test leagues before I start my "official" franchise and I am noticing that the rosters for the rookie league teams are pretty huge for the most part. I am playing the standard 2019 MLB set up with international leagues as well. The CPU teams seem to have over 50 to 80 players on a rookie league team. I was wondering if other people are running into this issue.

I am not playing with any roster or service time limits. I attempted that with OOTP2018, and I found that with service limits, good prospects would stay on lower levels until the limits forced them to move up. This caused a lot of top prospects to stay in the lower minors a lot longer than was realistic. And with roster limits, CPU teams will fill it up to that limit no matter what from what I found. In OOTP19, I had no limits, and CPU minor roster sizes were much more reasonable and prospects seemed to be promoted in a more realistic fashion. I was wondering if other people are running into this issue of very large rosters in rookie ball in OOTP20?

PS: This was written before coffee has entered my system, so I apologize in advance for any rambling or run on sentences are probably present in the above text.

[Curve Ball Dave]

Originally Posted by Situational_Lefty

I am not playing with any roster or service time limits.

There's your problem. Set a roster size limit and set service and/or age limits. If you're smart about both your problem will be solved.

[NoOne]

i wouldn't set a limit on your lowest rookie leage -- the one were players pool, unfortunately. if you do, make sure it's 35-40 or higher.

first, do all teams have the same # of rookie affiliates? if not, it is impossible to avoid and you will only frustrate yourself by looking at it.

the ai doesn't know how to release players in the minors. never has since i owned ootp.

it's WAY better to have too many than too few. if you do have an equal # of affiliates at rookie level (even even after that or you cause other pooling issues at another level that's impossible to avoid with incongruent # of teams), you can fiddle with # of draft rounds or # of Scouting discovies etc etc to reduce that # a bit.

again, don't reduce it below 40-50 for the highest value for any one team in one year... make sure the lowest value stays above 30 for any team in any one year. where will they get injury replacements, otherwise?

if you do decide to fiddle with these rules -- even if just setting a limit -- you may want to make a backup, restore as some throwaway league and zoom out ~10 years to see what happens. spot check, or look over them all.

on rosters and transactions, you can set up the tiles to show numerous mil leagues and their #s as you flip through teams. or, keep zooming out and wait for a "too few players" error to pop up or not. if it doesn't pop up, your reduction in rookies did not negatively impact league.

suggestion -- make sure you have at least the rookie league set to start players based on potential and not current ability -- for all levels, imo. this will ensure that the better talent plays more at the level with "too many" players. playing time isn't neccessary, but it does help a good portion of the time to put some concern behind it occurring. you can find that in league settings for the mil league(s) that you have. use manual, if uncertain of location.

[Situational_Lefty]

Originally Posted by NoOne

i wouldn't set a limit on your lowest rookie leage -- the one were players pool, unfortunately. if you do, make sure it's 35-40 or higher.

first, do all teams have the same # of rookie affiliates? if not, it is impossible to avoid and you will only frustrate yourself by looking at it.

the ai doesn't know how to release players in the minors. never has since i owned ootp.

it's WAY better to have too many than too few. if you do have an equal # of affiliates at rookie level (even even after that or you cause other pooling issues at another level that's impossible to avoid with incongruent # of teams), you can fiddle with # of draft rounds or # of Scouting discovies etc etc to reduce that # a bit.

again, don't reduce it below 40-50 for the highest value for any one team in one year... make sure the lowest value stays above 30 for any team in any one year. where will they get injury replacements, otherwise?

if you do decide to fiddle with these rules -- even if just setting a limit -- you may want to make a backup, restore as some throwaway league and zoom out ~10 years to see what happens. spot check, or look over them all.

on rosters and transactions, you can set up the tiles to show numerous mil leagues and their #s as you flip through teams. or, keep zooming out and wait for a "too few players" error to pop up or not. if it doesn't pop up, your reduction in rookies did not negatively impact league.

suggestion -- make sure you have at least the rookie league set to start players based on potential and not current ability -- for all levels, imo. this will ensure that the better talent plays more at the level with "too many" players. playing time isn't neccessary, but it does help a good portion of the time to put some concern behind it occurring. you can find that in league settings for the mil league(s) that you have. use manual, if uncertain of location.

My affiliate numbers are uneven because I am playing with the real world set up. Lots of teams have 2 rookie league teams just like in real life.

Sent from my Moto E (4) Plus using Tapatalk

[Situational_Lefty]

Originally Posted by NoOne

first, do all teams have the same # of rookie affiliates? if not, it is impossible to avoid and you will only frustrate yourself by looking at it.

So since I have the modern MLB set up with uneven number of rookie teams, I am pretty much out of luck? That is a let down. In OOTP2019, minor league team rosters were pretty evenly distributed with the default settings.

[Curve Ball Dave]

Originally Posted by Situational_Lefty

So since I have the modern MLB set up with uneven number of rookie teams, I am pretty much out of luck?

No you aren't. If you don't set limits the AI will horde players regardless of the number of teams. Why? Because without any limits there's no reason to release them. This is true of any minor league level. I set age and service time limits as well as roster size limits for every level. Only AAA doesn't have any age or time limits, but the roster size is still limited. The minor leagues in my universe work great as a result. No players are being horded and guys are at the level they should be given their age and experience. Other posters who set limits will tell you the same thing.

[NoOne]

i do similar things as cbd.

just base it on the largest system (per MiL level). if they have enough, you won't get any "not enough players" errors or have a need for ghost players, if you use those. Those are another option, you could have a more even distribution, along with age/svc time rules/roster limits, and use ghost players to help keep the numbers down.

like cbd, keep it simple. the stricter your rules are, the more likely you cause a bottleneck. this can open a whole other can of worms, lol.

my tips would be to use service time for the rookie and possible short a leagues being hybrid or as needed based on any potential bottlenecks caused. then, as you go higher, switch to age rules for A and higher. you could toss in a svc time rule at higher levels too, but be forgiving. you don't want to eliminate opportunities to develop.

if you use roster limits and go above 25 (a good idea for injuries), you may want to help dictate what those 'extras' are. in the settings you can set that minor league to carry 8 rp instead of 7 or extra bench players etc. if you let the ai do its own thing with too many extra spots, it'll likely be 8 1b or 16 RP etc. it won't diversify the >25 spots on its own with no guidelines from settings and left to its own accord. if it's "27" i wouldn't worry, but closer to "35", i would.

for rookie, you can use the smaller roster limits for the extra affiliates, but whereever the ai pools players is the "lowest" level. as per manual, don't go below 35 there.

whatever you choose, be willing to make slight adjustments. if those adjustments can even things out, try less or something different altogether as far as rules you instituted. watch FA and make sure you aren't causing oddities. zoom out to see how distribution works. etc etc... i wouldn't just slap some rules down in a league i cared about and put time and effort into. there's a good chance you cause some oddities at first, but will learn from it.

[WIUPIKE]

Originally Posted by Curve Ball Dave

No you aren't. If you don't set limits the AI will horde players regardless of the number of teams. Why? Because without any limits there's no reason to release them. This is true of any minor league level. I set age and service time limits as well as roster size limits for every level. Only AAA doesn't have any age or time limits, but the roster size is still limited. The minor leagues in my universe work great as a result. No players are being horded and guys are at the level they should be given their age and experience. Other posters who set limits will tell you the same thing.

CBD. What settings do you use?

[Curve Ball Dave]

Originally Posted by WIUPIKE

CBD. What settings do you use?

Rookie: 2 years max experience, 22 years old max
SSA: 4 years max experience, 23 years old max
Low A: 5 years max experience, 24 years old max
High A: Same as Low A
AA: 6 years max experience, 25 years old max
AAA: No limits.

Rosters are limited to 25 players. I have an extra Rookie league so all organizations have two Rookie teams. The second Rookie league allows for 3 years max experience but same age limit.

[BirdWatcher]

I have never before thought of Curve Ball Dave as CBD.

As a Coloradan, I've noticed that Curve Ball Dave is a very popular subject in the news, on store front signs, even in casual conversation.
Oh, wait, maybe they mean a different CBD.

[Tram2Whitaker]

What i do, and it's probably not the best method, i set ratings relative to high A ball (FSL): Anybody who does not have at least 3 star potential,gets cut. Also an automatic cut for anyone playing rookie ball, or short A, with a hashtag (rule 5 eligible). This will leave me with a dearth of pitchers,but i do this after draft day, and the a.i.teams will cut some gems over the next couple of days.

The down side to this {if you truly care about your rookie ball record], it's that my rookie ball teams will go like 5-65. The plus side is, i find some real good prospects that other teams gave up on.

[Curve Ball Dave]

Originally Posted by Tram2Whitaker

The plus side is, i find some real good prospects that other teams gave up on.

Setting limits will have the save affect. I check the free agents right after the June draft and see if there isn't a guy or two who was released by another organization who isn't worth second chance. Of course, the AI signs a few of the guys I released, so it goes both ways. Happens the same way in real life.

[jpeters1734]

be wary of experience limits when promoting players from the Int Complex

[BIG17EASY]

Originally Posted by jpeters1734

be wary of experience limits when promoting players from the Int Complex

I'm pretty sure this is no longer an issue. At least I have not had any problems with it in OOTP20 and I use age and service limits up to Double-A.

[jpeters1734]

Originally Posted by BIG17EASY

I'm pretty sure this is no longer an issue. At least I have not had any problems with it in OOTP20 and I use age and service limits up to Double-A.

So are you saying when you promote a 16 year old from the int complex that they do not get pro experience???

[Curve Ball Dave]

Originally Posted by jpeters1734

So are you saying when you promote a 16 year old from the int complex that they do not get pro experience???

They do, but it would be foolish to promote a 16 year old anyway. If a kid 17 and up is good enough to play Rookie or SSA ball, there's no reason to keep in the complex. Once he's on a team he's no different from a service time perspective as a kid drafted out of high school.

[BIG17EASY]

Originally Posted by jpeters1734

So are you saying when you promote a 16 year old from the int complex that they do not get pro experience???

I don't promote 16 year olds from the international complex. Occasionally I will promote a 17 year old if he's a big prospect. But they should accumulate pro experience once they're promoted regardless of age.

I thought you were referring to them accumulating experience while they're in the complex. I haven't specifically looked at their contract page, but the players who spend a couple years in my complex and are then promoted at 18 or 19 are not getting flagged in rookie ball for having too much experience.

[Curve Ball Dave]

Originally Posted by BIG17EASY

I thought you were referring to them accumulating experience while they're in the complex. I haven't specifically looked at their contract page, but the players who spend a couple years in my complex and are then promoted at 18 or 19 are not getting flagged in rookie ball for having too much experience.

Nor will they. The clock starts once they're on a roster.

[BIG17EASY]

Originally Posted by Curve Ball Dave

Nor will they. The clock starts once they're on a roster.

Right, but wasn't that a problem in a previous version? Or am I mistaken? That's why I thought jpeters was referring to that.

[Curve Ball Dave]

Originally Posted by BIG17EASY

Right, but wasn't that a problem in a previous version? Or am I mistaken?

I don't recall it being an issue in previous versions.