Pros and cons of spring training?

[dtizzle]

Every time I start a new league I always have the internal debate of dealing with spring training. On one hand I find it annoying to deal with these games. But on the other hand for realism sake and the potential positives of development of players etc maybe outweighs the negative? Plus I find injuries challenging and welcome pitfalls being thrown my way. I’m curious what other people’s thoughts are about it and more seasoned players could lay out for me why I need to do the spring training thing. Thanks in advance.


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[BillyBall]

Spring Training is helpful for :

- trying players at new positions to increase roster flexibility
- experiment with lineups and pitching roles
- evaluate fit and opportunities for players with minor league contracts
- familiarize with new players acquired in offseason
- get a feel for changes in players development (positive and negative) from prior season
- nurse players back from long term injuries

[Sweed]

I love ST when it starts and am ready for it to finish when the time comes. I guess that is probably realistic?

With 3d the best thing is seeing the up and coming players perform in games. Or the veteran C or 2b man you invited as a possible backup for the upcoming season.

When I finalize the roster for opening day I know why each and everyone of those guys is on the club making the trip. It is immersive and I simply could not enjoy going into regular season as much without having gone through it.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by BillyBall

Spring Training is helpful for :

- trying players at new positions to increase roster flexibility
- experiment with lineups and pitching roles
- evaluate fit and opportunities for players with minor league contracts
- familiarize with new players acquired in offseason
- get a feel for changes in players development (positive and negative) from prior season
- nurse players back from long term injuries

Nice summary. You guys are going to think that I am dumb but what I haven gotten into doing is allowing the AI to control my lineups and pitching staff during ST (I am in control at all other times) to see what it would do. Where would it position players; what lineups and rotations would it use? I get some helpful suggestions that way. If I want to force a player to be used at a certain position, I mandate it with player strategy. And I don't zip through ST every time; sometimes I will stop and fine tune priorities.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by Sweed

I love ST when it starts and am ready for it to finish when the time comes. I guess that is probably realistic?

With 3d the best thing is seeing the up and coming players perform in games. Or the veteran C or 2b man you invited as a possible backup for the upcoming season.

When I finalize the roster for opening day I know why each and everyone of those guys is on the club making the trip. It is immersive and I simply could not enjoy going into regular season as much without having gone through it.

And a nice post from a guy who has a terrific feel for this game.

[CBeisbol]

Originally Posted by dtizzle

Every time I start a new league I always have the internal debate of dealing with spring training. On one hand I find it annoying to deal with these games. But on the other hand for realism sake and the potential positives of development of players etc maybe outweighs the negative? Plus I find injuries challenging and welcome pitfalls being thrown my way. I’m curious what other people’s thoughts are about it and more seasoned players could lay out for me why I need to do the spring training thing. Thanks in advance.


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I'm currently on day one of spring training in one of my saves, and almost there in another. I'm dreading moving forward

I hate the way the AI does spring training.

I think it over uses expected regulars and under uses backups and minor league players
I hate that it doesn't credit substitutes for playing defense. Players who start a game a and play 3 innings (or 0 innings) get defensive experience. But a player who comes in and plays the next 6 innings gets none. This is NOT at all how real life spring training functions.

So, I take a very hands on approach to spring training. Which is a lot of work. I've thought about just letting the AI handle my spring trainings and then editing my players how I want them...but that's not at all ideal.


Spring training player usage should be more customizable.
Let the user set how many PA's or IP's each player should receive
Let the user set the positions each player should play
And let the AI deal with trying to match that (yes, that's probably tough. Not least because people would set unrealistic goals. The minors should also operate like this)

[Clavette]

Spring training is a love/hate thing.

Great for giving AAAA and prospects some time to see if they can make that next step and others an opportunity to learn new positions.

And some years I just go with my regular lineups and cruise through with my fingers crossed hoping no one gets seriously injured.

Some fictional and historical leagues I've dropped it down to 2-4 weeks for various reasons

[SirSaab]

I just wish we could conduct intrasquad games, because often, that’s where young players really get a chance to show their stuff, and it would benefit us as managers to have a larger statistical data set from which to make decisions.

Also, split squad games would be amazing, but I imagine that’s probably hell to program, schedule- and roster-wise. Maybe being able to divide a spring roster into two “teams,” like AZL/GCL/DSL would make this more feasible...

[noragar]

Originally Posted by CBeisbol

I hate that it doesn't credit substitutes for playing defense. Players who start a game a and play 3 innings (or 0 innings) get defensive experience. But a player who comes in and plays the next 6 innings gets none. This is NOT at all how real life spring training functions.

When did this change? Was a reason given? In past versions, defensive subs gained position experience. It does explain why I was never able to get Jordy Mercer above '-' at 2b despite playing him there about a dozen times in Spring Training. They must have all been late game appearances instead of starts.

Ideally, I'd think it should be based on innings played or defensive chances received, not the old system of games played, or the new system of Games Started.

[Cobby]

I use spring training for just two things -

1) to give my regulars just barely enough playing time to knock off the rust (how much is this? I don't really know, but I've settled on two games a week - seems about right)

2) to teach new positions. This is my main focus, since I highly prize roster flexibility.

The way I do it is by using 7-day lineups (just remember to turn this off when the regular season starts) (as I have failed to do on occasion, much to the detriment of my team).

I usually give the players that that are learning new positions six starts a week at the new position. I'll often stick my regulars at 1st base just for playing time if someone else is trying to learn their position.

It works well and it's gratifying to see young players gain new skills.

[Brad K]

I set up ST with 6 SP and 8 RP and set the rotation to strict. They pitch 4 innings and the manager pulls them.

For the position players I have players who need to learn or improve at a position as starters and everyone else starts the 3rd and 5th game.

[IanIachimoe]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

Nice summary. You guys are going to think that I am dumb but what I haven gotten into doing is allowing the AI to control my lineups and pitching staff during ST (I am in control at all other times) to see what it would do. Where would it position players; what lineups and rotations would it use? I get some helpful suggestions that way. If I want to force a player to be used at a certain position, I mandate it with player strategy. And I don't zip through ST every time; sometimes I will stop and fine tune priorities.

same