Starting New Game - Organize rosters?

[AZTiger98]

When do you guys typically start trying to reorganize your minor league rosters? I was trying to go through mine and reorganize everything at the start of a game, but there are some things that are making the initial reorg rather difficult - for example:

The following items and my thinking on them are based on the unofficial guide to setting up a minor league system in OOTP post:

1. I have USA players appearing in my International Complex that cannot go to my DSL teams. <Here, I assume I push them up to GCL / AZL level, treat them as a new draftee?>

2. I have several players in R league ball (including on the DSL) that have much higher level experience in the minors (some with ONLY higher level experience). It looks like this was done by the game to force all minor league teams to start with a complete roster, but it makes trying to determine if players should be moved up, left alone, or let go rather difficult.

<I've tried reorganizing from bottom-up and from top-down, to figure out where openings are that players could be moved up into. Not sure if that's the best way to go about it?>

<I've also tried to move guys based solely on age for the inaugural season, but that ends up resulting in really crowded rosters at various points, and its difficult to determine who should be cut / released based on what I stated at the beginning of this item>

My next thought was to play through the inaugural league season with the rosters set as is, and then for season 2, start following the guide, only looking at the last season's figures. Not sure how well that will work, though.

Any suggestions?? It would be nice if there were a way to adjust the minor league stats to actually make sense based on the level at which the game has the player on a roster (e.g., DSL players only have DSL experience, not sure how to adjust the higher levels, if at all)

[MikeS369]

U S players in the international complex do go to GCL or AZL at 18 or 19 years old unless their rating warrant a higher level. That's up to you.

Organizing minors for the first couple of years is a pain. I mainly play fictional using AAA, AA, A, and short A.

I move my draft to November 1st and S A gets a full season of 140 games starting around April 8.

After the AI sets up my organization, I start going through the different levels moving players around based on their ratings and their age.

Late 20's to 30' go to AA or AAA. If they belong in A ball there are never going to be worth a damn. But to keep your rosters full you sometimes have to keep them.

I also use service time limits. 3 years for S A and 6 for A. This means that players have 7 years to move on from A. If someone hasn't moved beyond A at 26 they more than likely are not going anywhere. But again you sometimes have to keep them to fill roster spots.

S A is for international discoveries and most HS and college draftees. Occasionally you will have a few draftees good enough to try at A and if you are lucky good enough for AA. All you can go by is their ratings at this point. I mainly keep a close eye on players rated 40 and up to see if they are where they belong as the season progresses.

I also use player limits. 30 for AAA and AA. 35 for A and 35-40 for S A. The problem with S A is you end up with a lot of guys that never play so they don't generate stats. Then the new draftees arrive and you have to figure out who to get rid of including players that never played. You have to use your best judgment.

It's just a matter of checking on how they are doing at their current levels and using your best judgment looking at their stats and ratings. I try to give my prospects and decent players at least a full year before moving them from where I originally placed them.

Another thing you have to keep in mind is that a lot of the minor leaguers are rated at several positions. They may be set to position (i e LF) but are actually ranked higher at another position (i e 1B). This can also be important when you are trying to fill all positions at your minor league levels. Don't forget too if you allow 2 way players the only way I have found of discovering these players is by going through the ratings on the Ratings tab.

I spend way more time monitoring my minors than actually playing out games. It gets tedious at times but for the most part I enjoy doing it.

"...It would be nice if there were a way to adjust the minor league stats to actually make sense based on the level at which the game has the player on a roster..."

If I'm reading this correctly there is a way to do that. Go to your minor league team page. Go to the Lineup or Pitching tab. At the top right of the page there is a drop down menu bar labeled "Rating Relative to..." Click the bar and select the league you want to base ratings on.

I don't use the guide. I read through it and it is just way too much work.

Forgot to mention. I also enable "Disable right to refuse minor league assignment", "10/5", "Rule 5" and "Super 2".