From the OOTP Forums: Unofficial Guide to Minor League Management

[recte44]

Worth the read:

MiL Management Guide.pdf

(188.5 KiB) Downloaded 376 times

[niles08]

I was reading this from there a bit ago. Good read.

[RonCo]

Joe knows what he's doing.

[RonCo]

If I were writing one of these, I'd do some things a little different, but about the only thing I really disagree with is the idea of demotion. I've never had problems with demoting a guy for a month or so if it turned out he wasn't quite ready.

[Fat Nige]

As the players get to A+ or higher I usually prefer most of the players to repeat the level. Sure, promote the ones that are obviously having no problems with the level but get all the other average ones to repeat the level. I find that produces a strong second year in several of the players, enough to consider promoting mid season.

[Spiccoli]

Surprised there wasn’t anything on coaches for the minors.

Unless I missed it.

Hard to say what impact they have and how to evaluate what that impact is.

[jiminyhopkins]

Guy has too much time on his hands lol. Aside from the half dozen or so prospects I actually care about, well, there's an "auto" setting for a reason.

[udlb58]

I appreciate the effort and think this is a good rule of thumb to follow for someone that doesn't really know how baseball minor leagues or OOTP works; but I don't really agree with a lot of what is stated.

My main bones of contention:

*Don't be afraid to promote/demote: Sometimes a player looks like he's ready but struggles early. You can leave him at his current level and risk him getting frustrated, continuing to struggle, and getting more frustrated; resulting in a terrible year. Or you can demote him to a level he's done well at, let him gain some confidence and promote again (see, Norris Rutledge, 2027 as one prominent example of dropping a player and calling back up later; Encarnacion 2038 as an example of quick promotion when he went from 5 contact at the end of 2037 to 8 by mid-2038 and we traded Arbizo and he went from single-A to the majors).

*Place draftees in the level their ratings suggest they should start at. If you have an 18 yo draftee with ratings good enough for single-A, put him there. Also, if a player develops enough that ratings suggest skipping a level, skip them up. Pickens has been fine in SA this year and I didn't need to see an 18 Fernando Guerrero in single-A last year.

[Ted]

I think this is a decent guide maybe if you have no idea what you are doing with minors, but frankly a lot of the detail stuff is just opinion. The stuff about demotions is a good example. The other thing is that he is far too age driven/stats driven. I've gone by ratings more than stats in the minors forever and never had a problem, and I think my track record speaks for itself. I know I'm picking extreme cases, but putting a 18 year old with 7/7/7/7/7 ratings in A ball is pointless. The ratings matter. They are the largest part of what the game engine HAS to use to determine performance. I've had tons of players have a crap year and go on to mash the ball after their promotion. Want an example? Look no further than David Simpson. https://statspl.us/brewster/reports/new ... 40952.html I kept pushing him up the minors because his ratings were good enough, despite bad performances. He STUNK in A ball. He stunk for half a year in AA before blowing up. He never stopped developing, and now he's a monster.

Now, this guide is more for mlb standard leagues and ages, so I get it. But since it completely breaks down in light of Brewster ages and ratings, I wouldn't say there's a lot of fundamental truths here. He's described a system that simply works with default MLB ages and development curves. So yes, if you just put 18 year olds in rookie and promote them after the end of each season, and put college kids in short A and A and do the same, occasionally repeating years if a guy sucks and doesn't develop, you'll get it right 90% of thee time if you have MLB standard players. Because the game is designed to look like that, and that's largely what MLB teams do. (I would note that if you pay attention to MLB, you'll notice the best development teams are actually pushing prospects much more aggressively these days)

But again, the Brewster is a whole 'nother animal. Prospects are much younger and can develop even faster in addition to that. Nothing wrong with having a top prospect in AA at the end of the year he's drafted. Nothing wrong with pushing him to AAA if his ratings merit it. There are a number of the top prospects right now who in my opinion are being moved along too slowly (I peek at the html now and again to see how things are going). When you add in that the fact that our players develop younger and faster, we've shifted the aging curve in the Brewster to the left, and they will start to age/lump sooner too. So if you follow this model and are getting your kids into the league by 23/24, you'll be wasting a third to half of their prime years in the minors.

[RonCo]

I don't know that there's a wrong answer here--but I admit I generally start working by age and do a lot of promotion by age--and I look at stats a LOT. But, yeah, I shuffle by ratings, too.

I think the most important thing about a guide is that it means you're paying close attention to your whole organization at routine points.

[Ted]

Another note is that the OOTP devs don't know any more about what is the best minors management strategy than any MLB team (not named the Dodgers, Yankess or Astros), which is to say, not much. In addition, they have to use mathematical models to make players develop. Since there is no publicly available data on what is the real way players develop better or worse, all of those models more or less have to be generic curves where "playing time + age + randomness factor + minor adjustments = development". Minor adjustments are minor league level, coaches, player morale, etc. If any of those "minor things" truly mattered much, we would know. There are enough dedicated OOTP players out there that someone would have noticed it and spread the word. So really, the only factor you can make a big impact with is playing time.

So really, this is all about understanding how to use playing time and how the aging curve works, and knowing what ratings will okay against what ratings. The rest is all conjecture, and probably has a minuscule effect. (Again, it would be all over the boards if something else was the case.) And my fundamental point is that the Brewster player group and age curve is so dramatically different that managing your minors like they are MLB is probably not the best idea, simply because while the players might develop the same regardless of strategy, you want them in the majors as soon as you can. They will only get slower, worse at defense, and lump way before you expect, because our expectations are of real life players. (Bobby Lynch anyone?)

[recte44]

Ted????

[RonCo]

I think this Ted guy has potential.

[handaspencer]

I think this Ted guy has potential.

But can he cook or swim?

[RonCo]

Whether a guy bases his system allocation on age/ratings/stats, I think there are some fundamental values to following -some- system. I think it's no great surprise that some GMs almost always build great farm systems and some don't. That's partially player acquisition, but it's also level and playing time management. I personally thing there's great truth to the idea that pushing _too_ hard will cause issues.

I also think there is truth to the idea that coaches make a not insubstantial difference.

[Ted]

Whether a guy bases his system allocation on age/ratings/stats, I think there are some fundamental values to following -some- system. I think it's no great surprise that some GMs almost always build great farm systems and some don't. That's partially player acquisition, but it's also level and playing time management. I personally thing there's great truth to the idea that pushing _too_ hard will cause issues.

I also think there is truth to the idea that coaches make a not insubstantial difference.

This is all fair. And again, having a system is big, and that guide is a solid primer if you have no plan. I just, like many probably, disagree with some of the details, which I think are presented in a blanket statement way that doesn't really apply in some situations. Also, the author states at the beginning that he admits there are other ways, some I'm a dope for arguing. Furthermore, I'm sure he disregards his own "rules" on a case by case basis.

My main point is that if your players are getting into the Brewster at age 24, as his guide would suggest, you're doing it wrong.

I agree that you can push a guy too hard, but when your high school kids are 16 and your college draftees are 18-19, and the development is more variable due to game settings, you have to make more adjustments than just going by age in the same way you would a standard MLB league.

Good lord I'm beating this to death. Sorry.

I also agree on coaches. Minuscule effect one one player. Meh. Minuscule effect on 150-200 players, probably matters every now and again.

[Ted]

Ted????

I've been lurking around. Tend to read more stuff like this. Ignoring the team news. Keeping an eye on prospects, development here and there. Stil no interest in playing. Let me know when the contract demands stop varying by 40-50 percent on a whim and I'll get back to you.

Also, I'm sad you didn't play my game Recte. I wanted to see the Brewers. Waahhhh.

[crobillard]

I have no idea what I am doing in the minors, so this is helpful to me. Especially since I now have players that I care about in the minors. I won't be following his guide to a t, but it's getting my mind working a little bit about how I want to do it. Like Ted said, ratings are extremely important. To ignore them is kinda silly.

[udlb58]

Ted????

I've been lurking around. Tend to read more stuff like this. Ignoring the team news. Keeping an eye on prospects, development here and there. Stil no interest in playing. Let me know when the contract demands stop varying by 40-50 percent on a whim and I'll get back to you.

Also, I'm sad you didn't play my game Recte. I wanted to see the Brewers. Waahhhh.

Hi Ted

BTW - how do you still have the Crusaders logo as your avatar? That confused the hell outa me at first

[Ted]

Ted????

I've been lurking around. Tend to read more stuff like this. Ignoring the team news. Keeping an eye on prospects, development here and there. Stil no interest in playing. Let me know when the contract demands stop varying by 40-50 percent on a whim and I'll get back to you.

Also, I'm sad you didn't play my game Recte. I wanted to see the Brewers. Waahhhh.

Hi Ted

BTW - how do you still have the Crusaders logo as your avatar? That confused the hell outa me at first

No idea. Noticed it awhile back.