How important is the success of your minor league teams/players to you ?

[DougWyatt]

I've recently ran into a situation that made me wonder how others look at their minors - particularly the success of the players/teams while IN that league.

- Extremely Important .. You are the type of gamer that will sign and even pay players for your AAA team. Even if they have no realistic chance of playing major league ball - solely to help them win. If a major leaguer goes down with an medium length injury, you'll try everything else to not call up that AAA OF who has a shot at AAA MVP (even though he's ready to step up for a couple months).

- Important .. Will let players that have developed stay at a level for the last couple months of a year that 'should' be in a higher level if possible. If the Major League club needs the help though, they have priority.

- Not very important .. If they're successful, that's cool - but not important. I keep a full roster, and let the AI run them.

- Completely uninterested .. No thought is given to the success of the minor league teams or players (for awards). The minor leagues serve strictly a developmental function for me. Players are moved freely throughout the season, to optimize development. Sometimes not even keeping a full roster.

[DougWyatt]

This line of thought also makes me wonder.

As the more successful the minor leaguerers and their teams are - the happier they are. Does happiness play any role in developement ?

[BMW]

I love making sure my minors are cared for in my online league, at least to the point where I always have full rosters and that I tend to let my starters play at one level for the season unless they are tearing up the league or there is a long term injury of a prospect at the level above them.

I've noticed that my system has a lot of depth now, although that's probably self-selecting, since there are plenty of owners in the league who just don't care about signing minor league players and maintaining their systems.

[Athletics17]

Originally Posted by DougWyatt

This line of thought also makes me wonder.

As the more successful the minor leaguerers and their teams are - the happier they are. Does happiness play any role in developement ?

I my experience the players developed better/quicker and were happier when they were on winning teams.

[canadiancreed]

My concern for my players in the minors extend only to how well they perform. If they're winning, it's a bonus.

[mrcoach00]

Good post.

I would definitely fall into the "completely uninterested". I could care less if my minor league team plays sub .500 ball as long as the players that I've drafted are playing well.

BUT... a good point has been brought up... many players are happier with when team performance is good, which may mean their development may increase. Perhaps I should pay more attention to my minors for the long term benefits of my major league team.

Anyone else have any insight on this?

[StyxNCa]

I couldn't care less how the teams do. The minors are for player development and that's all I care about.

[koohead]

Originally Posted by StyxNCa

I couldn't care less how the teams do. The minors are for player development and that's all I care about.

My thought exactly. I'm more concerned with making sure I have the players playing at the right level and able to get enough playing time in order to develop...all with the interest of the parent club in mind at all times. Although I spend significant dollars on coaches for my minor league clubs, it's all because I want my prospects to have the best chance of developing...not because I want to win the Double-A championship.

[DougWyatt]

But ........ ever notice how when they're stinking it up; alot of them are unhappy ?

It's been said their happiness may play a role in their developement. Which, logically, I could see.

[StyxNCa]

Originally Posted by DougWyatt

But ........ ever notice how when they're stinking it up; alot of them are unhappy ?

It's been said their happiness may play a role in their developement. Which, logically, I could see.

I turned morale off long ago since everyone I had on my team wanted to be in the middle of the lineup whether their play was worthy of it or not. All I've seen from the morale thing is all teams are basically clones of each other. You can't have a NY Yankees type of team because they will all get in a hissy fit and their performance suffers so bad you have to trade them since they aren't batting where they want to bat.

[Afino]

I only care about keeping players happy.

Keeping players happy helps them develop.

Development begets better stats.

Better stats and better performance means my teams win.

Winning makes them happier.

And repeat.



I kept a couple of players in AAA last season instead of calling them up in September because my team wasn't going anywhere and my AAA team was battling in the playoffs. So yeah, that's my answer. Important, but if I 100% needed those players, I would have called them up.

[Afino]

Of course, there's a fine line between keeping players a month or two longer to help a team win or to help them perform better at a lower level and running the risk of pissing them off because they're not at the level they should be.


In the cases of those players, I watch their morale very closely.