September Call-ups vs. Service Time

[Soze]

Do prospects generally see ratings jumps in September? I know its always a guessing game, but I'm trying to weigh my options with some of my best prospects... should I call them up and use up a few weeks of service time/salary to gain some valuable rating points once their seasons end in September, or should I just leave them in the minors for the offseason? Does anyone have any advice with their past experiences?

[s0ni42]

If i have a player that I think will debut in the following year, I like to promote them in September. That is assuming his numbers in AAA warrant a ML promotion.

[RchW]

I call up players who may help the team (resting others) and who may benefit from some exposure. I don't usually care whether they will debut the next season.

[Vinny P.]

Originally Posted by RchW

I call up players who may help the team (resting others) and who may benefit from some exposure. I don't usually care whether they will debut the next season.

Indeed. I think th best strategy, considering the financial rules that have to do with ML service time, is to only promote those players who will actually see sevice time, and would be useful for resting other players. Usually, I only promote 1, MAYBE 2 starters. Never my top starter in AAA, because the #1 starter in AAA generally is my biggest prospect. I want to keep him a "virgin" until he is completely ready to start beginning in April for an entire ML season.

I also only promote one or two relievers, 1 or 2 starters and a catcher. 5 players at most. Very rarely anyone at the other regular positions.

I don't want to clutter up my bench. My regular ML starters I like to keep starting throughout all of September. I think there is a "rust" factor in OOTP. I would think allowing my regular starters to sit out for more than a week could do more harm than good. And keeping your top prospects off the 40 man roster as long as possible until they are good and ready, or are Rule 5 Draft eligible is usually a good thing as well.