Limiting Minor League Roster Size?

[BKL]

In the past, I read that you should not limit your lowest minor league. I only use two minor leagues and I don't like the fact that my lowest league has something like 60-70 players, most of whom will never make it to the majors. So, I'd like to set either an age, roster, or professional service time limit.

The game recommends not setting your lowest minor league size to less than 35.

Is it OK now to have a roster limit, even on your lowest league? Should I do something else instead? Ideally, I'd like to only have 25-40 players at each level.

[PSUColonel]

I limit my lowest leagues (rookie) to 35 players and a service time limit of 3 years...it works well for me.

[NoOne]

i'd look over your league. if it is averaging alot more than what you want definitely set a limit. i just use time limits for rookie leagues but no roster limits and it keeps it manageable from what i can see.

service time limits are great, although i'm a bit more forgiving using 4years for R-ball. that gives an 18yo until 22 to gtfo of rookie leauge. set your limits based on your preferred worst-case scenario of development at each tier. AAA shouldn't have any, obviously, and upto you on AA. I think in RL they don't have any AA service time limits?

I use limits with the other leagues with no problems. 6-man rotations, 26-man roster limit. after rookie i think it's good to use them to avoid hoarding.

[PSUColonel]

DSL is 4 years.....all other rookie leagues are 3

[homerj]

I wrote what I do here http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/boar...ml#post4091659

If you are putting hard limits on the lowest level rookie league (GCL/AZL), how are you avoiding the AI from putting players in AAA to store them?

And if you're having a limit on AAA to avoid that, how are you then avoiding the AI releasing players put on rehab assignments?

[RANGER11JP]

I find the whole minor league thing problematic. Now when the minor leagues change through history, I am not sure what teams are the lowest level when there are multiple leagues with the same classification. Maybe some thing might be done to coordinate this better in the next version 18.

[RANGER11JP]

Repeated.

Sorry.

[NoOne]

Originally Posted by homerj

I wrote what I do here http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/boar...ml#post4091659

If you are putting hard limits on the lowest level rookie league (GCL/AZL), how are you avoiding the AI from putting players in AAA to store them?

And if you're having a limit on AAA to avoid that, how are you then avoiding the AI releasing players put on rehab assignments?

i don't see that occurring.

I think that's the difference with using term limits.... if a player hits 4 years in my rookie league and isn't good enough for Short-a he gets released, and he won't be signed by other teams, so he retires very quickly.

also possibly related - prefering potential > current ability? i use potential.

ghost players? i have it turned off, but htere's an option there about filling top-down or by ability, i turned it on set it to ability, then turned it off... likely not important unless broken, lol.

if you don't have a problem with a lack of players, turn it on and see if it helps??? i don't think it can hurt you.


Edit: hmm just checked, i had a 26-man roster limit in AAA (6-man rotations). will sim out, but i don't think it's a problem with service time limits.

[homerj]

Originally Posted by NoOne

i don't see that occurring.

I think that's the difference with using term limits.... if a player hits 4 years in my rookie league and isn't good enough for Short-a he gets released, and he won't be signed by other teams, so he retires very quickly.

also possibly related - prefering potential > current ability? i use potential.

ghost players? i have it turned off, but htere's an option there about filling top-down or by ability, i turned it on set it to ability, then turned it off... likely not important unless broken, lol.

if you don't have a problem with a lack of players, turn it on and see if it helps??? i don't think it can hurt you.


Edit: hmm just checked, i had a 26-man roster limit in AAA (6-man rotations). will sim out, but i don't think it's a problem with service time limits.

Yes, if you have a roster limit in AAA, a player will get released, but then there's no place for the AI to put a player on a rehab assignment. What I noticed what happens is they will send him to the minors for the RA, and then since there's no where to put him, they will release the player on the RA.

[NoOne]

Originally Posted by homerj

Yes, if you have a roster limit in AAA, a player will get released, but then there's no place for the AI to put a player on a rehab assignment. What I noticed what happens is they will send him to the minors for the RA, and then since there's no where to put him, they will release the player on the RA.

room shouldn't be a problem for rehabs... a minor leaguer is bumped down to AA if necessary and dominos from there. same thing when i sign a mil FA and click "ai setup minor league" -- also make sure you have patch .73 - fixes "a" releasing problem

Okay, back to the original thing you were talking about... the problem of stocking kids in AAA...


so i simmed out a while. i did not have any limit on AAA nor my Rookie leagues. I checked each july after the draft and all seasons active. I went out 10 years on an already 15 season old league..

AAA, league-wide, never got higher than 32 and only a 2-3ish teams had that many (+6 from 26-man rosters with 6-man rotations, i'd wager it'd be 1 less if i didn't use 6-man rotations.)

if i used a roster limit in rookie ball, you got a ton of kids in AAA. So, don't use a limit on Rookie ball... Extra players aren't a problem there compared to them being in AAA. if you are worried, check lineups and pitching staff at start of season for rookie team, i doubt you'll see any problems with the ai's choices, at least not moreso than normal. the right players will play, regardless.

I have modified some things from default Real MLB when it comes to minor leagues. All teams have the same R-A-AA-AAA # of teams, maybe 2/3rds have a Short A team. My minor league system is smaller.

therefore,
25 rounds creted for 24-round amatuer draft
1-step down on all non-amatuer draft created players from default.
- international amatuer FA, international FA, international discoveries in settings.

With all that reduction, i still have 40-50+ in my rookie leagues. i don't mind it, but you can do something about it, if you wish.

If you want to limit size of AAA as much as possible and fewer in your Rookie leagues, you want to pay attention to the teams with the most minor league teams. start reducing yearly created players until you start to have problems filling those teams.... then you'll have a ballpark idea to work with. up created players a bit until you can sim in perpetuity wihtout an "error: too few players" message.

definitely a bad idea to put limits on rookie ball.. .they even warn you about it in the game!

[homerj]

Originally Posted by NoOne

room shouldn't be a problem for rehabs... a minor leaguer is bumped down to AA if necessary and dominos from there. same thing when i sign a mil FA and click "ai setup minor league" -- also make sure you have patch .73 - fixes "a" releasing problem
...

Yes, I'll have to try it with .73. If the AI will bump a player down for a RA, then it's ok to have a limit at the AAA level. That wasn't the case with the previous patch.

I'll check it out when I have some time tomorrow and see what I come up with. But what I have in that link I posted is working well for me.

[PSUColonel]

Originally Posted by homerj

I wrote what I do here http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/boar...ml#post4091659

If you are putting hard limits on the lowest level rookie league (GCL/AZL), how are you avoiding the AI from putting players in AAA to store them?

And if you're having a limit on AAA to avoid that, how are you then avoiding the AI releasing players put on rehab assignments?

I have limits at every level

[PSUColonel]

All Markus & Matt need to do is make it so that rehab assignments aren't charged as a roster spot, and keep a limit on the number of days a rehab assignment can be used.

[Markus Heinsohn]

Originally Posted by PSUColonel

All Markus & Matt need to do is make it so that rehab assignments aren't charged as a roster spot, and keep a limit on the number of days a rehab assignment can be used.

Good idea. I have put this on the list. Will be done for OOTP 18

[NoOne]

Originally Posted by homerj

Yes, I'll have to try it with .73. If the AI will bump a player down for a RA, then it's ok to have a limit at the AAA level. That wasn't the case with the previous patch.

I'll check it out when I have some time tomorrow and see what I come up with. But what I have in that link I posted is working well for me.

it's just the behaviour i see when i move players around in the system. pretty sure what you saw was related to the fix, though.

click "AI setup minor league system"* after you send them down for rehab to see what hte ai will do immediately. you don't have to advance a day that way.

*not the exact wording but close... becareful though.. it is dangerously close to the option for the AI to set up your entire organization.. #%@!% %#@ what a pain when you accidentally click that one, lol.

[Umeboshi]

I was inspired by this thread to look up the actual roster and service time limits for the various minor leagues … here they are:

Level AAA (International, Pacific Coast): 25 man active roster, no service time limit

Levels AA (Eastern, Southern, Texas): 25 man active roster, no service time limit

Level A Advanced (California, Carolina, Florida State): 25 man active roster, 6 years service time

Level A (Midwest, South Atlantic): 25 man active roster, 5 years service time

Level A Short-Season (New York-Penn, Northwest): 35 man active roster, 4 years service time

Rookie (Appalachian, Pioneer, Arizona, Gulf Coast): 35 man active roster, 3 years service time

Rookie (Venezuelan Summer, Dominican Summer): 35 man active roster, 4 years service time

Teams in the Mexican League (which is AAA level, but has only unaffiliated teams) have essentially 30-man active rosters and 5-man reserve rosters (for a total of 35 players). No service time limits AFAIK.

Sources:
FAQs: The Business of MiLB | MiLB.com Official Info | The Official Site of Minor League Baseball (generally)
FAQs: Minor Leagues On-the-field | MiLB.com Official Info | The Official Site of Minor League Baseball (for Mexican League)

[PSUColonel]

Originally Posted by Umeboshi

I was inspired by this thread to look up the actual roster and service time limits for the various minor leagues … here they are:

Level AAA (International, Pacific Coast): 25 man active roster, no service time limit

Levels AA (Eastern, Southern, Texas): 25 man active roster, no service time limit

Level A Advanced (California, Carolina, Florida State): 25 man active roster, 6 years service time

Level A (Midwest, South Atlantic): 25 man active roster, 5 years service time

Level A Short-Season (New York-Penn, Northwest): 35 man active roster, 4 years service time

Rookie (Appalachian, Pioneer, Arizona, Gulf Coast): 35 man active roster, 3 years service time

Rookie (Venezuelan Summer, Dominican Summer): 35 man active roster, 4 years service time

Teams in the Mexican League (which is AAA level, but has only unaffiliated teams) have essentially 30-man active rosters and 5-man reserve rosters (for a total of 35 players). No service time limits AFAIK.

Sources:
FAQs: The Business of MiLB | MiLB.com Official Info | The Official Site of Minor League Baseball (generally)
FAQs: Minor Leagues On-the-field | MiLB.com Official Info | The Official Site of Minor League Baseball (for Mexican League)

I believe it actually "no more than" the amount of years listed for service time....which means for the purposes of OOTP....wouldn't no more than 6 years actually equate to 5 years for the game?

[vulcan4]

I'm loving this thread.

Because I am somewhat new to this, could someone please tell me if there should be an age limit for both min/max ages for these leagues:
MLB
AAA
AA
A
R
**And if possible, what about International and Indy leagues?

For references sake, here is how I am setting up my MLB Universe:
40-Team MLB League
AAA, AA, A, R (40 Teams Each)
Large, Elaborate Feeder system (Feeds the MLB Draft) which consists of 320 Colleges and 640 HS (How many rounds should I have and should I have any "X" generated rounds?)
8 International Leagues (Does NOT feed the MLB, BUT players can be bought)
2 Independant Leagues (Does NOT feed the MLB, BUT players can be bought)

Any and All help welcomed.

[vulcan4]

I swear.....I MUST be a 'Thread Killer', lol. =/

[PSUColonel]

My question is this: It states (at A+ for example), a player may not have 5 or more years of service. Which leads me to wonder (for OOTP purposes) should the setting be at 5, or 4?

Does 5 years and 30 days count as 5 years, or 4?