End Season Roster Increase

[Wrathchild]

What is the idea behind this? Wouldn't bringing people from the minors up to your main roster hamper their development?

[puresimmer]

No, not after the September call-ups.

This mirrors Major League Baseball.

[Wrathchild]

So this means that in Puresim the minor league is assumed to be over at that point? It's a good time to get some young players some playing time (if you can afford to not use your main players, that is)? In my association there are 40 games left in the season and I'm 11.5 games out of first in my league. I can't see a reason why I would bring any minors up and risk getting farther and farther out.

[Frozen Stiffer]

It's your team, it's your pennant chase and it's your call. However, typically when a team is far behind and the odds aren't all that good of making the cut (be it division lead or the Wild Card) they like to call up minors to give them some playing time and "real world" experience, to see how they do under pressure, see how they play in the high-paced environment of the majors. You are not required to bring anyone up and certainly not required to fill up the entire roster, you can use as much as you like; this just serves as an opportunity to bring up some potential and streaking minor league players and see how they do.

By the same token, teams who are doing just fine, are REAL close to season-ending goals, or who are AT those goals, typically don't like to swap out their starters, or call that many people up. They live by the "If it ain't broke..." principle, figuring that if their current setup put them on top, why mess with it?

In scenarios where I was on top of my division, I really only called up 2-3 minor league players; typically someone to fill in for my weakest position-player and another one or two guys to go into the rotation, either to sub out for the #5 starter or to play as a reliever and eat up innings in mop-up situations. On one occasion, we were SO far ahead, I actually swapped out starters whenever they were even SLIGHTLY tired. Excessive? Overkill? Yeah, probably. However, at the risk of statistics and ranking, I had the added security that my franchise players weren't playing when they didn't need to, lowering the probability of anyone getting injured. In this application, minor leaguers served ideally.

Again, it's a feature, an option. Take advantage if you feel it will serve your team, or simply ignore it if you don't find there to be much of a gain in it for you.

Just my 2 cents. [:)]

[KG Erwin]

Yeah, I agree with what FS said. However, in the 35-man real roster associations, all you're doing is calling up the reserves. If you've already clinched, then you can save a few valuable everyday starters/pitchers by giving the reserves a few innings of major-league experience.

In the larger-roster associations, giving good-playing AAA guys some major-league experience is important. One month can provide some hints on who may or may not be ready to be brought up in the following season.

[Frozen Stiffer]

ORIGINAL: KG Erwin

Yeah, I agree with what FS said.

I do too. Oh wait, that's me.

ORIGINAL: KG Erwin

In the larger-roster associations, giving good-playing AAA guys some major-league experience is important. One month can provide some hints on who may or may not be ready to be brought up in the following season.

Seriously though, we're on the same page here- I couldn't stress that enough. As KG said, sometimes that one month is enough to gauge if that rookie is going to ever be major league material. Also, except for some rare, rare situations, the only people I ever call up are AAA players. I really can't recall more than one occasion where I promoted a AA player.

[Nukester]

I agree. I use the September callups pretty much to gauge whether a AAA player would survive in the majors. If that minor leaguer comes up and hits .300 for the month in 25 AB's, Id be more inclined to promote him earlier the following season than if he hit .118 in 25 AB's (of course this isnt the only factor though)

[Wrathchild]

Thanks for the replies. I was just thinking that maybe I was overlooking something, as I had no desire to replace any of my regular starters with minor leaguers. I probably won't make it to the top of the league this season, but the possibility does still exist, and I feel that my current line up is the team to do it. We actually had a 9 game winning streak going until I decided to start playing with the line up. 

[Frozen Stiffer]

Wrath,

You know your team better than anyone else. Being fully aware of your squad's capabilities and limitations, you would be the best judge of your chances. Can you really overcome that 11 game deficit in 40? I hope you can.

However. I don't mean to be snide, pessimistic, or to risk jinxing you, but typically teams which have been that far behind weren't successful making up that much ground. In such a predicament, they usually take advantage of the fact that they're not going to make it anyway and employ minor leaguers in a relatively heavy number. Again, you make the final call, but I would suggest at least considering it.

[Wrathchild]

You're probably right, Frozen. I simmed a few games and we're now 11.5 games out with 28 games left to play. I realize now that the odds of taking the league are slim. I think it's all over for the 1901 St. Louis Cardinals. Ok, time to look over my AAA players and put them in the game.

[Wrathchild]

I increased my Major League roster from 25 to 35 and replaced 6 out of 8 of my regular players with prospects that I thought were doing pretty well. We'll see how they fare for the rest of this season with the big boys!