Does farm spending affect player develpment in the Majors too?

[kensol]

I want to make sure; I'm spending $30M on farm to develop a bunch of prospects I have - many of them are like 80++ or mid 70's++++, etc - my MLB team is ailing badly and need to move up some youth, but not at the expense of their development...thoughts?

[robinhoodnik]

Yes, they will continue to improve in the majors. If you put them up too soon though, you risk retarding their peaks or at best slowing their development down to a crawl. Try and wait until they are at least into the mid to upper seventies if they have 80's peaks or better. Always try and keep them in the minors for a few seasons, at least until they have had one full season of AA.

[kensol]

My farm is stocked with great prospects (spending $30M (max) on Farm)...what would your suggestions be based on these?:

25 yr old 1B: 83 (100) - currently AAA
22 yr old 2B: 81 (98) - AA
22 yr old RF: 76 (81) - AA
22 yr old 3B: 73 (100) - A
21 yr old CF: 70 (88) - A
19 yr old C: 76 (95) - R
19 yr old SS: 73 (100) - R

I also have this guy, who I can't figure out: 26 yr old RP: 81 (92) - AAA (I've brought him up a few times and he's been crushed (Career ERA 7.90))

Anyhow - what are your thoughts?

THANKS!

[robinhoodnik]

I would try the 25 year old first baseman out. Give him a bit of playing time in the regular lineup. If he fails let him sit on the bench for a while. If he doesn't improve there back to triple A. He should be able to go to the majors and start playing pretty well at this point. Most rookies don't have a breakout year right away so have some patience with him. Same with the 22 year old second baseman. He's still pretty young but put him up for a few games if you've got nothing to lose and he's got a better rating than the incumbent second baseman. Since the right fielder is nearing his peak at a young age you may want to either try and use him if he's better than what you've got or put him on the bench and he'll get into a few games here and there. His peak may improve but it's not very likely. The rest I'd leave in the minors. They're all quite a ways away from hitting their peaks. Again you may want to give 'em one sim in the bigs as a test but I wouldn't leave them there for a long time. There is also the rookie eligibility to think about. The reliever may be in the wrong slot for his type. If he's getting killed as a closer try leaving him in for a while as a setup or short relief guy. If you've already done that put him in the spot starter position or if your rotation isn't very good, put him in at #5 for a while and see if his endurance will get better. You may get a respectable 15 wins out of him as a low stamina starter if his endurance goes to between 60 and 70 you'll be allright. Otherwise trade him away. Some players never do anything until you trade them. It's better to get something useful for him than to leave him rotting in the minors.

[robinhoodnik]

Some players like your first baseman will stall at AAA and not really get much better until they are in the bigs.

[kensol]

Thanks so much for the advice! I'll try out the 1B and 2B for a couple weeks...see what happens.

What do you mean by rookie eligibility? I suppose it's just if they're eligible for ROY?

[robinhoodnik]

No, actually I mean that if you play 'em too long in a season they lose their rookie status next season. You have to start paying more to them sooner if you leave them in the majors for too long. once their major league time starts collecting it's only a matter of time before the big contract demands start coming in.