Agreed.

Just want to make sure that I did not blow $8mil on an IFA.  I scouted a decent SS prospect that had 93 Fielding and decent hitting of at least 75 on the splits.  Once he agreed to sign, his fielding dropped to 70 projected and a 44/66 split.  Could it be that since my Adv scouting is only 6 and my IFA scouting is 20, that he still has a chance to be what I originally thought and I just can't see it yet?

Yes. The last update made ADV more accurate than INT/HS/COL but it seems likely that 20 INT is better than 6 ADV.

Just found this thread and want to bump it for myself and other newbies.

Posted by joshkvt on 9/1/2015 12:38:00 AM (view original):
Yes. The last update made ADV more accurate than INT/HS/COL but it seems likely that 20 INT is better than 6 ADV.

A point of clarification . . . the update in question made INT/HS/COL less accurate that ADV.  ADV was unchanged, but the other three were made fuzzier.

I want to add the link to this EXCELLENT league blog post that offers terrific basic instruction for new managers:

mlbhometown.blogspot.com/2015/11/hardball-dynasty-primer.html

A few questions:

I am a new player playing my first season. I have the benefit of the first pick in the upcoming amateur draft unfortunately my Budget settings are 10 ADV, and 14 HS/COL/IFA. What if anything can I do to improve my chances of making a decent selection and not bombing the draft? Due to the middling budget settings for the various scouting?

If ADV isn't worth it and experienced owners opt not to spend any money here how can you accurately evaluate talent? Are you evaluating it based on their starting statistics, age, and amount of gains they have made during the seasons they have played? A friend encouraged me to stop looking at projections but when I have only initial ratings and 1 season of statistics to look at how do I evaluate a player?

Is there any general rule of thumb to determine pitch counts, and how often pitchers can pitch based on their durability/stamina?

Thanks

You have to work with the info you're given. 

Once you sign a player, his projections do not matter.   At that point, you develop him.    If you're not trading 2nd/3rd year players, projections don't matter.  If you're trading 4th year players, they are pretty much what they're going to be.  

I use SIMMY recs to start the season and adjust as the season progresses.   A pitcher will throw about 15 pitches per inning so, if I want a RP to throw 2 innings, I'll adjust to 25/30 if SIMMY recommends 30/40.

I am debating bringing up a 20yr prospect to the majors: https://www.whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerRatings.aspx?pid=7163163 in favor of my current #4 pitcher: https://www.whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerRatings.aspx?pid=6102217 who doesn't have horrible stats, but isn't consistent.

The prospect has better control and better pitches, but the current ML player has better L/R splits.  Do those offset each other and they would be about the same statistically?  Also, while I am leaning towards moving him is that my AAA PC is 77 and my ML PC is 93.  We are about at the all-star break and my team is 42-35 (dead last in my division), but only 3 games out.  What would you do?

The younger guy is only marginally better as a starting pitcher.   I'd leave him in AAA and maybe call him up at roster expansion.

I am now able to expand my roster, I am 7 games out of WC and 8 in the division, if I bring up my 20yr old prospect now, is there a huge benefit to it if I am just going to send him back down at the end of season?

He'll get more playing time.   Coaching, training and playing time are what keys development.

The downside is he'll go on the 40 and you'll start burning his options.   Some people think this is a big deal but, if he's good enough, you'll never send him down once he's BL-ready.