I USUALLY have a couple BL salary guys in AAA to cover me in case I get stupid and spend every last penny.    But, for the most part, 500k is enough.   That will allow for one BL promotion, signing your top draftees and a few minor league promotions if you want to do that.

Re: prospects in ST.

Medical injury component aside, would you say there is enough evidence to play prospects over 27+ year old BL veterans nearly every ST game?

I do.   As I just mentioned in another thread, I give everyone 10 AB or 3 pitching appearances.   Beyond that, I use my "real" prospects extensively.   In my two most recent ST, 6 players got 30+ AB in Coop and 2 got 50+ AB in Mantle.  

Silly quesiton perhaps but have been reading the thread.... Scouting for each dept can only go up to $14 mil for me and I cannot set any to $0. Same with training and medical.... See a lot of ppl advocating for bumping things to $20 or to $0,but it seems like those aren't options for me. What gives?

4m per season starting at 10.   So, in your first season with a team, your options are between 6m and 14m. 

How do I make it so the guy in this situation can be put back on my roster?   ( The ......team have been awarded the claim for Joe Baseball. However, it is after the trade deadline and you chose to automatically pullback this player. If you want to trade this player, he may only be traded to this franchise for the remainder of the season.)

You can't.

Thank You

I've heard several numbers but how many games must be played before you can bring up a prospect without it counting as a year of service?
Thanks

Posted by Sipe on 8/30/2015 6:44:00 AM (view original):
I've heard several numbers but how many games must be played before you can bring up a prospect without it counting as a year of service?
Thanks

A related question to Sipe's (which I think is: How many ML games may a rookie play before it counts as a "year" of ML service?)

My question is: If I sign IFA or a decent draft prospect late, I read it's best to assign them to a team and make them inactive to prevent the season counting.  Does that toll the decay in improvement (so that their first year of development is a full year, rather than a partial) or is that solely to keep players under contract control longer?  It seems like it must be the first, but I want to be clear on how that works.  [Edit: To answer my own question, here are some links: Late season IFA Development & Late signing prospect.  Looks like you just sign 'em & play 'em.]   

Just a few thoughts while someone else answers your question:

When the Chicago Cubs are holding back Kris Bryant, its because (potentially) tens of millions of dollars are at stake. That's a big deal.

There are no such considerations in HBD.

Parking a ML capable prospect rather than getting that player playing time now (hopefully under some good coaches) so you can save a few million dollars several seasons into the future doesn't make much sense to me. Why not get that player ABs and IP?

Also, I think that if a player is ready to help out your team, then you should call him up - regardless of the 'start the clock' logic.

Posted by Sipe on 8/30/2015 6:44:00 AM (view original):
I've heard several numbers but how many games must be played before you can bring up a prospect without it counting as a year of service?
Thanks

You have to wait until 20 minor-league days (cycles; games+off days) have passed. As sjpoker notes, it often makes more sense to ignore the service-time considerations for lots orf reasons. Beyond possibly risking a playoff berth to push salary back by a year (you don't actually save money, just delay when you'll pay it), maximizing development is a huge part of HBD. If the player is good enough to play in the ML, he'll get more development there assuming you have better coaches than in the minors. Base the callup decision on whether he'd be a starter unless you can say "yes" to most or all of these conditions: You are confident the world will still exist in 10 seasons; You are confident you will still have this team in 10 seasons; You don't care if you miss the playoffs by a game; You don't care if the player is slightly less good than he could be for the next 9 seasons; You are confident that having an extra $2M to spend 4 & 5 seasons from now will make a significant difference.

Pros
Delaying salary increases by a season
Possibly gaining a season of player control 10 seasons (3-4 years in real life) down the road (many/most players will sign a second long-term deal, entirely negating this "advantage")

Cons
Not fielding your best ML team
Giving an advantage to all 3 of your division rivals — 10 of the first 20 games are intra-division
Not optimizing development

Which is more likely to help you win a World Series — postponing (not saving) a few million 4-5 seasons from now, or depriving your ML lineup of a better player than what you have?

MLB teams can make a strong guess about whether a Kris Bryant will sign long-term based on who the agent is. If it's Scott Boras, they know he will go for free agency as soon as he can at all cost. In HBD, you know you can have a player for 9 seasons.

You have control of every player for 10 seasons.   3 minimum salary, 2 arb, 5 long-term deal.     Owners play the 20 game delay in order to get another 140 games of service(a partial 11th).

I think it's a dumb way to play but it's a popular move.   The thing that gets me is that owners insist on doing it while never having played 11 seasons in a single world.   It's 3 real life years.

As a new guy, given all the things I need to digest: Budgets, Player development, Pitching staff management, etc, this is one of the last things I am worried about. I want to get the most talent I can on my major league roster, and make sure the best of those players get the most ABs/IPs. In the minors, I'm trying to draft the best players, and get them the most ABs/IPs, all in the best situations (best level based on age/based on coaching, etc).

It will probably take me 20 seasons (probably more even) til I can get to be reasonably proficient (somewhat average) at all that. Then maybe the smaller margin skills will become meaningful.

I guess my point is that owner's spend a lot of time planning for a season they may never see.

Not saying it's right or wrong but I look three seasons into the future.   That's it because so many things can change in HBD or the real world in 9 months.