I had big hopes in season 16 of the sandlot, calling up a few young players at the beginning of the season with thoughts that I needed to win every game possible out of the gate, 25 game period be damned. Well, the club hovered at .500 and then went into a 10 game losing streak, ouch. So now I have a few young players up in a season where postseason hopes are slim.

the question is: should i send a few of these guys down to gain an extra year in arb and maybe a little more development in AAA, or will the potential demotion hit not be worth it?

Hardball Dynasty – Fantasy Baseball Sim Games - Player Profile: Keith Flaherty

Hardball Dynasty – Fantasy Baseball Sim Games - Player Profile: Erubiel Liriano

Hardball Dynasty – Fantasy Baseball Sim Games - Player Profile: Pepe Navarro

thanks all...

No.  You're only at the game 31 mark.  Since when is a season completely decided on May 1?  Theres plenty of time to go north or south of your current record.  If you demote them now, they may suffer demotion penalties, which hurt you in the long run.  If you felt you had your best 25 players on the ML roster, why would you change?

Agree with dherz, and though you didnt ask for this I'd recommend moving Liriano out of SS due to his defense.  Your two pitchers are definitely big league ready, though Flaherty may never be as good as he seems because of his bad secondary pitches...He'll eat a lot of average innings though. 

All demotions don't result in a ratings hit.  If a point or two, here and there, "ruins" your player, he was just a bit player anyway.   Don't let the fear of a ratings hit deter you from making the right decision.

That said, 31 games isn't the end of the season.    Your league looks a little lopsided so I doubt you're going to close the gap but, if you start getting rid of your better players, I know you can't close the gap.   There are plenty of games left.

Please correct me if I am wrong on this....   The size of the demotion penalty is tied somewhat to the player's patience.  Flaherty would take a big hit, possibly 3-5 points in some ratings, due to his extremely low patience rating. The other 2 with their mid-range patience would see 1-3 points decrease if sent down.

Somewhat.   It's not 100%, every time, all the time.  I've never seen a 5 point hit.  Ever.  And I demote players.

obviously i'm the one asking the questions, but wouldn't temper be a greater factor into the demotion over patience?

I'd wait.  You'll probably make up ground being only 31 games in.  But I would at least wait for an injury.  When you bring a guy off the DL, the player being demoted doesn't take a hit.  Even on a long term injury, just throw the guy on the 15 day DL.  After those 15 days are up, take him off and send a guy down.  Then put him back on the DL and bring a new guy up.  I did this with a Rule 5 guy in his second year, because I couldn't have him in the minors the first year.

i thought people might be interested in an update on this. in spite of history not being on their side, the Grinders stuck out a 9-18 start and then almost immediately got hot. Soon some moves were made to bolster the lineup, a good hitting catcher, and one of the best sluggers in the league. The club ended up winning 97 GAMES - and the #6 seed for the playoffs. We didn't make it out of the play-in round, but October baseball is October baseball.

Posted by jonas1102 on 11/19/2010 10:18:00 PM (view original):
I'd wait.  You'll probably make up ground being only 31 games in.  But I would at least wait for an injury.  When you bring a guy off the DL, the player being demoted doesn't take a hit.  Even on a long term injury, just throw the guy on the 15 day DL.  After those 15 days are up, take him off and send a guy down.  Then put him back on the DL and bring a new guy up.  I did this with a Rule 5 guy in his second year, because I couldn't have him in the minors the first year.

This is misleading.

When a player is promoted to ML in the same transaction group as placing a ML player on the DL, then that newly-promoted player may be demoted back to AAA in the same transaction group as removing that same ML player from the DL, without any risk of a demotion penalty.

In this instance, the promoted players are already in the ML, so having someone else be injured will not impact the likelihood of a demotion him (should they be demoted) in any way.

Posted by jpccr on 1/12/2011 9:45:00 PM (view original):
i thought people might be interested in an update on this. in spite of history not being on their side, the Grinders stuck out a 9-18 start and then almost immediately got hot. Soon some moves were made to bolster the lineup, a good hitting catcher, and one of the best sluggers in the league. The club ended up winning 97 GAMES - and the #6 seed for the playoffs. We didn't make it out of the play-in round, but October baseball is October baseball.

Congrats!

Posted by jpccr on 1/12/2011 9:45:00 PM (view original):
i thought people might be interested in an update on this. in spite of history not being on their side, the Grinders stuck out a 9-18 start and then almost immediately got hot. Soon some moves were made to bolster the lineup, a good hitting catcher, and one of the best sluggers in the league. The club ended up winning 97 GAMES - and the #6 seed for the playoffs. We didn't make it out of the play-in round, but October baseball is October baseball.

Hell of a turnaround, congrats.  That happened the first season I played HBD, spoiled me a little bit but it was good experience.