I have a delima here. I am 6 games out of a wild card spot with 72 games to go. I have made 3 trades to make my team a lot better, but still have a need for a solid outfielder.

I have
Britt McGriff in the minors, who could help my team right now. He is generally within 10% of his projections, except his splits against righties (11 more to go) and a couple of his defensive ratings. I spent 18 million on adv. scouting this year, and 20 million last year, so I feel fairly comfortable with his projected ratings.

I have gotten mixed reactions over whether bringing up a prospect to the ML level slows their development. Some say after year 4 development slows, others (including a comment in a dev chat) says they develop better in the minors. Just in my limited experience I tend to believe they develop better in the minors, so at this point I would prefer him to finish up this season at AAA, wait the 20 days next year and bring him up.

Here is my dilemma. If bring him up th is year for a playoff run, demote him back to AAA next year before spring training starts, and let him wait 20 days + service time this year, so he finished up next year with less then 172 days of service time, will that affect his growth at all?

If you need him and think he'll help you make a run at a playoff berth, bring him up now.

He's good enough that he should be staying up in the majors for good. Playing the "save another arb year" game seems a little short-sighted as you'll probably find yourself in the same position next season.

while I see your point about being in the same position next year, I would prefer to keep him at a lower salary as long as possible, as he is the first of a few really good prospects I have coming up. The team I have now, I think is a playoff team, but not a WS team. The team I can have in 2-3 years I think can compete for a title and I'd like to keep them together as long as possible. My original plan with him was to have him come up next year after the 20 days so that his clock didnt start until the year after. If I bring him up now and leave him up next year this will bump his arbitration up 1 year. I guess its not the end of the world, but it also changes my long term plans.

i have seen absolutely no evidence that calling guys up the ML constrains their development. it only seems that way because most players are done developing by the time they are ML ready.

i called Ted Lincoln up way too soon, and after more than a year in the majors, his development hasn't slowed down a tick.

i would call him up, but i tend to be aggressive in that regard (lincoln was admittedly 2 years too soon). and he's not going to get another 11 pts vsR- maybe 5 or 6.

who would he be stealing playing time from?

He woudl be playing instead of Andrew Michaels

what's wrong with michaels? his D leaves a bit to be desired, but that's not a huge deal in LF. other than that, he looks like a good offensive player both this season and throughout his career. mcgriff hardly figures to be an upgrade, so i would just wait until game 21 next season.

Michaels would then be alternating at DH. Probably playing once-twice a week instead of Jo-jo Neill . Plus the defense upgrade would help. I guess Im trying to uncover every rock this year to squeak into the playoffs ;)

Quote: Originally Posted By deanod on 12/18/2009i have seen absolutely no evidence that calling guys up the ML constrains their development..

... as long as they don't just ride the pine.

Quote: Originally posted by oriolemagic on 12/18/2009Michaels would then be alternating at DH. Probably playing once-twice a week instead of Jo-jo Neill . Plus the defense upgrade would help. I guess Im trying to uncover every rock this year to squeak into the playoffs ;)

in that case, call him up.

neill stinks. i would send him to AAA.

Yeah Neil was much better before the power adjustments. He isnt my primary DH, but my primary DH has a Durability of 64 so he tends to need some days off

you can play anybody at DH- neill is a well below average hitter to begin with, and you can't use him as a defensive replacement or anything, so there's really no value in wasting a roster spot on him.

and you should shift lamb to DH and play michaels at 1B when your normal DH is off. lamb fatigues slightly slower and michaels will get you a handful of + plays, so it's a double win for you.

Bring him up!

Thanks for the suggestion. That would help. I hear you about Lamb, but until I bring McGriff I didnt really have anyone to replace him with. At least Neil provided some pop off the bench with is high power and batting eye. Hell two years ago, during steroids era, Neil had a +900ops.. still a 750ish ops as a late inning power hitter isnt horrible, but to your point, for a playoff run I need some more depth.

also consider that you played in a hitters park and your league has bloated scoring (5.5 runs/game is like 20% more than the average world), which makes neill's stats especially unimpressive.