So I inherited a team that has a horrible track record, and looking for some advice on some players.

First, I have a lot of younger players who actually have better current ratings than what I have on the ML roster, even though they haven't come close to reaching their full potential. With that said, if I move them up to the ML and they get shelled, will that hurt their development long term?

Also, I have a player with what looks like odd stats to me. Good contact and power, but vs. l, vs. r and batter eye look bad. What can I expect from him on the ML level?

#p1875402Raymond Rivera#p

http://www.whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=1875402

No. Not as long as they play. But you start their arb/FA clock.

Nothing good. He has to play LF/RF/1B/DH. There has to be better options.

It may or may not hurt their long-term development. If you beieve CS, it has suggested that of the players are over-matched, it may hurt their development. You say your younger players are better than your current ones, but also that your current players/team has a horrible track record. It's possible the younger guys would be over-matched.

Just as important (and perhaps more so), your team development may be hurt long-term, even if individual players are not. Finances are an extremely important part of HBD and - although Mike will likely disagree - most successful owners hate to demote players once they hit the ML and risk a demotion penalty. Rushing young guys to the ML and having them start accumulating ML service time towards arbitration can leave you somewhat stuck between finances and risk of rating penalty. This is particularly the case if you have a group of younger players who you promote all at once, because they will all hit arb. and demand good $ at the same time.

As far as your linked guy, Mike is right on. He's not a legit ML player in any of the Worlds I am in. Almost no one puts any stock in minor league stats. You are much better off predicting performance (99 times out of 100) based on ratings, rather than stats.

Playing them has nothing to do with demotions. I don't mind demoting players but, if they're the best he has, there really would be no point in demoting them.

The only "real" concern, in my mind, is starting the arb/FA clock. If you start it on a group of players at the same time, you run into budget problems down the road.

Not telling anyone how to run their team, because, you know, it's their team, but I took a similar team in Hamilton. A ton of young guys in the bigs too soon. I think I had 18 who would hit arb at the same time. I moved a group of them back to AAA before ST and signed some comparable, low level FA to manageable contracts. Managed to win 75 games(up from 65). Then, the next season, moved some of them back to the bigs, won 89 and lost a 3-way tie for a Wild Card. The contracts I signed in S1 will be gone and I'll move so more of those guys up. Managed to win games and control my payroll for seasons to come.

Quote: Originally posted by MikeT23 on 5/28/2010Playing them has nothing to do with demotions.   I don't mind demoting players but, if they're the best he has, there really would be no point in demoting them.The only "real" concern, in my mind, is starting the arb/FA clock.   If you start it on a group of players at the same time, you run into budget problems down the road.  Not telling anyone how to run their team, because, you know, it's their team, but I took a similar team in Hamilton.  A ton of young guys in the bigs too soon.  I think I had 18 who would hit arb at the same time.  I moved a group of them back to AAA before ST and signed some comparable, low level FA to manageable contracts.  Managed to win 75 games(up from 65).  Then, the next season, moved some of them back to the bigs, won 89 and lost a 3-way tie for a Wild Card. The contracts I signed in S1 will be gone and I'll move so more of those guys up.  Managed to win games and control my payroll for seasons to come.

That second part is pretty much what I was suggesting the OP should be aware of and try to avoid. When you took over they were already in the ML, so you had to either demote them or have major budget issues. He's still got the option of spacing the initial promotions out so as not to have to make that tough decision.

And 18 at once is just insane. If they are really good young players, even 4-5 can really limit your $ options.

Rivera pretty much sucks; you can usually find an aging 1B that can give you ~.800 OPS for about 2M at the end of the FA cycle if he's your only option at 1B.

If you're rebuilding though, I would wait a year before moving any players up too soon. As mentioned, managing arbitration an service time is a huge part of the game. If you have a hole you need to fill and a better option in AAA, by all means, move him up. But I wouldn't be putting 21 year old players on a bad ML team and start their arb clocks for nothing.

And agreed with what was said. I try to plan to only have at most 3 rookies (or at least 3 that I plan on keeping post-arb) come up in the same year to avoid the arbitration overload. Sometimes, it can't work out like that, but that's my idea as well.