I've just traded for last year's 2nd overall pick who the trading franchise's previous owner sent straight to the majors at 19.

Unsurprisingly, although he projects as a stud, he was a bit ovetmatched so I plan to send him to AA or AAA for a couple of seasons to let him develop normally.

If I send him as far as AA will his ratings suffer because of the demotion ?

If you first put him on your ML roster then move him down to AA, his ratings probably would suffer. But if you put him on your AA roster immediately after acquiring him, his ratings should not be affected.

Thanks - appreciated.

Can you confirm if this is correct? Did you send him straight down after the trade?

Yeah seems to have worked fine. No idea why player went straight to majors in first place - his ratings are pretty developed for a rookie but he clearly needs a couple of years to mature.

Happy now that I should have a really good hitter in a couple of seasons.

Don't generalize from this-- I think you can demote anyone anywhere prior to the Rule 5 draft freeze without penalty. I'm not certain this would work mid-season.

I'm pretty sure that extends through spring training, but I may be wrong.

Posted by scotsmet on 11/17/2018 3:45:00 PM (view original):
Yeah seems to have worked fine. No idea why player went straight to majors in first place - his ratings are pretty developed for a rookie but he clearly needs a couple of years to mature.

Happy now that I should have a really good hitter in a couple of seasons.

The age and pro years of a player is irrelevant to me. If a player is the best player in your organization at his position he should be in the big leagues. In my opinion, if you don't do this you are tanking. Players develop just fine in the big leagues as long as they are playing.

Posted by strikeout26 on 11/17/2018 7:37:00 PM (view original):
I'm pretty sure that extends through spring training, but I may be wrong.

No you get a demotion penalty in spring training, R5 draft is the cutoff

If you acquire a guy in a trade you can assign wherever you want because it's not a demotion, it's an assignment

Posted by strikeout26 on 11/17/2018 7:39:00 PM (view original):

Posted by scotsmet on 11/17/2018 3:45:00 PM (view original):
Yeah seems to have worked fine. No idea why player went straight to majors in first place - his ratings are pretty developed for a rookie but he clearly needs a couple of years to mature.

Happy now that I should have a really good hitter in a couple of seasons.

The age and pro years of a player is irrelevant to me. If a player is the best player in your organization at his position he should be in the big leagues. In my opinion, if you don't do this you are tanking. Players develop just fine in the big leagues as long as they are playing.

Fair enough. I just feel assigning a draftee straight to the majors is a strange move. I'd rather he came up when more developed so he can make an instant impact.

Also, I think your interpretation of "tanking" is a bit skewed.

It's not skewed at all. If you are not playing your best players and trying to win as many games as possible you're tanking.

It's also done by half of the teams in Major League Baseball.

No use arguing tanking here. The only place it should be of any interest is that you should play in worlds with like-minded owners, whether that's Private World Rules, or DGAF.

It gives me a good idea of whom not to invite to Doubleday.

Good afternoon gents, I am the guy who called said player to the majors right after the draft. The team I took over in the world Upper Deck was horrible offensively. The player I drafted was much better than any player I could have called up to the majors. I took a chance and played a 19 year old. He did struggle but he was the best that I could have played at the time. Personally I dont think anybody is wrong or right in waiting to call the player up or not. I was hoping to grab a wildcard spot and at the time of the draft I wasnt far behind in the wildcard standings. I did not make the playoffs but I dont regret calling the player to the majors right away. Hes going to be a great player in the future. I dont have him now but in the trade I got a great pitcher and I feel Scotsmet and I made a very fair trade and I look forward to competing against him in the future and making more trades with him