Just kind of curios as to what guys do with good IFAs that they sign late? I have had a few across my different leagues that have signed very late. Near the end of the minors season, and I have sent the players to one of my teams that would be in the playoffs to at least let them get some playing time. Are you just kind of SOL in these cases with the missing of any development time they would get as a 0 year player.

I've always just assumed and I'm probably assuming wrong but I always think if you sign a player early in the season he will be lower rated than if you signed him later in the year. So if you sign a player early in the season he would be like a 50 rated. If you signed the same player at the end of the season he would be like 52 or something. That or the later signed players have a bit of accelerated ratings. Or I'm completely wrong on both fronts.

Interesting...never thought of it like, not sure how to test that but its an intuiting thought. I havent noticed any "less" development so far with some other late signing guys so I think that I will go with that lol.

I'm not 100% sure but anecdotally it seems like players all get the same number of total development cycles, whether it's 15 or 20 or whatever. So if your IFA signs with 2 days left in the season as opposed to 2 days into the season, the guy at the end gets his extra development on the back-end in year 3 or 4 as if he was on normal schedule. This opinion could definitely be wrong, because like mktulu I'm not sure how you'd test for it.

I only have experience with 2 major players who signed after the minors were completely done (no minor league playoff games), Louie Kondou (draft) and Paco Trevino (IFA). Because they did not participate in minor league playoffs, each one carried over to the next season as Pro Years: 0, so I'm not sure whether that detail makes a difference or not. Maybe it did, maybe they got "extra" development in the first 2 cycles before the draft that other PY:0's did not have access to. In Kondou's case, he's still getting a ton of development at the very back end (Pro years: 4, ML years: 2) as opposed to the very front end (Pro years 0, initial minor league season). Only one example so obviously remains inconclusive

Make sure to get him at least 5 games if possible. (Not sure If post season counts) a few times I had a trade deal fall through because an owner forgot to play his prospect 5 games the previous season (late signing) and the guy wasn't eligible for trade.