Is there any advantage to assigning an IFA (acquired late in the season) after the regular season? Would he start next season with zero pro years?

Yes. If you assign him to a minor league squad that makes the playoffs, he'll play in games.

Games= potential develop.

Once that team is done in the playoffs, wait until the middle if the mlb championship series, then go promote the player to what ever level you want him to play the next season. If he played in enough games, he will get a promotion development cycle.

The thing I always think is, regardless of the service time, if you do this next season you'll have an IFA who's one year older without having played any games.

I don't think either of you guys really answered his question. He acquired an IFA near the end of the season, and wants to know if he waited to assign the player to a MiL team after they are done playing, would the player start next season with 0 pro years? On the flip side, if he assigned the player now to a MiL team who will be playing a few games, and maybe a few games more in the playoffs, will that player then start the next season with 1 pro year? Unfortunately, bem7742, I don't know the answer to that.

Assign him regardless. If he remains unassigned, he might get auto released.

I am not certain, but even if he plays no games, I think he still accrues a year pro.

Player Profile: Paul Sung - Hardball Dynasty Baseball | WhatIfSports

This is our last INT signing in a world I’m in that just rolled. Looks like he didn’t get a year of pro service unless I’m missing something.

Posted by pray4pro on 9/18/2019 7:18:00 AM (view original):
Player Profile: Paul Sung - Hardball Dynasty Baseball | WhatIfSports

This is our last INT signing in a world I’m in that just rolled. Looks like he didn’t get a year of pro service unless I’m missing something.

Did you recall if you assign him to a roster during the end of the regular season or did you wait until the playoffs started?

We have 5 regular season games left in MiL. Even if his MiL team makes a deep run in the playoffs, he's likely not going to get a improvement cycle. Promoting him late in the playoffs might get him a bump on a couple of attributes. So I guess now my bigger question is that if I do wait and assign him after playoffs start and he rolls into next season with zero pro years, will he get the typical 3 year improvement window or will he only get 2?

This might be part of your answer:

Player Profile: Onelki Gregorius - Hardball Dynasty Baseball | WhatIfSports

Crappy IFA I've let hang around for 4 seasons on my Low A roster because I'm too lazy to cut him lol. He's mostly been inactive, there if I had injury problems, so he only has stats for Season 13 (despite being signed in 12, and being on the roster in 14/15). And he has 1 year of pro service. So to me it looks like if they don't play in a game, they don't accrue a year of service. Even if they're assigned to a roster. So I'm thinking even if you assign that guy, he won't get a year of service as long as he doesn't play a game.

What I'm not sure about is whether that would push back his development cycle or whether it starts the second you sign a guy. I think I've seen people ask it before, but don't think I've ever seen an answer unfortunately. If I had to guess, I would think it'd be more likely that you lose development by not getting a playoff bonus than you gain development by getting the extra year of the improvement window. That would make more logical sense to me, but it could easily go the other way.

Posted by pray4pro on 9/18/2019 12:17:00 PM (view original):
This might be part of your answer:

Player Profile: Onelki Gregorius - Hardball Dynasty Baseball | WhatIfSports

Crappy IFA I've let hang around for 4 seasons on my Low A roster because I'm too lazy to cut him lol. He's mostly been inactive, there if I had injury problems, so he only has stats for Season 13 (despite being signed in 12, and being on the roster in 14/15). And he has 1 year of pro service. So to me it looks like if they don't play in a game, they don't accrue a year of service. Even if they're assigned to a roster. So I'm thinking even if you assign that guy, he won't get a year of service as long as he doesn't play a game.

What I'm not sure about is whether that would push back his development cycle or whether it starts the second you sign a guy. I think I've seen people ask it before, but don't think I've ever seen an answer unfortunately. If I had to guess, I would think it'd be more likely that you lose development by not getting a playoff bonus than you gain development by getting the extra year of the improvement window. That would make more logical sense to me, but it could easily go the other way.

That is good to know. I think you're right -- not sure I would want to risk the development of a decent prospect in order to find out. I would still put him in there and play him because the one thing that we know is true is that more games=more development.