[Spritze]

Things that various gamers/customers would like to see added or changed for AI controlled teams in Historical Minor League play.

1) The players better spread to their IRL teams. Since we have the info in the database perhaps instead of players being stuck retired or on reserve rosters those players could be put on their IRL teams just before the preseason starts. Sort of a not very free agent draft. Any players on an MLB active roster would stay where they are.
As it stands now some leagues only have 40 of their 140 player slots filled but some teams have 60 players on their reserve roster and this just does not feel right. Results in too many Jim Unknowns playing. The Roster file shows that there should be 23 players on the Lancaster roster. There are only 5 and none of those 5 are IRL Lancaster players.

2) Many pitching starting rotations remain empty even though the roster contains pitchers with high stamina and even sometimes SP designations. Plus for the minor leagues a stamina of 35 should be enough for a starter in training. Joe Unknown gets to start instead.

3) Perhaps some players from high level unaffiliated leagues (American Association, PCL, International League) could be added as free agents if #1 and #2 do not generate fuller teams. That might keep the Jerry Unknowns from taking over.

4) Some minor league player retirements seem very premature. The minor league retirement formula needs to allow for 20 year minor league careers especially during the way back years. It may be (in limited testing) that more players retire than get added which can lead to empty leagues and teams. Which creates slots for Josh Unknowns to take.

5) Another challenge is that the MLB can hoard players on their reserve rosters if they have no minor league teams to send them to. Even though IRL MLB teams may not have controlled minor league teams they often loaned them players while keeping control of the players reserve clause rights. OOTP does not currently support this so it uses reserve rosters instead. This needs to be changed.

6) Once a league gains traction from having an affiliated team it should stay in existence until it dissolves for good and forever during its nova implosion.

7) When we first see the rosters at the beginning of the game, the computer AI has already been run on those rosters, players have been signed, promoted, retired, etc. Is there any way to just keep that from happening until we've had a chance to sim at least one day?

8) Active roster sizes in the MiLB teams file are being ignored and all minor league teams are set to "No Limit" which also sucks up more real players leading to more Jan Unknowns playing at lower levels.

9) After September callups entire teams consist of Jay Unknowns. Same in the Spring if the MiLB season begins before the MLB season.

10) Reserve rosters get HUGE. They should be eliminated and players loaned out to the minor league teams that could sorely use them while the MLB team retains the players contract.

The commonest complaint seems to be that there are not enough real players available for the real teams. They keep getting filled by Mr. Unknown rather than real players. We have thousands of unused players in the database. Perhaps some should be activated.