Minor Affiliation Question

[prono]

This may be stupid, but if I use the league setup are and change the affiliation of my minor league teams do the players remain with the MLB organization or would they switch based on the affiliation of the team they are currently on?

[itsmb8]

Originally Posted by prono

This may be stupid, but if I use the league setup are and change the affiliation of my minor league teams do the players remain with the MLB organization or would they switch based on the affiliation of the team they are currently on?

They would switch. You have to move all players to a different level, make the change, and then move them back. At least thats how it was in the past.

EDIT: Just tested it, still that way.

[Mr. Marlin]

There is an easier way to do this. Suppose your affiliate is the Rochester Red Wings and you want the Buffalo Bison. Go to the Red Wings team page and change their name to something else. Anything, does not matter. Then go to the Buffalo Bison Page and change their name to the Rochester Red Wings. Now go back to the original Red Wings (whatever you named them) and change their name again to the Buffalo Bison. You might need to refresh the logos and uniforms but that's it. You are now the proud owner of the Bisons and you didn't have to demote anyone and piss them off. This process takes less than two minutes.

[ohiodevil]

Originally Posted by Mr. Marlin

There is an easier way to do this. Suppose your affiliate is the Rochester Red Wings and you want the Buffalo Bison. Go to the Red Wings team page and change their name to something else. Anything, does not matter. Then go to the Buffalo Bison Page and change their name to the Rochester Red Wings. Now go back to the original Red Wings (whatever you named them) and change their name again to the Buffalo Bison. You might need to refresh the logos and uniforms but that's it. You are now the proud owner of the Bisons and you didn't have to demote anyone and piss them off. This process takes less than two minutes.

This is easier but you lose all the history and you have to go and make sure that the ballpark, uniforms, logos, caps and weather and if you switch leagues (PCL and IL) you have to regenerate the schedule. The way itsmb8 said to do it may take a minute or two longer, but its worth it if you're OCD like me.

Only thing is if you're attached to your current coaches on your minor league team, you have to go into commish mode and edit them to be on the new team no matter which way you do it.

[Mr. Marlin]

Good points. I forgot about changing the city & stadium. You DO have to do that too. And yes, you should rebuild the schedule even if you don't switch leagues. It's just a smart way to avoid a problem.

As far as the history goes, if the minor league team history matters to you that is something you will be disrupting by the method I described. Although it is not this way in real life, I tend to think of all the minor league franchises as "team owned" in OOTP. The record follows the franchise. So from that perspective my method is the only way to preserve team history. If you do it this way you won't lose coaches or destroy player morale by demoting everyone and re-promoting them

[ohiodevil]

Originally Posted by Mr. Marlin

Good points. I forgot about changing the city & stadium. You DO have to do that too. And yes, you should rebuild the schedule even if you don't switch leagues. It's just a smart way to avoid a problem.

As far as the history goes, if the minor league team history matters to you that is something you will be disrupting by the method I described. Although it is not this way in real life, I tend to think of all the minor league franchises as "team owned" in OOTP. The record follows the franchise. So from that perspective my method is the only way to preserve team history. If you do it this way you won't lose coaches or destroy player morale by demoting everyone and re-promoting them

Technically minor league affiliates, at least the ones not in the GCL/AZL/DSL are independent teams and are not owned by the major league teams (although there may be some exceptions). The teams sign working agreements with the major league teams so their histories are their own.

The Columbus Clippers have won 10 International League Championships in their history (1979, 1980, 1981, 1987, 1991, 1992, 1996, 2010, 2011 and 2015) but those were not all with the same affiliation. Right now they are owned by the government of Franklin County, Ohio.

The Rochester Red Wings have won the most International League titles in that leagues history (19), but not all were with the same affiliation. When the Orioles moved their affiliation, they did not take those championships with them,

If you switch the names, you essentially are moving the franchise and it's history to the new city and it will show up that way in OOTP.

[ohiodevil]

Another example is the Durham Bulls....they played in the Carolina League until 1998 and then became a Triple-A affiliate and moved to the International League. Their Carolina League championships are still listed and recognized by the league and the team and any retired numbers they have carry over no matter who the affiliation is.

I do see what you are saying....but this is something I wish OOTP would eventually add, and that is to model the affiliation system that has you sign development contracts with a team/city and if you want to move, you can but the history and stuff stays with the minor league team and you just move your affiliation elsewhere and all the personnel and players move with you.

[Mr. Marlin]

Yep, in real life all true. But in the parlance of OOTP there are two ways to change minor league franchises. An easy way that takes less than two minutes and keeps the coaches and players where they are but disrupts minor league history. And there is a less easy way that takes much longer, loses the coaches (absent some commissioner mode editing) and requires a lot of player moving in TWO different systems but preserves the minor league's history.

Neither is wrong, it's all about what is important to the player. For me Expedience > minor league history

[ohiodevil]

Originally Posted by Mr. Marlin

Yep, in real life all true. But in the parlance of OOTP there are two ways to change minor league franchises. An easy way that takes less than two minutes and keeps the coaches and players where they are but disrupts minor league history. And there is a less easy way that takes much longer, loses the coaches (absent some commissioner mode editing) and requires a lot of player moving in TWO different systems but preserves the minor league's history.

Neither is wrong, it's all about what is important to the player. For me Expedience > minor league history

I'm just anal

[Curve Ball Dave]

Originally Posted by Mr. Marlin

Yep, in real life all true. But in the parlance of OOTP there are two ways to change minor league franchises. An easy way that takes less than two minutes and keeps the coaches and players where they are but disrupts minor league history. And there is a less easy way that takes much longer, loses the coaches (absent some commissioner mode editing) and requires a lot of player moving in TWO different systems but preserves the minor league's history.

Neither is wrong, it's all about what is important to the player. For me Expedience > minor league history

Same here. I just rename the teams. The history of a minor league team isn't important enough to me to go through all of the steps to preserve it.

[Sweed]

Originally Posted by Curve Ball Dave

Same here. I just rename the teams. The history of a minor league team isn't important enough to me to go through all of the steps to preserve it.

This is what I do too. And for those that don't know the history tab of each league keeps a record of the name changes so you can see how the minor league clubs changed affiliations. For me this is good enough compared to real life and actually is cool to see, in one place, the history of affiliations.

[mgom27]

MILB Elevotion is what is needed that includes contract with MLB team and MLB Daily Roundup like on mlbtraderumors.com to.

[Bub13]

What about switching affiliates between leagues? Case in point: my AAA team is in the IL, but I want to switch it to the PCL, and move a current PCL team (that's based in Raleigh, NC) to the IL.

How simple (or not) is that to do?

[ohiodevil]

Just go into the League Settings and under league structure select 'Move Team' button and you can select the league you want to move the team to. Just remember you WILL have to regenerate the schedules, otherwise the teams moved will not play a correct schedule.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by ohiodevil

Another example is the Durham Bulls....they played in the Carolina League until 1998 and then became a Triple-A affiliate and moved to the International League. Their Carolina League championships are still listed and recognized by the league and the team and any retired numbers they have carry over no matter who the affiliation is.

According to the Baseball America 1998 Directory, the Durham Bulls franchise of the Carolina League moved to Danville, VA for the 1998 season. The 1998 Durham Bulls of the International League was an expansion club, a newly created franchise.

Thus, the Carolina League franchise vacated Durham because the International League claimed the territory for its 1998 expansion. The new International League club used the Bulls nickname. (How the respective leagues handled this in terms of club history is another matter.)