Player developmental question

[Assos]

I am in my second season of my fictional league, this is my very first fictional league (I am hooked), and after my drafts the last two years, I have a teaming minor leagues of 18 to 23 year olds. My team is starting to get old, all of my starters are 30+ sans my left fielder who is 22.
How long on average will I start to develop passable replacement players? I have a 37 year old second baseman with a year left on his contract who I do not wish to resign.

[NoOne]

Originally Posted by Assos

I am in my second season of my fictional league, this is my very first fictional league (I am hooked), and after my drafts the last two years, I have a teaming minor leagues of 18 to 23 year olds. My team is starting to get old, all of my starters are 30+ sans my left fielder who is 22.
How long on average will I start to develop passable replacement players? I have a 37 year old second baseman with a year left on his contract who I do not wish to resign.

you can never polish a turd and have a good result. so, if you can't get top-tier potential draft picks, you can't have high expectations. and, sometimes they just don't develop even when you draft a high-potential prospect.

hopefully, you have a steady stream of talent developing at various ages and well-timed to personell decisions like your predicament at 2B. a few years ago(or more) you should have looked into investing some upper round draft picks in 2-3 second basemen. also, keep an eye out for free agents and look into trading the aging guy in his last couple years of the contract. even if you only get a couple middling prospects, it's better than nothing when the contract expires.

this stuff is all a jigsaw puzzle. you don't want to have to replace 6 players in 1 year or even 6 over 2 years. so, avoid it with smart decisions on contract lengths -> make use of the salaries report, it is a good visual for this. sometimes paying a million or 2 extra for a couple less years is a good thing. sometimes you need a 2 year FA stopgap because your three 2b you drafted a few years ago were all duds, but a younger one is rising quickly. it's okay to overpay short-term, but let those 7-10yr 30mill/yr guys go, or at least only keep X amount of them based on what your budget allows. try getting them to 5-6 years.

Use good FA pickups to compliment your development of players. you need both streams of talent for a good team. if you minor leagues have good infielders but not much in way of OF, guess what you start keeping an eye out for in the FA market.... again, even if it is a year or two before you dump a player, just trade him for junk if you have to. compare those players to potential free agents in ensuing years.

[Assos]

See, my issue is that this is the second year of the league and I have had only two drafts so far and some international FAs. I have not had the time to develop a good replacement for my All-Star second baseman. I figure I might try to resign him for a year or two in the coming season, but who knows how long he will last. It is getting near that age curve free fall.

[NoOne]

Originally Posted by Assos

See, my issue is that this is the second year of the league and I have had only two drafts so far and some international FAs. I have not had the time to develop a good replacement for my All-Star second baseman. I figure I might try to resign him for a year or two in the coming season, but who knows how long he will last. It is getting near that age curve free fall.

it's not impossible for a 38-40 year old to have a good year, it's just risky to depend on it. a good personality (work ethic/intelligence) can help. if oyu have good scouts, trust the ratings. if they are still high, he will still have the same probability of success you have enjoyed in previous years.

if his skills have been tanking on multiple scouting reports over a coulple years, you can assume it will continue to fall.

you have more options than just resigning him. take a look at pending free agents. if someone is better/younger (consider entire contract lenghth even if it is only 2-3yrs) sign them instead.

also,

if his ratings/stats are falling/fallen drastically, let him file for free agency. if there is no demand, you can get him cheaper later on in the offseason. let him stew for a while in the unemployment lines. keep an eye on his offers. if you don't have a FA plan b, don't be overly risky.