03-24-2019, 01:25 PM
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#5
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Cleveland Baseball Guru
OVR: 0
Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: Georgia
Posts: 2,720
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Re: Texas Pride: A Texas Rangers Story
How I rebuild:
Here is my personal strategy for rebuilding. It is fairly long-winded.
1. Patience: Patience is a virtue. Especially in rebuilding in MLB. I need to fully commit to a rebuild and accept my status as a bottom dweller for a while. I am a lifelong Cleveland sports fan, so I am a pro at this. It’s not like Madden and NBA 2k, we can’t trade our roster for high draft picks and be a title holder 2 years later.
2. Don’t promote prospects before they are ready. Promoting a prospect to the MLB level before he is ready, because I can’t wait to use that 62A pitcher you drafted 2 years ago and he is now a 72 overall, is a sure-fire way to stunt his growth. I set a magic number (rating) for early promotion to MLB.
3. AA vs. AAA: This relates to #2. Players grow based on stats, amongst other things. I keep my future MLB players who will be a part of my future, in AA as long as possible. They only get moved to AAA if I have another player in the position I want to develop. I commonly have 75A and B players at my AA level. I use AAA for my career minor leaguers and again, over flow on my prospects. I will commonly have a top 3 AA team and a bottom 3 AAA team at the same time. Those 75 overall players are playing against lesser talent and will have solid seasons and therefore lots of growth.
4. Playing time: Players need playing time to grow. This related back to #3.
5. Free Agency: I do not spend here until I need a few pieces to make me into a championship contender. I use it so sign MLB players to 1-2 year long contracts to hold spots on my roster until my prospects are ready.
6. 40 Man Roster: I keep some of my career minor leaguers on here to be called up when there are injuries. I do not add my prospects on here before they are ready.
7. Player growth and the Rule 5 Draft: I keep almost all my core prospects in the minors until they are Rule 5 Draft eligible. I have had players that are 86A overall and still be in my farm system. Only when they come up Rule 5 eligible do I make the decision about their MLB future. If they are part of the future, before I sign them, I first add them to the 40-man roster then promote them to the MLB level. Then I go to resign them to a 3-year deal. This will give you an idea of what kind of money they want and what role. Instead of signing them to a 3 year/$500K deal and them being unhappy (which happens if you sign before adding to roster and promoting), you can still get them typically on a 3 year/$2M deal. I tend to bump up about another $750K to $1M to keep them happy. I still get a 3-year, team friendly deal, and since they have little to no MLB service time, they are happy too. Players I don’t need but are good overall, I can add to my 40-man, sign to a small deal and use as trade pieces to round out my roster and give another team an MLB ready player and not shaft them. The exception to this rule is if I am ready to contend and I have ready prospects (again at my magic rating number), I will promote them before they are rule 5 eligible.
8. After a 3-year team friendly deal, I still get 2 more years of arbitration. This gives me a lot of control over players who are now my MLB core.
9. Rule 5 Draft and drafting players: This is a good place to find some MLB ready talent. This links back to #5.
10. Team Focus: I decide what I want to focus on. Meaning power vs. contact, etc. I like to focus on contact and fielding and only want a couple to true power guys in my lineup so I scout and draft accordingly. When I focus on pitching, I focus on who will be my ace, another 2 starters, and the back end of my bullpen. Especially my 2 set up pitchers. I will generally make some of my long relievers former starting pitchers for that stamina so they can pitch 3 innings for me if need be.
11. Drafting: I typically will not draft anyone over the age of 21. I won’t even scout them typically. Last thing I want is a 24-year-old drafted and in 5 years they are now 29 and MLB ready as a rookie. By the time they finish their team friendly contract, as discussed above, they are about to be on the decline on a follow up deal. I focus on players age 18-21, that way if their MLB ETA is 4 years out, they are still only 22-25 when they are MLB ready.
12. Remember that not all prospects are a sure thing. Some develop, some don’t. Don’t be afraid to move on from a prospect if he is not developing. If they are 22-24 years old, and only 60B overall, they still have some trade value. They might turn into a good player in a few years but it is a risk/benefit analysis, especially if I can get a player or another prospect in return.
13. I scout the league the day after the draft for unsigned draft picks. I sometimes find some real steals here. I write down their name and their rating, and sign them day 1 of free agency. This is a way to boost my farm system and get extra talent. I have had players signed this way be big contributors on my MLB club down the road.
My point in sharing all of this is to show that I exercise patience in rebuilds. In my experience, this process sustains long term success and that is what we are after in our Rangers story. Keep in mind this is just my strategy.
There are different ways to go about it but I want everyone to know my thinking in team building as we move forward.
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