chad, are you thinking about the franchise long-term, or are you just trying to win this year? if you promote your high A guy to the bigs, he may be overwhelmed (what's his makeup rating?), and in 4 years, he'll be eligible for arbitration. also, do you have ML players at SS, 3B and OF? what are you going to do with their contracts? do they have options to be sent down?

also, overall ratings can be misleading. look for players that match your park and your style of play.

it's tough to tell whether you're gonig to be competitve. some lineups in my league look great. i'm lucky in that i have an amazing SS, CF, and LF with 2, 2, and 1 year of experience, so they're cheap. i have a good 2B who's only $4.4M, and servicable 3B who got $5M in arbitration. this let me lock up my C and DH long term and trade for a $5.6M 2B that i'm playing at first. i have a rookie platoon in RF that's decent in the 9 hole.

because my lineup is cheap, i was able to spend a ridiculous amount on the premier FA pitcher ($20/year for 5 years with a signing bonus of $10M), trade for a $6M closer, and get another $4.5M reliever in free agency. my $105M payroll will keep me competitive this season (i hope... i'm 12-3 so far), but i have to worry when those other guys become arbitration-eligible next season. i plan to lock up either the CF or the SS long-term and maybe let the 3B go.

so maybe i'm just using your question as a chance to talk about my team. but that's what i've done so far :).

Things to keep in mind:

-- You can't promote someone to ML unless you clear a roster spot for him. The best way to do this is by not re-signing a player whose contract is up. The second-best way is by demoting a player who still has minor-league options remaining. If you do not have players who fit these categories, it's probably not worth it at this point to promote a player.

-- Your coaches play a key role in the development of your prospects. If you promote a young player to a level where the relevant coach (or coaches) do not have much patience, the player probably won't develop as well.

-- Promoting someone to the bigs starts their "clock," as schedule 1 points out. Promoting someone within the minors is much easier to handle - you can move players up and down fairly easily, and you can use the Inactive List to hide players whom you don't wish to use right now, but don't want to release.

durability plays as much of a role as stamina. if a guy has a durability rating above, say, 50, he'll be incredibly helpful out of the 'pen. a lot lower and he won't be able to go back-to-back days very often.

it's really hard to tell what those ratings are, chad, but if you start the AAA guy, can you trade the ML guy? if 81/75 are contact/power, i'd keep him at that price.

What is a good baseline for pitcher's stamina vs role? For example I have a guy (who is set to be a FA) that is designated as a Starter but with 19 stamina. His other ratings are great, but obviously he can't start.

What's a good baseline for deciding starter vs long relief vs set up/mopup/closer

well, on the depth chart view (world office, reports, depth charts), they do that sorting for you. for the minor leagues, it's off, because guys project higher in some areas. it's a good guide, though.

i have a guy in the minors with a zero durability. he seems to be able to start every 5 days. it's hard to set an exact cutoff (particularly since there was a display bug-- since fixed-- in spring training, causing our fatigue to be out of whack).

chad, do you have a DH? can one of them get by in LF? those are very good combinations, so i'd be slow to give them up.

i signed by second catcher to a long-term deal because he's 68/64/93 contact/power/eye even though i have a better guy ahead of him who's the same age (the catcher i mentioned above, 79/80/67). i was going to play him at first before i acquired that extra 2B, but now he's my DH. they're making $6M (the catcher, 4-year deal) and $4.5M (3-year deal, with signing bonuses for each ($2M and $1M). so your big-league guy is still a bargain, IMO.

Mike, if a LR has low stamina, like in the 25-30 range how well are they able to go on back to back nights, or do you need to make sure you have at least 2-3 guys in LR with that stamina?