ROOKIE LEAGUE PREPARATION
Rookie League is different from the other 4 minor league levels. you get 30 active roster spots and 0 inactive spots. I therefore use a different makeup for my Rookie roster. I will use 9 starting position players, and keep one backup catcher, 2 backup shortstops (guys that can sub in at any position but catcher), and one final miscellaneous player. On the pitching side, I use a huge staff of 17 pitchers. 8 of them are starters used in 4 tandem sets. 4 more are long relievers, 4 are setup guys, and 1 closer. Pitching fatigue has never been an issue for me at Rookie League with this makeup, and due to the short season, I never experience position player fatigue either.
Once I have all my draft picks, combined with all of the guys that I had "stored" down in Rookie League (guys that did not fit on any of my rosters when I set them at the start of the season), I try to make them fit my plan. Normally, I find myself several position players and pitchers short - and also having a handful of extra corner outfielders, first basemen, and relievers over. These extra guys get released. This is the only time all season I release guys outright in mass batches. The holes in my roster get filled with minor league free agents and Tryout Camp pitchers.
The first chance that I have to look over my Rookie roster to get things properly set is well into the Rookie League season...and so far we're 27-9, so maybe messing with the good thing I've got going isn't a great idea. However, it is probably a good thing for the long term health of my organization to do this...so it's happening. On the positive side, since we are 27-9, it means that I probably don't have too many holes to fill right this second so from that point of view now is a good time to do it.
Step #1 is identify the players that would have been the "extra" guys at the beginning of the season and therefore are worthy of release. Then, I go through the guys that are left over and fit them into the depth chart to see what holes I still have left. As it turns out, my draft settings resulted in a 29 man Rookie roster made up of 16 position players and 13 pitchers so I know right away that I'll be ditching a few extra position players in favor of some arms. Once I get my roster all set, I'm at 16 hitters and 14 pitchers...so I still have a bit of work to make it exactly ideal but I'm in a much better spot now than I was an hour or so ago.
After the roster is complete to my liking, I make certain to set stuff like pitch counts, depth charts, and the like. I am then ready to go with the Rookie League season. As the season progresses, I may release an extra player here or there if I sign an international or a holdout draft pick (or I may just assign the late guy to a higher minor league level). I also may occasionally grab another minor league free agent or tryout camp guy if I suffer an injury. If they injury is short term (under 15 days or so), I may just go with a 29 man roster. However, any long term injuries at Rookie League will result in my filling that roster spot. Remember, guys on the DL do not count towards the 30 man roster.
I use the default settings for the Player Rest, Defensive Replacements, Pinch Hitting Hierarchies, and Player Settings for position players before turning to the matter of pitch counts. To set pitch counts, I first set everyone into the roles that I have just decided on, and then go with the default settings...for the ML team the suggestion is to adjust these a little bit (which I do) but for a Rookie League team that's leading their division I think I'll leave it for now.
I am now set for the start of Rookie League. The next major in-season event will be the All Star Break. I also note that I have an interleague play series coming up against threester's team very soon. While my team is not nearly as competitive as his, it will be a battle of 5 all-time championships against 3 (or *cross my fingers* maybe even 4 as I am tied 2-2 in the NABCL World Series right now). It is definitely not often in HBD that that many championships are on the field at one time.
As I write this, we are between the All-Star Break and Trade Deadline so I've got some catching up to do on in-season events. Hopefully this long weekend will give me some time for that but we'll see...