Baseball Basics: Managing Rosters
Every team in Major League Baseball aims at selecting a talented yet experienced roster for the season so that it can compete at the highest levels. Talent is inborn and does not come with experience but the latter is equally important as far as a comprehensive
winning strategy is concerned.
One way of strengthening the roster is to trade two or more players for a star player from another team or giving a cash equivalent if ejecting players from the current roster is not an option. Teams usually get active in the midseason trade market when
they are almost half way through the campaign and are in a better position to mark their requirements.
With the intensity of the game increasing and lesser time in-between games, injuries have become a common feature in baseball and key players are usually found on the disabled list. To counter this, teams usually trade their quality prospects from the minor
leagues to lure experienced and renowned players to their squad so that injuries do not halt their progress in the season.
Other than this, teams are given an option to grab players from the amateur draft each year in order of their standings in the previous season. The worst team is given a chance to improve its roster by getting a chance to select the top-prospect of the year
and so on. Players selected from the draft are traditionally sent to the team’s minor league or “farm system” where their talent is nourished and they are groomed into players ready to play in MLB.
On average, it takes almost three to four seasons before a draft pick is ready to feature in a complete season at the Majors. This means that picking the top draft is not of any advantage because there are high chances that a team with an efficient farm
system would take the top draft in exchange of an ageing player which might be a necessity for a struggling team.
Each team has its own farm system and the success of the team is highly based on the efficiency of this system. All injured players are usually sent to the minor affiliates to regain form and fitness and if the quality of game is not appropriate there, players
might take extra time to regain full form.
The farm system is categorised in three distinct leagues namely Triple-A (AAA), Double-A (AA) and Single-A (A) affiliates. The level of play in AAA is the closest to the Majors while A is devoted for beginners. Playing in the AA are the players who are promoted
from A for their exceptional performances or those who have been demoted from AAA due to regular failure on the circuit or injury.
The level of play in the minor leagues, generally, is not attractive and thus they are placed in small towns where teams from MLB do not play. The only incentive in the minor leagues is for the players to prove their mettle to step up for the bigger challenge.
The monetary incentive is not that high either.
However, all minor league teams are not necessarily affiliates of Major League teams. They have their own following in their locality and are termed as “Independents”. It is common for minor league teams to swap players without any cash equivalent usually.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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