I have 220 hrs in light aircraft and 6 in an analogue instrument jet simulator.
The sim is interesting in the lessons it has taught me so far,especially in the regard of the need for accuracy and smoothness in handling.
However, IMHO, it is no subsititute for real flying and as a regular SLF I would feel more comfortable if the FO had spent a couple of hundred hours experiencing real skies and gaining some airmanship ("I learned about flying from that etc") before transitioning to the sim to learn the airline craft.
I am not against change per se, but my day job as a change consultant does teach me that not all change makes sense.