Hi All,

I recently picked up two Hardball teams, and have now completed 1.5 seasons. That being said, I don't really understand the mechanics of coaches. It's not clear to me if I should focus on MLB coaches (pay a premium to get good ones), or better coaches down on the farm. In addition, I've seen people say a fielding instructor is the most important coach, but not clear why that is.

Anyway, I am entering the budget setting phase of my first league (starting my second season), so could use pointers from any veterans (my team is rebuilding, I spent 15M on coaches last year but don't have a great answer as to why). Hoping to spend less this year on coaches, but not sure if I should drop to 7, or do something like ~10. Thanks!

Your fielding instructor (FI) coach affects all of the fielding stats for all of your players in the majors and minors. Coaches will take less money (half of what they are asking) if you wait until the last day to offer (I believe it is the last 24 hours). Everyone differs, but I personally budget $11/12M if I need a FI and $6/7M if I don't. I try to sign my minor league coaches and FI as soon as they will sign and my major league coaches on the last day. Any money left over can be transferred to another bucket to help my team.

I'm pretty much same as Joe. If you can wait until the VERY last coach signing window, you'll get some ML coaches (except FI) in the 80's for their minimum salary. and PC's and HC's will sign as BU and 1B/3B too (they drop their asking amt to ~$1M by the very end and then you offer half that)

Don't sweat coaches too much except for the FI. The rest, as long as your in 80's range you'll be good. Only reason to sign the best of the best is if you're chasing a max contract free agent where coach ratings plays into their decision tie breaker.

I also don't monkey around with minor league coaches that much. I try to re-sign all my minor coaches from previous year unless they're truly awful.

And always look at a level or two below to see who you can potentially save money on by giving a promotion. Sometimes you'll find a pretty decent AA guy whose ready for the ML at minimum cost.

Posted by joekendall on 12/4/2023 10:46:00 AM (view original):
Your fielding instructor (FI) coach affects all of the fielding stats for all of your players in the majors and minors. Coaches will take less money (half of what they are asking) if you wait until the last day to offer (I believe it is the last 24 hours). Everyone differs, but I personally budget $11/12M if I need a FI and $6/7M if I don't. I try to sign my minor league coaches and FI as soon as they will sign and my major league coaches on the last day. Any money left over can be transferred to another bucket to help my team.

This is killer. Just saved me 6M! lol. But honestly, this whole thread has been super helpful. One question I do have is how much do minor league coaches impact development? Should I be spending more on minor league coaches if I’m rebuilding? Or still stick with the mentos model of premium FI, and passable all else?

Posted by brianplath on 12/4/2023 3:15:00 PM (view original):
I'm pretty much same as Joe. If you can wait until the VERY last coach signing window, you'll get some ML coaches (except FI) in the 80's for their minimum salary. and PC's and HC's will sign as BU and 1B/3B too (they drop their asking amt to ~$1M by the very end and then you offer half that)

Don't sweat coaches too much except for the FI. The rest, as long as your in 80's range you'll be good. Only reason to sign the best of the best is if you're chasing a max contract free agent where coach ratings plays into their decision tie breaker.

I also don't monkey around with minor league coaches that much. I try to re-sign all my minor coaches from previous year unless they're truly awful.

What do you mean by “as long as you’re in the 80’s for their minimum salary”? I’m interpreting that to be 80s = overall rating of the coach….but I can’t find an overall rating anywhere. Do you mean 80+ rating for the respective attribute (like pitching coaches should have pitching ratings in the 80s, and should sign for minimum contract)?

Right, 80’s for whatever coaching skill applies. Sometimes even in the 90’s.

Joe and Brian are pretty much bang on. Really good advice in this thread.

The big thing I will add is I'll try to resign all my minor league coaches and my fielding instructor. If my 1B and 3B coach want to come back I might resign them also (a lot of times the 1B wants to become a 3B but he only has like 60 IQ). The rest of the big league coaches I'll let walk and sign new ones at the last cycle of hiring. I don't think I've ever spend more then 10 million on coach hiring.

Question 1: What do we think coaches DO?
General consensus here, and I'm not sure if it were ever confirmed in a developer chat or whatever, is that coaches' coaching ratings don't affect gameplay. We generally consider higher-rated coaches to help develop prospects more fully, and to help older players maintain their ratings longer.

Question 2: What's the difference between a '75' rated coach and a '90' rated coach?
A 75 Pitching, Hitting, or Strategy rating is when a AAA coach begins to demand a big league position. Also when a bullpen coach begins to demand switching to a pitching coach.
I could take this to mean that 75 is considered by the sim to be adequate level for a big league coach. So then, do we have documented evidence that a 90 coach is worth the extra cash and competition, rather than just promoting your AAA guy for minimum salary? I don't know the answer.
(Yes the highest rated coaching can be a tiebreaker if you are chasing a maximum contract free agent. How often do you need that? Up to you.)

Question 3: Fielding Instructors, depending on your world, can sometimes be in short supply. Due to their role and how they progress, they usually keep getting jobs until they retire (age 68 I believe.) NEW FIs enter the coaching pool around a Fielding rating of 50. How badly would a 50 FI tank my entire system while I home-grew him into an 80+ FI? Does anyone know for sure? Do I want to find out myself?

With these things in mind, my coach hiring style is just to take whatever the path of lease resistance is. Promote from within, or overpay where I need to. Last thing I want to spend my limited brainpower on is a free agent coach.

One thing I'll add here, ML Bench coach does nothing. Unless you (the manager) are kicked out of the game for arguing (put this setting to zero) the bench coach has no impact on development or the game. Save your money and sign a coach to the minimum.

Posted by mmustain on 12/6/2023 9:45:00 AM (view original):
One thing I'll add here, ML Bench coach does nothing. Unless you (the manager) are kicked out of the game for arguing (put this setting to zero) the bench coach has no impact on development or the game. Save your money and sign a coach to the minimum.

+1. If there's one thing that convinced me that Coach Hiring is just a make-work project/time-wasting exercise, it's that this position demands the highest salary. [RANT] Seems like it's just something the developer programmed to make owners feel like they're accomplishing anything while they're losing out on free agent players.

Posted by damag on 12/6/2023 9:12:00 AM (view original):
Question 1: What do we think coaches DO?
General consensus here, and I'm not sure if it were ever confirmed in a developer chat or whatever, is that coaches' coaching ratings don't affect gameplay. We generally consider higher-rated coaches to help develop prospects more fully, and to help older players maintain their ratings longer.

Question 2: What's the difference between a '75' rated coach and a '90' rated coach?
A 75 Pitching, Hitting, or Strategy rating is when a AAA coach begins to demand a big league position. Also when a bullpen coach begins to demand switching to a pitching coach.
I could take this to mean that 75 is considered by the sim to be adequate level for a big league coach. So then, do we have documented evidence that a 90 coach is worth the extra cash and competition, rather than just promoting your AAA guy for minimum salary? I don't know the answer.
(Yes the highest rated coaching can be a tiebreaker if you are chasing a maximum contract free agent. How often do you need that? Up to you.)

Question 3: Fielding Instructors, depending on your world, can sometimes be in short supply. Due to their role and how they progress, they usually keep getting jobs until they retire (age 68 I believe.) NEW FIs enter the coaching pool around a Fielding rating of 50. How badly would a 50 FI tank my entire system while I home-grew him into an 80+ FI? Does anyone know for sure? Do I want to find out myself?

With these things in mind, my coach hiring style is just to take whatever the path of lease resistance is. Promote from within, or overpay where I need to. Last thing I want to spend my limited brainpower on is a free agent coach.

So one of the things I've wondered for this, general consensus is coach's only improve player ratings except the Bench coach.

So for 1B and 3B coach do you take both of their ratings and divide by 2 for your baserunning and IQ growth?
Same with pitching and bullpen coach?

And for bench, do they determine sometimes the questionable calls that determine when pinch hitters, runners and bullpen calls happen?

Posted by hockey1984 on 12/6/2023 11:00:00 AM (view original):

Posted by damag on 12/6/2023 9:12:00 AM (view original):
Question 1: What do we think coaches DO?
General consensus here, and I'm not sure if it were ever confirmed in a developer chat or whatever, is that coaches' coaching ratings don't affect gameplay. We generally consider higher-rated coaches to help develop prospects more fully, and to help older players maintain their ratings longer.

Question 2: What's the difference between a '75' rated coach and a '90' rated coach?
A 75 Pitching, Hitting, or Strategy rating is when a AAA coach begins to demand a big league position. Also when a bullpen coach begins to demand switching to a pitching coach.
I could take this to mean that 75 is considered by the sim to be adequate level for a big league coach. So then, do we have documented evidence that a 90 coach is worth the extra cash and competition, rather than just promoting your AAA guy for minimum salary? I don't know the answer.
(Yes the highest rated coaching can be a tiebreaker if you are chasing a maximum contract free agent. How often do you need that? Up to you.)

Question 3: Fielding Instructors, depending on your world, can sometimes be in short supply. Due to their role and how they progress, they usually keep getting jobs until they retire (age 68 I believe.) NEW FIs enter the coaching pool around a Fielding rating of 50. How badly would a 50 FI tank my entire system while I home-grew him into an 80+ FI? Does anyone know for sure? Do I want to find out myself?

With these things in mind, my coach hiring style is just to take whatever the path of lease resistance is. Promote from within, or overpay where I need to. Last thing I want to spend my limited brainpower on is a free agent coach.

So one of the things I've wondered for this, general consensus is coach's only improve player ratings except the Bench coach.

So for 1B and 3B coach do you take both of their ratings and divide by 2 for your baserunning and IQ growth?
Same with pitching and bullpen coach?

And for bench, do they determine sometimes the questionable calls that determine when pinch hitters, runners and bullpen calls happen?

I take my cues from the available coach pools, the guys who don't get hired or move up to the major league pools.

Career bullpen coaches are pitching coaches whose Pitching rating doesn't go over 75. 1B coaches are hitting coaches whose Baserunning rating stays around 60 or lower. So I just choose those with nice combinations of the "other ratings", plus Loyalty so I can auto-rehire.

As for the Bench, I promote my own minor league coaches most of the time, which means other teams usually have "better" ones. I'm hard pressed to see what difference it makes. IMO the questionable strategic moves comes down to this sim having no built in advanced strategic logic - it's up to you to set your manager settings how you see fit, and that requires thinking ahead to how game situations may play out. Otherwise when the sim has to choose a player to put into any role, it simply chooses the one with the highest rating to suit that role, which might not be the one who you would prefer.

Posted by hockey1984 on 12/6/2023 11:00:00 AM (view original):

Posted by damag on 12/6/2023 9:12:00 AM (view original):
Question 1: What do we think coaches DO?
General consensus here, and I'm not sure if it were ever confirmed in a developer chat or whatever, is that coaches' coaching ratings don't affect gameplay. We generally consider higher-rated coaches to help develop prospects more fully, and to help older players maintain their ratings longer.

Question 2: What's the difference between a '75' rated coach and a '90' rated coach?
A 75 Pitching, Hitting, or Strategy rating is when a AAA coach begins to demand a big league position. Also when a bullpen coach begins to demand switching to a pitching coach.
I could take this to mean that 75 is considered by the sim to be adequate level for a big league coach. So then, do we have documented evidence that a 90 coach is worth the extra cash and competition, rather than just promoting your AAA guy for minimum salary? I don't know the answer.
(Yes the highest rated coaching can be a tiebreaker if you are chasing a maximum contract free agent. How often do you need that? Up to you.)

Question 3: Fielding Instructors, depending on your world, can sometimes be in short supply. Due to their role and how they progress, they usually keep getting jobs until they retire (age 68 I believe.) NEW FIs enter the coaching pool around a Fielding rating of 50. How badly would a 50 FI tank my entire system while I home-grew him into an 80+ FI? Does anyone know for sure? Do I want to find out myself?

With these things in mind, my coach hiring style is just to take whatever the path of lease resistance is. Promote from within, or overpay where I need to. Last thing I want to spend my limited brainpower on is a free agent coach.

So one of the things I've wondered for this, general consensus is coach's only improve player ratings except the Bench coach.

So for 1B and 3B coach do you take both of their ratings and divide by 2 for your baserunning and IQ growth?
Same with pitching and bullpen coach?

And for bench, do they determine sometimes the questionable calls that determine when pinch hitters, runners and bullpen calls happen?

Starting a new thread about these things.