I usually do 20 training and 10 medical. is there a better way? I only do 20 on HS scouting and 0 on college. Is there a better way? I don't do any on international and advanced. coaches get 11 if my Fielding instructor is staying. prospects get 6. Is there a better way?

I think medical is one of those where you either put in 16M+ or put in 0 but that is my personal opinion. I generally agree with 1 or the other for the draft Although I have tested out putting 20M in both HS and COL. I have had a couple of drafts where I could draft into the 5th round and still get a usual ML player. I have also had a couple of drafts that weren't that deep where I only got players into the 2nd round that were ML quality. I spend minimal on coaches except the FI. Agree with the 0 for advanced. It is a waste once you understand the development patterns. International is great if you have enough prospect money to land a top quality player and you can keep your ML payroll low.

Coaches - $6M ($8 or $9 if I need a FI) You can get good to great coaches for minimum salary in most worlds if you wait until the very last hiring cycle
HS/Col - I like going $20 in both when rebuilding and $0 in both when contending but you've got to be real careful with that during rebuilds to avoid MWR's, especially if you're playing the IFA market too.
IFA - Depends on the world, your play style, and where your teams is at in its contention cycle (if you're a min/max playstyle owner)
Adv - always $0, nearly worthless if you understand how player development works
Train - Always $20M, most important budget category
Med - $0 or $20 with a strong lean towards $0 IMHO. Without the old injury bug injuries feel bad even with $20M. I think I'd rather have a max contract guy than the injury recovery.

I have a question somewhat in the same situation. The previous owner was heavily into IFA so his budget was :

20 prospect
14 coaches
0 college
0 High School
20 International
0 advanced
20 Training
20 Medical

The team was a very good team and a contender. My issue this season as of taking over is the budgets. There are 3 Type A and 2 Type B free agents. Now I have a potential of 8 more picks in the draft. Low payroll as the team being IFA active for the past several seasons. If I maximize the scouting I can only go to 15 each with using the default budgets. This also hinders the training , international and Medical budgets to being only a 15 max as well. Wha t would be the best thing to do. I hate to lose or "blow" 8 picks that may or may not be useful down the road.

With that many potential supplemental picks in the draft, I would probably start over with the 10's across the board, and increase amateur draft scouting, training, and medical to 15. 15 in scouting is a lot better than 5. And you will only have 15 in training and medical for 1 season, so it's not the end of the world. For coaching, if your fielding instructor is willing to resign, you can easily go with 9 or so in coaching budget.

Fielding coach will rehire. He is 87 rated. Pitching and hitting are 94 and 95 rated (They will re-sign as well). I agree that starting over (default) budget is far better than missing or messing up that many potential extra picks.

If you're going to rehire your ML pitching and hitting coaches, you probably will need 10 in your coaching budget. How old are your ML players? If you have all veterans on your ML team, it's not worth spending a lot on ML coaches (except FI, of coarse).

I have 2 players on the ML squad over 3o. Most are mid to late 20's. This is the first time I was told/informed that ML coaches did not make much difference on veteran players. I was told how important the Fielding instructor was as he covers all levels but never was I told about the lack of need on veteran players. So much still to learn :)

Coaches don't affect game play. Only development. Since older players are done developing, the coaches won't have any affect on the players or games.

I go 20 on both training and medical and 0 on both HS, College - usually, and Advanced Scouting. Coaching 10. The rest very.

Posted by ramonshaw on 11/5/2023 3:07:00 AM (view original):
I go 20 on both training and medical and 0 on both HS, College - usually, and Advanced Scouting. Coaching 10. The rest very.

That is pretty much what the previous owner had. With me having 7 or 8 potential supplemental picks is what makes it tougher to figure out this coming season. I hate to miss out on that many picks to help the system. In order to do that I have to use default and go 15 max on what I can.

$20M in Training and Medical.
I think $20M and Zero is scouting is the way to go. Pick your HS or College poison as you wish.
I used to put a bunch into advanced.....but I think after 54 seasons I have a pretty good idea of how prospects grow, so I'm down to next to nothing in Advanced.
I haven't put a single dollar into IFA Scouting in a long long time.

Posted by bjschumacher on 11/4/2023 1:28:00 PM (view original):
Coaches don't affect game play. Only development. Since older players are done developing, the coaches won't have any affect on the players or games.

Coaches affect skill regression for veterans, do they not?

I know a lot of people like to hold on to Type A FAs for the pick or try to squeeze every bit out of another team when looking to trade an upcoming FA, and don't get me wrong I likely do the same thing. But something to think about - at last for the world I've been following closely, about half the Type A FAs end up in the second round or later. I'm curious what other worlds see.

EDIT - Maybe it's just more rare to find that talent in Cobbfather. Looking back through the years, it's more filled with AAAA type players with the occasional ML talent. But mostly guys who get traded 3-5 years after being drafted.

That sandwich pick between the first and second round can be really valuable though. I can get good value at #35 or even #50.