Off Topic
I’m not sure there’s a whole lot to say about coaches and trainers that is really specific to Sustained Winning, but I’m on a roll so why the hell not, right? Maybe I’ll be wrong.
Fairly often I’m often asked if I think coaches and managers (or trainers, for that matter) … um … matter. And if so, how?
These things are really hard to test to the point where I can have real answers. That said, I have actually done a battery of tests over several years, and my general view is that yes, both trainers and manager/coaches matter to at least some small degree. There is no such thing as a sure bet, but buy a great trainer and I’d guess your chances of getting players hurt are a little lower or the chances of getting them back earlier are a little higher. And “little” might be very, very little. Still, over time these things add up—and the entire idea behind Sustained Winning is in building and leveraging resources over the long haul.
So, yeah, maybe there is something to this thing when it comes to Sustained Winning.
Talking Trainers Here
When it comes to trainers especially, I think there is perhaps some thinking regarding the idea of leveraging them in a Sustained Winning fashion. I can, at least say what I’ve done and and then you can build from there if you want—or simply shake your head an move on with perhaps the idea in your mind that YS9 would have been just as well off to just hire and fire trainers like we do the rest.
But, that’s not what I did.
What I did was this: back in 2035 (which is interestingly about the time that YS9 made its full transition to what I think of as Sustained Winning), I went out and signed a pretty good and fairly young trainer. Julian Carmona was 45 when he joined the team. At that point each year for several years, I pumped PPT into his ratings to make him better.
That’s one of the rewards of participation, right? At this point I have a trainer who is at least “excellent” at everything. So that feels pretty good.
Anyway, once I pumped him up as far as the PPT system will let me, I have simply extended him every chance I got. Sometimes he’s cost me $1M, other times not. His latest extension was four seasons at $550K. How has it worked? Well, we still have big injuries, but I also tend to track injuries league wide, and when I tabulate and post stuff, as a pretty strong rule the Nine are pretty much a lock to be in the better third of teams when it comes to impact of injury.
Making numbers up, if this approach has really reduced my rate of injury by even a tiny bit, then that’s adding value to what Ted would call my horde of baseballey treasure in that it’s keeping the tarnish away.
Carmona is 59 now, and will be 63 when his contract next runs out. If he’ll stick with the program, he’ll be the Nine trainer until his body gives out.
Managers and Coaches
I like a good manager, but I don’t like a good manager enough to pay him big dollars. So the Nine has a bit of a turnstile there. My dollars are better spent on players, IMO. Still…I’m pretty sure good coaches make a real difference, so I focus on them probably more than I think I do.
Ultimately I’d say that more of the league is focusing on managers and coaches now, so the search for good ones is considerably tougher. At the end of the day, that has made it more likely that I spend bigger money on what I have—remember that conundrum I spoke of, right? If everyone is actively working to gather talent to “max” effectiveness, it makes it harder for anyone to succeed. Such is life.
I don’t really have great magic sauce on what makes a coach good, though. It used to be easier back when you would just hire the LEGENDARY guy. But things are different today. Coaches are more flexible. The changes OOTP made in the coaching system (expanding out the ratings) has added considerably greater nuance in things. I like that. When I’m out looking to hire coaches, I’ve taken to looking at the whole set (beyond just “teaches hitting” or “teaches pitching”). I admit I don’t know how big each of these different ratings are—or even how they affect things. But years of being around the game have made me fairly sure that they affect something. Beyond that, it simply adds to the fun for me.
More depth, more fun.
Today I have to kind of weigh areas I like and go with it.
If I’d had time recently one of my thoughts was to write a set of team news around the dynamic between coaches.
Alas.
All that said, probably the biggest thing I do beyond simply trying to find good fits (or occasionally converting a guy to a coach) is mostly cost control. I hire good coaches in the lower levels, then if I intend to keep them around a bit, I extend them for as cheaply and as long as I can. So, for example, Lucas McNeill is currently sitting at $60K this year, and extended for $160K for the next five seasons. Jose Chavez, who I would like to make the pitching coach if my stupid manager will let me, is at AAA at $70K through 2051.
You’ll see a similar path for Emilio Rodriguez, who got a multi-year extension just before coming up.
To my anthropological view of the game itself, this is still a flaw in the game. So, to a degree, I’d I’d argue that what I’m doing is an exploit. Coaches would probably not sign some of these deals if they were real people—or they would expect a raise upon promotion, or whatever. That said, I don’t really know how baseball coaches get contracted and paid, so I could be wrong.
Indeed, I could.
But this is my rock, so there you go.
Strategic Staggering
Just as an aside, at one point I was trying to hire coaches at each level that would grow prospects into full creatures. By that I mean, for a possible example, that I would hire a Power oriented coach at R-Ball, a Contact oriented guy in SA, and a Power oriented guy at A-ball, then more neutral coaches at AA and AAA. I have no idea how that worked or how that aspect of coaches really influences things. But it’s a thing I did and it was fun.
So … whateves.
Today I mostly just look for coaches with a mix of ratings I like.
- - -
So there we have a few thoughts on trainers and managers/coaches. I should probably note that when it comes to them, I’ve often had great fun making up narratives about their tenure. So if nothing else, this aspect of the game can be good fodder for PPT.
Next I’m thinking maybe of FA and contracts. Or maybe IFA and Scouting finds.
Who knows where the muse will take me, right?