Um, did someone just give a Short-A pitching coach a million dollars a year??
Yup, that was us. Twin Cities signed manager Manuel Díaz and pitching coach Armando Morales to deals of $2.25 an $2 mil respectively. The landmark deals are more than double the next highest paid coaches in Rookie Ball.$2,250,000 for a Rookie League manager?
The big question is why? Well... developing players is kind of a big deal around here. We all post Dev report screen shots of our bumping prospects with pride. And when the reports turn red? Get ready for a tirade about bad luck and how OOTP is coded poorly. Coaching is really important. How important? I don't really know for sure. But I figure it's something along the lines of this....
| Factor | Estimated Influence | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Player Personality / Work Ethic | ~30–35% | Arguably the biggest long-term driver. High Work Ethic players develop faster and reach closer to their potential. |
| Coaching Quality | ~25–30% | This includes your minor league manager and hitting/pitching coaches. The lower the level, the more impact coaches have on basic fundamentals. Rookie League players are the most impressionable. |
| Team Development Budget | ~15–20% | The "Player Development" budget in team finances affects overall organizational growth and regression trends. |
| Playing Time & Role Consistency | ~10–15% | Players need steady reps, especially in their primary position or role. |
| Age / Physical Maturity | ~5–10% | Younger players grow more if given proper playing time and good coaching. |
So we could be talking about getting 1/4 to 1/3 better results. Or we could just say that development should be better. Diaz is the only rookie ball manager who is Outstanding in 5 different categories He is also the only rookie manager who is Outstanding at both Dev(raising floors) and Mech(raising ceilings). His other 3 Outstandings? Teaching defense at C/INF/OF. An area that we value highly and is a deficiency around the league right now. But is that worth $2 million dollars?
I think so. I mean teams around the league drop $7 mil on developmental budgets without batting an eye. Some teams even drop $20-30 million on some teenage kid that has like an 95% chance of busting. So is $2 million to have the very best manager teaching your most impressionable prospects really that crazy of an idea?
But, but, you can convert a player into a coach for 10 PP and build him up to be the best for very little money. Nope, not true. 10 PP= $1 million. And that is just the buy in. To make him better you're going to have to sink another 50-70 PP($5-7 mil) every year to max out each category. And guess what, he still won't be better at developing players unless he gets a random roll. Because the PP reward is capped at 150(Excellent?).
Another added bonus here is that we are a large market team with over $40 million cash over budget. We are also usually in the playoffs(insert choking gif here). Spending $20 million a year on coaches doesn't limit our spending at all. But if other teams try to keep up, it could cripple them.
One note that I forgot to add and I don't feel like trying to go back and make it fit is how we came up with the $2 million number. Well, if you hire a good coach, you are competing against teams who may be offering BBA deals. So you have to pay them like a BBA coach or they are not going to sign. This is why there aren't many great coaches in the low minors. A. It's beneath some of them and B. They get lowball offers because that's what the AI suggests they make.
The ironic part of all of this is that we have one of, if not the worst farm systems in the league. From a moneyball perspective, there isn't a lot of upside for us to do this as opposed to a team with a deeper, richer farm. Especially one with more raw IFA players who spend several seasons in Rookie ball. We tend to avoid IFA players but that may change at some point over the next several seasons. We're merely setting up the infrastructure right now.
This is all one step in our master plan to develop a better farm system. I also just purged out about 45 minor leaguers cause I didn't like their attitude. My plan going forward to to focus 12 hitters and 7-8 pitchers per level and fill the rest of the team with conduits. This way I can focus on their playing time and strategies without being overwhelmed.
Is this a smart move? I dunno. I guess we'll see. But it's worth a shot.
