Utterly confused about finances :)

[Qeltar]

I'm mid-April on my first franchise rebuilding the Marlins. I have been doing quite a bit of wheeling-dealing trying to get draft picks and young players in exchange for veterans who are either underperforming or are not much above replacement level.

In so doing I've managed to save a lot of contract budget room. With an overall budget of $110m I am sitting on $5m in cash and $26m "total money available."

I am mostly trying to figure out the game myself without asking too many questions (though I have asked some in my "newbie" thread). But I'm afraid I may be making some major mistakes here. Basically, I am not sure what it is I am supposed to be using this money for. I don't want or need to buy expensive FAs because this is a complete rebuild. Will there be opportunity later on to use this FA money during the drafts for signing bonuses or something?

Does any of it carry over? If I don't spend $20m of my budget will I have that in later years, or is my owner just going to pocket it and then give me the same budget next year?

Basically, if it's "use it or lose it" then I will use it. Otherwise, I want to save it.

Thanks for any clarity on this!

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: Utterly confused about finances

Some of it might carry over. The owner will usually pocket some if you have a big surplus, while he'll add some if you're in the red. You can use your cash for other things like the draft, scouting, and player development budgets if you don't want to sign free agents right now. The more surplus you make, the happier your owner will be--you get a "score" at the end of each season that is mostly based on your team's performance on the field, but your wealth also factors in, I think.

[Qeltar]

Re: Utterly confused about finances

I haven't had a chance to do the drafts yet.

Not sure about player development. It says I can only do it during the offseason. Will I have a chance to put money into player development before the new budget year starts?

I'm not even sure what putting money into scouting buys me. At the start of this year I bumped it from $4m to $10m.. will this let me find more new prospects? Or is it helping improve scouting accuracy so I draft better?

I didn't think money was used for the draft.. is it for signing bonuses?

Thanks!

[KBLover]

Re: Utterly confused about finances

I'm not even sure what putting money into scouting buys me. At the start of this year I bumped it from $4m to $10m.. will this let me find more new prospects? Or is it helping improve scouting accuracy so I draft better?

All of the above.

Majors scouting - impacts scouting of the parent major league (MLB in this case) and all parent leagues that are of the same nationality as your scout. So if your scout is Japanese, he'll scout the NPB out of this budget and the accuracy will be effected by it. Includes any free agent in the game that's had at least 1 day of service time at a professional level (any).

Minors scouting - impacts scout of any child/minor leagues of the parent league you're in (MLB). Includes the above with the nationality of the scout. So our Japanese scout is scouting the NPB minors as well. Important for having a better read on your...and your opposition's...prospects.

International scouting - impacts scouting of any league NOT of the nationality of your scout. So our Japanese scout uses international on every nation except Japan (origin) and USA (nation of parent league he's in, i.e. MLB). This also impacts the quality of the prospects your scout will discover on his own from other nations and will bring into your international complex.

Amateur scouting - impacts scouting of amateur draft pools (surprise) and any player that has NOT had one day of service time at a professional level.

I didn't think money was used for the draft.. is it for signing bonuses?

Yes. You have to sign your players or they return to school/the pool.

Players will have different "signing difficulties", which imply the kid's desire to return to school (or maybe just not play for your team), and will impact negotiations and how much cash you'll have to throw at him to make him be in your system.

These bonuses come out of your expenses.

There will be international signing periods as well. These bonuses come from your expenses as well.

[Qeltar]

Re: Utterly confused about finances

Thanks so much for taking the time to write all that, I appreciate it.

Now I just have to figure out what to do with my entire organization full of "Fair" quality coaches...

[KBLover]

Re: Utterly confused about finances

Thanks so much for taking the time to write all that, I appreciate it.

Now I just have to figure out what to do with my entire organization full of "Fair" quality coaches...

Additional note on drafting, you won't have to sign ALL your kids, necessarily. I over-generalized with that. The ones you'll definitely have to sign: Round 1-5 picks.

After that, it will depend on the signability for your team. Namely Extremely Hard and Impossible are the ones that will very often require signing bonuses, with "Impossible" not even saying what they want and being very, very hard to sway.

If you fail to sign a kid that was drafted high enough (I think first five rounds), you'll get compensation picks next draft.

Now, about your coaches...don't go by reputation.

Reputation <> Ability. It only reflects success of the teams he's been on and impacts salary amounts and tweaks the "how much control I retain" aspect of managers.

For managers, best thing to do is click "Relationships" and see what their development influence is. "Development Influence" is made up of the Handling and Teaching ratings. Manager personality has an impact. The relations box on the right can give some clues too (if it's all pitchers on the "Bad Relationship" side...this manager probably has lower Teaching Pitching). You don't get any exact numbers but looking at the names on the lists can give some clues.

Personable is a negative to development, but will allow the most GM input and usually foster better clubhouse relationships. Controlling is the most positive to development, but allows the least (sometimes none if reputation is high enough) input from the GM and can rub some players the wrong way, especially older players.

Personable -> Easygoing -> Normal -> Tempermental -> Controlling from worst to best in development (based on the influence I see from Development Influence ratings) and from most to least in accepting GM input.

This applies to lineups as well.

Handling: Rookies (young players), Veterans (older players), "Players" (those that don't fit in the other two categories)

Teaching: Hitting, Pitching, Fielding, Running - does what it says on the tin.

For coaches that are NOT managers but are interested in maybe trying it one day, you'll see a line that says something like:

"KBLover would make an average manager one day."

This is a one sentence blurb summarizing the Handling and Teaching ratings. If any of the handling ratings is "significantly" higher or lower (the amount seems relative, probably percentage based), you'll see something like:

"KBLover has worked well with younger players in the past. He's not gotten along as well with veterans."

For coaches that are NOT managers and do NOT have interest in trying it one day...you get nothing. Only way to really evaluate that is to either peek in the editor or watch your players performances and developments closely, since those are the two areas most impacted by the coaches.

So I recommend trying to find guys who want to be managers or even outright trying to hire managers for other spots. They can and do take "lower" jobs. John Farrell is one I LOVE for pitching coach. He makes a very solid manager as well.

But whatever you do, don't necessarily equate reputation with ability. Look at "Unproven" guys. You might find an undiscovered talent. Always look at Relationships for Managers and look for those blurbs on other guys.

BTW, you can select what team you want in the top right when viewing relationships (for all staff). This will show you specifically to that level. So if you have a prime A-ball prospect you want to hone in on, you can use this to check if the coach would have higher influence on that kid, in case you want to factor that into your "interview process", as it were. This is where the "Style" part comes in.

"Style" influence what types of players he'll have a higher influence with. I like sticking to Neutral, unless you're going to favor one type of pitcher/hitter or another or you have some top kids that gravitate towards a style and you want to emphasize them. They can and do influence ALL players, regardless of style. The style might also influence how players develop. I'm not terribly certain/have evidence of that, but it would make sense that a power-style pitching coach would try to increase velocity or a contact-style hitting coach would try to raise avoiding K's and BABIP, etc.

[Qeltar]

Re: Utterly confused about finances

Thank you so much. This is extremely helpful, even if a bit confusing (like the rest of the game!)

I had indeed been looking at reputation, for lack of anything else that seemed appropriate. I googled this issue and it seems a lot of people go into commissioner mode to look at the actual numbers but I don't want to do that.

I'm in a complete rebuild here (Marlins, 2018). Is taking the time to go through the coaches at each level and hiring new ones worth the time and budget? I am not seeing much development of my players, though it's still only early May, so I might just be impatient.

How important are the coaches at the MLB level? They are much more expensive so I am loathe to eat salaries here and they seem to want multi-year contracts.

Thanks again.

[KBLover]

Re: Utterly confused about finances

I'm in a complete rebuild here (Marlins, 2018). Is taking the time to go through the coaches at each level and hiring new ones worth the time and budget? I am not seeing much development of my players, though it's still only early May, so I might just be impatient.

You'll have to be patient for sure.

But to answer your question. Yes. It is. I have a Marlins franchise and the first thing I did was get coaches at all levels that are good. Maybe not all at once because that could get boring but I do. I don't care about expense because I gut player payroll so I had freedom to get the coaches and keep an eye out for fired managers and just check once in a while.

Coaches have an effect - it's hard to quantify exactly how much, but it's non-zero and it can be impacting.

How important are the coaches at the MLB level? They are much more expensive so I am loathe to eat salaries here and they seem to want multi-year contracts.

Very important and don't complain on the multiyear contracts.

That provides stability for your coaching staff. I'd rather not have to go hunting for coaches every year or two (it's annoying enough when they retire lol).

I go at least 3 years on any coach I want. Then rotate the lengths so I don't have to extend like 10 guys at once. My thinking: If I don't want him around long-term...why do I want him at all? I obviously am not that into him, I need to keep looking for the right fit.

As far as major league coaches - development doesn't stop because you hit the majors. This applies to all players, prospect, blue-chip, fringe guys, veterans, anyone.

Even with the Marlins - some guys you'll have to play. Gotta have someone on the roster, some guys you might not can get rid of ASAP. Keeping their performance up will help them be more attractive. Playing fringe guys after you've gutted the team...good coaches might make them into some more. Maybe much more.

Remember, anyone in this game can become great no matter where they are currently. Anyone can play "over (or under) their ratings". Coaching is one piece to making that happen.

[Qeltar]

Re: Utterly confused about finances

Thanks again, that's great stuff.

I think I'm doing pretty well so far, especially given that 1 of my only 2 4 star players has been out all year with an injury.

I already did guy the player payroll, and pretty wisely at that. (I traded Ziegler for a moderately useful guy and a draft pick and he promptly got a season-ending injury.)

So I do have some cash to play with. Sitting on about $20m right now. And I may trade Bour as well at the end of July.

I'm 13-18 right now after being at .500 as recently as 10-10. It would be 15-16 if they'd stop blowing games on idiotic fielding errors but I guess that's par for this course.

Looks like I am going to spend some time hiring coaches. Still not sure what I am doing but hey, that's what the owner gets for hiring an "Inexperienced" GM. (FWIW, his mood right now is "ecstatic" so I guess I am doing okay.)

I was trying to avoid the three year contracts in case the coach didn't work out. But I think at least a pitching and hitting coach at the MLB level would be useful.

Hiring for the minors is a bit of a pain.

BTW I assume if I hire for 3 years that's calendar years including the current one and it won't run out in the middle of a season?

Thanks again!

[Qeltar]

Re: Utterly confused about finances

Getting a bit off-topic here but I don't want to start a new thread.

I have an opportunity to trade player X for Y where the OSA thinks they are comparable (thus the trade opportunity) but my scout VASTLY prefers Y over X. My head scout is the only guy in the organization who is already rated "Good," mercifully enough.

Are these sorts of trades worthwhile? I guess I don't have much to lose. It's not like player X is anything amazing.

Thanks.

[Qeltar]

Re: Utterly confused about finances

I remembered the other reason I was hesitating on hiring new coaches...

There will be a lot more options during the off season, won't there?

Thanks.

[KBLover]

Re: Utterly confused about finances

I have an opportunity to trade player X for Y where the OSA thinks they are comparable (thus the trade opportunity) but my scout VASTLY prefers Y over X. My head scout is the only guy in the organization who is already rated "Good," mercifully enough.

Are these sorts of trades worthwhile? I guess I don't have much to lose. It's not like player X is anything amazing.

Thanks.

So X is your guy and Y is their guy and your scout vastly prefers their guy (that you could trade for) for yours?

If you don't need X and/or Y could fill an organizational need, go for it. Just make sure there's no "strings". Does he have a bad personality? Are they trying to salary dump on you (since now you have budget room)? And so on.

If it looks "legit" and X is expendable for your plans, pull the trigger.

And this scout of yours, what's his individual ratings? Scouts have ratings for scouting majors, minors, amateurs, and international.

Don't skimp on the head scout. Very good ones can do more with less (scouting budget overall and individual areas), and, of course, are generally more accurate in the areas they are good at.

I remembered the other reason I was hesitating on hiring new coaches...

There will be a lot more options during the off season, won't there?

Thanks.

Maybe? There might be some from firings and contracts that expired and new coaches entering the pool. It just depends.

If you see good coaches now that can help your system, I'd just do it. I've never waited until the offseason if I feel like I need to upgrade right now.

BTW I assume if I hire for 3 years that's calendar years including the current one and it won't run out in the middle of a season?

I've never seen a contract expire mid-season.

[Qeltar]

Re: Utterly confused about finances

Thanks a lot for the replies!

I will check out the prospect my scout likes and probably go for it. I just realized he is only 18 so that might be the one "gotcha" -- it's higher risk. But I'm rebuilding and I want to take risks. The guy I currently have projects out at 1.5 which is replacement level.

As for the scout, I think this is one of the few places where I got lucky in what I inherited. His ratings are Great/Great/Excellent/Excellent. I'm sure there are better but this seems pretty good and I have much weaker areas in other places.

I'm still afraid to pull the trigger on hiring some coaches but I'm going to start with it a bit I think.

[Qeltar]

Re: Utterly confused about finances

BTW I noticed you mentioned John Farrell. Even before I wrote this I tried to offer him a contract, so we were on the same page there. He won't take ANY role with Miami.

[KBLover]

Re: Utterly confused about finances

BTW I noticed you mentioned John Farrell. Even before I wrote this I tried to offer him a contract, so we were on the same page there. He won't take ANY role with Miami.

Interesting. He's my AA manager in my Marlins game. Took the job first year and has been then since (that franchise is now in Year 4)