Question: What, besides the pure hitting rating, impacts how hitting coaches improve your players? I ask because I got what looks like some pretty damned good coaches in the lower levels...

ML: 81 Hit, 54 Pat, 61 Str, 33 Dis
AAA: 77 Hit, 34 Pat, 42 Str, 53 Dis (Signed by the Sim)
AA: 67 Hit, 46 Pat, 37 Str, 63 Dis (I'm wishing I hadn't signed him now...)

(HA, LA, and RL were auto-signed... I never even offered anyone these jobs.)

HA: 76 Hit, 69 Pat, 53 Str, 37 Dis (Guy made 2.1 million two seasons ago)
LA: 76 Hit, 42 Pat, 66 Str, 27 Dis (Guy made 2 million two seasons ago)
RL: 76 Hit, 4 Pat, 50 Str, 67 Dis (Okay, 4 Patience is a bit low...)

The way this season's hiring went... I may never bother with hiring minor league coaches again. There were some highly-rated guys still available at the very end.



NOTES: My Pitching coaches aren't as good at the lower levels... but they're not "bottom of the barrel" either. (I auto-signed at HA, LA, and RL.)

My Bench coaches are quite solid, in my opinion.

My AAA Pitching coach was my ML Bullpen coach last season, I really f*cked up in signing a Bullpen coach.

Hire the best coaches you can and you won't have to ask those questions. If you think its a waste, then your team will probably suck. If you're getting them that good, the best ones are even better.

I believe patience is fairly important to hitting coaches but I have no admin info to back this up. Just from playing the game I believe it to help with their eye rating.

Loyalty is supposed to be important for them to resign with you although it isn't always the case.

Here's my main complaint:

I know I offered the guy I ended up getting at High A a AAA deal for well above minimum. But he HAD to be a ML Hitting coach, and would not even consider any deal at a lower level.

So why would he suddenly accept such a severe "demotion" at the last second? And why were there still 25+ Hitting coaches demanding ML contracts during the last couple cycles, including several that would barely get AAA deals from cheap teams?

The Pitching coaches, on the other hand, did drop to accepting AAA deals near the end. Including about a half dozen rated above 80.

For the record, Loyalty means very little to me, as there seem to be plenty of available coaches who will do a fine job at the ML level. If the guy I have now wants out... adios.

coaches do not drop until all the available slots at the higher level are filled. If one owner decides not to hire (looking for a 600K coach) then all the hitting coaches stay at ML for the 1 spot. It is increasing becoming a tactic not to hire coaches and let all the positions fill by "simmie" since the assigned coaches are fairly decent (except fielding) and cheap.

I, and expect others, have suggested to WIS administration that all coaches drop except the top 3 times the number of empty slots (ex: 5 empty slots all but the top 15 drop). Never got a response other than an acknowledgement they had received the suggestion.

When I see "the bottom of the barrel" in the description of what to expect, I expect to get coaches who at best won't damage my players for that season, and are more likely to set them back.

But between a couple of breaks last season (I didn't "tank" coaching like I did this year, but still had a couple of holes to fill at the end), and this season's results, I see no reason to deal with "delusional" coaches (like the 69-rated hitting coach wanting a $2M ML deal), and just sign the best I can at the ML level, letting the ML-wannabes drop to my lower levels at the end.

Griv - It is definitely ridiculous that 30 ML coaching aspirants would all hold out for the last ML opening when the bottom half have absolutely no chance of getting the job and most of the rest are longshots at best. I like your suggestion, especially if paired with one which I submitted a couple of seasons ago:

Any unemployed coach begins the next season with his demands reduced by one level (i.e. unemployed ML asks for AAA, AAA for AA, etc.).

The response to my idea from ADMIN was that it was "interesting" and they would think about it sometime later.

I think both suggestions would improve the coach hiring process in the one area which still needs the most improvement -- getting more coaches hired earlier in the process.

This post could not be converted. To view the original post's thread, click here.

I'm bowled over by Customer Services's enthusiastic reply.

About the same degree of enthusiasm as shown by UBS bankers when the Department of Justice calls.

Canned response. It would be better to be ignored. Because it's the same thing.

I just missed the majority of coach hiring due to a last-minute trip, and this is what I ended up with:

Coach	Season	Franchise	Level	Role	Salary	Hitting IQ	Pitching IQ	Fielding IQ	Baserunning IQ	Patience	Strategy	Discipline	Loyalty
Lewis Greenwood	2	Mystique	AA	Bench Coach	$151K	9	69	9	14	43	69	24	31
Felipe Torrealba	2	Mystique	AAA	Pitching Coach	$341K	8	68	7	8	60	46	43	35
Al Padilla	2	Mystique	ML	Bullpen Coach	$700K	2	67	10	13	75	55	48	70
Trevor Saipe	2	Mystique	LoA	Pitching Coach	$127K	10	58	7	8	71	42	41	53
Trace Hoffman	2	Mystique	ML	Pitching Coach	$600K	8	55	4	8	43	48	47	41
Yorvit Machado	2	Mystique	HiA	Pitching Coach	$90K	7	46	4	7	62	27	53	49
Eduardo Espinosa	2	Mystique	RL	Pitching Coach	$45K	8	45	4	8	12	34	14	29
Javier Osuna	2	Mystique	AA	Pitching Coach	$150K	4	44	9	6	48	32	54	56
Rick Fullmer	2	Mystique	LoA	Bench Coach	$91K	17	28	20	22	72	51	55	36
Sam Swift	2	Mystique	HiA	Bench Coach	$91K	23	28	24	25	62	59	43	28
Ivan Mendoza	2	Mystique	ML	Bench Coach	$600K	26	28	13	22	26	66	64	24
Ernest Snow	2	Mystique	RL	Bench Coach	$46K	33	22	28	23	81	46	40	60
Gaylord Mora	2	Mystique	AAA	Bench Coach	$240K	28	20	9	13	67	62	94	32
Tim Munoz	2	Mystique	AA	Hitting Coach	$252K	61	11	25	35	66	31	79	33
Geronimo Fernandez	2	Mystique	ML	Fielding Instructor	$500K	25	10	51	29	65	38	39	44
Michael Chapman	2	Mystique	ML	Third Base Coach	$450K	63	9	30	32	24	25	50	21
Trever Sampson	2	Mystique	AAA	Hitting Coach	$360K	66	9	35	67	47	52	65	50
Midre Johnson	2	Mystique	RL	Hitting Coach	$45K	48	7	26	45	69	22	78	44
Felix Holmes	2	Mystique	HiA	Hitting Coach	$90K	55	6	27	27	43	33	57	48
Luis Guillen	2	Mystique	ML	Hitting Coach	$2.8M	82	6	34	49	45	13	61	4
Bennie Yerkes	2	Mystique	LoA	Hitting Coach	$91K	51	4	21	31	71	19	38	36
Ken Hairston	2	Mystique	ML	First Base Coach	$400K	60	4	32	36	26	12	55	35

Seems to me that's pretty much the crap coaches one *should* get for not doing the hiring himself.