What if I have 3 identical offers to fill, for example, ML Bench Coach and they are the high bid for all 3. What determines which one is hired? Would it matter if the offer's were slightly different?

This one always confuses me because I've had the same dilemma multiple times. I thhiiiiiink (not even 20% sure on this one) the sim will hire the coach that you offered the least amount of money for. Which is dumb because its probably the worst one. You should sign the coach with the best relateable ratings for the position, but I know for a fact that's not the case. It changed my coach hiring strategy entirely so that I don't end up with a 80 fielding instructor with $1.5 million left over rather then that 88 fielding instructor that would have cost me $250k more.

It could just be which coach signs first, which would depend on - among other things - how many offers each coach has. I don't think the sim necessarily looks and says "Okay, this team has the lead offer on three coaches - which one should we give 'em?"

Each coach is probably handled individually and whichever one reaches their signing point first, that's the one you get. I've been in this situation before and it's not always the lowest offer that signs first.

I've thought for a long time, the easiest thing to program for each player, coach, anyone who signs a contract, would be to randomly generate a point at which they'll take the highest offer on the table, based on when the first offer comes in. For example, after eight cycles. Assuming no tiebreakers came into play, as in players with multiple max offers, any narrative you'd care to apply, like "I had the lead but the other owner beat me at the end" or "Why didn't I get a chance to counter offer" or "He was holding out for more but I waited him out" would purely be in the imagination of the beholder. In other words, we like to think there are determining factors. Might it be more likely there aren't?

It would be a bit of programming but I wish there was a way in the coach hiring that it would say:

If I have the top offer, sign:
1) ____________________
2)____________________
3_____________________

and an ability to turn that feature on or off.

There is still the possibility that you hold out for your top coach, your #2 and #3 sign first with other people and then someone comes in and snipes your top spot, but that is why the feature would be able to be turned on and off.

I usually start out looking at three options, but by the time the signing starts (11 PM second day) I've zeroed in on a guy I want, and know I have the top bid on. Unless I truly don't mind which, then I'll bid on two or three options and let the chips fall.

if it matters to you which guy you get, pull the offers for the 2 you don't want. I hear what hockey is saying and while that's theoretically possible, the odds are unlikely. Teams are going to snipe the 2 you don't want first, because their demands just went down

Posted by pjfoster13 on 2/2/2017 5:50:00 PM (view original):
if it matters to you which guy you get, pull the offers for the 2 you don't want. I hear what hockey is saying and while that's theoretically possible, the odds are unlikely. Teams are going to snipe the 2 you don't want first, because their demands just went down

This is exactly it. If I want a fielding instructor and the options are 94, 92 and 89, I'll probably put an offer to all three, because I'm okay with getting any of them. If the options are 94, 92 and 82, I'm not going to make an offer to the third one.

Set a threshold for how good of a coach you want, and be happy with any coach you get over that, even if there was another available that was rated a few points higher.

There were a few times I was miffed early in my HBD career because I would put a $4 million bid on a 94 FI and a $2 million bid on a 79 FI, holding top spot for both. For fear of someone coming in and sniping my 94 in the last cycle I wouldn't drop the 79 FI bid and would end up having him sign first. Then the 94 guy would go on to sign for someone for $3.5 or $3 as I would throw my computer across the room.

Now I do as you all mentioned and I withdraw the bids if I've held on a coach for more then 3 cycles at the beginning.