2025 Regular Season SIM 22 Complete - Next SIM Fri 3/2

[BradZ]

Next SIM Fri 3/2
- Files due by 4 AM PCT/7 AM EST
- League file is up. HTML in process; utility to follow

Stat of the Day!

DFA: BAL, CAL
Roster:

[Pat]

Thanks Brad!

3-3 sim but again all our wins are blowouts and anything close we lose. SP Dave Toste got hurt after one inning of work in his debut and rookie CF Maeda forgot how to swing and field!

[funclown]

Pawtucket 6-0. Nice.

[Hank]

Can someone explain the coaches dynamic in this game?
I hire Turi Soto to be my AAA manager.
His Player Development Influence is 'Excellent', but there are no names listed.
His Player Relationships is 'Good' with 5 players listed in the Better Relationships with one pitcher in Worse.

I decided not to extend his contract and after leaving I get this:

Skipper Soto Shown the Door in Quebec Tuesday, September 2nd, 2025 It came as no surprise to anyone in the press corps: Turi Soto was fired today as manager of the Quebec Fighting Quakers. His feuds with Fighting Quakers players were one of the worst-kept secrets in baseball. Even through the closed doors of the manager's office, reporters often overheard shouting matches between Soto and players. Rumors that a recent argument between Soto and an unnamed pitcher degenerated into fisticuffs could not be substantiated, but there was no denying the acrimonious atmosphere that had developed in the clubhouse. Team insiders had been saying for weeks that it was only a matter of time before Sotowould be let go. According to these insiders, the team has a replacement in mind, but will hold off making an official announcement for at least a day.

That bolded line is the first I've heard of any issues.
This would have been to know considering my top prospects are all in AAA.
And what does it mean if his relationships are Excellent but no names are listed? Does he actually have an Excellent influence or relationship with the players?

I'm pumping $20M into my development but I'm guessing that won't help if my managers are all dick's.
Looking for some guidance here as I'm a bit frustrated with this system.
I'm rebuilding so it would be great to know if my farm system is setup correctly and that starts with having the proper coaches in place.
I had assumed hiring a manager who is "Excellent" is a good start. But then I laugh when I find out that after being let go, everyone hated his guts and I never received one email or note about it all season long.

[funclown]

Can someone explain the coaches dynamic in this game?
I hire Turi Soto to be my AAA manager.
His Player Development Influence is 'Excellent', but there are no names listed.
His Player Relationships is 'Good' with 5 players listed in the Better Relationships with one pitcher in Worse.

I decided not to extend his contract and after leaving I get this:


The bolded line made me laugh considering this is the first I've heard of any issues with this Manager.

Please help me understand that whole Development/Relationship dynamic.
If it says "Excellent" but there are no names listed, does he actually have a good influence or relationship with the team?
I've looked at other managers and some of them have different ratings from "Average" to "Poor" with no names listed.
Does this mean he actually doesn't have any influence over anyone?

I'm a little flummoxed right now because as a rebuilding team, making sure my Farm System is taken care of is a top priority.
But I can't do that if I don't have the necessary info. I had no idea my AAA team had a dick for a manager. I would have really liked to have known that considering some of my top prospects were playing for him all season long.
I have $20M pumped into development. Shouldn't some of that help develop coaches?



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Excellent has varying affects I've learned. I have a guy like that also. I ended up making better use of him as some hitting coach for think AA. Before I sign any of these people I check the relationship screen to see if overall he's positive at development. Will show BLB players only , but its a decent indicator on how he will affect your minor leagues. I don't give a crap if he's rated excellent if he's below average at development.

Finally the how he gets along if players piece.....I don't normally care. It seems if he was a former pitcher he tends to get along with pitchers , former hitter seems to relate to the hitters, he likes young boys he tends to have a nice relationship with them (showers) but the vets tend to dislike him. Its too much to worry about unless your team is losing alot. Then perhaps it leads to an angry clubhouse??

To complicated.

[Spear]

Well that's it for us!

[Jake]

Lost 2 of 3 to KC, but a 4-2 sim overall gives us some major breathing room over the Ale masses (Maine, Toronto, Pawtucky and Wilmington). I’ll feel better resting some arms and OHearn to hit the postseason healthy.

[Pat]

Looking for some guidance here as I'm a bit frustrated with this system.

In my opinion, this might be the weakest aspect of the newer OOTP versions. Everyone has complained about scouting and even more so chemistry in this version but the personnel area needs a lot of work. I like that OOTP leaves a few things "under the hood" and coaches are one of the changes they have made to not have it so cut and dry. You used to have coach ratings similar to player ratings but they scrapped in I think OOTP16?

From what I understand, reputation is largely based on success (wins, playoffs, etc) with recency bias. It is not necessarily related to their actual coaching abilities, development or relationships. You could hire the worst coach in the BLB universe, but if you win three straight Brewmaster's with him, I'm pretty sure he would become LEGENDARY. You can also find a coach who has high development/relationship ratings who has a poor reputation. So while each coach has certain abilities and some are clearly better than others that is not the largest factor when deciding their reputation.

I think what actually matters more is personality, type, focus, relationships and development. With my position coaches (hitting and pitching), I try to match their "type" with my "style." My team over the last few years has been loaded with power hitters (Ulloa, Nieto, Urmson, Diewert, Swope, etc) so I hired a hitting coach in 2023 who hitting focus is power. My pitching coach I have promoted within my organization but he is a groundball coach and I tend to go with more groundball pitchers.

When it comes to your manager, at the BLB level, I would probably recommend going after the ones who have strategy settings similar to your personal/team preference. I also believe the higher the reputation of a manager the less control he is willing to give to the GM. So for instance, if you hire a manager who is "inexperienced" he will allow the GM a lot of control over team strategy. But a "LEGENDARY" manager doesn't allow for a lot of change to his strategy.

There are also little blurbs of info that is probably useful in the "Personality & Style" portion of each coaches profile. Some say they work better with vets, some better with young players. Some have personalities that fit a rebuilding team, some say they are better for a contender. Some work better with handling personalities. Etc.

[Pat]

Some examples....

Mwetts hired Estefan Ziballa this off-season to be the Batavia manager. He's LEGENDARY. He was a bench coach in Batavia during some of their good years but then became the manager in Phoenix during their historic run. He's only been a coach in the BLB universe since 2018, but every season his teams have been pretty damn good. So.... is his reputation legit? Is it just a product of being on good teams? Did he really have a huge impact? Based on Batavia's epic turn around this season, I actually think he is a great coach. Maybe one of the best. No offense to Sully but I don't think he had the most "hands on approach" during that 2021-2024 run. The manager definitely played a part in my opinion.

Seattle's manager is Ivan Roman. He has only been a coach since 2019, but he has been a manager the whole time and all with my organization. In his seven years, his teams have a .589 winning percentage, finished 1st or 2nd every year and haven't missed a post-season. He's LEGENDARY. But how much of his success is a result of his abilities? In his three years as a Double-A manager Seattle had one of the best farm systems in the league. I also tinker with my minors more than others. Then at the BLB level, he inherited a team that had just signed Andy Ulloa and Manny Nieto.

Seattle's bench coach is Cesare Dore. He struggled as a Triple-A coach in New York for seven years. Never made the playoffs. Never finished higher than 3rd. His last three seasons his teams were 100 games under .500 combined. Then he became a manager in Seattle's farm system. While the Triple-A coach, that team won three straight Triple-A Championships then he was promoted to Seattle bench coach the last two seasons. Like Roman, is he actually good? His reputation while in New York was low, but after some success in Seattle he is LEGENDARY.

So... again.... OOTP leaves a lot of this "under the hood" and while it's what most of us would prefer, the coaching portion of this game is a question mark.

[Z]

If I had to speculate on Soto, I'd say a "temperamental" manager running a team that loses 60% of its games will probably result in lots of blowups and feuds with players. Players on a bad team will do better with an easygoing manager who won't scream at them all the time for losing games.

[Z]

If I had to speculate on Soto, I'd say a "temperamental" manager running a team that loses 60% of its games will probably result in lots of blowups and feuds with players. Players on a bad team will do better with an easygoing manager who won't scream at them all the time for losing games.

We see it major league baseball, too.

Larry Bowa and Kirk Gibson won Manager of the Year awards when they had good teams. People praised the two managers for their intensity. You could say their reputations were "Excellent" — at the time.

But within three years, their fortunes changed.

The clubs stopped winning.

Their intensity, no longer an asset, became a major liability.

Stories about their feuds with players littered the media every week.

Both got fired in disgrace three years after winning Manager of the Year.

Personality matters.

[Guest]

This is why Earl Weaver is the GOAT

[BDub]

Excellent has varying affects I've learned. I have a guy like that also. I ended up making better use of him as some hitting coach for think AA. Before I sign any of these people I check the relationship screen to see if overall he's positive at development. Will show BLB players only , but its a decent indicator on how he will affect your minor leagues. I don't give a crap if he's rated excellent if he's below average at development.

Finally the how he gets along if players piece.....I don't normally care. It seems if he was a former pitcher he tends to get along with pitchers , former hitter seems to relate to the hitters, he likes young boys he tends to have a nice relationship with them (showers) but the vets tend to dislike him. Its too much to worry about unless your team is losing alot. Then perhaps it leads to an angry clubhouse??

To complicated.

what the fuck?

[funclown]

what the fuck?

This generally applies to Hank's and Sharks's coaches.

[Z]

This is why Earl Weaver is the GOAT

Different era, too. Even harder to make it work now when the players make so much more money than the manager.