[Syd Thrift]

Choke Up
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Description: Instructs the hitter to move his hands up the bat, creating a shorter, quicker swing.
Player Skill: Work Ethic
Limitations: None

Bust: Well, he got the "choke" part right, at least. AK +5, POW -25, GAP -25
Failure: Choking up causes the player to hit weak grounders instead of long hits. AK +10, POW -15, GAP -15
Ignore: Any time the coach lays off, the player's hands sneak farther and farther down the bat. AK +10, POW -5, GAP -5
Good: Congratulations! You have a Ty Cobb in the making. AK +25, POW -10, GAP -10
Excels: The player separates his hands so that he can choke up any time it's needed but still only loses a small portion of his power. AK +35, POW -5, GAP -5
GREAT: The player's bat control has improved so much when choking up that he can now drive pitches to practically any part of the park at will. AK +50, BABIP +10

Swing For The Fences
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Description: Chicks dig the longball. Appeal to your guy to get more homeruns and ribeyes at the expense of singles and occasionally looking like a fool on a big swing.
Player Skill: Greed
Limitations: Cannot be used after "Choke Up" has been called for a player.

Bust: All that swinging, so little contact. EYE -10, AK -50
Failure: The player has been spotted in a local bookstore reading Dave Kingman's autobiography. POW +5, AK -40
Ignore: Try as he might, the player just can't get the longball. Or maybe he just doesn't dig chicks? POW +10, AK - 20
Good: Digging the longball has made the player a little more selective. It's much harder to hit a wild pitch out of the park. POW +20, EYE +10, AK -30, Hitter Type: Pull
Excels: Word gets around the league rather quickly about the player's new homerun swing and he begins to see a lot of stuff that's not over the plate. POW +30, EYE +15, AK -20, Hitter Type: Pull
GREAT: The player becomes a weekly feature on "Baseball Tonight." And he owes it all to you. POW +40, EYE +25, AK -10, Hitter Type: Pull


Take Two And Hit To Right
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Description: The classic advice given to a player in a slump. Here you're trying to jump-start a player's game by advising him to take the first two pitches he sees, no matter how good they look, and then look to hit what he finally does swing at to the opposite field. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
Player Skill: Loyalty (it's a basic idea that doesn't require a lot of extra BP, but it can also blow up in your face so you need to have a guy who will agree with anything your coach says)
Limitations: Can only be used on a player in a slump (ice symbol).

Bust: The player loses what little confidence he had left. AK -40, BABIP -20, POW -20
Failure: The player mishears the coach and begins taking three and hitting the showers. AK -35, BABIP -10, POW -10
Ignore: "I'm slumping and you want me to watch even more strikes go by? Are you kidding me?" EYE+10, AK -25
Good: There is a silver lining to every cloud. EYE +20, BABIP +10, AK -15, Hitter type: Spray
Excels: "Wow, coach! I never knew how many of those tasty-looking pitchers were out of the strike zone!" EYE +30, BABIP +15, AK -5, Hitter type: Spray
GREAT: Player releases an instructional video called "How To Hit And Run In Today's Game". EYE +40, BABIP +20, Hitter type: Spray

Patience Is The Key
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Description: Some managers love hitters who look for a pitch in one part of the strike zone and don't swing at anything outside of it. This "spell" introduces that philosophy to your hitter.
Player Skill: Loyalty
Limitations: Not compatible with "Be Aggressive." Any coach who teaches "Patience Is The Key" loses all rating adds/drops for that ability.

Bust: "What do you mean I still have to swing every now and then?" BABIP -20, AK -35
Failure: Mighty Casey has struck out. This guy too on any given day. EYE +5, BABIP -10, AK -20
Ignore: Bases-loaded strikeouts lose ballgames. EYE +10, BABIP -5, AK -10
Good: Three run homeruns win ballgames. EYE +20, POW +10, BABIP -10, AK -20
Excels: Give this guy a silly name like "Camera Eye" or "Helper Cat". EYE +30, POW +15, BABIP -5, AK -10
GREAT: The funny thing is, what this guy does makes *you* look like a genius. And he's doing everything! EYE +40, POW +20, AK -5


Be Aggressive
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Description: Studies have shown that batting average on the first pitch is really, really high. Those studies that disagree with this statement were composed by people who live in their mom's basement.
Player Skill: Work Ethic
Limitations: Not compatible with "Patience Is The Key." Any coach who teaches "Be Aggressive" loses all rating adds/drops for that ability.

Bust: Player turns into a real bad-ball hitter. Of course, most of those bad balls are popped up or turn into double-play ground balls. AK +5, BABIP -20, GAP -10, EYE -30
Failure: At least he's not striking out so much! AK +10, BABIP -10, EYE -20
Ignore: Aggressiveness is in the eye of the beholder. AK +10, EYE -10
Good: I would say that you could call this man the "Gay Slapper" but that would be copyright infringement. AK +25, BABIP +10, EYE -15
Excels: Before Bill Buckner was known for ruining the 1986 World Series, he was known for his bat control. AK +35, BABIP +15, GAP +10, EYE -5
GREAT: B-E A-G-G-R-E-S-S-I-V-E! AK +45, BABIP +20, GAP +25

Chop At The Ball
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Description: Great for speedy hitters. This "spell" tells the hitter to swing downward at the ball, creating more grounders that the hitter can beat out. The downside is that Baltimore chops rarely turn into homeruns.
Player Skill: Speed or Loyalty, whichever is lower
Limitations: Cannot be applied to a player with a Speed of less than 120. Incompatible with "Uppercut Swing". If a player is instructed to Chop At The Ball, he loses any gains/losses originally picked up by the first "spell".

Bust: BABIP -20, GAP -25, POW -25
Failure: GAP -10, POW -10
Ignore: BABIP +10, GAP -5, POW -5
Good: BABIP +20, GAP -10, POW -10
Excels: BABIP +30, GAP -5, POW -5
GREAT: BABIP +45 (he's become so effective at the chop that infields routinely move in on him, allowing him to slap doubles and inside-the-park HRs past them)

Uppercut Swing
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Description: "Don't you know dem fielders can ketch dem high vuns?" - Chris Von Der Ahe, early owner of the St. Louis Cardinals
Player Skill: Work Ethic or Greed, whichever is higher
Limitations: Not compatible with "Chop At The Ball." Any coach who teaches "Uppercut Swing" loses all rating adds/drops for that ability.

Bust: POW -10, GAP -20, BABIP -25
Failure: BABIP -15, GAP -10
Ignore: BABIP -5
Good: POW +10, GAP +5, BABIP -10
Excels: POW +20, GAP +10
GREAT: POW +30, GAP +30

Open Stance
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Description: Open up a hitter's stance so that he's facing the pitcher when he's at bat. Allows a player to see the ball more clearly but is known to backfire.
Player Skill: Intelligence
Limitations: Not compatible with "Closed Stance" or "Square Stance". Any coach who teaches "Be Aggressive" loses all rating adds/drops for those abilities. Only one stance change can be taught per calendar year. That is, if you instruct a player on this stance on September 30 of 1999, you won't be able to instruct them on another stance until September 30 of 2000.

Bust: -15 BABIP -30 POW, -20 GAP, -10 HBP
Failure: -10 BABIP, -25 POW, -10 HBP
Ignore: -10 BABIP, -5 HBP (one downside of seeing the ball better is that you can get out of the way of pitches more easily)
Good: +20 EYE
Excels: +25 EYE
GREAT: +30 EYE

Closed Stance
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Description: Close up a hitter's stance so that his back is to the pitcher when he's at bat. Allows a pull
Player Skill: Intelligence
Limitations: Not compatible with "Open Stance" or "Square Stance". Any coach who teaches "Be Aggressive" loses all rating adds/drops for those abilities. Only one stance change can be taught per calendar year. That is, if you instruct a player on this stance on September 30 of 1999, you won't be able to instruct them on another stance until September 30 of 2000.

Bust: -30 EYE -30 POW, -20 BABIP
Failure: -25 EYE, -10 POW
Ignore: -20 EYE, -5 POW (HRs down the line become deep fly balls into the alleys)
Good: +10 BABIP, +5 GAP
Excels: +15 BABIP, +5 GAP
GREAT: +20 BABIP, +5 GAP

Squared Stance
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Description: This spell is only taught in order to counteract the damage done by an earlier failed Open or Closed Stance attempt. Real chance of failure here is low but there's basically no chance of it improving a player's skills.
Player Skill: Intelligence
Limitations: Not compatible with "Closed Stance" or "Open Stance". Any coach who teaches "Be Aggressive" loses all rating adds/drops for those abilities. Only one stance change can be taught per calendar year. That is, if you instruct a player on this stance on September 30 of 1999, you won't be able to instruct them on another stance until September 30 of 2000. Cannot be invoked unless the hitter in question already has learned "Closed Stance" or "Open Stance".

Bust: -25 BABIP, -25 POW, -5 HBP
Failure: -5 BABIP, -5 POW
Ignore: No ratings changes
Good: No ratings changes
Excels: No ratings changes
GREAT: +10 BABIP

Switch Hitter
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Description: Be the next Whitey Herzog and impart the miracle of hitting from both sides of the plate.
Player Skill: Loyalty (another one of these skills that requires a player who is in lockstep with management)
Limitations: Cannot be used on a player who is already a switch hitter.

Bust: -20 BABIP, -20 POW, -20 EYE, -20 GAP, -20 AK (the old UL Washington effect)
Failure: -10 BABIP, -10 POW, -10 EYE, -10 GAP, -10 AK
Ignore: No effect (except, of course, that the player turns into a switch-hitter)
Good: Raise all hitter's skills (BABIP, AK, POW, GAP, and EYE) on his less skilled side so that they are within 15 points of his more skilled side. If they are already within 10 points, leave them unchanged.
Excels: Raise all hitter's skills (BABIP, AK, POW, GAP, and EYE) on his less skilled side so that they are within 10 points of his more skilled side. If they are already within 10 points, leave them unchanged.
GREAT: Raise all hitter's skills on non-dominant side so that they equal dominant side.

Walk Year
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Description: Appeal to a player's greed or desire to get traded to a winning team so that he plays harder in the last year of his contract. See: Beltre, Adrian; Dawson, Andre.
Player Skill: Greed or Play For Winning Team, whichever is higher (Play For Winning Team cannot be used unless the team the player is currently on had a record of .500 or less last season)
Limitations: Only usable in leagues with free agency. All ratings gained from this ability are lost the second the player signs a new contract or a contract extension.

Bust: -25 BABIP, -25 POW, -25 GAP (the player is REALLY pressing)
Failure: -10 BABIP, -10 POW (the player is pressing)
Ignore: +10 POW, +20 GAP
Good: +10 BABIP, +20 POW, +25 GAP
Excels: +20 BABIP, +25 POW, +30 GAP
GREAT: +35 BABIP, + 35 POW, +50 GAP

Cork It Up
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Description: Mister Commissioner Sir, I do not know how Smith's bat became hollowed out and filled with bouncy balls. I blame the Yankees.
Player Skill: Play For Winning Team (ideally, you want a guy so concerned with glory that he'll do anything to achieve it)
Limitations: None

Bust: -10 BABIP, -10 AK, -10 GAP. 50 games from now the player is caught corking his bat and is encouraged to continue (the rating changes are permanent).
Failure: No effect; 50 games from now the player is suspended for 10 games.
Ignore: +10 BABIP, +10 AK; 50 games from now the player is suspended for 10 games.
Good: +10 BABIP, +10 GAP, +10 AK for the next month
Excels: +20 BABIP, +20 GAP, +20 AK for the rest of the season
GREAT: +30 BABIP, +30 GAP, +30 AK for the next 2 seasons