**opinion: Scouting & player dev**

SammyC14 · 04-16-2019, 11:31 AM

I was curious to hear what others have had success with in terms of the $$ amount and what % you have set your scouting budgets to. I took on the Miami Marlins challenge. So most of my players I acquire are either in another teams farm system or through the draft. Obviously I'd think those % would need to be higher, but how high? How much? etc..

You're opnions are much appreciated in advance!

NoOne · 04-16-2019, 12:45 PM

it's about the amount of money, not the percentage.

e.g. 50% of 2million will not help as much as 50% of 4million. so, ignore the %'s.

you want to find various threshold of dollar amounts that work well. this will be relative to baseline scouting budget -- how it's broken up for a 'baseline' in each is up for guesstimation.

For your context, i'd be dumping as much as i can into MiL scouting, if that's where the majority of your players come from. I'd do that after figuring out what "enough" is for teh other 2-3 budgets. (see below, about 2 or 3).

other things to consider:

accuracy is a different animal in each category. MLB accuracy doesn't take as much to be "good." they are a more known quantity, and this is the modeled effect of that.

MiL accuracy is influenced by either level, years of pro service, or more likely some combination of the two.

no matter how much you dump into MiL scouting, or anything else, it's not going to make it 100% clear. there will be a ceiling and a clear diminishing returns at some point... trial and error to figure that out... and sometimes dumping excess money into it regardless of diminishing returns is still worth it.

e.g. if you have 'enough' in mlb and amatuer scouting, dumping all the rest into mil scouting probably isn't a negative. i focus on mil scouting too, but with a maxed scouting budget i keep anywhere from 5-6M in mlb scouting. i put a lot into amauer, but i favor MiL all the same.

if you have no international leagues active, do not put any money into international scouting. IFA that are generated without those leagues active and IAFA are part of MLB and amatuer scouting, respectively. (unless that was changed this release, should still be true)

it's money totals relative to baselines that will determine how much the budget helps -- all other things remaining the same, like scout ability. Don't pick a value based on a %, that's got an extra level of confusion attached to it to translate. use the more fundamental measurement.

PSUColonel · 04-16-2019, 05:34 PM

So are you saying if international leagues are active, that international scouting goes towards that....as opposed to generating international FAs corresponds to MLB scouting?

PSUColonel · 04-16-2019, 05:37 PM

Even if you have international leagues on..don’t you need it for int amateur fa?

I always thought major league scouting = all major and international leagues
And that international scouting = international amateur FAs?

TPinrose · 04-16-2019, 05:59 PM

It's my understanding from reading the manual that IAFA are scouted as amateurs.

PSUColonel · 04-16-2019, 06:12 PM

Hmm..interesting...what about established Int FA?

TPinrose · 04-16-2019, 06:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PSUColonel

Hmm..interesting...what about established Int FA?

Hmmm... it's been a while, but I believe they are scouted as major league. After reading the manual- which... you know- I came away thinking that international scouting only covered scouting "finds."

TPinrose · 04-16-2019, 06:30 PM

I'm sorry, IAFA are scouted as minor leaguers.

International Scouting-

"Money spent on scouting players at any level who are in a different nation from this Scouting Director. Note, however, that for purposes of scouting, all free agents that have at least one day of professional service time count as "major leaguers," while free agents with no professional service time count as "minor leaguers."

TPinrose · 04-16-2019, 06:33 PM

I was looking for this because I have a couple online leagues where IAFA is a deadly serious as the draft. In those leagues, I kill all money for international scouting to increase other areas.

PSUColonel · 04-16-2019, 07:34 PM

Ok...so why would anyone spend money on international scouting? Just for established INT FA?

NoOne · 04-16-2019, 10:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PSUColonel

So are you saying if international leagues are active, that international scouting goes towards that....as opposed to generating international FAs corresponds to MLB scouting?

i'm saying if they are not active, there is no international scouting whatsoever.

oh, maybe discoveries? not sure on those, but i usually turn them off. the accuracy is abysmal and you own them already, so it really is inconsequential in that area too.

IAFA are amateur scouting
IFA are MLB scouting

you'd spend on it if oyu have the NBL on or the korean leagues etc whatever international leagues are included with the game.

SammyC14 · 04-18-2019, 12:06 PM

So my f/u question to this would be, does $$ spend equate to better prospects or more accurate reporting or both?

tklem321 · 04-18-2019, 12:34 PM

Amazing that something with several options in the settings menu and that takes up a chunk of a team's budget has its affects so obfuscated in the game, to the point where people who have been playing for years don't know what it does..

Palaaemon · 04-19-2019, 09:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SammyC14

So my f/u question to this would be, does $$ spend equate to better prospects or more accurate reporting or both?

Better accuracy only.

NoOne · 04-19-2019, 11:01 AM

all other things remaining the same -- like scout quality, mil level, years of ml service and whatever else could potentially influence accuracy in addition.

your scout and budget are the 2 big ones you can control.

SammyC14 · 04-19-2019, 02:52 PM

Thanks, everyone.

PSUColonel · 04-25-2019, 12:45 AM

I think this should be changed. I think any international players generated by the game should be scouted through international scouting. It doesn't make any sense to have money allocated to Major Leagues or amateurs count toward international players.

jimmysthebestcop · 04-25-2019, 06:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PSUColonel

I think this should be changed. I think any international players generated by the game should be scouted through international scouting. It doesn't make any sense to have money allocated to Major Leagues or amateurs count toward international players.

Scouting is confusing but I will try to share my knowledge.

1. Major League Scouting

If a player has 1 day of professional service time they count as a Major Leaguer but only if they are from your leagues Nation. Meaning a professional Korean ballplayer who say isn't born in a MLB home nation does not count as a Major League scouting but as International Scouting. Unless he is a free agent. Any free agents with 1 day of pro service count as Major Leaguers. Doesn't matter about nations or minor leagues.

2. Minor league Scouting

Is for all milb players in your nation that aren't free agents.

3. International Scouting

For all players who are on international rosters and aren't free agents with 1+ days of pro service time. If they become free agents with Zero pro time they count as Minor League Scouting. This can happen with international cut draft picks. They instantly become free agents but have Zero pro time served.

4. Amateur Scouting

This is for all players who aren't free agents that have zero service time. Regardless of nationality. So it covers the draft, random amateur international free agents and scouting discoveries.

So in essence the only time International Scouting comes into play is if league post players or if international leagues have purchasable players or if inter league trading is turned on.

Other then that in a normal MLB setup you can't get any International Players that are on Int rosters. Can't trade with them, can't purchase them by default except Australia and Asian Indy Leagues. And the AI very rarely posts you are lucky if 2 players post every 5 years.

Now if you turn on purchasable players from all of the Int lesser leagues we still are only talking about 1-2 max type players. So its pretty meaningless. Except if you want to build a dominate DSL team.

And unless you turn on inter league trading then you will almost never use "International Scouting".

Because free agents either count as Major League or Minor League. And for the most case it will be Major League unless its cut draft picks or something weird like that. Korea has a lot of military time so those players serve 1-2 years in military and have Zero pro time but can get cut become free agents so they count as Minor League Scouting.

See some people think Major League Scouting isn't as important because after 3-5 years in MLB even OTA has an accurate scouting report.

But any player who becomes a free agent and has 1 day of pro service time not major league service time count as free agents. No matter what nation they play in.

PSUColonel · 04-25-2019, 06:48 PM

right...so if I don't want the internationals I don't have to spend a dime on international scouting...which hives me an inherent advantage over the AI because it will. I'm not going to just spend money on it either to even the playing field...which is what I think it should be changed.

NoOne · 04-25-2019, 07:39 PM

i've never looked. is the ai spending on it when those things are disabled?

scouting discoveries may be part of that budget? but, not much value in accurate scouting on those unless your complex is perpetually maxed out. even then, using the fifo method will cast out older/mil-scouted players in complexe from past discovery additions.

i'd say it should be zeroed for AI if no int'l leagues exist for sure... and, i hope they don't change the way it works, lol. splitting 24m between 3 instead of 4 is nice.

04-16-2019, 11:31 AM	#1
SammyC14 Bat Boy Join Date: Mar 2018 Posts: 16	opinion: Scouting & player dev I was curious to hear what others have had success with in terms of the $$ amount and what % you have set your scouting budgets to. I took on the Miami Marlins challenge. So most of my players I acquire are either in another teams farm system or through the draft. Obviously I'd think those % would need to be higher, but how high? How much? etc.. You're opnions are much appreciated in advance!

04-16-2019, 12:45 PM	#2
NoOne Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2015 Posts: 7,167	it's about the amount of money, not the percentage. e.g. 50% of 2million will not help as much as 50% of 4million. so, ignore the %'s. you want to find various threshold of dollar amounts that work well. this will be relative to baseline scouting budget -- how it's broken up for a 'baseline' in each is up for guesstimation. For your context, i'd be dumping as much as i can into MiL scouting, if that's where the majority of your players come from. I'd do that after figuring out what "enough" is for teh other 2-3 budgets. (see below, about 2 or 3). other things to consider: accuracy is a different animal in each category. MLB accuracy doesn't take as much to be "good." they are a more known quantity, and this is the modeled effect of that. MiL accuracy is influenced by either level, years of pro service, or more likely some combination of the two. no matter how much you dump into MiL scouting, or anything else, it's not going to make it 100% clear. there will be a ceiling and a clear diminishing returns at some point... trial and error to figure that out... and sometimes dumping excess money into it regardless of diminishing returns is still worth it. e.g. if you have 'enough' in mlb and amatuer scouting, dumping all the rest into mil scouting probably isn't a negative. i focus on mil scouting too, but with a maxed scouting budget i keep anywhere from 5-6M in mlb scouting. i put a lot into amauer, but i favor MiL all the same. if you have no international leagues active, do not put any money into international scouting. IFA that are generated without those leagues active and IAFA are part of MLB and amatuer scouting, respectively. (unless that was changed this release, should still be true) it's money totals relative to baselines that will determine how much the budget helps -- all other things remaining the same, like scout ability. Don't pick a value based on a %, that's got an extra level of confusion attached to it to translate. use the more fundamental measurement.

04-16-2019, 05:34 PM	#3
PSUColonel Hall Of Famer Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 12,988 Blog Entries: 37	So are you saying if international leagues are active, that international scouting goes towards that....as opposed to generating international FAs corresponds to MLB scouting?

04-16-2019, 05:37 PM	#4
PSUColonel Hall Of Famer Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 12,988 Blog Entries: 37	Even if you have international leagues on..don’t you need it for int amateur fa? I always thought major league scouting = all major and international leagues And that international scouting = international amateur FAs?

04-16-2019, 05:59 PM	#5
TPinrose Minors (Double A) Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 199	It's my understanding from reading the manual that IAFA are scouted as amateurs.

04-16-2019, 06:12 PM	#6
PSUColonel Hall Of Famer Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 12,988 Blog Entries: 37	Hmm..interesting...what about established Int FA?

04-16-2019, 06:30 PM	#8
TPinrose Minors (Double A) Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 199	I'm sorry, IAFA are scouted as minor leaguers. International Scouting- "Money spent on scouting players at any level who are in a different nation from this Scouting Director. Note, however, that for purposes of scouting, all free agents that have at least one day of professional service time count as "major leaguers," while free agents with no professional service time count as "minor leaguers."

04-16-2019, 06:33 PM	#9
TPinrose Minors (Double A) Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 199	I was looking for this because I have a couple online leagues where IAFA is a deadly serious as the draft. In those leagues, I kill all money for international scouting to increase other areas.

04-16-2019, 07:34 PM	#10
PSUColonel Hall Of Famer Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 12,988 Blog Entries: 37	Ok...so why would anyone spend money on international scouting? Just for established INT FA?

04-18-2019, 12:06 PM	#12
SammyC14 Bat Boy Join Date: Mar 2018 Posts: 16	So my f/u question to this would be, does $$ spend equate to better prospects or more accurate reporting or both?

04-18-2019, 12:34 PM	#13
tklem321 Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Apr 2017 Posts: 246	Amazing that something with several options in the settings menu and that takes up a chunk of a team's budget has its affects so obfuscated in the game, to the point where people who have been playing for years don't know what it does..

04-19-2019, 11:01 AM	#15
NoOne Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2015 Posts: 7,167	all other things remaining the same -- like scout quality, mil level, years of ml service and whatever else could potentially influence accuracy in addition. your scout and budget are the 2 big ones you can control.

04-19-2019, 02:52 PM	#16
SammyC14 Bat Boy Join Date: Mar 2018 Posts: 16	Thanks, everyone.

04-25-2019, 12:45 AM	#17
PSUColonel Hall Of Famer Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 12,988 Blog Entries: 37	I think this should be changed. I think any international players generated by the game should be scouted through international scouting. It doesn't make any sense to have money allocated to Major Leagues or amateurs count toward international players.

04-25-2019, 06:48 PM	#19
PSUColonel Hall Of Famer Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 12,988 Blog Entries: 37	right...so if I don't want the internationals I don't have to spend a dime on international scouting...which hives me an inherent advantage over the AI because it will. I'm not going to just spend money on it either to even the playing field...which is what I think it should be changed.

04-25-2019, 07:39 PM	#20
NoOne Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2015 Posts: 7,167	i've never looked. is the ai spending on it when those things are disabled? scouting discoveries may be part of that budget? but, not much value in accurate scouting on those unless your complex is perpetually maxed out. even then, using the fifo method will cast out older/mil-scouted players in complexe from past discovery additions. i'd say it should be zeroed for AI if no int'l leagues exist for sure... and, i hope they don't change the way it works, lol. splitting 24m between 3 instead of 4 is nice.