Assistant GMs - totally useless?

[mortmachine]

If I'm running all my minor league teams (hiring/firing of coaches, signing/releasing/promoting/demoting players), is my assistant GM unnecessary? I have yet to value his advice on potential trades or anything... I'm thinking about letting him walk when his contract expires & leaving the position open. TIA!

[Pelican]

The way you frame it, I would have to agree. You've made the decision not to delegate anything to him, and you're disregarding his advice. He's pulling a paycheck for nothing.

I tend to let my Assistant handle the more mundane tasks, minor league stuff, understanding I'll have final say.

I am always curious what my Assistant will say about trades, but yeah, I frequently disregard his advice. The AI can miss the obvious on prospects, and has a tendency toward "penny wise, pound foolish" on financials. Also, there appears to be no way to convey (e.g. through adjusting finances) to the Assistant that I am not Charlie Comiskey and we are not the 1919 White Sox.

Although the advice is not often useful, I would nevertheless like it to be extended to potential free agent signings. They can be a lot more of a commitment than a trade, and it would be great to have the Assistant weigh in on those deals.

[Brad K]

It gives a human GM something to spend money on. Consider spending that money a slight bit of the otherwise missing "help computer teams" switch.

[kq76]

Originally Posted by Pelican

...

I am always curious what my Assistant will say about trades, but yeah, I frequently disregard his advice. The AI can miss the obvious on prospects, and has a tendency toward "penny wise, pound foolish" on financials. Also, there appears to be no way to convey (e.g. through adjusting finances) to the Assistant that I am not Charlie Comiskey and we are not the 1919 White Sox.

Although the advice is not often useful, I would nevertheless like it to be extended to potential free agent signings. They can be a lot more of a commitment than a trade, and it would be great to have the Assistant weigh in on those deals.

I agree. While I often disagree with the advice, I like that it's given and I wish even more was given.

Originally Posted by Brad K

... Consider spending that money a slight bit of the otherwise missing "help computer teams" switch.

Pardon?

[eauhomme]

Originally Posted by kq76

I agree. While I often disagree with the advice, I like that it's given and I wish even more was given.

Agreed. A similar thing I would like to see is useful information given by the scout at the beginning of a series, like who is hot and who is not.

Another is that I would like the catcher's input on mound visits (with the value of the input based on catcher ability and intelligence). The pitcher can say "I'm fine. Let me pitch", while the catcher says, "Warm up the pen. He's all over the place", or perhaps, "Those were good pitches being hit."

[kq76]

Originally Posted by eauhomme

Agreed. A similar thing I would like to see is useful information given by the scout at the beginning of a series, like who is hot and who is not.

Another is that I would like the catcher's input on mound visits (with the value of the input based on catcher ability and intelligence). The pitcher can say "I'm fine. Let me pitch", while the catcher says, "Warm up the pen. He's all over the place", or perhaps, "Those were good pitches being hit."

I don't play pitch by pitch, but that's a great idea. I love the interactivity of it.

Actually, even play by play, I'd love if if my bench coach or pitching coach suggested when I should warm up the pen. Sometimes after a long session I'll kind of fall asleep at the keyboard and just press the continue key without really thinking and then all of a sudden I realize, "oh man, I really should have started warming someone up 2 batters ago!"

And also maybe when to bring a pinch hitter. I so rarely pinch hit that'd be nice if my bench coach or hitting coach, said, "you know, this might be a good spot to bring in pinch hitter X. Starter Y hasn't looked good all day today." Or, "you know, PH X is a lot better hitting lefties than starter Y is, and there's a guy in scoring position, you might want to PH here.

[Sweed]

Originally Posted by eauhomme

Agreed. A similar thing I would like to see is useful information given by the scout at the beginning of a series, like who is hot and who is not.

What I do is click on the team link in the scout's email. Goes right to that team's page where I have customized the view to include a lot of information.
Who's hot or not is just one of them. I can find most of the info I want here except park factors (unless I go into the tabs) if it's going to be a road game (more on that below). If it's not on the team page it's one click away in the tabs. Not saying the email couldn't be improved, just suggesting a fairly easy work around. Maybe that is something that you already do?

I'd like to see more info in the scout's email on an upcoming series too. Park factors would be nice instead of just "hitter's park" or "pitcher's park" type sayings. Some might find that unrealistic? In that case favors LHB or RHB could be used? Of course whatever they might add there could always be more and someone saying "you added this, why not that?". But yeah, currently they are a bit bland and could use an upgrade.

One other thing that you can do from your team's schedule page is click on your opponents team logo (not the team name). This will open the old style team html page (that may be better?) for a quick look than the team's actual page. It includes team leaders, hot or not, pitching staff, lineups vs L or R, roster breakdown by position. It also has the teams' record monthly, vs L or R, etc. etc. etc.

[Brad K]

(Regarding spending money on Asst GM.)

Pardon?[/QUOTE]

A comment about it being silly to save money on an Asst GM. Theoretically it gives a human less money to spend on other things but reality is it will never come into play. However if it does it helps the computer controlled teams and the game does not have a switch to make the competition harder or easier.

[Bobfather]

My asst. GM is the worst. He only makes bad trades and I only make the good ones he overspend while I am shrewd
Fraft picks he is just wrong and I am a player development expert. He makes mr look good so why would I fire him...

[Dr Naysay]

There was a great post on Reddit recently where a guy had hired a Asst GM with high values in OBP, Defense and Speed and then let the Asst GM handle everything apart from development/development lab and hiring coaches. 22 years later and 11 World Series later his experiment is a resounding success. The Asst GM has made some top notch decisions. It was a very interesting discussion.

[Brad K]

For those looking for a tougher game, not making trades the assistant doesn't like would be a challenge.

[Swiffle]

Originally Posted by Dr Naysay

There was a great post on Reddit recently where a guy had hired a Asst GM with high values in OBP, Defense and Speed and then let the Asst GM handle everything apart from development/development lab and hiring coaches. 22 years later and 11 World Series later his experiment is a resounding success. The Asst GM has made some top notch decisions. It was a very interesting discussion.

I missed this post, you have a link?

[snepp]

Originally Posted by Swiffle

I missed this post, you have a link?

https://www.reddit.com/r/OOTP/commen...gm_who_valued/