[Syd Thrift]

3 more Thrift Trainings:

Chicago Colts
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Manager: Jimmy Murphy isn't really all that good at anything. He's adequate at teaching hitting and handling veterans. Since I'm making it a house rule that the managers *have* to instruct somebody on something (otherwise, why are they there?), he's going to try to save Max Bonizo's career by Opening up his Stance. Skills: 78/72/189 (I chose a stance skill specifically so I could use Bonizo's great baseball IQ) for a low C. Result: Ignore. Congratulations, Cubbies! Bonizo will now be able to dodge out of the way of any hit batsman but is otherwise unchanged.

Bench Coach: Steven Handy really should be the manager here. He's a stud at teaching pitching but is okay at the other two categories as well. He is better with young players than older ones. His mission this spring training: to teach Henry H. Laughlin a new pitch... the dropshoot (sinker). Skills are 178/149/107, good enough for a B. Result: a GREAT result! Somebody gve Steven Handy a raise!

Hitting Coach: Conroy Savery is actually not quite as good as Hardy at training hitters, and he's not as good with any of the three ages. He's going to try and teach young SS Ettore Missaghi to draw a few more walks by convincing him that Patience is the Key. Score: 146/103/140, for a B. Result: Excels!

Pitching Coach: Alan Cook is okay at teaching pitching and handles vets the best. Glenn Spiller is just about toast anyway, so teaching him the Curve Ball won't do that much harm. Skills: 117/140/143, a C. Result: Ignore. Ah well. He had a nice, long career.

Chicago White Stockings
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Manager: Tim Linker is best at teaching hitting and fielding, and handles all three ages adequately. He's going to teach Frank Raines to play first base, since Raines is not a really great fielder at 2nd and 1B Dax Dickinson came out of nowhere last year and could therefore disappear right back to nowhere. Skills: 145/120/84, a C. Linker's excellence at teaching fielding overcomes Frank Raines' mediocre Work Ethic. Result: a Failure. Fortunately, all Failures in fielding mean are that the player just doesn't learn the position all that well, but Raines is also peeved at Linker for asking him to do something he didn't want to do.

Bench Coach: Gregorio Cardia isn't very good at anything. He is best at teaching pitching to vets, I guess. Pass. 3/20: With Dax Dickinson out for the first month of the regular season, Cardia will impart to Tim Gillett the secrets of first base. Skills: 48/56/125, a D. Result: Good, just barely.

Hitting Coach: Conan Robinson is still learning the ropes and is okay at teaching hitting to rookies and players in their prime. Pass for now. 5/25/2007: The White Sox are filled to the gills with infielders and as such need to teach someone to play the outfield. That someone: Branson Sellars. Skills: 109/72/60, a D. Result: A bust! Not only does he not learn the position, his stats take a hit. Bad, bad news.

Pitching Coach: Ray Burrowes is adequate at teaching pitching but doesn't really handle any of the ages well. Given that one of the reasons I created Thrift Training was to give Matt Nutt an opportunity to de-learn some of his pitches, I'm going to ignore my instinct to Pass and instead will have him unlearn the Cutter. Skills: 71/76/55. Wow, Matt Nutt is not a smart man. That's going to go off the D column. Result: Nutt surprises everyone with a Good result.

Cincinnati Reds
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Manager: Keeley Murch is just a good all-around coach, but is best at teaching pitching to rookies and players in their prime. He will try to get Joshua Williams back into the pantheon of elite pitchers by teaching him how to throw the nickel curve (Slider). Skills: 180/141/99, the closest B yet. Result: Excels. This is just unfair. Cincinnati gets another great pitcher on an already solid staff.

Bench Coach: Scott Conwell is one of the best fielding coaches in the business. He is also attuned to exactly how to teach older players. Given that Ed Scalf's career is winding down, he's been entrusted to teach him the finer points of playing left field. Skills: 196/200/29. Wow. How did Scalf stay in the league this long with a Work Ethic that poor? That's a B by 6 points. Result: Good. Looks like Scalf will be playing a new position in '03.

Hitting Coach: Cory Rennison is a top-flight hitting coach. The only thing keeping him from being the best in the league is that he's only above average at handling vets and prime players. He is going to secretly and clandestinely replace Kent Cashion's bats with a special cork-filled model. Shh! Don't tell the commish! Skills: 197/117/169, for a highish B. If only Rennison was better at relating to vets... Result: GREAT. The ball is really flying off of Cashion's bat now!

Pitching Coach: Don Anderson is only great at teaching pitching, but that's all he's asked to do. He specializes in turning the careers of veterans around. He's going to try to stave off some of the effects of aging by teaching 35-year old Big Bill Copeland the Circle Change. Skills: 183/163/115 for a B. Result: Excels. Look out, National League!