Budgeting

Player Payroll:
The amount in this area is used to pay the players salaries. Research is required to help figure out how much is needed. You will need to know how much is needed to resign your ML Free Agents you want to keep, Player Arbitration costs, current payroll and several other costs that are paid from this area. As a rule I use this formula: Current Payroll + Free Agent keepers + Long Term Arbitration keepers/1 year Arbitration keepers + $5M at a minimum. If I plan to dally in the open Free Agent market I add another $10M to $15M depending on how many ML players I may want to go after. The open Free Agent market can be a hit or miss proposition for ML players. You will need to resign minor league Free Agents and open market minor league Free Agents also though they don't usually cost much. One thing to note is some of your minor league Free Agents may want a ML contract, for the most part they aren't worth it.

Prospect Payroll:
This area is used to pay signing bonuses for International Free Agents and Amateur Draft picks. Their salary comes from Player Payroll. Internationals can cost a fortune for a blue chip player and some draft picks also. You can research costs for draft picks and Internationals under the World Office-Reports and International Signings or Draft History. If you have a top 10 pick in the draft, you will want to budget more than the $6M minimum to be able to sign all picks. If you expect to have more than one first round pick, then a minimum of $8M is suggested.

Coaches Payroll:
Coaches allow your players to get better at all levels. ML coaches are expensive to replace. You will need to find out which coaches want to return and their cost and how much it might cost to replace others. The Hitting Coach and Pitching Coach are the costliest to replace. Next is a Fielding Instructor. 1B, 3B and Bull Pen Coach are not as costly. Although most Bench Coaches are expensive, there function is minimal at the ML level and as a rule I don't pay a fortune for one unless I have a relatively young team or the previous one wants to stay. Most minor league coaches can be found for about the minimum cost. Normally I budget $10M to $14M and is dependent on which and how many ML coaches need to be replaced.

Domestic College Scouting Dept:
How much money spent here determines how well and how many college players are scouted in the Amateur Draft.

Domestic High School Scouting Dept:
How much money spent here determines how well and how many High School players are scouted in the Amateur Draft.

An example: Spending $16M on College and $10M on High School will allow you to see about 400 College players and 100 High School players. You will see the ratings more accurately on the College players of course. In this example a High School player ranked in the top 25 may not be a top 25 pick even though he looks like it.

International Scouting Dept.:
How much money spent here determines how well and how many International players are scouted. $20M spent here doesn't mean you will see every player either though you will probably see 95% of them.

Advance Scouting Dept.:
How much money spent here determines how well you see any player that is or has been on a roster. All players current ratings are seen by everyone the same. Their projected ratings however are not, the more spent here the truer the projections become. As a note, the difference between $18M and $20M is more fuzzy than one would think.

Training:
Money spent here helps prevent injuries as the guide says. But it is more than that also, think of it as bulking up in the weight room. Being physically prepared helps play on the field. With good training and coaches a players ratings improve. As a rule I increase this area to $20M as quickly as possible.

Medical:
If a player gets injured, the more spent in this area lessens the injury and allows him to rehab better and faster. As a rule I spend $14M to $16M here and depends on health ratings and age at the ML level.