Free Agency Solution

[Molina00]

Here are the two options I am considering right now. Since I like both ideas and would be willing to do either one, I will let you guys decide which road we take. If you want to post a little reasoning behind your decision, that never hurts either.

Plan A (Posted by OM):

All blue star FA signings from period #1 back into the pool. Finish FA with ONLY Gold Star players being eligible. This should leave you a long list of blue star players after you finish all 30 days of FA season, and sign the players selected in the contraction draft. If you sort by stars in the FA screen and have a sheet of paper with the contraction draft list... you can go down the list selecting the team and then sort the stars and sign the top blue star player and then change to the next team.... If you are in a kindly mood, for the first 24 picks, you can skip any high endurance MRs just to take care of the GMs. I don't think there are more than 24 4.5-5.0 prospects left, so it should go quick. After one 24 pick round, I don't think you should even have to look at the players, just take the top guy and select the next team. A few of the top prospects will demand a major league contract... so be it. thats the luck of the draw and that major league contract should revert back after one year, so we can call it the price of getting lucky enough to get a guy who thinks he's good enough for 500k.

Plan B (Posted by Porter):

Lets say we let you keep all the guys, then keep them to the contracts they were signed to. 1 or 2 years. So all of them would be FAs at the end of the season or after that. Since that's exactly who you signed him to, you shouldn't have a problem to get them back when they become FA's. That's just taking your contract at literal face value. Sure, you will probably come back with the fact they get automatically resigned. Sure go ahead, but you're paying what your originally offering since any other contract would be set for the next 3 years before arby. So that's the options for Mr. Loophole to have. Let him keep them if he wants but pay for every penny at either the length of the contract (1yr or 2yrs if i remember right) or until arby starts for the players in mind. Like I proposed before. If you want to offer the same offer I gave George who puts up MVP numbers to a guy that's underdeveloped, go ahead but you only signed him for 2 years. And going 40 million over your projected last years budget with guys that are underdeveloped makes no sense, but if you offer the contract it should be at what you offered them. If you were smarter about it, do it for 6 years.

I do agree with him that everyone had the same rules. At the same time, this is actually idiotic considering if he is held to all the contracts given at their length because at projections he would lose all his money by 2038. There is the karma angle when he can they can lose talent while on their contract. I know it won't be popular with mostly everyone else. Look at it this way it's 1 or 2 year deal, leave it at that for the amount he offered regardless if he leaves him in the minors or not, they become a FA after the life of the deal offered. Then make a decision when they becomes a FA to try and add them to a draft pool. Sure he would get a choice to resign them after that original length like any other person. Figuring when he goes to resign them will be asking for considerably less money. Put the stipulation that the players in questions cant be offered less than 75% of the original deal. If GMs want to leave because PIT gets to keep the guys, it's up to them but if that happens, that's what I propose. We knew someone would do it but was smart enough to not offer 84 million to guys that may or may not pan out. We just need to hold him to the amount that he offered at least.

[Porter]

Pretty much it's this for plan B:

Either A) Hold them to the 1 or 2 years they were signed too, PIT gets the option to resign him but not for less than 75% of the original salary or B) pay the salary given to the player until he hits arby in ML.

The prospects he signed got him the 4th best system in the ML but still isn't overly great considering the draft pools in the next couple of years.

[Kingdom]

Basically he loses them after one or two seasons, going by proposal B? I mean, it'll be easy to resign those players since it's likely they won't be developed or have seen any major league time. So what exactly is the point? He just signed a couple dozen guys, made a mockery of free agency, only to do it all over again in a couple of seasons? Now if you are letting him resign his own players, to which as much as I think what happened yesterday evening was a huge joke, it's even more of a joke to tell one of us we cannot negotiate with our own players.

Here's the thing, and I don't speak for myself because I was well aware of it but as witnessed in the thread yesterday- not everyone was. If everyone knew beforehand that by offering an undeveloped prospect a stupid amount of money, you can get out of the contract easily there by reducing it to a MLC or 300k, it would have been a lot more insane- sure- but it would have been a more even playing field. Which I don't think needs to happen no matter what. I support OM's idea, his league is proof that it has worked, I'd rather we all go crazy for the David Georges and Nelson Haugs of the world.

[Kingdom]

And no matter what, we all won't be satisfied. Option A would appease most of us, everything else will mostly appease Sabu or maybe not.

[Slyder]

And no matter what, we all won't be satisfied. Option A would appease most of us, everything else will mostly appease Sabu or maybe not.

Make him figure out how he's going to pay 20 yr olds 7-10 mil every year when they arent ready. He's already bordering on General (HSL) insanity in terms of $$$ he's going to lose.

[Kingdom]

But when those contracts expire, the players will resign for a MLC or 300k tops, that's the point, they're not going to command the kind of money he willingly paid them unless Molina is forcing him to resign them at that price. Which that in itself isn't particularly fair for him down the road.

That's why option B makes no sense to me. We just accept a complete mockery and let it continue to happen. I'm not interested in that, why should anyone be interested in that?

[Slyder]

But when those contracts expire, the players will resign for a MLC or 300k tops, that's the point, they're not going to command the kind of money he willingly paid them unless Molina is forcing him to resign them at that price. Which that in itself isn't particularly fair for him down the road.

Its either resign or lose them to FA if I am reading the Porter Plan and Molina's thoughts correctly.

[HollywoodLeo]

i like my SIM leagues to be as realistic as possible. Underdeveloped players being paid 10 mil per year is not realistic. Strasburg didnt even get that much.

plan A makes the most sense.

[Kingdom]

I am not getting that from the plan. I am getting it as, he loses them when the contracts expire and he has no option to resign them. Which, he'll just continue to bastardize free agency by signing them back. Or, if he's allowed to resign his own players, as I said, they'll resign for nothing UNLESS Molina is enforcing them to resign for whatever he initially paid them per year.

I think it's over complicating things when OM's idea quickly solves things so we don't have to worry about this ever again.

[Kingdom]

i like my SIM leagues to be as realistic as possible. Underdeveloped players being paid 10 mil per year is not realistic. Strasburg didnt even get that much.

plan A makes the most sense.

Yeah, those types get massive signing bonuses, not 15 mill a year. That's like saying we're paying 20 year olds like ARod or [insert other high priced contract player here].

[Kingdom]

Molina could even delete all the blue star players so that no one gets them. I'd be down for that idea if OM's doesn't make the most sense. I have no attachment to the prospects, most of the ones I offered for were going to actually start right away for me. Them not being in the league period is no real loss in my opinion- we still have a lot of veterans in free agency.

[Porter]

Then make a decision when they becomes a FA to try and add them to a draft pool.

What is confusing about plan B? It's make them pay for their contracts. If you do plan A, it actually helps out Pittsburgh financially and letting him off the hook. You could add CJ's international FA blind bidding if it comes to that. Plan B is not rocket science.

[Kingdom]

I've laid out my problem with your idea. It's heavily flawed and he still gets out of those contracts, no matter what.

I'd much rather let him off the hook with plan A cause the first round was a ****ing joke. And will remain one otherwise.

[Porter]

If it plan A..Then delete the prospects. The rest of the league shouldn't benefit from them being taken off PIT. PIT is 40 million over last year and never had a season with more than 88 M in revenue. They are currently at 104. So who's to say that he can make a mockery with no money. He would get to chance to resign them but not at a MLC or 300 k. So if Dail (who makes 15 M) would have to be offered no less than 11.5 Million per year (which is 75% for those math wizzes). All that's needed to be done is enforce the contracts in order. The best spect signed would be a late 1st-early 2nd round pick.

[HollywoodLeo]

What is confusing about plan B? It's make them pay for their contracts. If you do plan A, it actually helps out Pittsburgh financially and letting him off the hook. You could add CJ's international FA blind bidding if it comes to that. Plan B is not rocket science.

I actually don't mind if Pittsburgh is let off the hook.

I'm concerned more with the overall financial makeup of the league than I am with hoping Pittsburgh pays for their lame ploy.

Let them off the hook in the name of not having underdeveloped prospects being paid like super stars.