sociophil wrote:
I will change the rule at the end of the current FA signing and prospect draft period as the intent was to significantly penalize teams for going over the salary limit such that they would seek to rectify the error before the penalty takes effect. Holding the prospect draft before the arb settlement date effectively negates the penalty. I still have five picks, so I could potentially filibuster the FA signing period until after the cards are released, so there is that option. I may not have to do that since this draft is SOOOO SLOWWW! We will change the order of things next year.
Having said that, as it currently stands, the requirement that the fewest players be suspended to get under the cap will potentially cost violators their highest value arb players. However, it is possible that a team with multiple arb settlements could get under the cap by suspending two or more marginal players.
Bottom line is that the rule needs to be fixed and penalties need to be stringent enough that owners err on the side of caution when offering free agent contracts, but we will not change the rules until the end of this season.
Just checking to confirm that the prospect draft will come AFTER arbitration decisions in order to put some teeth into the cap penalty