Moneyball Baseball League Chat

If you draft a player with less than 4 yrs service and say that players sal is 7 mil......next year his strat price tag dropped to 5 million in 2020....do you still pay 7 mill or is his salary 5 million or does it still stay at 7 million.Tks

7 mil. it's whichever is higher

If you draft a player with less than 4 yrs service and say that players sal is 7 mil......next year his strat price tag dropped to 5 million in 2020....do you still pay 7 mill or is his salary 5 million or does it still stay at 7 million.Tks

Thought it might be useful to give you the scenario for Bo Bichette with the assumption you are keeping him throughout.
(2019) - His initial contract is for 4.21m as per the srat price. He will have 1 year of service going in to 2020.
(2020) - Bo has less than 3 years of service which means he is ineligible for either an extension or arbitration. His contract will be renewed for 4.21m no matter what his new strat price is. You will not pay lower if he declines or higher if he's the next Derek Jeter. He will have 2 years of service going in to 2021.
(2021) - Again contract will be renewed at 4.21m. He will have 3 years going into 2022 making him eligible for arbitration and contract extension.
(2022) - This is where things change. You will have a decision to make because now Bo is eligible for arbitration and you have the ability to extend his contract for 4 seasons.
1) You decide to extend his contract. It will be for 4 years and the cost will be the average cost of the top 50% (salary-wise) of all the players with the same primary position as Bichette or his current strat price whichever is higher. At the end of the 4 years he will be eligible for free agency. It is my belief that you will not be able to make a further contract extension but rather will have to bid for his services through the free agent process.
2)You decide to go to arbitration. His contract will be his 2022 strat price or the league minimum as set out in Sec. IX .05 whichever is higher. He will have 4 years of service going in to 2023.
(2023) - Assuming you went to arbitration the previous year, you will have the same choice this year, arbitration or 4 year extension. If arbitration, his contract will be his 2023 strat cost or league minimum whichever is higher. He will have 5 years going in to 2024.
(2024) - Assuming you went to arbitration the previous year you will again have to decide between extension and arbitration. However as a 5 year player, Bo is entitled to a minimum of a 5 year contract extension (or longer if you want) and the cost will now be the average of the top 25% salary wise of players in the league at his position or his 2024 strat cost whichever is higher. Again it's my belief that at the end of that contract he will become a free agent with no further contract extensions. If arbitration, same process as before except this time he will be a free agent going in to 2025 because your 6 years of control will be up.
This is my understanding of how this works but I'm not 100% sure.

It is my belief that you will not be able to make a further contract extension but rather will have to bid for his services through the free agent process.



My question why are we not able to offer a 2nd extension...if he is automatc FA...how do we make him a team member for life? Does this eliminate playing for 1 team altogether or am i missing something here.

You do that by offering a ridiculous contract in cost and years just like they do in real life lol. Welcome to the life of a baseball GM.

So, to keep a Bichette-type player (1 year COTS) for the maximum number of years, without dealing with him being a free agent, I could do arbitration in 2022 (because that is when he becomes eligible for arbitration) and again in 2023, and then do the 5 year contract extension in 2024. That would get me 10 years of his life, and after that he could be a free agent. I would be bidding with all other interested teams for his service at that point. Doing a contract extension before the 5th year limits the length of time he is on my team, without having to bid for him as a free agent.

Is this correct?

That is correct and in fact the 5 years is only a minimum you can extend him for as long as you want. Keep in mind 2 things though 1) by the 5th year he's entitled to either, the average of the now top 25% of his fellow position players (as opposed to top 50% for 3rd and 4th year guys getting extended), or the strat cost of his 2024 card, whichever is higher and 2) his contract is going to be guaranteed so if you want to lock him up for a real long time you're taking the risk that you'll be paying that cost no matter how bad his card might be down the road.

I'd be interested in acquiring someone's upcoming pick if anyone is up for some dealing.

Shohei Ohtani DH/SP

Interesting pick but i think you can only use 1 card in game.Not going to matter this yr as he is DH only....most leagues i know only allow 1 card per person so you might have to choose...lol anyone know the rule on this?

I must have done a good job writing the rules! You nailed it. Remember, after the inaugural draft your salaries will be set by free agency and salary minimums. Your young players should come up through your farm system and will cost next to nothing for the first three years. After that, the arb years present a conundrum. Do you extend for four (buy out their arb years) and risk free agency? Do you go through arbitration until year five and then lock them up long term? What if they have a HOF year and cost you $13 mil a year to lock up? Can you sign them for less as a free agent?

One reason I included these tough choices is that the GMs have all the power. There was no way to model a Scott Boris, hence the negotiating power of the players is modeled in the decisions you're forced to make.