Moneyball Baseball League Chat

Okay, let me try to settle this. The drafted salary will be the players salary for 2019. After the draft you will be able to extend the contract of any player who is eligible for arbitration or a free agent in 2020. The contract extension rules that apply for arbitration eligible players are established in Article 9 Sect 9. Players who become free agents in 2020 can be extended for any number of years at their current salary or the league minimum for free agents, which ever is higher (their salaries are set in Article 10 Sect 8).

The salary determined by the contract rules will apply to the 2020 year and beyond, but not 2019 (SOM salary is used this year). If you do not choose to extend the player's contract then he either becomes a free agent in 2020 (if there is an FA in the 2020 column of your roster sheet then he will be a free agent), or you will have to make a decision to go to arbitration or cut the player by Nov. 30, 2020 (unless we agree to move that date forward) since he is under team control. Players who are not eligible for arbitration can be cut by Nov. 30, 2020 or renewed for one year at their current salary or the league minimum (Article 9 Sect. 5), which ever is higher.

I hope this is clearer than mud.

Use Story as an example....he is currently at 4.000 years of service, what extension scenarios does he currently have?

.....and assume someone with 3.90 years of service would be the same

Story would cost $10.37 mil in 2019. He is arb 2 in 2020 so could be extended 4 years at the average salary of the top 50% of SS (probably around $7 mil beginning in 2020). If he were arb 3 in 2020 he would cost $10.37 mil to extend.

The 3.9 years is rounded up, so same.

Phil,

When going to arbitration with an outfielder, is it top 50% (or 25%) of all outfielders or just specifically left fielders (or RF or CF)

Basically is outfield arbitration done as 3 separate positions LF, CF, RF or just one position OF

Everything would be perfect if you just remove the Nov.30 timeline and say all these contract decisions will be done right after the draft before the league starts play. I'll give an example of each case.
1) I draft a 1-2 year guy. I should be saying that either A) I will be renewing his contract for 2020 at the cost structure you've laid out in the rules and he will be on my team for 2020 or B) I will be dropping him after the 2019 season and he will be a FA going into 2020
2) I draft a 3 or 4 year guy. I should be saying that either A) I will be extending his contract for 4 years (2020,21 22 23) at the cost structure you've laid out for 3 and 4 year guys and he will become a free agent after 2023 or B) I am going to arbitration with him in which case he will be on my team for 2020 at the cost structure you've laid out for arbitration cases or C) I will be dropping him after 2019 and he becomes a FA going into 2020
3) I draft a 5 year guy. I should be saying that either A) I will be extending his contract for at least 5 years (2020,21 22,23,24) or longer if I choose since 5 years is just a minimum. Again you've laid out in the rules the cost structure of this extension. He will become a FA at the end of the extension, or B) I am going to arbitration in which case he will be on my team for 2020 at the cost of a 5 year arbitration case. The difference this time is he will become a free agent at the end of 2020 because I will have run out of control years, or C) I will be dropping him after 2019 and he will be a FA going into 2020
4) I draft a 6 or more year guy. I should be saying that either A) I will be extending his contract for whatever number of years I choose, starting with the 2020 season, again at the cost described in the rules. He will become a FA at the end of that extension or B) I will be dropping this player at the end of the 2019 season and he becomes a free agent going into 2020.
This is the way it should work. No need for anything happening on Nov.30 except for the beginning of the free agent process. All the decisions on contracts for 2020 will be done and we will have no knowledge of how the players do in real life as it should be. Please guys read this carefully and let me know if you understand what I'm saying and whether you agree this is what we should be doing. The idea for a league like this is brilliant and we just need to be on the same page on procedure.

I agree. We should definitely have to declare if we are going to go to arbitration for a guy BEFORE the actual MLB year starts otherwise you get a huge advantage of deciding whether to cut him or go to arbitration...because you've basically seen how the real year played out and have a good idea what kind of card he's gonna have the following year. By saying you are going to arbitration prior to that it's more like the real world in that you have no clue how he will perform in the upcoming year. so no need for nov 30 date other than to begin the FA process

Sorry, but I can't seem to ever get back to the League Rules. I have read them and read them, and I need to keep studying them, but always have trouble finding them. I'm getting lost in all the "what-if" chatter and "what should-be" chatter. Where do I find the complete rules? Thank you.

Also, I cannot seem to find Cots for 2019...I only see 2018 on Google Sheets...so I am "so confused." HELP!

Okay, this makes sense. One question though, we would be waiting to determine the arbitration outcome until the 2020 card set is released, right?

Also, would we be making the same choices for the 2021 season by the Nov. 30, 2020 deadline?

Phil

Sorry, but I can't seem to ever get back to the League Rules. I have read them and read them, and I need to keep studying them, but always have trouble finding them. I'm getting lost in all the "what-if" chatter and "what should-be" chatter. Where do I find the complete rules? Thank you.

You can find the links to the rules and the spreadsheet with cots years of service on page one of this thread.