Free Agents not signing
 

I play mainly random debut with some historical as well. One thing I've been seeing a lot with OOTP20 is free agents remaining unsigned for the entire off season and then starting the season unsigned. Eventually, most players do end up on a team, but may miss all of April and some of May before they do so. What bugs me the most about this though, is it seems that once a player isn't signed till late, the process will repeat itself each and every year that follows. The player that signs late will sign a 1 year deal. Play out that season and become a free agent once again. He will then remain unsigned till after the season starts...wash and repeat.

With my current league, I turned free agency off completely when I seen this happening with a 28 year old Pete Rose. In another league I was running, Joe Mauer had a really nice season in the leagues inaugural season. He then remained a free agent for the entire second season. He was signed by a team for the third season and put up solid numbers. When the 4th season rolled around he was unsigned.

One thing I've noticed is, teams sign players like crazy up until December 31st. Then signings slow down from January to the start of preseason. From preseason to the start of the season, signings are nonexistent.

I don't use minor leagues and use reserve rosters instead. I don't see why this would make a difference, but figured I might as well mention it.

I know this occurred this season with Kimbrel and Kuechel, but I see no reason for that nonsense to be made the norm, until we see if it actually does become the norm.

I've seen similar things in my fictional league with full minors. Good players often remain unsigned for quite a while even after they become willing to accept minor league contracts. At a minimum, these players would be better than some of the minor league depth players AI teams carry.

Another odd behaviour at the other end of the spectrum is veteran major leaguers (typically ones coming off down years) sometimes being willing to accept minor league contracts with major league options at the start of free agency. In my league it's relatively common for these guys to be taken in the Rule 5 draft later in the offseason, which suggests those players were underpricing themselves initially.