Releasing players with vesting options triggers it - there's no indication this happens in the MLB
 

Releasing players with vesting options triggers the option in OOTP. I can't find any evidence of this, even in contracts that are highly specialized (i.e. I saw one where if the vesting clause wasn't met and the player spent more than x days on the DL, the club could pick up a 1M option for the guy).

However, I have researched players being released in the midst of contracts that had a vesting clause, and it just doesn't cause the contract to vest.

Chris Leroux signed with the Pirates in 2013 where it included a vesting option for 2014. No indication they paid the 2014 option when they DFA'd him and he became a FA to sign with the Yakult Swallows. (Leroux wasn't technically released because he didn't have enough service time to refuse assignment to the minors. However, if you are DFA'd a second time in your career, you do have the option to become a free agent instead of reporting to the minors.)
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2013/...is-leroux.html

"Brandon League also hasn’t pitched this season and has been released by the Dodgers, so he won’t reach the games-finished total required to allow his 2016 player option to vest."
https://www.truebluela.com/2015/7/10...leased-dodgers
https://www.si.com/mlb/2015/07/11/lo...-league-injury
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/...-update-2.html


"As noted in the original update, both Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn had vesting options for the 2017 season as well, but those options were negated when each was released from the four-year contracts they initially signed with the Indians."
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/...-update-3.html

"Scott Downs, White Sox: Downs had a $4MM vesting option that would have vested with 55 appearances, as MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes reported in June (via Twitter). Though he appeared to be headed in that direction earlier in the year, the White Sox cut bait with Downs and his then-6.08 ERA. He owns a 3.55 mark over 12 2/3 innings with the Royals — who signed him to a separate, minor-league deal — and has now thrown in 53 games, but the vesting clause is now a moot point."

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2014/...-update-2.html

"Kevin Gregg — $6MM option vests with 50 games finished. Gregg finished only 13 games before the Orioles released him last weekend."

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2012/...ns-update.html

So that's basically five players I have found documentation for that were released with vesting clauses in their contracts, and all five didn't get vested. Leroux is a bit of a special case, but in his situation there's no indication the Pirates paid out the vesting clause when the DFA'd him, prompting Leroux to declare free agency.

Granted, any contract can practically have any legal scenario in it. So theoretically a contract can have a clause that says if the player is released that the team needs to pay out the vesting option in full. But likewise, Mike Trout can have a clause that says the Angels need to buy Markus tickets to a Justin Timberlake concert if he hits more than 8 home runs on Tuesdays in 2020. But OOTP isn't meant to be custom contract simulator.