Free Agents
 

Hoping maybe I can get some feedback from others in regards to an free agency issue that's been driving me crazy.

I play mostly random debut. I don't use minor leagues, I use reserve rosters.

The problem I'm having is players remaining unsigned when the season begins. Lot's of them. These players are bad to very good in quality and they aren't simply old guys looking for that last one year deal to ride out their careers. I've had a 28 year old Pete Rose remain unsigned. A 30 year old Joe Mauer. I've seen guys like Dennis Eckersly, Rollie Fingers and Aroldis Chapman remain unsigned, all in their primes. Thing is, these guys will sign, usually before May rolls around, but they only sign a one year deal, so once it happens it usually happens year after year after year.

Now what I'm seeing in regards to this is, once the free agency period begins in a random league, players will sign like normal up until December 31st. But, once January 1st rolls around, it's like the signing valve get's turned off and there are very few if any signings between the 1st and opening day. There are never any signings from day one of the preseason till opening day. ZERO!

So, is this a random debut issue or are others seeing this in historical leagues, fictional, quickstarts, etc.? This issue has me using the reserve clause, as the unsigned players drive me nuts. Is this an attempt to simulate the Keuchel, Kimbrel situation from this year? If so, I'm not a fan. We have no clue whether that type of behavior by gm's is going to happen every year from now on. We do know it hasn't been the norm in years past.

Hey David, seeing the same thing. A bunch of decent players, not stars but decent, available to start the season.
Here is my get around,you might want to try it to.
Small free agent draft the day before the season starts.
I have a mlb league. So i let draft 1-20 be the low 20 of the season (same as the amateur draft) but then i let picks 21-30 go back to the 1-10 picks again, so the low teams get 2 players, mid teams get 1, top teams (who are maxed out with money anyway) draft no one.


That seems to be distributing players around the league well. The best player left for 2020 was JD Martinez. So Baltimore got to draft him 1...(he is supposed to have a 700,000 salary. I bumped it up to 5 mil, but Balt gets a good player, Miami took Adam Waignwright 2). Not making a huge differnece but will help the weak teams with a player onto their rosters and gets the players out of the free agent pool and into the league.


Cheers

Let me know what you see the following year and whether Martinez and Wainwright are once again free agents.

The free agent draft is a good idea. Thanks

I see the same thing in my fictional league, with top players who have at least one good season left in them remaining unsigned. I allow myself to sign only one free agent a year and one more who is unsigned after the season begins. I'm at a loss why these players are not picked up by other teams.

Can you check something for me the next time you have an offseason? Please watch your transactions(signings) and see if you're getting any after January 1st. Also, are there any signings from preseason to opening day? In my leagues it's pretty much a given if a guy isn't signed by December 31st, he is going to start the season as a free agent.

If I was playing the game as a GM, I can't imagine the advantage I would have over the AI controlled teams. From January 1st till opening day, I could scoop up tons of talent while the AI controlled teams take a 3 month nap.

I just checked my last preseason and there were quite a good number of signings after Jan. 1, although the majority were in January.

I'm starting to wonder if it's a random debut issue. Thanks for checking that for me.

This has always been one of my issues with this game. In my fictional league it tends to be 2 or 3 really good to elite RP's that go unsigned until around a month or so into the season. That doesn't sound too bad except my league's season is only 2 1/2 months long, so they are missing a big chunk of the season and they always sign for one year deals. The elite RP's should be signing for 2-3 year deals in my opinion.

krownroyal and david-- try adding time to FA period in event list? if it isn't extended to fit customized leageue (written for krown, but dw, look for any oddities in event list, i doubt it would be a repeating problem, though.

2-3 guys isn't so rare though is it? maybe their relative was kidnapped in their home country and they are taking care of business. :P

the random debut, just depends on their ratings, not the names.

if teams have set rosters, they probably don't sign players, so that's another thing to look into.

reduce # of rounds or # per year 'debuting' however that works, starve teams a bit.

Move the date it changes from offseason to preseason to about a month sooner using the league events list editor.

I first did that to let myself do some things only available in the preseason sooner, but it also tends to make everyone rush to deals sooner, I've found. I still have in my fictional league a few serviceable players capable of starting for a team weak at their position unsigned on opening day, but very few of them, and no stars in their prime comparable to the real life players you listed unsigned when the season starts.

I'm gonna try putting the preseason a month earlier, thanks