Payroll/budget questions
 

Online league with salary cap

I am currently leading my division and have been a perennial playoff team in the league I am in, since I joined 3-4 seasons ago. The team has had salary cap issues since before I joined them, and I have only made them worse.

Current year $5 million under cap
Current year $10 million over budget, started season at budget though

Following year $5 million above cap
Following year $10 million over budget, estimated

My player development and scouting $ is high, this coupled with trades I have made have added to being over budget.

When offseason happens, I have 3 players getting big raises through arbitration, $10 million combined will be added to salary.

Losing 2 players to FA, would like to sign 1 before season ends. However, I am over budget by the amount listed above. I expect to be over by same amount next season as this season. The player I would like to sign would make roughly 40% next year of what he made this year.

I have an injured player who makes a good chunk of money, this year and next year. I probably need to release him to try to be able to resign the arbitration eligible players. The release of said player will put me below the salary cap next year.

My questions are:

If I release the player in question, could it reduce my budget for next year? I am afraid that it might do that.

The owner has controlling fiscal personality, when going after FA/offering extensions in offseason, would I need to worry about the budget or would that only come into play during the season?

It largely depends on how much cash you have.
Is the team profitable? Are you spending cash reserves from before you took over?
Cap and budget are important but if you have cash you can take hits when cutting players.
This is my experience at least.

I appreciate the answer. I probably am going to cut the player in question, that's not an issue. I think I have more than 2x the amount of money needed to do so. My concern about the budget is, right now, I can not make any offers to any player currently on my team. Not being able to offer the 2 FA players contracts, I can accept because of the budget issue for next year. I would be straight adding expenses to the team for the following year(s). However, if I try to offer any of the 3 arbitration eligible players a new contract starting next season. The owner rejects the offer based on being over budget.This is the case no matter how low I go with the offer. If/when I release the player in question, I will still be over budget. That's why I asked about would the budget go down.

It should not, I don't think. I have seen budgets follow season to season income more than exceeding budget by paying off salaries.

Releasing the player might not matter to the budget. You will still have to pay his salary due in his contract. Your only option is to trade some of your higher paid veterans for some young talent. You may lose in the beginning, but you will have more budget space in the future. Also, arbitration can kill a budget. Sometimes it is best to let the player go or try offering a salary lower than the expected and see if he signs for the lower salary. What I usually do when I cannot get a player to sign a decent contract through arbitration is to trade him for a cheaper player. Again you will lose short term but have more budget space in the future.

The reasoning you give makes sense.

I would love to trade the player, was in process of trading player, then player had season ending injury. Player will not be back until Spring Training sometime. I picked up his replacement, by trade in preseason/Spring Training of this year, for when his contract ended next year. Currently in September, 2 weeks left in regular season. I can't see anyone making a deal for this player, for one year blind, since he will not be back until March. He is currently the 4th highest paid player on roster, next year 3rd highest.

The arbitration I am concerned about comes from 3 players with combined increase of 10.7 million currently. 2 of the 3 players are arbitration estimates from 350k currently to over 4 million. Releasing the 3 players is not an option, 2 are 27 years old, and the third is 24. The 24 year old has the biggest potential increase, but he has been an everyday player since I took the team over, at start of season 3 years ago. One of the 27 year olds has been an everyday player since I took over 3 years ago. This year was a breakout season for him. The other 2 seasons were not bad though. The other 27 year old player was acquired in a trade I made earlier this season. He was acquired to shore up my pitching rotation. I overpaid to get him, and he has excelled being on a good team.

I know I come across as being stubborn. For that I apologize. The only thing I know for sure about the offseason is that the injured player will most likely be released. I am not worried about that. I made 23 million last year, but this year because I raised player development by at least 300%, I stand to lose 5-10 million. I stand to make playoffs, should win division. Possibly #1 W/L in the team for 2nd possibly 3rd year in a row. I currently am estimating being 13 million, probably more if budget goes down, over budget next year. I know I will need to move the injured player, probably release player. Since I am estimated to be over budget next year whether or not I release the injured player, I figure I will not be able to offer contracts to the arbitration players. Is that a fair assessment? I base that assessment on the fact I can not offer extensions now being over budget. Does the player development and scouting money matter in offseason? Would being over budget matter in the offseason if I was below the salary cap? When I move the injured player I will be below the salary cap next season.

Few things to remember when budgeting payroll for your future purpose. The formula for estimating how much to budget for work should be simple. Here are few questions every contractor should ask him or herself when estimating a budget. Make sure that you can check here audit paie payroll facility with the project owner for any wage considerations before submitting a bid. If a project is funded with public money, you may be required to pay your team members at the current prevailing wage rates.