salaries page
 

can someone please explain what the A in parenthesis and numbers in italics mean? I don't want to play this game if I can't understand the financial aspect of it.

Arbitration. It means the player is in an arbitration year that season, so therefore while the amount that he will be paid is to be determined, he is under the control of the team.

(A) = Arbitration
(auto) = automatic renew


italics = figures are estimates since they may change




For future reference, if you scroll to bottom of that page, the meanings are all spelled out there.

thanks guys.

so in the case of Gavin Beardmore(third from top), if I do nothing to extend his contract this year and just leave it be, he will be forced to stay on the team next year after an arbitration settlement?

If the first column represents this year, then yes he should be under team control for next year too. He can only become a free agent when he reaches 6 years of Major League Service Time, unless you've set it to something else in your settings. :)

That's correct. At the end of the season you will submit a salary that you think that player is worth and the player will submit a salary that he thinks he is worth. it will then go to an arbitration hearing which will decide which salary the player gets for the next yer.

The number shown on the salary page is just an estimate as to what that player will make next year - it could be higher or lower (sometimes by a fair bit) depending on which way the hearing goes. You can, of course sign the player to an extension to avoid arbitration, but that usually will cost you more. Sometimes worth it to lock a player up.

Odds are good.
It actually is determined by his exact ML service time. This screen is not perfectly accurate because you can demote him to the minors, then he stops accruing service and his arbitration is changed.
You need to go to the player profile->contract tab and look at his ML service days.
If you do not understand ML service, service days, arbitration and pro years to free agency you can google them. Once you deal with it a few times it is simple but at first it can be difficult to understand.