[Sudy Nym]

First of all, I'll pose the questions- then I'll include the story, for those who are interested.


1) If you release a player who's in the last year of his contract after you've signed him to a new extension, but before the end of the current season, are you responsible for his extension salary?

Mind you, I mean in the OOTP4 client- not in real-world baseball. To my knowledge, the extension is just forgotten if it has not been activated yet. But I'm curious as to whether anything happens that the client doesn't warn you about.

2) Can you release a player after the World Series/regular season (depending on how far your team gets) as long as the "proceed to next season" button has not yet been pressed?

I strongly assume yes, but am looking for some clarification.


And now, my story:

Basically, in my favourite internet league, the TSTBL, this season I've had the supreme misfortune of having two players lose talent not long after being signed to multi-year extensions.

One was to a fairly average yet reliable MR who dropped in two categories. As his ratings have not yet completely deteriorated, he's still had a fairly good season. But as he's rated fair in potential for most categories now, he'd be a burden in the future. I had signed him to a three-year, $900,000 contract- so even if I can't release him, it won't be a great financial loss.

But that's not the primary concern that I am seeking advice regarding. First of all, I should mention that the TSTBL started out as a rookie league, so the salary cap started low, and climbs incrementally each season. We're now in our fourth season (2005), and next year's salary cap will be $50,000,000. As you can expect, finances are tight for quite a few teams. Not too tight to build a contender and maintain the services of young players, but tight enough that you must watch where you put your money with extreme intensity.

The other player who dropped after I signed him is my DH Albert Pujols, my star player. Of the league's three complete seasons, Pujols has won the MVP award two out of three times, and he's in contention for a third. He leads the league, lifetime, in the categories of batting average (.350), RBI (572), and runs (533). He's second in doubles and hits, and third in homeruns. This in 2384 career at bats. As you can imagine, his decline is quite upsetting- I was hoping that he could spend his career with my team, and then retire to the HOF. But hey, that's baseball- and that's what I love about the game. I'm disappointed, but at the same time, excited.

But I'm still not sure what to do about him. Here are the facts: under the league's franchise player rule, he was re-signed to a somewhat-low $5,500,000 four-year contract. Under my brilliant-rated scout, his ratings at the beginning of the season were, if I recall correctly, good/8/8/7, good 8/8/8, average/4/4/4/, good/8/8/8, average/5/5/5, average/5/5/6. There might be slight variations. Anyway, as you can see, he'd border on being rated brilliant in average, doubles, and homeruns by some teams. In fact, he was for me prior to the league changing over to all brilliant scouts. He can play a mediocre 3B, but as I mentioned, I use him at DH. No speed, as you could guess. He's 25.

However, on that fateful day in late July, his potential fell in the categories of average, homeruns, BB's, and K's, meaning that he was rated A/G/A/A/F/F. Nothing more than an average player. Luckily, the next sim period, his talent in avoiding the K returned to average (though a poor consolation, if you ask me).

Of course, as it takes a while for the actual numerical ratings to visibly degrade, he's still playing great ball, and it's nearly the middle of September. As of now, I believe the only visible ratings drop has been an all-around drop of one point in the area of batting average. This brings on question number three:


3) In your experience, how long does it take for core ratings to degrade to meet potential?

I've heard that the fall will usually be complete within a season, if not sooner.

3b) What are the chances that his potentials will rise back up to meet his talent, as his avoiding K's talent did?

Or will I just see that his numbers have deteriorated in January of next year?


I'm rather at a loss as to what I should do.

From a sentimental point of view, I want to hold onto him and hope that he'll re-gain his poise. One player under-performing shouldn't be too much of a burden on me, as I have an offense-strong line-up.

On the other hand, what are the chances that he will return to his former skill level? And paying $22 mil over four years to an average player might not be smart in my league, especially as I have young talent coming up that could probably out-play Pujols at DH in one or two years (and I have a strong 3B, already).


So what is your opinion? Should I hold onto a declining (but young) player who up until now has been one of the league's top five offensive players (the best, in my opinion)?

Or, if possible, should I release him after the playoffs, cut my losses, be smart financially, and open up the DH spot to developing players?

It's business-sense versus sentimentality. Both have a role in baseball, fictional or otherwise. The situation isn't that unfamiliar, either. Very few players can contend for MVP from age 22 to 38. But the question is what to do with them when they're not in their prime.


Thank you very much for reading this- as usual, I would appreciate any and all help or advice that you could give me.