[Corsairs]

The problem has been indeed been occuring for years before 2059; in fact it started as soon as I covereted the league over to OOTP 9 (before the 2008 season).

I tested your suggestion of moving the draft to October. Good news/bad news. The good news: Yes, that does seem to prevent the AI from immediately releasing the players. The bad news: most of them are released upon the conclusion of the season (despite being clearly superior to other options on the team's roster).

And it's not just draftees; all kinds of players are being signed and released. In one example, a particularly unloved player was signed and released 58 times over the course of an off-season before eventually catching on with a team in the universe's primrary league. This player was rated the #20 prospect in the Winter League by OSA before being cut and bouncing around.

Those draftees who are being kept, the AI refuses to play them. The #1 pick from a draft 3 years ago has yet to get into a single game despite having better actual ratings than almost anyone on the team. He's currently rated as the #12 prospect in the league by OSA.

The off-season in these two winter leagues has devloved into a non-stop cycle of sign and release. The transaction logs are filled to the brim with the daily moves. But the problem is only affecting the two winter leagues; the other leagues in the universe aren't exhibiting any of this behavior.