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There is no one way to offer arbitration or a contract. What I do is to keep them as cheap as possible, for as long as possible. In year 4, the first year of arbitration I just offer the contract that comes on the arb list. In year 5 or 6 if I want the player long term I will offer a 4 year deal for a little bit more than what they are asking for in arbitration. If the game shows that the player offer is 4.5M I will offer 5M for 4 years. I pay more for the first year but get the value of buying out their other arbitration years. This works for me. Another trick is to not give in to the contract amount that they want, offer a little more than arbitration and you should get the player to sign with your. Example, I have a player that is due to make 4.5M. I go to negotiate contract and he want s 10M a year for 4 years. No way in hell do I pay him this amount so I will offer the 5M for 4 years and see if he bites. You would be surprised in how many players will accept the low ball offer, especially if it is for more than the arbitration amount for 1 year. I hope this helps. I know a lot of players will give long term contracts during the arb years and they give in to what the player wants. This just makes the player ask for way to much. I like to tie my players up until age 28-29 and then see if they are worth the big contract, usually I end up trading these players for younger players with small contracts.
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