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Interesting... Over the weekend, I just did my first solo league offseason under 6.02(a?) I was struck that, at the top end, the AI was back to making offers in the $10-$20 million range. I am in the 15th year of my league. In the early going, there were big offers. Then, as the high stat players of the initial draft retired, and the number of "giants" walking the earth (or at least my humble league) diminished, the salary structure went down. I had to keep cutting payroll to stay "realistic," even though I was able to turn a profit with the highest payroll.
So here are two observations:
1) I have been <i>happy</i> to see the salaries go up. I take it as a sign that more of the teams are trying to be competitive. Many more have payrolls in the $75-$80 million range than in many a year. Whether the players are "worth it" or not in some absolute sense makes no difference. That is, it doesn't bother me that players w/out "killer stats" (in an absolute sense) are making big money, as long as they are the best players in the league (which most of them are). Bill James wised me up on this point (that everything is relative within whatever kind of baseball you happen to be playing in that particular year).
2) I did notice that the take from television contracts went up a lot this year--at least for me. Was this unique to 6.02? I don't know. But, again, I am satisfied with the "realism quotient" of the situation.
So I have the noticed this change, too, but have enjoyed it so far.
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