International Free Agent Bonus Question

Storm · 04-12-2013, 11:17 PM

Hello -

I haven't purchased the game yet (waiting until Monday). I was wondering if International Free Agents will demand a signing bonus higher than the maximum bonus allowed per league rules, or will demands be capped at the signing bonus?

Thanks.

Lukas Berger · 04-12-2013, 11:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Storm

Hello -

I haven't purchased the game yet (waiting until Monday). I was wondering if International Free Agents will demand a signing bonus higher than the maximum bonus allowed per league rules, or will demands be capped at the signing bonus?

Thanks.

They demand higher bonuses. Sometimes much, much higher. But there's not really a maximum bonus allowed by the rules, it's just that anything over 2.9 mil or whatever(I forget the exact number

) is taxed at a high rate.

So a guy might demand a $15 mil bonus and with the tax you'd end up paying $27 mil or so for him.

There's only a couple guys like this per year. Most demands are reasonable enough that you can usually fit several top signings within the cap space without going over.

It's not the best that it's set up this way, but it is what it is. The new int. system is still really great, in spite of this one little quirk.

injury log · 04-13-2013, 12:45 AM

The demands themselves aren't usually especially crazy, though you do see some top guys demand $4.8m or so in a normal league. That's more than the "cap", which is $3m. But that's just a soft cap - you can spend more than that, but you incur some penalties for doing so. You pay a 100% tax on any amount you spend over the $3m, and if you spend a lot you can't sign any big bonus guys the following year, so you often have some interesting decisions - do you like the prospect enough to accept the penalties?

Now, if the AI teams have some money, they are very competitive in the bidding. That's good, because it makes the whole system difficult to exploit, and you won't just be able to cheaply buy a ton of top prospects every year. Sometimes if several AI teams want a guy, the bidding can reach pretty high numbers. I saw one guy go for $15m once, but that's really rare (and that guy became the top prospect in my league). But max bids around $8m aren't uncommon. While that's not quite what happens in real life, I actually think that's a very fair price to pay for a good prospect on the open market, so I think that game behaviour is fine.

Storm · 04-13-2013, 01:22 AM

The reason I asked because I was worried about a prospect comparable to Bryce Harper or Stephen Strasburg materializing in the International Free Agent pool, but not demanding a bonus appropriate for their talent level. I'm glad that's not a real concern, especially given that the AI will drive up prices.

My second question - for non-greedy prospects - will cash be the determining factor in their decision? Or can I expect to see some players take lesser offers and leave money on the table?

injury log · 04-13-2013, 02:43 AM

It's also worth bearing in mind for these players that the development system is more volatile at ages 16/17, so even if there was a guy with Strasburg/Harper potentials in the international class, he'd be far riskier than either of those guys, and thus not worth as much.

I believe money is the determining factor right now in where players sign, but I'm not entirely sure if other factors ever come into play.

04-12-2013, 11:17 PM	#1
Storm Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 243	International Free Agent Bonus Question Hello - I haven't purchased the game yet (waiting until Monday). I was wondering if International Free Agents will demand a signing bonus higher than the maximum bonus allowed per league rules, or will demands be capped at the signing bonus? Thanks.

04-13-2013, 12:45 AM	#3
injury log Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Toronto Posts: 9,162	The demands themselves aren't usually especially crazy, though you do see some top guys demand $4.8m or so in a normal league. That's more than the "cap", which is $3m. But that's just a soft cap - you can spend more than that, but you incur some penalties for doing so. You pay a 100% tax on any amount you spend over the $3m, and if you spend a lot you can't sign any big bonus guys the following year, so you often have some interesting decisions - do you like the prospect enough to accept the penalties? Now, if the AI teams have some money, they are very competitive in the bidding. That's good, because it makes the whole system difficult to exploit, and you won't just be able to cheaply buy a ton of top prospects every year. Sometimes if several AI teams want a guy, the bidding can reach pretty high numbers. I saw one guy go for $15m once, but that's really rare (and that guy became the top prospect in my league). But max bids around $8m aren't uncommon. While that's not quite what happens in real life, I actually think that's a very fair price to pay for a good prospect on the open market, so I think that game behaviour is fine.

04-13-2013, 01:22 AM	#4
Storm Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 243	The reason I asked because I was worried about a prospect comparable to Bryce Harper or Stephen Strasburg materializing in the International Free Agent pool, but not demanding a bonus appropriate for their talent level. I'm glad that's not a real concern, especially given that the AI will drive up prices. My second question - for non-greedy prospects - will cash be the determining factor in their decision? Or can I expect to see some players take lesser offers and leave money on the table?

04-13-2013, 02:43 AM	#5
injury log Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Toronto Posts: 9,162	It's also worth bearing in mind for these players that the development system is more volatile at ages 16/17, so even if there was a guy with Strasburg/Harper potentials in the international class, he'd be far riskier than either of those guys, and thus not worth as much. I believe money is the determining factor right now in where players sign, but I'm not entirely sure if other factors ever come into play.