Reserve Clause

[luckymann]

I am not a fan of this and would like to remove it from my Bucs save, currently in 1907, but don't want to mess the financials up by doing so.

Anyone got any experience and insights into how best to go about this or what the potential effects would be of switching to FA rules at a given point in time, sooner rather than later?

Thanks in advance.

G

[Brad K]

I've always played FA and at least 51 up I can say finances work.

However, in reserve clause rules doesn't everyone have a one year contract? And if you switched wouldn't everyone become a FA at the same time? There's a button to give everyone a new contract. Maybe that would fix it by varying the years.

[luckymann]

Originally Posted by Brad K

I've always played FA and at least 51 I can say finances work.

I'm wondering with FA how you'll handle the requirement for keeping legacy players.

I've always been prepared for other teams trading their Legacies away and I'm OK with that. I hope it happens as seldom as possible, but I know I can't fully prevent it.

What I have done is put them on 10-year contracts as close to their IRL salaries as soon as they are drafted, and added a no-trade clause. Not that this will 100% stop it happening but I'd think it will ****** it somewhat.

We, on the other hand, MUST retain our Legacies the full 10 years and cannot trade them after that, only let them go to FA or re-sign them.

I'm not in a total rush to do it but I think I want FA in by the time Ruth arrives, so 1920 at the latest.

[joefromchicago]

Originally Posted by Brad K

However, in reserve clause rules doesn't everyone have a one year contract?

Not necessarily. There are options under the reserve clause to allow multi-year and guaranteed contracts to star player or on a random basis. So while most players are probably on one-year-auto-renewing contracts, some players might be on longer-term deals.

Originally Posted by Brad K

And if you switched wouldn't everyone become a FA at the same time?

Well, no. A player would still have to qualify for free agency by having the minimum number of service years. So one way to transition from reserve clause to free agency might be to set the service-minimum at a high value at first and then gradually lower it to the desired amount.

I played a long-term fictional league back in version 12 that transitioned from reserve-clause financials to free agency, and I didn't really notice any unexpected issues. I'd be very surprised if version 22 couldn't handle that transition equally well.

[Brad K]

Originally Posted by luckymann

I've always been prepared for other teams trading their Legacies away and I'm OK with that. I hope it happens as seldom as possible, but I know I can't fully prevent it.

What I have done is put them on 10-year contracts as close to their IRL salaries as soon as they are drafted, and added a no-trade clause. Not that this will 100% stop it happening but I'd think it will ****** it somewhat.

We, on the other hand, MUST retain our Legacies the full 10 years and cannot trade them after that, only let them go to FA or re-sign them.

I'm not in a total rush to do it but I think I want FA in by the time Ruth arrives, so 1920 at the latest.

I took the legacy thing out because I thought this wasn't the legacy league, hence the quoted post not appearing.

[luckymann]

Originally Posted by joefromchicago

Not necessarily. There are options under the reserve clause to allow multi-year and guaranteed contracts to star player or on a random basis. So while most players are probably on one-year-auto-renewing contracts, some players might be on longer-term deals.


Well, no. A player would still have to qualify for free agency by having the minimum number of service years. So one way to transition from reserve clause to free agency might be to set the service-minimum at a high value at first and then gradually lower it to the desired amount.

I played a long-term fictional league back in version 12 that transitioned from reserve-clause financials to free agency, and I didn't really notice any unexpected issues. I'd be very surprised if version 22 couldn't handle that transition equally well.

Yep, this is exactly how I planned to phase it in. I'm just about to start '07, so I will make FA at 25 years and arb at an appropriate level, with multi-year contracts allowed for all players. Then as time progresses I'll tick it down gradually for both FA and arb until I reach the desired levels of 6 and 3.

Joe do you reckon that will work AOK?

[joefromchicago]

Originally Posted by luckymann

Joe do you reckon that will work AOK?

Sure, I think it would work.

[luckymann]

Just did the switch and all looks peachy. Bit of a bummer Arb has to be fixed at 3 but that'll work itself out in the end.

Thanks for your help, gents.

G

[luckymann]

Actually, I just had a bit more of a think on this and realised a better course of action would be to set FA at 10 years now and just leave it there, thereby meaning Legacy Players become FAs the season after their contract expires and hopefully ensuring they'll stay put the whole 10 at the designated club, whereas if I make it 6 that would reduce the chance of this happening.

So I have done that and now all players with 10 years or more of ML service will become FAs next season and it will roll from there. There aren't all that many in these early years.

I considered doing 3- or 5-year contract extensions at the end of the original 10, but I think 10 is fair enough, it means the clubs they are allocated to get their best years and have the option of keeping them, trading them, or letting them become FAs. Not perfect but I think it will get me as close to the desired effect as possible while still being reasonable for all parties.