Anyone else see this problem?

[joncon16]

I've seen this happen a more than a few times now, the AI releases a pretty decent player because he suffered a fairly bad injury and refused to removed from the 40-man roster. The most recent occurrence happened to me last night, the Cardinals released Jim Edmonds (CBL 2.0 roster now in 2005 season 4.5 star CF).

This case could perhaps be explained by the fact that Edmonds was in his walk year and St. Louis did not want to resign a 35 year-old coming off a season ending injury, but it has happened in my seasons enough times for me to not think it's just a "blip".


I'm not complaining, being that my team has managed to create enough fiscal flexibility to sign these FAs to one-year deals and place them on the DL until they're healthy. But I do think it's financially irresponsible of the AI to allow big market teams to snatch up these players while absorbing the player expenses incurred by releasing them.

Also, did anyone notice some big-time FAs not receiving contracts during the signing period? After the 2004 season in the aforementioned league both Troy Percival and Mariano Rivera were still in the FA pool at the end of Spring Training. And both were available at steep discounts for one-year contracts (in the $2.25-2.75 mil range I believe). Having just signed Billy Wagner to complement Keith Foulke I passed, but can you imagine a bullpen containing Foulke, Wagner, Percival & Rivera all for about $14mil combined? That would be devastating.

[Dud_Selig]

Yes, I’ve seen this every year that I've simmed. And in many cases, it's not just decent players who get released in this fashion, but star players as well. Your example of Edmonds being released is not unique, unfortunately, and it has nothing to do with the number of years that they have left on their contracts. I've seen quite a few players get released the same year they were inked to expensive, multi-year contracts after suffering season-ending injuries.

As far as your FA question is concerned, I haven't noticed this at all. If anything, big-name free agents are usually the subject of drawn-out bidding wars in my league. I think this might be contingent on how you've set up your league's finances. It's been my experience that if you give the AI the means to accumulate a lot of money, it will spend generously on FA's....almost to the point of absurdity. But that's a personal preference, and that's just how I like it.

[joncon16]

I haven't messed around with the finances too much yet, but the teams are definitely spending money ie Carlos Beltran receiving a contract for over $17mil/year (though I forget how many years).

I'm not really worried about it too much. Adds to the excitement of FA signings in the offseason or even as late-season additions in the quest for a title.

As a side-note: I remember this happening in OOTP 5 as well. Sammy Sosa of all people went unsigned allowing me to pick him up for a little over $7 mil for one year. I don't remember his exact stats, but he was coming off a solid year and then proceeded to hit .298 with 40-something HRs and 100+ RBIs for me!

[yanksfan3333]

The Problem i have is that the AI will almost always outbid you on a player. I have bid 20 mil a year on a guy who was asking for about 5 as a test, and I had the high bid for a few days, then the AI bid higher. Of course, at that point, i didnt re-bid.

[Dud_Selig]

Originally posted by yanksfan3333
The Problem i have is that the AI will almost always outbid you on a player. I have bid 20 mil a year on a guy who was asking for about 5 as a test, and I had the high bid for a few days, then the AI bid higher. Of course, at that point, i didnt re-bid.

You can actually use this to your advantage. I bid on nearly every high-quality FA that I can, even players that I don’t need or want. That will invariably drive the price of those players up, & up, etc. When you sense that the player likes your offer, and that no one will offer him more $$, simply withdraw your offer. It doesn’t matter if the player gets angry with your organization because you never intended to sign him anyway.

It’s a great way to screw your competitors by forcing them to overpay for every player that they want to sign. If you can drive their payrolls up enough, especially to the point where they’re spending more than they make, the AI will eventually dump some salary in order to get its finances back in order, or will be much more passive in the following year’s FA market, making it easier for you to sign the players you want.

[Malleus Dei]

Dud, you are one shrewd and nasty monkey. I wish you had your brother Bud's job.

[silvam14]

I play mostly fictional so I can't really tell if its a problem because I don't have any pre-conceived notions of player greatness. I'm thankful for that in this case

[Dud_Selig]

Originally posted by Malleus Dei
Dud, you are one shrewd and nasty monkey. I wish you had your brother Bud's job.

Ya damn skippy I am!

But I wasn’t aware that my “brother” had a job….Oh wait, running the Expos almost passes for a legitimate job in San Juan, PR....almost

[Malleus Dei]

Dud, have you been to San Juan recently?

What an armpit...