Spring Training & Player Salaries

Yeldarb · 01-30-2011, 03:42 PM

I apologize if this is listed somewhere else. I tried a search and got about 70 entries from the Dynasty forum and so I am posting this here.

My problem concerns Spring Training and Player Salaries.

I call up a player, let's call him John Smith, from AAA who is on a minor league contract to participate in Spring Training. Of course, in order for him to do that, he has to be placed on the 40-man roster.

At no point during Spring Training does John Smith's contract convert into a Major League Contract for the league minimum ($400K in this case).

I get to the end of Spring Training. While Smith did make some progress, it wasn't enough to dislodge a starter and I feel he would be better served playing everyday at AAA. At this point, his contract status still shows up as a minor league contract.

I move the game forward to Opening Day. I check my Salary Report just to remind myself who all is eligible for free agency after the season and John Smith appears on my major league payroll as making the league minimum. I bring up Smith's player profile and check his contract status and confirm that the game says he is now under a major league contract making the league minimum.

Why is this happening? Is it because he's still on the 40-man roster? Is this just a glitch in the game?

Please enlighten me because my online league is about to go through its first Spring Training under OOTP 11 (we converted up from 6.5) and we use a salary cap and this will definitely deter people from bringing up minor leaguers to take part in Spring Training and could very well really screw up some teams' cap situation.

Biggio509 · 01-30-2011, 04:20 PM

From the manual.

"
Minor League Contracts

There are just two types of player contracts in OOTP: major league and minor league. Minor league contracts have no set duration. A player with a minor league contract remains under the team's control until one of the following events occurs:

The player attains minor league free agency
The player is added to a team's secondary roster. When this happens, the player's contract immediately changes to a one-year major league contract for the league minimum salary.
The player is traded, retires, or is given a major league contract extension.

Note: In OOTP, minor league contracts do not cost the team any money. They are effectively $0 contracts."

Biggio509 · 01-30-2011, 04:26 PM

Also taking a guy off the 40 man should not move him back to a minor league deal, at least for that season.

From the manual,

"
Contract Implications of Removing Players from the Secondary Roster

When a team signs a player to a major league deal, he is placed on the secondary roster. If he then is outrighted or otherwise demoted, his contract remains intact, and he is still paid his major league salary despite being in the minor leagues. If the player refuses the assignment, and is released, the team must pay him the remainder of the money in his contract. In real life, if a player refuses a minor league assignment, he can become a free agent and forfeit the remainder of his contract. This is not the case in OOTP."

In other words if he goes to spring training he gets paid league minimum. In OOTP 12 split contracts will allow a guy to go back to a minor league contract or at least receive less than league minimum if he does not play in the majors.

snepp · 01-30-2011, 04:29 PM

nm

Yeldarb · 01-30-2011, 04:42 PM

So, since we're going by the manual:

"Spring Training is typically held beginning in early March for a period of 30 days. Spring Training is only for major league teams. During Spring Training, the active roster limit is removed, and any players on a team's secondary roster can be moved onto the active roster without recording major league service time. Before Opening Day, you must reduce the number of players on your active roster back to 25 (or whatever the active roster limit is in your league)."

So, despite not having a major league contract all through Spring Training and NOT accumulating any major league service time during Spring Training AND being back in the minor leagues prior to Opening Day, the player all of a sudden gets a major league contract?

Then why is it that at the end of a season when I send an Automatic Resign contract to the minors and it reverts to a Minor League Contract despite the player being on the 40-man roster or why doesn't a minor league player receive a major league contract when I put him on the 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft?

I have read the manual many times and, as I'm sure I'm not the only one who has noticed, it is not the most accurate document ever created.

I am looking for an answer for why this particular situation is happening when by all accounts it should not be.

snepp · 01-30-2011, 04:58 PM

I don't recall the MLB specifics, but every player on the 40-man roster gets a league minimum contract. If they're in the minors they only get paid a certain percentage depending upon their years of service.

This is modeled in OOTP, once the season starts every player on the 40 will get assigned a league minimum deal if they didn't already possess one. If they're in the minors they will only get paid a fraction (10% I believe). I have no idea how the game does its accounting for cap purposes though.

Biggio509 · 01-30-2011, 05:07 PM

For what I have seen if a man is on the 40 man on day 1 of the season or thereafter he gets a major league contract. If he is taken off the 40 man during the off-season and he was making league minimum he gets a minor league contract. I am not sure this accurate to league rules but the game only gives the contract if the guy is on the 40 and it is day 1 of the season to the end of the playoffs.

I think this makes sense. You put a man of the 40 man during the off-season and his next season contract has not started yet. Therefore, his next season contract will be a minor league deal. You put him on the 40 man during the season and you have to pay him minimum for the remainder of the season. You take him off during the season you have to pay minimum for the rest of the season. You take him off during the offseason and there is no contract left for the previous season so he can go back to a minor league deal for next year. He got his pay for last year so he goes back to the minor league contract unless you put him on the 40 man during the season.

So I suppose if you bring a guy up during ST, in the game not RL, and waive him and take him off the 40 man before day 1 of the season he does not get a major league contract, you also risk another team claiming him. If he is on the 40 man day 1 of the season then he gets a ML contract. Actually I am 100% this happens but I have done it with guys who were out of options.

I have no idea how that compares to real life but I am pretty sure how it works in the game. In OOTP 12 this will be less of a problem if the guy has a split contract he will go back to a minor league contract regardless if he is on the 40 on day 1.

The game does not assign a ML contract if the move to the 40 is made in the offseason or ST. It only assigns a contract from day 1 of the season onward. It also only reverts a guy back to a minor league if you take him off the 40 man between the end of the playoffs and day 1 of the regular season.

Yeldarb · 01-30-2011, 05:15 PM

OK, that's what I was looking for and I have been able to replicate it in a test run.

As long as you remove the player from the 40-man roster before the season begins, the player will not receive a major league contract.

Thanks.

tejdog1 · 01-30-2011, 05:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yeldarb

OK, that's what I was looking for and I have been able to replicate it in a test run.

As long as you remove the player from the 40-man roster before the season begins, the player will not receive a major league contract.

Thanks.

Yeah but to do that you have to I believe DFA him, which puts him on waivers, letting any team claim him.

Yeldarb · 01-30-2011, 06:57 PM

That's true if you're in a league with Waivers enabled. It's something you have to take into account before placing a player on the 40-man roster for any reason when Waivers is involved.

01-30-2011, 03:42 PM	#1
Yeldarb Minors (Double A) Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 165	Spring Training & Player Salaries I apologize if this is listed somewhere else. I tried a search and got about 70 entries from the Dynasty forum and so I am posting this here. My problem concerns Spring Training and Player Salaries. I call up a player, let's call him John Smith, from AAA who is on a minor league contract to participate in Spring Training. Of course, in order for him to do that, he has to be placed on the 40-man roster. At no point during Spring Training does John Smith's contract convert into a Major League Contract for the league minimum ($400K in this case). I get to the end of Spring Training. While Smith did make some progress, it wasn't enough to dislodge a starter and I feel he would be better served playing everyday at AAA. At this point, his contract status still shows up as a minor league contract. I move the game forward to Opening Day. I check my Salary Report just to remind myself who all is eligible for free agency after the season and John Smith appears on my major league payroll as making the league minimum. I bring up Smith's player profile and check his contract status and confirm that the game says he is now under a major league contract making the league minimum. Why is this happening? Is it because he's still on the 40-man roster? Is this just a glitch in the game? Please enlighten me because my online league is about to go through its first Spring Training under OOTP 11 (we converted up from 6.5) and we use a salary cap and this will definitely deter people from bringing up minor leaguers to take part in Spring Training and could very well really screw up some teams' cap situation.

01-30-2011, 04:20 PM	#2
Biggio509 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 2,027	From the manual. " Minor League Contracts There are just two types of player contracts in OOTP: major league and minor league. Minor league contracts have no set duration. A player with a minor league contract remains under the team's control until one of the following events occurs: The player attains minor league free agency The player is added to a team's secondary roster. When this happens, the player's contract immediately changes to a one-year major league contract for the league minimum salary. The player is traded, retires, or is given a major league contract extension. Note: In OOTP, minor league contracts do not cost the team any money. They are effectively $0 contracts."

01-30-2011, 04:26 PM	#3
Biggio509 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 2,027	Also taking a guy off the 40 man should not move him back to a minor league deal, at least for that season. From the manual, " Contract Implications of Removing Players from the Secondary Roster When a team signs a player to a major league deal, he is placed on the secondary roster. If he then is outrighted or otherwise demoted, his contract remains intact, and he is still paid his major league salary despite being in the minor leagues. If the player refuses the assignment, and is released, the team must pay him the remainder of the money in his contract. In real life, if a player refuses a minor league assignment, he can become a free agent and forfeit the remainder of his contract. This is not the case in OOTP." In other words if he goes to spring training he gets paid league minimum. In OOTP 12 split contracts will allow a guy to go back to a minor league contract or at least receive less than league minimum if he does not play in the majors. Last edited by Biggio509; 01-30-2011 at 04:27 PM.

01-30-2011, 04:29 PM	#4
snepp All Star Starter Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 1,497	nm Last edited by snepp; 01-30-2011 at 04:31 PM. Reason: Will re-do this post after I double-check something.

01-30-2011, 05:07 PM	#7
Biggio509 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 2,027	For what I have seen if a man is on the 40 man on day 1 of the season or thereafter he gets a major league contract. If he is taken off the 40 man during the off-season and he was making league minimum he gets a minor league contract. I am not sure this accurate to league rules but the game only gives the contract if the guy is on the 40 and it is day 1 of the season to the end of the playoffs. I think this makes sense. You put a man of the 40 man during the off-season and his next season contract has not started yet. Therefore, his next season contract will be a minor league deal. You put him on the 40 man during the season and you have to pay him minimum for the remainder of the season. You take him off during the season you have to pay minimum for the rest of the season. You take him off during the offseason and there is no contract left for the previous season so he can go back to a minor league deal for next year. He got his pay for last year so he goes back to the minor league contract unless you put him on the 40 man during the season. So I suppose if you bring a guy up during ST, in the game not RL, and waive him and take him off the 40 man before day 1 of the season he does not get a major league contract, you also risk another team claiming him. If he is on the 40 man day 1 of the season then he gets a ML contract. Actually I am 100% this happens but I have done it with guys who were out of options. I have no idea how that compares to real life but I am pretty sure how it works in the game. In OOTP 12 this will be less of a problem if the guy has a split contract he will go back to a minor league contract regardless if he is on the 40 on day 1. The game does not assign a ML contract if the move to the 40 is made in the offseason or ST. It only assigns a contract from day 1 of the season onward. It also only reverts a guy back to a minor league if you take him off the 40 man between the end of the playoffs and day 1 of the regular season. Last edited by Biggio509; 01-30-2011 at 05:08 PM.

01-30-2011, 04:42 PM	#5
Yeldarb Minors (Double A) Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 165	So, since we're going by the manual: "Spring Training is typically held beginning in early March for a period of 30 days. Spring Training is only for major league teams. During Spring Training, the active roster limit is removed, and any players on a team's secondary roster can be moved onto the active roster without recording major league service time. Before Opening Day, you must reduce the number of players on your active roster back to 25 (or whatever the active roster limit is in your league)." So, despite not having a major league contract all through Spring Training and NOT accumulating any major league service time during Spring Training AND being back in the minor leagues prior to Opening Day, the player all of a sudden gets a major league contract? Then why is it that at the end of a season when I send an Automatic Resign contract to the minors and it reverts to a Minor League Contract despite the player being on the 40-man roster or why doesn't a minor league player receive a major league contract when I put him on the 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft? I have read the manual many times and, as I'm sure I'm not the only one who has noticed, it is not the most accurate document ever created. I am looking for an answer for why this particular situation is happening when by all accounts it should not be.

01-30-2011, 04:58 PM	#6
snepp All Star Starter Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 1,497	I don't recall the MLB specifics, but every player on the 40-man roster gets a league minimum contract. If they're in the minors they only get paid a certain percentage depending upon their years of service. This is modeled in OOTP, once the season starts every player on the 40 will get assigned a league minimum deal if they didn't already possess one. If they're in the minors they will only get paid a fraction (10% I believe). I have no idea how the game does its accounting for cap purposes though.

01-30-2011, 05:15 PM	#8
Yeldarb Minors (Double A) Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 165	OK, that's what I was looking for and I have been able to replicate it in a test run. As long as you remove the player from the 40-man roster before the season begins, the player will not receive a major league contract. Thanks.

01-30-2011, 06:57 PM	#10
Yeldarb Minors (Double A) Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 165	That's true if you're in a league with Waivers enabled. It's something you have to take into account before placing a player on the 40-man roster for any reason when Waivers is involved.