Question About Back-Loaded Contract Offers and FA Budget

Kanonen80 · 02-14-2012, 11:12 AM

Set let me set the stage: I was attempting to make an offer to a Free Agent that would fit in my budget. I have $19.9 million for Free Agents left for the current season, but I have money coming off the books after the current season, and my budget is projected to increase next season. I decide to offer a contract that starts out with a yearly salary several million below my $19.9M limit this season, and ends up with a yearly salary a bit higher at the end of the deal.

However, I was getting a message saying that "your owner does NOT approve this deal because you do not have enough money available!"

I double checked, and the negotiation windows said that I had several million left over for Free Agents this season AFTER the offer, so there is no way that I was going over budget like the message said. So I decided to do some experimenting to see if I could lock down why the owner took issue with my offer. I started out by offering a fixed-salary deal for max length at the maximum I had available for Free Agents this season:

Naturally, my experimental deal was far more than the deal I was actually offering, yet the owner allowed it! So I'm thinking that maybe the owner is balking at the back-loading of the deal. So I play with the yearly salaries a bit and offer this:

Rejected! Reason? Not enough money available! Which is odd since it's less money than my first test offer. I'm not getting the "improperly structured" message, so I dismiss the idea that the owner has an issue with the difference in money between the first and last years of the contract. Then I realize: in my first test offer, none of the yearly values are greater than the money I have left for FA in 2016. So I play with the numbers a little more - still back loading but keeping the highest AV under the $19,959,407:

Bingo! Accepted.

My Hypothesis: The owner will reject my offer where an annual value for any season during the contract offer exceeds the current season's Free Agent budget.

Questions: Is this intended? It doesn't seem right to limit future annual values in a contract offer to the CURRENT season's budget. What if I have some extreme money coming off the books after this season, say $100 M for arguments sake. I CAN afford to have Year 2 of the deal exceed the FA budget for Year 1, so the owner shouldn't block my offer (in my opinion).

Does anyone see any issues with my hypothesis, or have one of their own?

02-14-2012, 11:12 AM	#1
Kanonen80 Minors (Single A) Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 69	Question About Back-Loaded Contract Offers and FA Budget Set let me set the stage: I was attempting to make an offer to a Free Agent that would fit in my budget. I have $19.9 million for Free Agents left for the current season, but I have money coming off the books after the current season, and my budget is projected to increase next season. I decide to offer a contract that starts out with a yearly salary several million below my $19.9M limit this season, and ends up with a yearly salary a bit higher at the end of the deal. However, I was getting a message saying that "your owner does NOT approve this deal because you do not have enough money available!" I double checked, and the negotiation windows said that I had several million left over for Free Agents this season AFTER the offer, so there is no way that I was going over budget like the message said. So I decided to do some experimenting to see if I could lock down why the owner took issue with my offer. I started out by offering a fixed-salary deal for max length at the maximum I had available for Free Agents this season: Naturally, my experimental deal was far more than the deal I was actually offering, yet the owner allowed it! So I'm thinking that maybe the owner is balking at the back-loading of the deal. So I play with the yearly salaries a bit and offer this: Rejected! Reason? Not enough money available! Which is odd since it's less money than my first test offer. I'm not getting the "improperly structured" message, so I dismiss the idea that the owner has an issue with the difference in money between the first and last years of the contract. Then I realize: in my first test offer, none of the yearly values are greater than the money I have left for FA in 2016. So I play with the numbers a little more - still back loading but keeping the highest AV under the $19,959,407: Bingo! Accepted. My Hypothesis: The owner will reject my offer where an annual value for any season during the contract offer exceeds the current season's Free Agent budget. Questions: Is this intended? It doesn't seem right to limit future annual values in a contract offer to the CURRENT season's budget. What if I have some extreme money coming off the books after this season, say $100 M for arguments sake. I CAN afford to have Year 2 of the deal exceed the FA budget for Year 1, so the owner shouldn't block my offer (in my opinion). Does anyone see any issues with my hypothesis, or have one of their own?