AI giving massive contracts during arbitration

Cactusguy21 · 10-20-2018, 06:41 PM

Has anyone noticed that the AI doesn't like letting players go to arbitration, instead signing them to massive contracts and then trying to salary dump a few years later? It's annoying, sometimes I've even seen teams outbidding themselves, for example giving a 2y/2m deal to a rookie, that sort of thing.

RchW · 10-20-2018, 07:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cactusguy21

Has anyone noticed that the AI doesn't like letting players go to arbitration, instead signing them to massive contracts and then trying to salary dump a few years later? It's annoying, sometimes I've even seen teams outbidding themselves, for example giving a 2y/2m deal to a rookie, that sort of thing.

No, never happens in my leagues but it may be league type specific. Give us more detail.

Cactusguy21 · 10-21-2018, 12:57 PM

I'm playing a regular MLB quickstart league. I have scouting on 65/20/10/5. I have trading difficulty on hard.
Actually though, as I look closer at the contracts, I'm actually seeing that many of the players I thought would've been arb-eligible actually weren't, so those steep salaries are attached to the post-arb years. That makes sense.

Still though, there are some weird scenarios.

There's this one player, Adam Hill, a reliever for the Phillies. He got his first three pre-arb contracts, as normal. He then got 1.76 in his first arbitration. A little steep for a kinda garbage swingman, but nothing too worrying, maybe they view his potential as high. He then signs a massive 44m/4y contract. To this point, he had never had a good season. His best season was 1.8 WAR over 121.2 innings. He then goes on to actually do really, really well in his first year after signing the contract, but honestly 11m per year for a swingman is a little insane nonetheless. He eventually stinks it up, gets DFAed, but somehow the Giants decide they are okay with claiming that massive contract off of waivers.
Again, he's an okay player, but he's making 16m this year from the Giants.

I just feel like the AI can be a little trigger-happy when it comes to giving young guys long-term deals. They should use arbitration more than they do.

10-20-2018, 06:41 PM	#1
Cactusguy21 Major Leagues Join Date: Jun 2018 Posts: 332	AI giving massive contracts during arbitration Has anyone noticed that the AI doesn't like letting players go to arbitration, instead signing them to massive contracts and then trying to salary dump a few years later? It's annoying, sometimes I've even seen teams outbidding themselves, for example giving a 2y/2m deal to a rookie, that sort of thing.

10-21-2018, 12:57 PM	#3
Cactusguy21 Major Leagues Join Date: Jun 2018 Posts: 332	I'm playing a regular MLB quickstart league. I have scouting on 65/20/10/5. I have trading difficulty on hard. Actually though, as I look closer at the contracts, I'm actually seeing that many of the players I thought would've been arb-eligible actually weren't, so those steep salaries are attached to the post-arb years. That makes sense. Still though, there are some weird scenarios. There's this one player, Adam Hill, a reliever for the Phillies. He got his first three pre-arb contracts, as normal. He then got 1.76 in his first arbitration. A little steep for a kinda garbage swingman, but nothing too worrying, maybe they view his potential as high. He then signs a massive 44m/4y contract. To this point, he had never had a good season. His best season was 1.8 WAR over 121.2 innings. He then goes on to actually do really, really well in his first year after signing the contract, but honestly 11m per year for a swingman is a little insane nonetheless. He eventually stinks it up, gets DFAed, but somehow the Giants decide they are okay with claiming that massive contract off of waivers. Again, he's an okay player, but he's making 16m this year from the Giants. I just feel like the AI can be a little trigger-happy when it comes to giving young guys long-term deals. They should use arbitration more than they do. Last edited by Cactusguy21; 10-21-2018 at 12:58 PM.