Online Leagues: Salary Cap & Arbitration

Charlie Hustle · 03-24-2003, 12:22 AM

I'm in a league that is in some dire need of advice. We are a 16 team league with a salary cap of $62,000,000 and a team cash max of $15,000,000. After this coming season, we will be converting to OOTP5, and we are greatly anticipating the switch.

One thing that is weighing heavily on our minds though is how arbitration will interact with our salary cap. Some of us are concerned that the two can not co-exist in the same league. Others feel that we need to up the cap by varying degrees. (ranging from $65 million to $100 million) No one in the league has really come out with a firm stance, we are just trying to gather as much info on the topic as possible before we proceed.

Any and all recomendations/experiences are appreciated and welcomed. If it helps here is a link to our leagues financial data from the past season. If you'd like the main site link, you can find us here at the FEBL .

Thanks for any and all input.

PS. Here is a link to the discussion on our league forum.

sporr · 03-24-2003, 10:09 AM

To give you a quick answer, the only thing that arbitration does is take away a few years of what was in OOTP4 an Auto resign at league minimum salary. So, I wouldn't say that it would really have to affect the cap much at all. It may take a few seasons for everyone to adjust to the new system though.

Another Mike D · 03-24-2003, 11:24 AM

Why don't you convert and without posting it, see what will happen. In a league I'm in this is what was done. The commish then tallied the differences in payroll between v4 and v5 and we decided not to increase the cap (the most a team went up was 15M). So we decided people can get "free cuts" to cut the amount of increased payroll...if your payroll differed by 8M, you could cut 8M of players free....there are other things as well, but it's not that big a deal.

Ben Music · 03-24-2003, 01:01 PM

What the WLB did was set all the people who got arbitrated during the switch over (from v4 to v5) back to minor league contracts. This basically suspended arbiration for a year. We thought that this was fair as GMs had planned based on a different set of rules based on OOTP 4. Everyone seemed pretty happy with it.

Charlie Hustle · 03-24-2003, 04:01 PM

Thanks for the replies guys.

Ben - That looks like a pretty good idea. I'll make sure the commish see's this.

Sporr - You're telling me that even though the league minimum escalates to $300,000 and players start getting bigger paychecks earlier, this will have NO effect on the salary cap?

Are there any leagues out there that have finished a year, off-season to off-season?

Charlie Hustle · 03-24-2003, 04:08 PM

By the way Ben, the WLB site is fantastic!

sporr · 03-24-2003, 05:42 PM

Charlie - the effect of the increase in minimum salary and arbitration doesn't end up having too much affect on payrolls from what I've seen. The only teams affected are those that are already fairly close to the cap already. Teams that have a lot of young players are usually way below the cap, so when arbitration kicks in, it usually doesn't put them over it. What I've seen in some leagues is allowing teams to go over the cap in the conversion year, giving them a season to get themselves back under it.

Charlie Hustle · 03-24-2003, 08:33 PM

Sporr - Thanks, that eases my mind hearing you say that. My team is a middle-of-the-pack group so it won't monkey with my plans too much.

The topic of seperation from top to bottom was also mentioned in our league discussion regarding the switch. I'm hoping that the new finances don't allow the rich to keep on trucking, while the poor dig a deeper hole.

Any ideas, short of monkeying with actual income dollars, as to how we can re-establish parity?

Darren Drewitz · 03-24-2003, 10:21 PM

We are having that anytime an arbitration offer is made, you are allowed to cut that player free of charge if you dont want to pay hiim that much. Not sure on the cap situation. I would just wait and convert and see the salaries of the teams and adjust the cap accordingly.

03-24-2003, 12:22 AM	#1
Charlie Hustle Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Chillicothe, OH Posts: 39	Online Leagues: Salary Cap & Arbitration I'm in a league that is in some dire need of advice. We are a 16 team league with a salary cap of $62,000,000 and a team cash max of $15,000,000. After this coming season, we will be converting to OOTP5, and we are greatly anticipating the switch. One thing that is weighing heavily on our minds though is how arbitration will interact with our salary cap. Some of us are concerned that the two can not co-exist in the same league. Others feel that we need to up the cap by varying degrees. (ranging from $65 million to $100 million) No one in the league has really come out with a firm stance, we are just trying to gather as much info on the topic as possible before we proceed. Any and all recomendations/experiences are appreciated and welcomed. If it helps here is a link to our leagues financial data from the past season. If you'd like the main site link, you can find us here at the FEBL . Thanks for any and all input. PS. Here is a link to the discussion on our league forum. Last edited by Charlie Hustle; 03-24-2003 at 12:28 AM.

03-24-2003, 11:24 AM	#3
Another Mike D All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: atl Posts: 891	Why don't you convert and without posting it, see what will happen. In a league I'm in this is what was done. The commish then tallied the differences in payroll between v4 and v5 and we decided not to increase the cap (the most a team went up was 15M). So we decided people can get "free cuts" to cut the amount of increased payroll...if your payroll differed by 8M, you could cut 8M of players free....there are other things as well, but it's not that big a deal. __________________ San Diego Padres NexGen Baseball League Cleveland Indians United Baseball League Co-commissioner of United Baseball League

03-24-2003, 01:01 PM	#4
Ben Music Major Leagues Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Minneapolis, MN Posts: 432	What the WLB did was set all the people who got arbitrated during the switch over (from v4 to v5) back to minor league contracts. This basically suspended arbiration for a year. We thought that this was fair as GMs had planned based on a different set of rules based on OOTP 4. Everyone seemed pretty happy with it. __________________

03-24-2003, 10:21 PM	#9
Darren Drewitz Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mother Warsaw Posts: 28	We are having that anytime an arbitration offer is made, you are allowed to cut that player free of charge if you dont want to pay hiim that much. Not sure on the cap situation. I would just wait and convert and see the salaries of the teams and adjust the cap accordingly. __________________ Darren Drewitz Warsaw Warriors

03-24-2003, 10:09 AM	#2
sporr Global Moderator Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Muscatine, IA Posts: 8,277	To give you a quick answer, the only thing that arbitration does is take away a few years of what was in OOTP4 an Auto resign at league minimum salary. So, I wouldn't say that it would really have to affect the cap much at all. It may take a few seasons for everyone to adjust to the new system though.

03-24-2003, 04:01 PM	#5
Charlie Hustle Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Chillicothe, OH Posts: 39	Thanks for the replies guys. Ben - That looks like a pretty good idea. I'll make sure the commish see's this. Sporr - You're telling me that even though the league minimum escalates to $300,000 and players start getting bigger paychecks earlier, this will have NO effect on the salary cap? Are there any leagues out there that have finished a year, off-season to off-season?

03-24-2003, 04:08 PM	#6
Charlie Hustle Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Chillicothe, OH Posts: 39	By the way Ben, the WLB site is fantastic!

03-24-2003, 05:42 PM	#7
sporr Global Moderator Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Muscatine, IA Posts: 8,277	Charlie - the effect of the increase in minimum salary and arbitration doesn't end up having too much affect on payrolls from what I've seen. The only teams affected are those that are already fairly close to the cap already. Teams that have a lot of young players are usually way below the cap, so when arbitration kicks in, it usually doesn't put them over it. What I've seen in some leagues is allowing teams to go over the cap in the conversion year, giving them a season to get themselves back under it.

03-24-2003, 08:33 PM	#8
Charlie Hustle Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Chillicothe, OH Posts: 39	Sporr - Thanks, that eases my mind hearing you say that. My team is a middle-of-the-pack group so it won't monkey with my plans too much. The topic of seperation from top to bottom was also mentioned in our league discussion regarding the switch. I'm hoping that the new finances don't allow the rich to keep on trucking, while the poor dig a deeper hole. Any ideas, short of monkeying with actual income dollars, as to how we can re-establish parity?