Free Agency Bug? Or Real Cool AI?

thefreaks · 06-11-2003, 12:30 AM

In one of my online leagues during the off season free agency period, I bid $1 million more on a pitcher than another team. Both myself and the other team made a contract offer of 4 years. The pitcher favored the other teams offer over mine, but didn't accept the deal right away. The pitcher then said to me "The other team has offered me a better contract! They offer more years", but the other team didn't offer more years. So, I raise my offer another $500,000 or so, keep it a 4-year deal and FTP it off. The pitcher still won't sign with me, but was kind enough to let me know via email again that the other team offered more years on the contract, but the other team did not offer more years.

Needless to say, the pitcher elected to sign with the other team for a 4-year contract that had a total value of about $2 million less than I offered.

So, is this a bug? Or is the pitcher maybe jacking me around, telling me that the other squad offered more years in an effort to get me to offer more years? Or, does the team just not like me as much for some reason and is lying about the reasons?

Thoughts?

ChipperJones10 · 06-11-2003, 01:45 AM

How do you know the other team didn't offer more years?

dbacks · 06-11-2003, 01:59 AM

Maybe he didn't know it at the time, but once FA was over, it's possible he saw that the pitcher signed for 4 years. I'm not sure either, but that's the only way I can think of.

thefreaks · 06-11-2003, 09:15 AM

The commish works FA a little differently in this league (it's the RLB, link in my sig). On Day 1, he imports all the offers via FTP. After that, for Days 2-10 you can only bid on free agents who you've already bid on in Day 1. The commish posts the results of ay 1, and if there's multiple teams bidding on a player, the top bid is displayed. The high bidder can email another bid to the commish to be used in the event that another team makes a better bid in Days 2-10.

The "top bid" this player accepted was $3 million for 4 years on Day 1. I could tell this because the commish emailed that out to the league. For any player who had multiple bids, the dollar amount and length of contract were public knowledge to the league. If only one team had a bid on a player, no dollar amount or contract length was available to us. Anyway, my bid was $4.251 million for 4 years, but he didn't view that as the top offer on Day 1. I upped my offer the next round to $4.75 million for 4 years, and the guy ended up signing with the original high bidder after Day 1 for something like $4.25 million for 4 years (I'm at work now, don't have the game with me).

thefreaks · 06-13-2003, 09:28 AM

Bump. Still hoping someone might be able to provide some insight to this.

Also, I pasted in an example that shows the initial offers for Round 2 of our free agency (this is on the RLB web page as of now as well, but that could change soon as we're about to go to Round 3). This is the same type of page that was posted for Round 1. The player in question in my posts above has already been signed, but just wanted to show you what I was talking about when I said we could see the best offer the player liked so far.

P Bob Allen
Favorite offer so far from Detroit ($1 mil 2 years).
Other offers from:
California
St. Louis

RF George Altman
Favorite offer so far from New York (N) (Minor League Deal).
Other offers from:
Minnesota

P Bob Anderson
Favorite offer so far from California.

CF Harry Anderson
Favorite offer so far from Detroit.

2B Reno Bertoia
Favorite offer so far from St. Louis (Minor League Deal).
Other offers from:
California

P Tom Cheney
Favorite offer so far from Cleveland ($1.75 mil 2 years).
Other offers from:
Kansas City
Minnesota
Pittsburgh
Milwaukee

RF Neil Chrisley
Favorite offer so far from California.

LF Tony Curry
Favorite offer so far from New York (N) ($1 mil 3 years).
Other offers from:
California
Minnesota

3B Jim Davenport
Favorite offer so far from Cincinnati ($550K 2 years).
Other offers from:
California

SS Joe Demaestri
Favorite offer so far from Pittsburgh ($1 mil 2 years).
Other offers from:
Minnesota

P Dick Donovan
Favorite offer so far from Cincinnati ($3.5 mil 1 year).
Other offers from:
New York (A)
St. Louis

SS Chico Fernandez
Favorite offer so far from California.

1B Dick Gernert
Favorite offer so far from Pittsburgh ($1 mil 1 year).
Other offers from:
Minnesota
St. Louis
Milwaukee

3B Jim Gilliam
Favorite offer so far from Pittsburgh ($1.25 mil 2 years).
Other offers from:
Kansas City
Philadelphia

SS Alex Grammas
Favorite offer so far from New York (N).

P Hal Griggs
Favorite offer so far from Detroit.

P Don Gross
Favorite offer so far from California.

P Dick Hall
Favorite offer so far from St. Louis ($6.35 mil 4 years).
Other offers from:
Cleveland
Washington
California
Chicago (N)
Pittsburgh

C Danny Kravitz
Favorite offer so far from Minnesota (Minor League Deal).
Other offers from:
California
Kansas City

1B Norm Larker
Favorite offer so far from Minnesota.

P Duke Maas
Favorite offer so far from Cincinnati ($1 mil 2 years).
Other offers from:
Minnesota
Milwaukee

LF Charlie Maxwell
Favorite offer so far from Pittsburgh.

P Danny Mcdevitt
Favorite offer so far from Chicago (A).

SS Gil Mcdougald
Favorite offer so far from New York (N) (Minor League Deal).
Other offers from:
Kansas City

P Don Mcmahon
Favorite offer so far from Cleveland ($3.25 mil 1 year).
Other offers from:
Kansas City
Minnesota

1B Jim Mcmanus
Favorite offer so far from Kansas City.

P Tom Morgan
Favorite offer so far from Pittsburgh ($1 mil 3 years).
Other offers from:
Kansas City

LF Bob Nieman
Favorite offer so far from Minnesota.

CF Al Pilarcik
Favorite offer so far from Minnesota ($500K 3 years).
Other offers from:
New York (N)

2B Daryl Spencer
Favorite offer so far from Cleveland ($1.5 mil 1 year).
Other offers from:
Minnesota

P Jim Stump
Favorite offer so far from California.

3B Frank Thomas
Favorite offer so far from Cleveland ($3.5 mil 1 year).
Other offers from:
Minnesota
Pittsburgh
Milwaukee

3B Lee Walls
Favorite offer so far from Chicago (A) ($650K 2 years).
Other offers from:
California
New York (N)

LF Carl Warwick
Favorite offer so far from Milwaukee ($1.125 mil 3 years).
Other offers from:
California
Minnesota
New York (N)

P Ted Wills
Favorite offer so far from California.

Alan T · 06-13-2003, 04:25 PM

We have run into this same issue in a league. Is this a bug, or a feature that was purposely added (a dishonest player?)

Seen cases where a player bid $5mil / 4 years and the player turned him down for a deal that was 2.5m/ 3 years. The kicker was the player said the other team offered more years as was described above.

It probably is harder to meet a player's demands when they do not tell you the truth on what the demands are

Alan T · 06-15-2003, 08:31 AM

bump!

Alan T · 06-17-2003, 07:42 AM

anyone? anyone? Bueller?

Alan T · 06-25-2003, 03:03 PM

bump....

Markus Heinsohn · 06-28-2003, 04:19 AM

Actually a player signs for less when he prefers the team over the higher bidding team. In most cases he tells you that the lower bidding teams offers the better organization, but sometimes he also cheats on you

Alan T · 06-28-2003, 07:56 AM

So the player lying to you is intended?

Ok thanks for the reply

06-11-2003, 12:30 AM	#1
thefreaks Minors (Single A) Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 73	Free Agency Bug? Or Real Cool AI? In one of my online leagues during the off season free agency period, I bid $1 million more on a pitcher than another team. Both myself and the other team made a contract offer of 4 years. The pitcher favored the other teams offer over mine, but didn't accept the deal right away. The pitcher then said to me "The other team has offered me a better contract! They offer more years", but the other team didn't offer more years. So, I raise my offer another $500,000 or so, keep it a 4-year deal and FTP it off. The pitcher still won't sign with me, but was kind enough to let me know via email again that the other team offered more years on the contract, but the other team did not offer more years. Needless to say, the pitcher elected to sign with the other team for a 4-year contract that had a total value of about $2 million less than I offered. So, is this a bug? Or is the pitcher maybe jacking me around, telling me that the other squad offered more years in an effort to get me to offer more years? Or, does the team just not like me as much for some reason and is lying about the reasons? Thoughts?

06-11-2003, 01:45 AM	#2
ChipperJones10 Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 32	How do you know the other team didn't offer more years?

06-11-2003, 01:59 AM	#3
dbacks Hall Of Famer Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 2,735	Maybe he didn't know it at the time, but once FA was over, it's possible he saw that the pitcher signed for 4 years. I'm not sure either, but that's the only way I can think of.

06-11-2003, 09:15 AM	#4
thefreaks Minors (Single A) Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 73	The commish works FA a little differently in this league (it's the RLB, link in my sig). On Day 1, he imports all the offers via FTP. After that, for Days 2-10 you can only bid on free agents who you've already bid on in Day 1. The commish posts the results of ay 1, and if there's multiple teams bidding on a player, the top bid is displayed. The high bidder can email another bid to the commish to be used in the event that another team makes a better bid in Days 2-10. The "top bid" this player accepted was $3 million for 4 years on Day 1. I could tell this because the commish emailed that out to the league. For any player who had multiple bids, the dollar amount and length of contract were public knowledge to the league. If only one team had a bid on a player, no dollar amount or contract length was available to us. Anyway, my bid was $4.251 million for 4 years, but he didn't view that as the top offer on Day 1. I upped my offer the next round to $4.75 million for 4 years, and the guy ended up signing with the original high bidder after Day 1 for something like $4.25 million for 4 years (I'm at work now, don't have the game with me).

06-13-2003, 09:28 AM	#5
thefreaks Minors (Single A) Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 73	Bump. Still hoping someone might be able to provide some insight to this. Also, I pasted in an example that shows the initial offers for Round 2 of our free agency (this is on the RLB web page as of now as well, but that could change soon as we're about to go to Round 3). This is the same type of page that was posted for Round 1. The player in question in my posts above has already been signed, but just wanted to show you what I was talking about when I said we could see the best offer the player liked so far. P Bob Allen Favorite offer so far from Detroit ($1 mil 2 years). Other offers from: California St. Louis RF George Altman Favorite offer so far from New York (N) (Minor League Deal). Other offers from: Minnesota P Bob Anderson Favorite offer so far from California. CF Harry Anderson Favorite offer so far from Detroit. 2B Reno Bertoia Favorite offer so far from St. Louis (Minor League Deal). Other offers from: California P Tom Cheney Favorite offer so far from Cleveland ($1.75 mil 2 years). Other offers from: Kansas City Minnesota Pittsburgh Milwaukee RF Neil Chrisley Favorite offer so far from California. LF Tony Curry Favorite offer so far from New York (N) ($1 mil 3 years). Other offers from: California Minnesota 3B Jim Davenport Favorite offer so far from Cincinnati ($550K 2 years). Other offers from: California SS Joe Demaestri Favorite offer so far from Pittsburgh ($1 mil 2 years). Other offers from: Minnesota P Dick Donovan Favorite offer so far from Cincinnati ($3.5 mil 1 year). Other offers from: New York (A) St. Louis SS Chico Fernandez Favorite offer so far from California. 1B Dick Gernert Favorite offer so far from Pittsburgh ($1 mil 1 year). Other offers from: Minnesota St. Louis Milwaukee 3B Jim Gilliam Favorite offer so far from Pittsburgh ($1.25 mil 2 years). Other offers from: Kansas City Philadelphia SS Alex Grammas Favorite offer so far from New York (N). P Hal Griggs Favorite offer so far from Detroit. P Don Gross Favorite offer so far from California. P Dick Hall Favorite offer so far from St. Louis ($6.35 mil 4 years). Other offers from: Cleveland Washington California Chicago (N) Pittsburgh C Danny Kravitz Favorite offer so far from Minnesota (Minor League Deal). Other offers from: California Kansas City 1B Norm Larker Favorite offer so far from Minnesota. P Duke Maas Favorite offer so far from Cincinnati ($1 mil 2 years). Other offers from: Minnesota Milwaukee LF Charlie Maxwell Favorite offer so far from Pittsburgh. P Danny Mcdevitt Favorite offer so far from Chicago (A). SS Gil Mcdougald Favorite offer so far from New York (N) (Minor League Deal). Other offers from: Kansas City P Don Mcmahon Favorite offer so far from Cleveland ($3.25 mil 1 year). Other offers from: Kansas City Minnesota 1B Jim Mcmanus Favorite offer so far from Kansas City. P Tom Morgan Favorite offer so far from Pittsburgh ($1 mil 3 years). Other offers from: Kansas City LF Bob Nieman Favorite offer so far from Minnesota. CF Al Pilarcik Favorite offer so far from Minnesota ($500K 3 years). Other offers from: New York (N) 2B Daryl Spencer Favorite offer so far from Cleveland ($1.5 mil 1 year). Other offers from: Minnesota P Jim Stump Favorite offer so far from California. 3B Frank Thomas Favorite offer so far from Cleveland ($3.5 mil 1 year). Other offers from: Minnesota Pittsburgh Milwaukee 3B Lee Walls Favorite offer so far from Chicago (A) ($650K 2 years). Other offers from: California New York (N) LF Carl Warwick Favorite offer so far from Milwaukee ($1.125 mil 3 years). Other offers from: California Minnesota New York (N) P Ted Wills Favorite offer so far from California.

06-13-2003, 04:25 PM	#6
Alan T All Star Starter Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mass. Posts: 1,963	We have run into this same issue in a league. Is this a bug, or a feature that was purposely added (a dishonest player?) Seen cases where a player bid $5mil / 4 years and the player turned him down for a deal that was 2.5m/ 3 years. The kicker was the player said the other team offered more years as was described above. It probably is harder to meet a player's demands when they do not tell you the truth on what the demands are

06-15-2003, 08:31 AM	#7
Alan T All Star Starter Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mass. Posts: 1,963	bump!

06-17-2003, 07:42 AM	#8
Alan T All Star Starter Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mass. Posts: 1,963	anyone? anyone? Bueller?

06-25-2003, 03:03 PM	#9
Alan T All Star Starter Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mass. Posts: 1,963	bump....

06-28-2003, 04:19 AM	#10
Markus Heinsohn Developer OOTP Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Germany Posts: 24,803	Actually a player signs for less when he prefers the team over the higher bidding team. In most cases he tells you that the lower bidding teams offers the better organization, but sometimes he also cheats on you

06-28-2003, 07:56 AM	#11
Alan T All Star Starter Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mass. Posts: 1,963	So the player lying to you is intended? Ok thanks for the reply