Lots of bad contracts in real MLB universe

[cardsfan05]

I am playing a real world/real roster universe with all the default settings and have been noticing some odd contracts being given out in the off season.

I am seeing scrub players/1 or 2 star players getting 5 or 6 year deals worth $650k - $1M a year. I never saw this happen in prior versions. Also in real baseball I have never seen so many players signing contracts like this.

Second thing I am seeing is middle relievers (not closers) getting MASSIVE contracts. I've seen several get $12M+ contracts.

Anybody else notice these issues? Thanks.

[Sandmann76]

Haven't seen that yet, but am only half-way through my first season. Did you alter any financial settings that might have an impact on money available?

[Matt Arnold]

We discovered a bug where if you have independent leagues then some scrubs demands for contract years got screwed up. That will be fixed in the next patch to come out in the next couple weeks.

We are also in the process this week of doing some balancing on contracts. Relievers likely had too large demands up to now, but to be fair, real life provides us with a lot of relievers getting large contracts that they don't deserve: The sad list of the 10 highest-paid relievers - SBNation.com

[lejdot]

That happens to me as well, so I let relievers go and use the draft and rule 5 draft to pick up high stuff pitchers and use a finesse pitcher to help improve their control.

[cardsfan05]

Originally Posted by Matt Arnold

We discovered a bug where if you have independent leagues then some scrubs demands for contract years got screwed up. That will be fixed in the next patch to come out in the next couple weeks.

We are also in the process this week of doing some balancing on contracts. Relievers likely had too large demands up to now, but to be fair, real life provides us with a lot of relievers getting large contracts that they don't deserve: The sad list of the 10 highest-paid relievers - SBNation.com

Thank you for the response. I do have independent leagues turned on and thus would probably be the reason for the wacky contracts. I also realize that some relievers have received massive contracts, but it is happening on a larger scale in the game. I look forward to the next patch.

[SirMichaelJordan]

Originally Posted by Matt Arnold

We discovered a bug where if you have independent leagues then some scrubs demands for contract years got screwed up. That will be fixed in the next patch to come out in the next couple weeks.

We are also in the process this week of doing some balancing on contracts. Relievers likely had too large demands up to now, but to be fair, real life provides us with a lot of relievers getting large contracts that they don't deserve: The sad list of the 10 highest-paid relievers - SBNation.com

Great! I thought this was odd. I've seen this last year to some extent as well. (created Indy leagues)

[cardsfan05]

Was this last patch supposed to fix the issues with bad contracts being given out? I am still seeing numerous backups/scrubs signing 5-6 year deals for roughly $600k/year.

[Le Grande Orange]

"Lots of bad contracts in real MLB universe"

It would seem so, considering the real-life Los Angeles Dodgers smashed the old opening day record for team payroll. For 2015 the Dodgers start the season with an annualized payroll of some $272 million. (The club is going to have a hefty luxury tax bill by season's end. To add insult to injury, some $41 million of the Dodgers' payroll total is for players who are no longer with the team.)

ETA: Interesting tidbit. The Dodgers' opening day 2015 payroll of $272 million—which only includes players on the active roster and disabled lists—is almost as large as the club's 2014 luxury tax payroll of $277.7 million ($266 million in salaries and bonuses plus $11.7 million in benefits). Luxury tax payrolls include all players on the 40-man roster. (The Dodgers opened the 2014 season with a team payroll of $235 million.)

[conception]

I don't know if it is a new feature for 16 or just one I didn't notice before, but the option to limit league contract lengths is great. I have independent leagues in many of my universes to give guys who didn't catch on in FA a chance to play and come back, but it was disappointing to see medium caliber players signing for 4 years, so now I set them to a year so players who can't latch on will hit the FA market again shortly.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by Le Grande Orange

... The club is going to have a hefty luxury tax bill by season's end ...

Doing some back-of-the-envelope calculations, the luxury tax payroll, on average, ends up being about 17% higher than the opening day payroll. So with the Dodgers opening the season with a $272 million payroll, that'd translate into a luxury tax payroll of roughly $318 million. The luxury tax threshold is $189 million, so the Dodgers would be $129 million over the limit. As 2015 would be the third season the club has breached the luxury tax threshold, it would be charged at a 40% tax rate on the overage. Thus the Dodgers would have to write a cheque to MLB for $51.6 million.

[Matt Arnold]

Originally Posted by cardsfan05

Was this last patch supposed to fix the issues with bad contracts being given out? I am still seeing numerous backups/scrubs signing 5-6 year deals for roughly $600k/year.

I fixed some cases at least for the last patch. Those guys signed after you upgraded? If the contract offers were "in the mail", the guys will still sign them. If you're still seeing issues the next season, then I can have another look into things.