Free Agent negotiation (player agent callback)

Huckleberry · 09-17-2015, 12:51 PM

Just had another situation where a free agent took way less than he could have gotten if his agent had just proactively notified me that he was about to sign a contract elsewhere.

I offered to overpay a guy because he was what my owner wanted (team leader and second baseman would have knocked out two owner goals at once) and I had plenty of budget room. He went into free agency with an absurd $19M/yr seven year contract demand but I offered him around $12M/yr for four years and asked for a response. He wouldn't budge very much so I moved on and started researching other guys. I went back to his screen once but his demands hadn't changed and I intended to check in on him every two weeks to see if he had wised up yet.

So of course a week after my last check on him (4 weeks into free agency) he signs a contract for about $9M/yr for four years. The team he signed with (St. Louis) was 2nd worst team in baseball last year so it's not like desire for a winner was a factor.

Can we have it in the game where instead of just notifying me that he just signed a contract elsewhere it would notify me that he's about to sign elsewhere and invite me to make one last offer? The guy left about $12M on the table over the course of the four year contract. Nobody would do that in real life without calling the GM that had offered a significantly better contract previously.

jpeters1734 · 09-18-2015, 06:13 PM

I would even be satisfied with a better explanation on why he took a lower contract. Players take lesser deals all the time, but we are just able to make sense of it when it happens in real life.

Huckleberry · 08-18-2016, 03:25 PM

Bump, I am playing mostly online in OOTP 17, did this make it in?

Also, one more thing whether it did or not:

FREE AGENT MARKET RECOGNITION

Free agents are still sticking to their initial demands way too long and those demands aren't coming down quickly enough. We're in spring training of our league and several free agents still haven't signed because they don't recognize the money they're asking for isn't out there. I am completely okay with the fact that when they do come down they insist on one year contracts only. That's realistic as they are "thinking" that they deserve more but it's a down year and they can get more next offseason.

But it shouldn't take so long for their demands to come down. This is one aspect I would really like to see improved. As I said here the game seems to be coded where the free agents will begin lowering their demands when preseason starts. That's way too late, this should be changed to the Winter Meetings or January 1st, whichever comes first. If not sooner.

And yes, I know this situation sort of conflicts with the above. But if the guy in my initial post in this thread had contacted me, it would have been a PERFECT negotiation. If all free agents recognized the market as quickly as he did, then negotiated properly by giving a heads up as to their new demands if we've offered them, man. That would be amazing and extremely immersive.

Hkim · 08-19-2016, 02:02 PM

Notification would be good. Even if the guy wanted to sign for a lower amount for a random reason, I'm sure his agent would still try to squeeze a better contract out of competing GMs to give his client options. That's just good business.

09-17-2015, 12:51 PM	#1
Huckleberry All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 578	Free Agent negotiation (player agent callback) Just had another situation where a free agent took way less than he could have gotten if his agent had just proactively notified me that he was about to sign a contract elsewhere. I offered to overpay a guy because he was what my owner wanted (team leader and second baseman would have knocked out two owner goals at once) and I had plenty of budget room. He went into free agency with an absurd $19M/yr seven year contract demand but I offered him around $12M/yr for four years and asked for a response. He wouldn't budge very much so I moved on and started researching other guys. I went back to his screen once but his demands hadn't changed and I intended to check in on him every two weeks to see if he had wised up yet. So of course a week after my last check on him (4 weeks into free agency) he signs a contract for about $9M/yr for four years. The team he signed with (St. Louis) was 2nd worst team in baseball last year so it's not like desire for a winner was a factor. Can we have it in the game where instead of just notifying me that he just signed a contract elsewhere it would notify me that he's about to sign elsewhere and invite me to make one last offer? The guy left about $12M on the table over the course of the four year contract. Nobody would do that in real life without calling the GM that had offered a significantly better contract previously.

09-18-2015, 06:13 PM	#2
jpeters1734 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2014 Location: Juust a bit outside... Posts: 6,267	I would even be satisfied with a better explanation on why he took a lower contract. Players take lesser deals all the time, but we are just able to make sense of it when it happens in real life. __________________ "Cannonball Coming!" Go Bucs!! Founder and League Caretaker of the Professional Baseball Circuit, www.probaseballcircuit.com An Un-Official Guide to Minor League Management in OOTP 21 Ratings Scale Conversion Cross-Reference Cheat Sheet

08-18-2016, 03:25 PM	#3
Huckleberry All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 578	Bump, I am playing mostly online in OOTP 17, did this make it in? Also, one more thing whether it did or not: FREE AGENT MARKET RECOGNITION Free agents are still sticking to their initial demands way too long and those demands aren't coming down quickly enough. We're in spring training of our league and several free agents still haven't signed because they don't recognize the money they're asking for isn't out there. I am completely okay with the fact that when they do come down they insist on one year contracts only. That's realistic as they are "thinking" that they deserve more but it's a down year and they can get more next offseason. But it shouldn't take so long for their demands to come down. This is one aspect I would really like to see improved. As I said here the game seems to be coded where the free agents will begin lowering their demands when preseason starts. That's way too late, this should be changed to the Winter Meetings or January 1st, whichever comes first. If not sooner. And yes, I know this situation sort of conflicts with the above. But if the guy in my initial post in this thread had contacted me, it would have been a PERFECT negotiation. If all free agents recognized the market as quickly as he did, then negotiated properly by giving a heads up as to their new demands if we've offered them, man. That would be amazing and extremely immersive. Last edited by Huckleberry; 08-18-2016 at 03:26 PM.

08-19-2016, 02:02 PM	#4
Hkim Minors (Single A) Join Date: Oct 2014 Posts: 57	Notification would be good. Even if the guy wanted to sign for a lower amount for a random reason, I'm sure his agent would still try to squeeze a better contract out of competing GMs to give his client options. That's just good business.