Minor League Free Agency

[Dyzalot]

Can someone explain why this guy is credited with so much time as a professional? Seems weird to me that a 22 year old is becoming a free agent already. This is an example of the argument against bringing guys up from the international complex too early.

[DCG12]

I don't think it has anything to do with promoting out of the international complex. Players accrue time while there. See this thread from June. The key posts are #20 by Matt where he admits there may be a bug counting HS/College years as pro years and NOT counting IC years which he indicates he will fix.

Post #23 by injury log and post #25 by Matt again indicating he was changing the IC to count toward pro years.

Edit: I deleted the link cause I realized that it was a beta forum link and might not be accessible to everyone and also might be a no-no. Ooops

[Dyzalot]

Well ignoring my part about the international complex, why is this guy eligible for free agency?

[DCG12]

Originally Posted by Dyzalot

Well ignoring my part about the international complex, why is this guy eligible for free agency?

Because he has 6 years of service time without being put on a ML 40 man roster.

Not commenting on whether the game has it right in this case or not, just saying with what we can see the 6 years in the minors triggers it. We would need to see his history section to see when he signed his first contract to be sure. There is also a provision that has to do with being released previously that can speed up the process.

Google MLB rule 55 for details or hope Le Grande Orange sees this thread

[tolbuck]

Originally Posted by Dyzalot

Well ignoring my part about the international complex, why is this guy eligible for free agency?

Players who aren't on the 40 man roster become free agents after 6 seasons of professional service. The clock starts once the player is signed, so if the player signs at 16 he will become a free agent at 22 if he isn't on the 40 man roster.

[Dyzalot]

Originally Posted by DCG12

Because he has 6 years of service time without being put on a ML 40 man roster.

Not commenting on whether the game has it right in this case or not, just saying with what we can see the 6 years in the minors triggers it. We would need to see his history section to see when he signed his first contract to be sure. There is also a provision that has to do with being released previously that can speed up the process.

Google MLB rule 55 for details or hope Le Grande Orange sees this thread

Originally Posted by tolbuck

Players who aren't on the 40 man roster become free agents after 6 seasons of professional service. The clock starts once the player is signed, so if the player signs at 16 he will become a free agent at 22 if he isn't on the 40 man roster.

I only count 5 years of service. What am I missing?

[DCG12]

I suspect you're missing the IC years. Players in the complex don't accumulate stats so the stats in your screen shot start with rookie league. If he was an international discovery at 16 and spent a year or two in the complex that would account for it

[Dyzalot]

Originally Posted by DCG12

I suspect you're missing the IC years. Players in the complex don't accumulate stats so the stats in your screen shot start with rookie league. If he was an international discovery at 16 and spent a year or two in the complex that would account for it

He was an intl free agent at 17 so yeah it looks like there were 1+ years at the complex before he went to rookie ball. However, that goes against everything I understood about the complex. The whole argument for keeping players there as long as possible is to delay how young they are when they become eligible for free agency. Is this something that has changed recently with OOTP?

[RchW]

Originally Posted by DCG12

Because he has 6 years of service time without being put on a ML 40 man roster.

Not commenting on whether the game has it right in this case or not, just saying with what we can see the 6 years in the minors triggers it. We would need to see his history section to see when he signed his first contract to be sure. There is also a provision that has to do with being released previously that can speed up the process.

Google MLB rule 55 for details or hope Le Grande Orange sees this thread

Originally Posted by Dyzalot

I only count 5 years of service. What am I missing?

I believe 5 years is the default in-game. Put another way my current league was started 8-years ago using MLB defaults and it says 5 right now.

Check League options/financials and scroll the LHS of the screen to the bottom.

[Dyzalot]

Originally Posted by RchW

I believe 5 years is the default in-game. Put another way my current league was started 8-years ago using MLB defaults and it says 5 right now.

Check League options/financials and scroll the LHS of the screen to the bottom.

It can't be 5 or he would have been a free agent the year before as his info page says he has over 6 years currently. I think it is because OOTP is counting time at the complex as service time which I assume isn't what happens in real life. I'm unfamiliar with the actual MLB rules involving their international training sites though so I'm just guessing there.

[Marsupilami]

Originally Posted by Dyzalot

He was an intl free agent at 17 so yeah it looks like there were 1+ years at the complex before he went to rookie ball. However, that goes against everything I understood about the complex. The whole argument for keeping players there as long as possible is to delay how young they are when they become eligible for free agency. Is this something that has changed recently with OOTP?

the argument for keeping them in the IC is that otherwise they would be overmatched even in the lowest minors

[RchW]

Originally Posted by Dyzalot

It can't be 5 or he would have been a free agent the year before as his info page says he has over 6 years currently. I think it is because OOTP is counting time at the complex as service time which I assume isn't what happens in real life. I'm unfamiliar with the actual MLB rules involving their international training sites though so I'm just guessing there.

Yeah I notice my IC players are getting pro time counted. I may change that 5 to 6

[Dyzalot]

Originally Posted by Marsupilami

the argument for keeping them in the IC is that otherwise they would be overmatched even in the lowest minors

That was not the only argument. If you look at the threads from 2-3 years ago, many veteran OOTP players argued to keep them in the complex as long as possible to avoid accruing service time too early. It makes sense since why would you want a 16 year old accruing time such that he can be a free agent at 21, maybe a year or two before he'd be ready for MLB.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by tolbuck

Players who aren't on the 40 man roster become free agents after 6 seasons of professional service. The clock starts once the player is signed, so if the player signs at 16 he will become a free agent at 22 if he isn't on the 40 man roster.

The real-life rule does not work like that. (The real-life rule is actually simpler than what OOTP does).

In real life, a player achieves minor league free agency after seven* (not six) seasons of minor league service, with just one day on the roster of a minor league club counting as a season of service for this purpose. That's it. Being on the 40-man roster has nothing to do with minor league free agency. (In real life, a player on option to a minor league club has that time on option count towards his minor league free agency clock.)

The only exception to this is if a player is released by the organization which originally signed him, in which case he becomes a free agent immediately. He then can sign with any other organization, and once that contract is up (they're usually a one-year deal in such situations), he is a free agent again.

*It's seven seasons. The idea that it's for six years is a misunderstanding. The minor league contract is for one year, with the organization having the right to unilaterally renew the contract for one year up to six times. That's seven years in total: the first year plus six renewal years.