Post by ex-Pittsburgh Pirates on Aug 19, 2008 12:48:35 GMT -5
need to prepare for next year (as well as decide on some things relavent to the spreadsheet) so i'm going to toss a few questions into the air.
cutting players
as it works, when you cut a player, you must take half his current season salary against your cap and 1/4 his current season salary in subsequent years.
take for example, orlando hudson. i signed him this year to a 2 yr, 1 mill contract. according to the salary formula, he is making $900k this year. so if i cut him today, he counts $900k/2= $450k against this year's cap and $900k/4= $225k against the 2009 cap. so i actually save some money next year by cutting him now, rather than waiting. anyway, when is the line of demarcation between 2008 and 2009? is it the final day of the regular season? is it dec 31? if im going to cut hudson, id want to cut him before 2009 salaries kick in.
reacquiring players
the rule states that if you resign a player that you previoulsy had under contract, you must pay him the old salalry plus whatever your new FA contract for him is. for example, i had cut felipe lopez (450k/2 yrs). if i resign him tomorrow, i must re-assume that old contract PLUS pay whatever my FA bid was for him. so far, so good.
my question is this...how long does that retriction stand? for the life of the original contract or only for the current season? for example, if i resign lopez next june instead of tomorrow, do i still have to pay him the old contract PLUS the new bid? or does that restriction only apply for the season in which you actually cut the player (my suggestions is that it should only apply for the 1 season).
offseason FA bidding
the rules seem to suggest that you will have to have all your cuts done before the offseason FA bidding process starts since you can't bid on a player if you dont have roster space. that will make things extremely difficult. how do i know if i should cut orlando hudson before i know what free agent 2b will be available? if i cut him and it turns out he is the only 2b that gets cut, well now i have to re-bid on him and pay his old salary PLUS his new salary! also, i might keep him and it turns out someone cuts a 2b i like better. well, now i cant bid on the better 2b because i dont have a roster spot. neither scenario seems appealing to me. too much guesswork, not enough strategy.
my suggestion...we have 2 free agent bidding periods. before the first period begins, you must declare which players you are going to drop before the bidding begins. teams must submit their lists blind (like FA bids today). players that you cut are treated as if they were cut in 2008 (so there is an incentive to cut guys as you'd save money in 2009) when all lists are in, the commish publishes the list and teams can nominate 1 player at a time from the list for bidding (just like the original league draft). rules are that you cant bid on more players than you have space on your roster and you cant exceed the salary cap.
once that is done, we commence a 2nd round of bidding for all leftover players. in this round, teams nominate players just like the previous round. however, this round is different in that you can bid on players even if you dont have room as long as you designate a player you would cut in your bid. but if you cut a player, it gets treated as if the player were cut in 2009. therefore, there is a disincentive to wait for this round before signing a player. more strategy, less guesswork. this would also solve the question i posed above about the line of demarcation for 2008/2009.
of course, these are my suggestions based on what i think is fair. i thank the commish for trying to be proactive on these issues and i think it bodes well for next year that we have people interested in the rules.
cutting players
as it works, when you cut a player, you must take half his current season salary against your cap and 1/4 his current season salary in subsequent years.
take for example, orlando hudson. i signed him this year to a 2 yr, 1 mill contract. according to the salary formula, he is making $900k this year. so if i cut him today, he counts $900k/2= $450k against this year's cap and $900k/4= $225k against the 2009 cap. so i actually save some money next year by cutting him now, rather than waiting. anyway, when is the line of demarcation between 2008 and 2009? is it the final day of the regular season? is it dec 31? if im going to cut hudson, id want to cut him before 2009 salaries kick in.
reacquiring players
the rule states that if you resign a player that you previoulsy had under contract, you must pay him the old salalry plus whatever your new FA contract for him is. for example, i had cut felipe lopez (450k/2 yrs). if i resign him tomorrow, i must re-assume that old contract PLUS pay whatever my FA bid was for him. so far, so good.
my question is this...how long does that retriction stand? for the life of the original contract or only for the current season? for example, if i resign lopez next june instead of tomorrow, do i still have to pay him the old contract PLUS the new bid? or does that restriction only apply for the season in which you actually cut the player (my suggestions is that it should only apply for the 1 season).
offseason FA bidding
the rules seem to suggest that you will have to have all your cuts done before the offseason FA bidding process starts since you can't bid on a player if you dont have roster space. that will make things extremely difficult. how do i know if i should cut orlando hudson before i know what free agent 2b will be available? if i cut him and it turns out he is the only 2b that gets cut, well now i have to re-bid on him and pay his old salary PLUS his new salary! also, i might keep him and it turns out someone cuts a 2b i like better. well, now i cant bid on the better 2b because i dont have a roster spot. neither scenario seems appealing to me. too much guesswork, not enough strategy.
my suggestion...we have 2 free agent bidding periods. before the first period begins, you must declare which players you are going to drop before the bidding begins. teams must submit their lists blind (like FA bids today). players that you cut are treated as if they were cut in 2008 (so there is an incentive to cut guys as you'd save money in 2009) when all lists are in, the commish publishes the list and teams can nominate 1 player at a time from the list for bidding (just like the original league draft). rules are that you cant bid on more players than you have space on your roster and you cant exceed the salary cap.
once that is done, we commence a 2nd round of bidding for all leftover players. in this round, teams nominate players just like the previous round. however, this round is different in that you can bid on players even if you dont have room as long as you designate a player you would cut in your bid. but if you cut a player, it gets treated as if the player were cut in 2009. therefore, there is a disincentive to wait for this round before signing a player. more strategy, less guesswork. this would also solve the question i posed above about the line of demarcation for 2008/2009.
of course, these are my suggestions based on what i think is fair. i thank the commish for trying to be proactive on these issues and i think it bodes well for next year that we have people interested in the rules.
