helpx_player_contracts

Player Contracts
Most general managers primarily need to worry about two financial topics: player contracts and staff contracts. The vast majority of expenses come from player contracts, so it's important for any good general manager to know his way around a contract offer.

At the start of a league, whether you have an inaugural draft or not, all players are given contracts. The majority of the starting contracts will be for one or two years, although some might be longer. The league calculates the average player quality at each position. Then it compares each player to that baseline, and based on the difference assigns a contract that is based on the salary steps (above average, good, star, and so on) in the league financial rules. Also factored in are service time and age. Arbitration-eligible players get less money, and players who are eligible for the league minimum get that amount.

Warning! Due to the flexibility of the financial model, player contracts might be structured differently from what is written here, depending on which financial options are enabled.

Contract Types
Player contracts can be of two types: minor league or major league.

Contract Type	Description
Minor League	Minor league contracts have no set duration. A player with a minor league contract remains under the team's control until one of the following events occurs. 1.The player attains minor league free agency. 2.The player is added to a team's secondary roster. When this happens, the player's contract immediately changes to a one-year major league contract for the league minimum salary. 3.The player is traded, retires, or is given a major league contract extension. Note: In OOTPB, minor league contracts do not cost the team any money. They are effectively $0 contracts.
Major League	A major league contract has a fixed duration, in years, and a specific salary amount for each year in the contract. Major league contracts can also include no-trade clauses or incentives. A player with a major league contract remains under the team's control until one of the following events occurs. 1.The player's contract expires. 2.The player is traded or retires. If a player's major league contract ends, he will either become a free agent or be eligible for salary arbitration. Note: Player contracts expire on the last day of the playoffs. Note: Players without a contract who have less than three years of major league service time are automatically signed to a contract for the league minimum.

Offering a Contract
Players without a contract are considered free agents and can be signed by any team in the league. To offer a contract to a free agent, open his Player Profile and select Offer Contract from the Action menu. Alternatively, right-click on the player's name and select Offer Contract from the right-click menu.

Note: Even if you have disabled free agency in your league options, the term for a player without a contract is still 'free agent.'



You offer a contract by defining your contract in the top right part of the page:



Here are the options that you can change within an offer.

Option	Description
Contract Type	You can offer a major or minor league contract. Note: You cannot offer minor league contracts to players in leagues that have no minor leagues.
Total Number of Years	The total number of years in the contract, from 1-10. Minor league contracts do not specify a number of years.
Year-by-Year Salary	You can define the amount of salary in each year in the contract. Type the amount in the salary box, or use the +/- buttons to the right to quickly adjust the amount. Note: If you assign a salary before selecting the number of years, then when you select the years, all years will have the same salary. Doing this makes it much easier to quickly build a multiyear deal.
No-Trade Clause	You can opt to include a no-trade clause. A no-trade clause has no dollar value, but players appreciate the security and are likely to accept less money when offered a no-trade clause. Note: No-trade clauses in OOTPB are all-or-nothing. You cannot have a clause that prevents trades only to some team or teams. Similarly, there is no way to get out of a no-trade clause once it has been included. A player cannot waive a no-trade clause later.
Last Contract Year Optional?	You can choose to have an optional final year on any multiyear deal. There are three types of 'option years.' See option years for more information.

Incentives
You can also choose to include incentives in your offer:



There are two types of incentives available to hitters and pitchers:

Option	Description
Hitter Incentives	Hitters can be given two contract incentives. Minimum Plate Appearances: This incentive gives the player a bonus if he makes a certain number of plate appearances. GMs typically give this sort of bonus to players whose health is suspect. Outstanding Hitter Award: This incentive give the player a bonus if he wins the league's Outstanding Hitter Award in any season during the term of the contract.
Pitcher Incentives	Pitchers can be given two contract incentives. Minimum Innings: This incentive gives the player a bonus if he pitches a certain number of innings. GMs typically give this sort of bonus to players whose health is suspect. Outstanding Pitcher Award: This incentive gives the player a bonus if he wins the league's Outstanding Pitcher Award in any season during the term of the contract.

Option Years


There are three types of option years available in player contracts:

Option	Description
Team Option	The team decides whether to honor the final year of the contract or make the player a free agent.
Player Option	The player decides whether to honor the final year of the contract or become a free agent.
Mutual Option	Both sides must agree on whether to honor the final year of the contract, or else the player becomes a free agent.

After the last year of a contract preceding an option year, the general manager will receive a message concerning the option year.

• If the option year was a player option, the player will inform you whether he has accepted the option year, or whether he will become a free agent.
• If the option was a team option, the team will be asked if it wants to accept the option year. You respond using the Respond to Message action menu at the bottom of the Manager News page.
• Mutual options are a combination of the previous two options. If the player refuses the option, you will receive the refusal message. If the player accepts, you will receive a message like the one described above. You will then need to decide how to respond, just as if it were a team option.

Summary
The bottom right of the screen includes a summary of your contract offer:



The summary begins with a suggestion for what the player is looking for in a contract. It's possible that the player would accept less, or that you could offer the indicated amount and get outbid by another team. It's also possible that the numbers will change over time.

As you work on your offer in the top half of the screen, a text description of your offer will be automatically updated at the bottom of the page.

Money Available for Contract Signings
The summary also shows the amount of money you have left for player contracts this season. Your owner will not allow you to submit an offer that would exceed this amount.

The game uses the following formula to determine the amount of money you have available for signings:

[budget room + cash] - current payroll - pending offers

Your money available for contracts can change drastically just after player arbitration values are decided, so be careful!

Note: Players on the active roster with minor league contracts are considered as making the league minimum for purposes of this calculation.

Action Buttons


There are three action buttons at the bottom of the contract offer page:

Option	Description
Submit Offer	Submits the offer to the player as currently configured.
Meet Demand	Automatically configures your offer in the top half of the screen in a way that will match what the player is currently demanding. You can then edit the offer further if you wish.
Go to Player Profile	Opens the Player Profile.

Player Responses
Once you have sent an offer, you need to wait for a response. Generally, responses take from a day to several days. During the Winter Meetings, responses are usually faster. Responses are received in your Manager News page:



If the player accepts your offer, he signs immediately, and the deal is completed with no further action required. The player will be placed in your Designated for Assignment area or on your reserve roster, if you don't have any minor leagues.

However, sometimes the player will inform you that he's not ready to sign. Sometimes you might be in the lead for a player's services, but he is waiting to hear back from other teams. Sometimes he will make it clear your offer is unacceptable. In some cases, you can offend a player so badly that he will cut off all negotiations with you.

Contract negotiations have a strong impact on player morale.

You can check the status of any pending offers to free agents on the Pending Offers sub-screen. This is helpful if you forget whether or not you submitted an offer!

Factors Affecting Player Contract Decisions
Money talks, and the configuration of your offer has the biggest impact on whether or not a player will accept a contract offer. However, above and beyond the contract terms, players are affected by a number of factors when considering a contract, including:

• the distance of the franchise from the player's hometown
• the level of the league (good players might not be interested in playing in a low-level league)
• your team's reputation
• your personal reputation with the player
• your team's recent performance
• the likelihood of playing time
• the player's morale (especially with contract extensions)

In addition to these factors, players have certain personality traits such as greed, loyalty, work ethic, and leadership. These characteristics also affect players' responses to contract offers.

Note: Once you have offered a player a contract, you cannot adjust your offer until you have received a response from the player on that offer.

Signing Extensions
You can attempt to extend the contracts of players already under contract, to avoid losing them to free agency. Most players prefer to negotiate extensions only in the final year of their current contracts. However, this is not necessarily always the case. To offer an extension to a player currently under contract, open his Player Profile and select Offer Extension from the Action menu. Alternatively, right-click on the player's name and select Offer Extension from the right-click menu.

Apart from the different action name, the process for offering an extension is identical to offering a free agent contract.

You can see a player's current contract extension (if any) in the upper right of his Contract & Status sub-screen.

Contract extensions take effect when the current contract expires, not on the day on which an extension is signed.

Withdrawing Contract Offers
Contract offers that have not been responded to can be withdrawn at any time on the Pending Offers sub-screen.



To withdraw an offer, click the Withdraw button to the right of the contract offer you wish to withdraw.

Note: Withdrawing a contract offer has a strong effect on how players feel about you! Word gets around the league, too. So, If you make a habit of withdrawing contracft offers, don't be surprised if you find fewer players interested in signing with you!

Guaranteed Contracts
Baseball contracts are guaranteed. If you choose to release a player from his contract, you must immediately pay all of the remaining salary due on the contract, even if it spans multiple years. Players who retire void the remaining portion of their contracts.

helpx_player_contracts.tpl

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