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Salary Arbitration
Leagues with financials enabled may also have salary arbitration. Salary arbitration is a process by which an experienced player who has not yet attained free agency can have his salary determined by an independent arbitrator. This is done so that experienced players who are performing well can receive fair compensation for their efforts, before they reach free agency. For leagues with salary arbitration, it's crucial for the GM to understand the arbitration process. OOTP's salary arbitration is not identical to real-world arbitration, so be sure to read closely!
In OOTP, some of these values can be customized to your liking. Salary arbitration can be set during game creation in the Financial Rules section of the Rules page. After game creation, it can be changed during the preseason by navigating to OOTP Menu | Game Setup | League Setup | Rules tab | Financial Rules section. Salary arbitration can be disabled, or it can be set to between 1 year and 1 fewer than the # of years required for free agency in your league. If free agency is disabled, salary arbitration can only be set to "none" or "1 year."
Thisscreenlists all players that are available for salary arbitration during this offseason. On this page, general managers submit a one-year contract offer to any player that they wish to take to salary arbitration, by entering a number and clicking the Submit Offer button. If you do not offer salary arbitration to a player before the Salary Arbitration Hearings, they will become free agents, and you will lose them! You can withdraw an offer by clicking the Withdraw button.
During the Arbitration Offer Period, you can negotiate a contract with players who are eligible for salary arbitration. If a player agrees to a new contract, they will no longer be eligible for salary arbitration.
When the Salary Arbitration Hearings are held, arbitrators will rule individually on each arbitration case, deciding between the team's offer and the player's demand. For each case, you will receive individual messages indicating the player's salary for the next year, and whether the team or the player "won" the case:
If the player is eligible, this section also shows your Finance Department's estimate of how much this player might be awarded in his next salary arbitration. Additionally, the Player Salary Report also includes salary arbitration estimates for each of your eligible players:
Values with an (A) after them indicate that the player is expected to be eligible for salary arbitration at the end of this season. Note that this does not guarantee that the player will qualify, or that others without the (A) designation will not qualify, since eligibility is based on service time. If a player with an (A) designation is sent to the minor leagues, he may not accumulate enough service time by the end of the year to qualify, for example.
Who is eligible for salary arbitration?
Players who have at least three years, but fewer than six years, of major league service time as of the day after the playoffs end are eligible for salary arbitration. Additionally, players who are in the top 17% of service time among players with at least 2 years of service time are also eligible for salary arbitration. These are known as "Super 2" arbitration cases. They behave exactly like normal arbitration cases.In OOTP, some of these values can be customized to your liking. Salary arbitration can be set during game creation in the Financial Rules section of the Rules page. After game creation, it can be changed during the preseason by navigating to OOTP Menu | Game Setup | League Setup | Rules tab | Financial Rules section. Salary arbitration can be disabled, or it can be set to between 1 year and 1 fewer than the # of years required for free agency in your league. If free agency is disabled, salary arbitration can only be set to "none" or "1 year."
The OOTP Arbitration Process
The "Arbitration Offer Period" lasts from the day after the final playoff game until the Salary Arbitration Hearings. Salary Arbitration Hearings are typically held in November, but of course this could vary depending on your schedule. As soon as the Arbitration Offer Period begins, a newscreenbecomes available for general managers in the League Menu, and also on the Manager Portal, called "Salary Arbitration":Thisscreenlists all players that are available for salary arbitration during this offseason. On this page, general managers submit a one-year contract offer to any player that they wish to take to salary arbitration, by entering a number and clicking the Submit Offer button. If you do not offer salary arbitration to a player before the Salary Arbitration Hearings, they will become free agents, and you will lose them! You can withdraw an offer by clicking the Withdraw button.
During the Arbitration Offer Period, you can negotiate a contract with players who are eligible for salary arbitration. If a player agrees to a new contract, they will no longer be eligible for salary arbitration.
When the Salary Arbitration Hearings are held, arbitrators will rule individually on each arbitration case, deciding between the team's offer and the player's demand. For each case, you will receive individual messages indicating the player's salary for the next year, and whether the team or the player "won" the case:
How does salary arbitration affect player morale?
Players don't like to go to salary arbitration. In general, player morale drops slightly any time they go to arbitration. If they lose their arbitration case, it may drop even further.How can I tell who will be eligible for salary arbitration in advance?
You can see a player's arbitration eligibility at any time on the Contract & Status sub-screen of the Player Profile:
If the player is eligible, this section also shows your Finance Department's estimate of how much this player might be awarded in his next salary arbitration. Additionally, the Player Salary Report also includes salary arbitration estimates for each of your eligible players:
Values with an (A) after them indicate that the player is expected to be eligible for salary arbitration at the end of this season. Note that this does not guarantee that the player will qualify, or that others without the (A) designation will not qualify, since eligibility is based on service time. If a player with an (A) designation is sent to the minor leagues, he may not accumulate enough service time by the end of the year to qualify, for example.
