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Negotiate with Drafted Players
In prior versions of OOTP, once you drafted an amateur player, he signed with you automatically. That's not necessarily true anymore! After a first-year player draft, if you have Advanced Draftee Signing enabled, you must negotiate a contract with each of your players drafted in the first five rounds as well as those drafted later who had a specified signing bonus demand (ie not "slot")! This is done via the Negotiate with Drafted Players screen, which appears in the League Menu as soon as the draft is completed. If you fail to sign your players, they can go back into the draft in the following season! There are several things to cover in order to understand draftee negotiations:
Note: The above links will not work within the in-game help. However, they all simply link to sections lower in this page, so if you are reading this in-game, just scroll down to find the appropriate section!
As a rule of thumb, the #1 draft pick will usually have a slot bonus of around three times the Slot Bonus Baseline. Subsequent picks will get gradually smaller.
Slot bonuses only apply for the first five rounds of the draft.
Some players will have specific demands, which may be more or less than the slot where you wish to draft them. Others may have no particular demands, and are likely to accept whatever the bonus is for their slot.
As a general rule, owners will not allow you to offer above-slot bonuses where your draft budget is exhausted. The draft budget is calculated in the same way as $ available for free agent signings (starting balance + available budget room).
When you draft a player, you have two options: use the Draft Player button, and begin negotiations with the player after the draft, or use the Draft and Offer Slot button, which immediately starts the negotiation process by offering the recommended slot bonus. OOTP also gives you an indication of how likely your team is to be able to sign the player.
The top half of this screen shows the players you drafted, along with information about their signability, demands, and so forth. The status of your negotiations is also listed. If you chose to Draft and Offer Slot, then that player will already be listed as "Pending Offer". To negotiate with a player, click the Negotiate button to the right of the player's information. The player's information will appear in the bottom part of the screen. To make an offer to the player, simply type in a signing bonus amount and click Submit Offer. If you would like to meet the player's demand, click the Meet Demand button instead. You can also opt to include a major league contract, which of course is of significant value to draftees.
Once you have offered contracts, one or more days will pass before they reply. When they do so, you will receive personal messages on your News and Mail page:
Or they can be negative, in which case you will have to submit a new offer:
If you are unable to sign your draftees in the allotted time, they will sit out the year and will be eligible to draft again next season! If this happens, you will be awarded compensation draft picks in next season's draft for players drafted in the first three rounds. The compensation pick will be at the same draft number as the unsigned draftee plus one, so if a #12 pick in 2010 is not signed the compensation pick will be #13 in 2011. If you fail to sign the player taken with the compensation pick then you do not get another compensation pick the following year. These compensation picks are not available for free agent compensation.
And that's it! The future of your organization is in your hands!
Note: The above links will not work within the in-game help. However, they all simply link to sections lower in this page, so if you are reading this in-game, just scroll down to find the appropriate section!
Slot Bonuses
When you enable Advanced Draftee Signing, each draft position in the first five rounds is assigned a Slot Bonus figure. A slot bonus is a predetermined bonus amount, a rough estimate of what kind of bonus a player should accept when drafted in a certain position in the draft. The Slot Bonus is based on the Slot Bonus Baseline, which is set in the Amateur Draft Rules section of the Rules page, or directly on the Draft Rules page:As a rule of thumb, the #1 draft pick will usually have a slot bonus of around three times the Slot Bonus Baseline. Subsequent picks will get gradually smaller.
Slot bonuses only apply for the first five rounds of the draft.
Player Demands
Of course, not every player will agree with a certain slot bonus amount! When you look at the list of players available on the Continue Draft page, the default View on this page includes the Demand column. This gives you an idea of what kind of money the player is demanding:Some players will have specific demands, which may be more or less than the slot where you wish to draft them. Others may have no particular demands, and are likely to accept whatever the bonus is for their slot.
As a general rule, owners will not allow you to offer above-slot bonuses where your draft budget is exhausted. The draft budget is calculated in the same way as $ available for free agent signings (starting balance + available budget room).
Drafting Players
All this means you have a lot of additional things to consider when you draft a player. OOTP provides you with additional information right on the draft screen:When you draft a player, you have two options: use the Draft Player button, and begin negotiations with the player after the draft, or use the Draft and Offer Slot button, which immediately starts the negotiation process by offering the recommended slot bonus. OOTP also gives you an indication of how likely your team is to be able to sign the player.
Negotiating
Once the draft is complete, you have two months to sign your drafted players. During that time, a new menu option will appear in the League Menu called Negotiate with Drafted Players:The top half of this screen shows the players you drafted, along with information about their signability, demands, and so forth. The status of your negotiations is also listed. If you chose to Draft and Offer Slot, then that player will already be listed as "Pending Offer". To negotiate with a player, click the Negotiate button to the right of the player's information. The player's information will appear in the bottom part of the screen. To make an offer to the player, simply type in a signing bonus amount and click Submit Offer. If you would like to meet the player's demand, click the Meet Demand button instead. You can also opt to include a major league contract, which of course is of significant value to draftees.
Once you have offered contracts, one or more days will pass before they reply. When they do so, you will receive personal messages on your News and Mail page:
Negotiation Results
The results of your negotiations can be positive, in which case the player joins your team and is placed in your designated for assignment area:Or they can be negative, in which case you will have to submit a new offer:
If you are unable to sign your draftees in the allotted time, they will sit out the year and will be eligible to draft again next season! If this happens, you will be awarded compensation draft picks in next season's draft for players drafted in the first three rounds. The compensation pick will be at the same draft number as the unsigned draftee plus one, so if a #12 pick in 2010 is not signed the compensation pick will be #13 in 2011. If you fail to sign the player taken with the compensation pick then you do not get another compensation pick the following year. These compensation picks are not available for free agent compensation.
And that's it! The future of your organization is in your hands!