Post by Rangers GM (Jared) on Oct 6, 2008 19:31:40 GMT -5
Each off-season, there are always a number of players who have had their contracts expire. These players naturally become free agents and, as such, are available to accept contract offers being made by other GMs in the league.
There are essentially three types of "contracts" for the purposes of Full Count - A.) a real life contract transacted ON or BEFORE the unspecified roster lock date, OR a real life contract resulting from a Full Count franchised player; B.) a Full Count contract won in the free agent bidding process; and C.) a "prospect contract", which is a form of protection for players qualifying as "prospect" players (see below).
*Real life contracts do recognize any option actions. Full Count recognizes options to extend the contract but do not recognize options to "opt out" of a contract. We currently use Cot's as the Full Count official source for contract and salary information.
Cot's- mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/
To protect against the loss of all free agents in a particular calendar year, a GM will be granted to ability to name Franchise and Restricted Players. Please refer to the "Salary Cap" section to know how many of these tags your team owns. You will also be able to protect all qualified "minor league" players and also be allowed to protect your qualified "prospect" players as well. Prospect players are defined as players who are engaged in the 4 year Prospect status.
Franchise Player:
You will have the ability; at the end of the year to name a “franchise player(s)” (see below). This player, although having his Full Count contract expire, will not be eligible for free agency within our league and will be forced to sign with the same team. In this specific case ONLY, the franchise player will have to assume the real life contract he receives (including 1 year deals or holdouts). In this case, "real-life" acts as an arbitrator of sorts in determining a fair market value for the player. This can either improve or hinder your team depending on how much the player signs for. If the new "real-life" contract puts a franchise over the salary cap maximum, the GM will receive a notice from the commissioner’s office after which time he/she will have 72-hours to correct the problem.
Restricted Player(s):
A team will also have the ability to name restricted players each season. Restricted players will, in effect, be treated just like free agents with one BIG difference. Once "Winter Meetings" begin in early December, restricted players can be made contract offers like every other free agent. However, at the end of the contract offering period, the team who restricted the player will have 48 hours to match the winning offer. If a GM chooses to match the winning contract offer, then he/she will be allowed to restructure the "matching" contract so that it best fits their team's salary structure and then re-sign the player. The "restructured" contract must, however, still have the same average annual salary, but may not add additional years to the contract. If a GM fails to respond or chooses not to match the best contract offer made to their player, then the auctioned player will be required to sign with the highest bidder, whose bid then becomes that team's obligation.
Prospects:
In Full Count, certain Major League players may be deemed "prospects" and are able to be retained by their owner without using a franchise or restriction tag.
A prospect is a player who has lost his "minor league" status (see below) by getting his first ML AB or IP. You may keep a prospect at his ML salary (many times at or near the league minimum- Refer to Cott's) until he has received one AB or IP in 4 ML seasons.
After said player has played in four (4) ML qualifying seasons (does NOT have to be consecutive- (injury/sent down), that player will have exhausted his prospect status and, if not under a Full Count contract, will be a FA.
Protecting Your Minor League Farm System:
Since most minor leaguers are signed to one-year contracts at the league minimum, it would create a serious planning problem for GMs if their whole minor league farm system became eligible for free agency after each dynasty season. With this in mind, the Commissioner's Office has enacted a rule that will allow each team to protect minor leaguers from their roster. To qualify for "protection" under this clause, a "minor leaguer" must meet certain criteria. The said player can not have been converted to prospect status by virtue of Major League game experience. In addition, the player must be signed to a real life contract. If a player qualifies as a "minor leaguer", then he may be retained in your list players that you can protect.
If you offer a minor leaguer (not a prospect) a Full Count contract that player will become a FA once the Full count contract expires.
**An important note about retirement- should a player that is under a Full Count contract retire due to old age, the team that owns that contract is still obligated to pay him that contract. He will no longer take up a roster space, however his ENTIRE contract must be counted against the cap. This will prevent GM's from offering long and backloaded contracts to Andy Pettite and Curt Shilling so they can acquire their services at a very cheap rate. In contrast, should a player's career be tragically cut short due to injury or death, his contract will come off the books immediately following the season in which the injury occurred or immediately if in the offseason. If there is any doubt about making a distinction between tragic career ending injuries and death or old ballplayers simply retiring, the League Office reserves the right to make the final call. We ask that all GM's respect the final word of the Commissioners.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact the League Office.
There are essentially three types of "contracts" for the purposes of Full Count - A.) a real life contract transacted ON or BEFORE the unspecified roster lock date, OR a real life contract resulting from a Full Count franchised player; B.) a Full Count contract won in the free agent bidding process; and C.) a "prospect contract", which is a form of protection for players qualifying as "prospect" players (see below).
*Real life contracts do recognize any option actions. Full Count recognizes options to extend the contract but do not recognize options to "opt out" of a contract. We currently use Cot's as the Full Count official source for contract and salary information.
Cot's- mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/
To protect against the loss of all free agents in a particular calendar year, a GM will be granted to ability to name Franchise and Restricted Players. Please refer to the "Salary Cap" section to know how many of these tags your team owns. You will also be able to protect all qualified "minor league" players and also be allowed to protect your qualified "prospect" players as well. Prospect players are defined as players who are engaged in the 4 year Prospect status.
Franchise Player:
You will have the ability; at the end of the year to name a “franchise player(s)” (see below). This player, although having his Full Count contract expire, will not be eligible for free agency within our league and will be forced to sign with the same team. In this specific case ONLY, the franchise player will have to assume the real life contract he receives (including 1 year deals or holdouts). In this case, "real-life" acts as an arbitrator of sorts in determining a fair market value for the player. This can either improve or hinder your team depending on how much the player signs for. If the new "real-life" contract puts a franchise over the salary cap maximum, the GM will receive a notice from the commissioner’s office after which time he/she will have 72-hours to correct the problem.
Restricted Player(s):
A team will also have the ability to name restricted players each season. Restricted players will, in effect, be treated just like free agents with one BIG difference. Once "Winter Meetings" begin in early December, restricted players can be made contract offers like every other free agent. However, at the end of the contract offering period, the team who restricted the player will have 48 hours to match the winning offer. If a GM chooses to match the winning contract offer, then he/she will be allowed to restructure the "matching" contract so that it best fits their team's salary structure and then re-sign the player. The "restructured" contract must, however, still have the same average annual salary, but may not add additional years to the contract. If a GM fails to respond or chooses not to match the best contract offer made to their player, then the auctioned player will be required to sign with the highest bidder, whose bid then becomes that team's obligation.
Prospects:
In Full Count, certain Major League players may be deemed "prospects" and are able to be retained by their owner without using a franchise or restriction tag.
A prospect is a player who has lost his "minor league" status (see below) by getting his first ML AB or IP. You may keep a prospect at his ML salary (many times at or near the league minimum- Refer to Cott's) until he has received one AB or IP in 4 ML seasons.
After said player has played in four (4) ML qualifying seasons (does NOT have to be consecutive- (injury/sent down), that player will have exhausted his prospect status and, if not under a Full Count contract, will be a FA.
Protecting Your Minor League Farm System:
Since most minor leaguers are signed to one-year contracts at the league minimum, it would create a serious planning problem for GMs if their whole minor league farm system became eligible for free agency after each dynasty season. With this in mind, the Commissioner's Office has enacted a rule that will allow each team to protect minor leaguers from their roster. To qualify for "protection" under this clause, a "minor leaguer" must meet certain criteria. The said player can not have been converted to prospect status by virtue of Major League game experience. In addition, the player must be signed to a real life contract. If a player qualifies as a "minor leaguer", then he may be retained in your list players that you can protect.
If you offer a minor leaguer (not a prospect) a Full Count contract that player will become a FA once the Full count contract expires.
**An important note about retirement- should a player that is under a Full Count contract retire due to old age, the team that owns that contract is still obligated to pay him that contract. He will no longer take up a roster space, however his ENTIRE contract must be counted against the cap. This will prevent GM's from offering long and backloaded contracts to Andy Pettite and Curt Shilling so they can acquire their services at a very cheap rate. In contrast, should a player's career be tragically cut short due to injury or death, his contract will come off the books immediately following the season in which the injury occurred or immediately if in the offseason. If there is any doubt about making a distinction between tragic career ending injuries and death or old ballplayers simply retiring, the League Office reserves the right to make the final call. We ask that all GM's respect the final word of the Commissioners.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact the League Office.