Post by Red Sox GM (CJ) on Feb 10, 2018 17:04:03 GMT -5
4.3 Free Agency
Offseason free agency typically begins in mid- to late February after franchise, RFA, and minor league draft activities have finished. Free agency is conducted in week-long sessions by position, with some positions lumped together, e.g. MI and CI one week, OF and C the next, and SP and RP the next. Major league free agency is typically followed by minor league free agency during the offseason.
During the regular season, free agency is also conducted on a weekly basis, and franchises can attempt to acquire any major and minor league free agents eligible to be bid on.
4.3.1 Eligibility:
During minor league offseason free agency, only minor leaguers (as defined in section 2) who are not owned by another franchise are eligible to be bid on.
During position-specific offseason free agency, franchises should be also mindful of what players are eligible to be bid on each week. This league uses the Fantrax website to confirm position eligibility. (For more on the Fantrax policy of position eligibility, see their FAQ question "How is a player's position eligibility determined?")
During the regular season, both major leaguers and minor leaguers (as defined in section 2) — including IFAs — may be bid on. Note, however, that free agency bidding for IFAs follows a different process, as described previously in section 2.4.
4.3.2 The process:
Free agency is arguably one of the most important processes for the league. As such, the league has specific rules about the process. Failure to use the following rules and criteria will result in an invalid and voided bid. It is thus each franchise's responsibility to ensure they submit a proper bid.
Bids are sent to the MLBPA account on the league website. For both offseason and regular season free agency, a bid for a player may only be submitted after that player has been posted in the "FA Posting" thread on the league website. Players may be posted to this thread until the weekly deadline of Thursday, 11:59 p.m. EST.
Once a player has been posted, bids for that player are accepted until Friday, 11:59 p.m. EST of the same week. Any bid sent to the MLBPA account prior to the associated player being posted in the "FA Posting" thread will be invalidated. Any bid received after the deadline will also be invalidated. No exceptions.
A franchise must keep many things in mind when generating a bid for a free agent:
Free agency minimum year requirements
The average annual salary (AAS) that a franchise bids in normal free agency will require a certain minimum number of years for the bid to be valid. The minimum contract term is based solely on the offer's AAS and is determined as follows:
If AAS = $0.4M to $15M, then a minimum one-year deal is required.
If AAS = $15M+ to $18M, then a minimum two-year deal is required.
If AAS = $18M+ to $22M, then a minimum three-year deal is required.
If AAS = $22M+ to $25M, then a minimum four-year deal is required.
If AAS = $25M+, then a minimum five-year deal is required.
The bidder can always make an RFA contract term longer than the minimum number of years since the AAS only determines the minimum term. See the next section for the exceptions regarding this.
League minimum salary and maximum years
Full Count's league minimum salary is $400,000 ($0.4M). The longest you may sign a player to a contract at the league minimum is two years (except in the case of a restricted free agent not receiving an offer, as outlined in 4.1.2). The longest you can sign a player to a contract with an average annual salary of less than $750,000 ($0.75M) — i.e. more than $400,000 and less than $750,000 — is three years. The longest any contract can be is six years.
Other limitations on salary
Backend loading of contracts is a concern for this league. Those contracts sure feel good to the winner since those latter years can get loaded up, allowing current year salary to stay lower and manageable and help prop up AAS. However, these contracts can become major hindrances later on. As such:
1. The highest single-year salary of a contract may not exceed 2.5x the AAS.
2. The lowest single-year salary of a contract may not be less than 40 percent of the AAS.
3. For any contract that has an AAS of $20M or more, all contract years must be between 80 and 120 percent of the AAS value. All other rules still apply.
4. The total of salaries in the first half or the last half of the contract (in years) may not exceed 70 percent of the total contract dollars. If a contract covers an odd number of years, half of the middle year of the contract is counted in the last half of the contract.
For example, a franchise offers Joe Jones a five-year contract at an AAS of $13M, totaling $65M, and annual salaries of $6M, $6M, $6M, $15M and $32M. This contract is legal from the standpoint of lowest (40 percent AAS) and highest (250 percent AAS) yearly salaries. However, the last half of the contract totals $50M, or 77 percent of the contract. Therefore, the franchise's bid would be ruled invalid. An additional $4.5M of the back half would have been necessary in the first half of the contract for the bid to have been valid.
5. A franchise may only offer an AAS up to 30 percent of their salary cap (as declared in section 3) to a single player.
Bid format and priority
Ideally, a franchise will submit only one message containing bids per free agent period to the MLBPA account on the league website. Only authorized league officials have access to this account. In order to be valid, the bid for a player must include the following, depending on player type:
Major leaguer – 1. Number of years on the contract, 2. Total amount of the contract, 3. Average annual salary (AAS), and 4. A breakdown of the contract per year, or note it will be evenly spread out
Example of a major leaguer:
The Boston Red Sox offer Joe Jones a five-year contract worth $48.5M
AAS: $9.7M
2015: $7M
2016: $9M
2017: $11M
2018: $11M
2019: $10.5M
Minor leaguer – 1. Average annual salary (AAS)
Example of a minor leaguer:
The Boston Red Sox offer Pete Smith a minor-league contract at AAS $1.2M.
IFAs aged 25 and older with a major league contract – 1. As indicated in section 2.4, you must offer a one-year signing bonus, which will be the first year of the contract. (There currently is no limit to what you can offer as a signing bonus, except that your franchise must remain within the roster and salary cap limits.)
Example of an eligible IFA:
The Boston Red Sox offer Juan Lopez a one-year signing bonus of $31M.
Failure to use this format for each of these types of players listed above will result in an invalid and voided bid.
As stated, franchises are encouraged to place all their bids in one message. In many cases you may want all the players, so bid priority isn't necessary. However, in some situations there may be many players up for bid in which you're interested, but your roster or salary cap limit will not allow you to keep them all. In these cases, you might like to take a stab at all of them in hopes of landing at least one. In that case you may send a priority list.
For example, you want one of Player A, Player B, and Player C. You would have to make legal bids for all three with a specific message of your intent to win only one or two of these players. In addition to the three bids, you would also send a list of the players in the order you want to win them, helping to avoid going over your roster or salary cap limits:
1. Player B
2. Player C
3. Player A
NOTE: A bid submitted is permanent; once a bid is made, it may not be withdrawn, be confident in your bid before you make an offer. You are obligated to that offer. In the rare case you feel you made a mistake and are adamant about pulling your offer from the table, you must request this in writing from the Commissioner's Office. If approved, the commissioner's office will delete your offer. This will only happen in the rarest of cases.
4.3.3 Rulings:
As in real life, sometimes players receive numerous contract offers. The player will ultimately choose the franchise that has offered them the most lucrative contract. The primary criterion in determining the winner of a free agent is the average annual salary (AAS) of the contract; the franchise that bid the highest AAS wins the player.
In the rare event two bids have the same average annual salary, below are the tie-breakers that will be utilized in determining which franchise will win the right to sign a player. Only proceed to the second tie-breaker in cases where the first tie-breaker ends in a tie.
Tie-breaker #1: If the AAS for two or more contract offers is the same, then the franchise that offered the contract with the most number of years is awarded the player.
Tie-breaker #2: In the rare case when two or more contract offers have the same AAS and the same number of years, then the franchise that made the contract offer first is awarded the player.
The commissioner's office will post the players and the associated winning franchises in the "FA Winning Bids" section of the league website. At this point, the player is ready to sign with your franchise, and you may officially add the player to your roster and deduct his salary from your salary cap. It is solely your responsibility to monitor the board and add any player you won to your Fantrax roster with 72 hours.
As noted in section 3.1, if the addition(s) put you over your roster and/or salary cap, you'll have 72 hours to correct the problem. Note that in this case, you may not add the player(s) to your Fantrax roster until your roster is legal. If not corrected within the time limit, the player(s) will be officially made free agents again.
Offseason free agency typically begins in mid- to late February after franchise, RFA, and minor league draft activities have finished. Free agency is conducted in week-long sessions by position, with some positions lumped together, e.g. MI and CI one week, OF and C the next, and SP and RP the next. Major league free agency is typically followed by minor league free agency during the offseason.
During the regular season, free agency is also conducted on a weekly basis, and franchises can attempt to acquire any major and minor league free agents eligible to be bid on.
4.3.1 Eligibility:
During minor league offseason free agency, only minor leaguers (as defined in section 2) who are not owned by another franchise are eligible to be bid on.
During position-specific offseason free agency, franchises should be also mindful of what players are eligible to be bid on each week. This league uses the Fantrax website to confirm position eligibility. (For more on the Fantrax policy of position eligibility, see their FAQ question "How is a player's position eligibility determined?")
During the regular season, both major leaguers and minor leaguers (as defined in section 2) — including IFAs — may be bid on. Note, however, that free agency bidding for IFAs follows a different process, as described previously in section 2.4.
4.3.2 The process:
Free agency is arguably one of the most important processes for the league. As such, the league has specific rules about the process. Failure to use the following rules and criteria will result in an invalid and voided bid. It is thus each franchise's responsibility to ensure they submit a proper bid.
Bids are sent to the MLBPA account on the league website. For both offseason and regular season free agency, a bid for a player may only be submitted after that player has been posted in the "FA Posting" thread on the league website. Players may be posted to this thread until the weekly deadline of Thursday, 11:59 p.m. EST.
Once a player has been posted, bids for that player are accepted until Friday, 11:59 p.m. EST of the same week. Any bid sent to the MLBPA account prior to the associated player being posted in the "FA Posting" thread will be invalidated. Any bid received after the deadline will also be invalidated. No exceptions.
A franchise must keep many things in mind when generating a bid for a free agent:
Free agency minimum year requirements
The average annual salary (AAS) that a franchise bids in normal free agency will require a certain minimum number of years for the bid to be valid. The minimum contract term is based solely on the offer's AAS and is determined as follows:
If AAS = $0.4M to $15M, then a minimum one-year deal is required.
If AAS = $15M+ to $18M, then a minimum two-year deal is required.
If AAS = $18M+ to $22M, then a minimum three-year deal is required.
If AAS = $22M+ to $25M, then a minimum four-year deal is required.
If AAS = $25M+, then a minimum five-year deal is required.
The bidder can always make an RFA contract term longer than the minimum number of years since the AAS only determines the minimum term. See the next section for the exceptions regarding this.
League minimum salary and maximum years
Full Count's league minimum salary is $400,000 ($0.4M). The longest you may sign a player to a contract at the league minimum is two years (except in the case of a restricted free agent not receiving an offer, as outlined in 4.1.2). The longest you can sign a player to a contract with an average annual salary of less than $750,000 ($0.75M) — i.e. more than $400,000 and less than $750,000 — is three years. The longest any contract can be is six years.
Other limitations on salary
Backend loading of contracts is a concern for this league. Those contracts sure feel good to the winner since those latter years can get loaded up, allowing current year salary to stay lower and manageable and help prop up AAS. However, these contracts can become major hindrances later on. As such:
1. The highest single-year salary of a contract may not exceed 2.5x the AAS.
2. The lowest single-year salary of a contract may not be less than 40 percent of the AAS.
3. For any contract that has an AAS of $20M or more, all contract years must be between 80 and 120 percent of the AAS value. All other rules still apply.
4. The total of salaries in the first half or the last half of the contract (in years) may not exceed 70 percent of the total contract dollars. If a contract covers an odd number of years, half of the middle year of the contract is counted in the last half of the contract.
For example, a franchise offers Joe Jones a five-year contract at an AAS of $13M, totaling $65M, and annual salaries of $6M, $6M, $6M, $15M and $32M. This contract is legal from the standpoint of lowest (40 percent AAS) and highest (250 percent AAS) yearly salaries. However, the last half of the contract totals $50M, or 77 percent of the contract. Therefore, the franchise's bid would be ruled invalid. An additional $4.5M of the back half would have been necessary in the first half of the contract for the bid to have been valid.
5. A franchise may only offer an AAS up to 30 percent of their salary cap (as declared in section 3) to a single player.
Bid format and priority
Ideally, a franchise will submit only one message containing bids per free agent period to the MLBPA account on the league website. Only authorized league officials have access to this account. In order to be valid, the bid for a player must include the following, depending on player type:
Major leaguer – 1. Number of years on the contract, 2. Total amount of the contract, 3. Average annual salary (AAS), and 4. A breakdown of the contract per year, or note it will be evenly spread out
Example of a major leaguer:
The Boston Red Sox offer Joe Jones a five-year contract worth $48.5M
AAS: $9.7M
2015: $7M
2016: $9M
2017: $11M
2018: $11M
2019: $10.5M
Minor leaguer – 1. Average annual salary (AAS)
Example of a minor leaguer:
The Boston Red Sox offer Pete Smith a minor-league contract at AAS $1.2M.
IFAs aged 25 and older with a major league contract – 1. As indicated in section 2.4, you must offer a one-year signing bonus, which will be the first year of the contract. (There currently is no limit to what you can offer as a signing bonus, except that your franchise must remain within the roster and salary cap limits.)
Example of an eligible IFA:
The Boston Red Sox offer Juan Lopez a one-year signing bonus of $31M.
Failure to use this format for each of these types of players listed above will result in an invalid and voided bid.
As stated, franchises are encouraged to place all their bids in one message. In many cases you may want all the players, so bid priority isn't necessary. However, in some situations there may be many players up for bid in which you're interested, but your roster or salary cap limit will not allow you to keep them all. In these cases, you might like to take a stab at all of them in hopes of landing at least one. In that case you may send a priority list.
For example, you want one of Player A, Player B, and Player C. You would have to make legal bids for all three with a specific message of your intent to win only one or two of these players. In addition to the three bids, you would also send a list of the players in the order you want to win them, helping to avoid going over your roster or salary cap limits:
1. Player B
2. Player C
3. Player A
NOTE: A bid submitted is permanent; once a bid is made, it may not be withdrawn, be confident in your bid before you make an offer. You are obligated to that offer. In the rare case you feel you made a mistake and are adamant about pulling your offer from the table, you must request this in writing from the Commissioner's Office. If approved, the commissioner's office will delete your offer. This will only happen in the rarest of cases.
4.3.3 Rulings:
As in real life, sometimes players receive numerous contract offers. The player will ultimately choose the franchise that has offered them the most lucrative contract. The primary criterion in determining the winner of a free agent is the average annual salary (AAS) of the contract; the franchise that bid the highest AAS wins the player.
In the rare event two bids have the same average annual salary, below are the tie-breakers that will be utilized in determining which franchise will win the right to sign a player. Only proceed to the second tie-breaker in cases where the first tie-breaker ends in a tie.
Tie-breaker #1: If the AAS for two or more contract offers is the same, then the franchise that offered the contract with the most number of years is awarded the player.
Tie-breaker #2: In the rare case when two or more contract offers have the same AAS and the same number of years, then the franchise that made the contract offer first is awarded the player.
The commissioner's office will post the players and the associated winning franchises in the "FA Winning Bids" section of the league website. At this point, the player is ready to sign with your franchise, and you may officially add the player to your roster and deduct his salary from your salary cap. It is solely your responsibility to monitor the board and add any player you won to your Fantrax roster with 72 hours.
As noted in section 3.1, if the addition(s) put you over your roster and/or salary cap, you'll have 72 hours to correct the problem. Note that in this case, you may not add the player(s) to your Fantrax roster until your roster is legal. If not corrected within the time limit, the player(s) will be officially made free agents again.
