Draftees contracts for inaugural draft

[Rawhide GM (Jimmy-LM)]

Just to gain clarification for contracts during the draft: (per email with Serge already)


Hey Serge,

I'm going to break this down to make it as simple as possible. When you draft a player, he will fall into 3 categories:

Prospect/ Minor leaguer - (anyone who has not accumulated 50innings pitched or 150 at bats)
Protected Player - PP- (anyone who exceeds the limitations above, and has played under 4 years from exceeding that point).
MLB Player -(any player who has exceed the 4 year control limit of a PP)

Prospects are free, until they exceed the inning/at bat limit. Then they become $500K for that year.
Protected Players are worth $500k for the 4 years after the exceed eligibility. Examples of PPs:
C - Buster Posey (exceeded 150 at bats in 2010) - 2014:$500k (you would have the option of accepting his MLB contract too)
SP - Jeremy Hellickson (exceeded 50IP in 2011)- 2014:$500k, 2015:$500K
OF Mike Trout (exceeded 150 at bats in 2012) - 2014:$500K, 2015:$500K, 2016:$500K
SP Chris Archer (exceeded 50 IP in 2013) - 2014:$500K, 2015:$500K, 2016:$500K, 2017:$500K

MLB players exceeding the 4 years control status will inherit their real life contract, via this website: www.baseballprospectus.com/compensation/cots/

All contractual options are considered club options in this league. Any free agent or pending arbitration player drafted will inherit whatever real life contract they sign.


I hope this makes sense. Any other questions, please email me.

[Deleted]

thanks only question I have is say I get miguel cabrera and he is only signed for one more year but I want him in this league for say 5 years how would we come up with the four years exceeding his contract just wait until he signs a new deal then thats what it would be for the other years ?? or can we fictionally create the 4 years he doesnt currently have a contract for ?

[Rawhide GM (Jimmy-LM)]

M. Cabrera has 2 more years on his contract, so he wouldn't be the best example for your question, but no you cant fictionally create a contract. Say you draft Asdrubel Cabrera. You would get him for his one remaining year on his contract, for $10mil. After this season, he would become a free agent. The only thing that would prevent him from becoming a free agent (and allowing everyone to bid on him) is if you used one of your 2 tags on him. A Franchise Tag would yield whatever real life contract or extensions he signed. A Restricted Tag would still allow A. Cabrera to be bid on, and you would have the option of matching the winning bid and keeping A. Cabrera, or letting him walk and receiving draft picks in the Future Player Draft as compensation (this would simulate the type A/B Free agents the MLB has). But you only receive 2 tags per offseason (and they do not rollover), so you have to manage contracts and make decisions on your players that are pending free agency.


Free agency is an important part of this league, so do be aware of those rules. But if you refused to tag A. Cabrera, he would become an unrestricted free agent for anyone to bid on, and no option for receiving compensation. Hope this makes sense.

[Empire 66ers GM (Hani)]

does that work for same for arb eligible players?

[Deleted]

yep, that's what I'm wondering from the rules. Protected 1-4, but in real life 4-6 are arbitration and 1-year contracts. So would any arbitration eligible players such as Gordon Beckham who I think is in year 5 here but is set to make his 2nd trip to the arbitration table only have one year of control and then become a FA in here?

Don't correct me if I'm wrong on Beckham, obviously wondering if a drafted year 5 player who's going to sign an 1 year arbitrated deal is only on one year of team control.

[Greenville Drive GM (Matt)]

Yes, for guys who take arbitration year-by-year, you would have to tag them each off-season in order to retain them year after year. Adds value to those who lock up extensions through those years similar to the value that gives real MLB GMs.

[Deleted]

A guy like Colby Rasmus is a good example of this. Rasmus passed limits in 2009, making him PP in 2010-2013. In real life, he's on track for arbitration one more time this winter, but in here, whats the status on him...Do we get the arbitration value he receives as his "real life contract", or does he become a FA.

[Deleted]

Oct 15, 2013 11:46:12 GMT -5 @jet7 said:

A guy like Colby Rasmus is a good example of this. Rasmus passed limits in 2009, making him PP in 2010-2013. In real life, he's on track for arbitration one more time this winter, but in here, whats the status on him...Do we get the arbitration value he receives as his "real life contract", or does he become a FA.

You'll get the arbitration/contract he signs. If the deal is up after one season, you'd have to tag him. Like Matt said, it places greater value on guys who sign long term extensions (just like the real MLB)

[Deleted]

Without trying to confuse things, in the Rasmus example, say he avoids arbitration by signing, say, a 3 year deal sometime this winter. I'm guessing that since he was drafted as a "contract TBD", then the 3 year deal would be in effect for this league. Right?

[Deleted]

Is there a website that readily lists the players and their contracts for salary cap leagues available out there

[Deleted]

Jimmy listed it in the first post: www.baseballprospectus.com/compensation/cots/

[Rawhide GM (Jimmy-LM)]

Correct John, you would get whatever contract he signed this year, be it a one year arbitration agreement or 10 year extension.

[Deleted]

So someone like Posey who technically still has PP status in league, why would anyone take his real life contract value vs. the cheap 500k PP value? I think the rule should be updated or worked to be something like if a contract is available on COTs that is their contract here for drafting purposes. If no known contract then the default value. Also maybe a date needs to be set for extensions (real life ones) or contracts could be modified throughout the season. Maybe first game of regular season?

[Deleted]

Some of the PP young stars have already signed long-term deals. This locks them up in later years at a respectable salary vs. waiting until their PP years are over, franchising them 1-2 years, and then having their contract explode into the $20 million range and you can't afford their salary anymore.

[Deleted]

My understanding is the date has already been set of the contract you have to take. Its the contract at the time the guy is drafted. So take posey from last year as an example. If we had been drafting the same way last year, you could have taken him as PP or pending arbitration. Once you select, yoy cant change. If you selected PP, then you'd have had to franchise him this year to get his extension. If you selected contract, youd would have taken his $8m/1yr arb deal and would have also had to franchise him this yr to get the extension (since the extension was signed in march after he since his arb deal, you'd have to use a tag to get the extension). The only way you would get the extension of a play is if his contract had been tbd and he signed extension before getting any other deal (ala Prado last yr). You only get the first deal he signs when you select contract if he doesnt already have a contract (or a the contract if he does have one already). Im posting partly to help but also to make sure my understanding is correct.

Its sort of like you're allowed to immediately franchise anyone you draft. But only at the time i draft them.

[Sand Gnats (Matthew)]

What about Rafael Soriano's contract. He is making $7M in 2014 with another $7M deferred to be paid out in later bonuses, same with his 2015 option. So what would his contract be in here $7M or 14M?

[Deleted]

he actually earns all that money in 2014, they are just deferring when he gets the check in the mail. lots of contracts have deferred amounts, but his 2014 base salary is still considered $14M by MLB since it is earned in 2014 (even if it's paid in later years after he's no longer with the team). doesn't mean we can't treat it differently, of course.

[Rawhide GM (Jimmy-LM)]

Oct 23, 2013 15:09:37 GMT -5 Sand Gnats (Matthew) said:

What about Rafael Soriano's contract. He is making $7M in 2014 with another $7M deferred to be paid out in later bonuses, same with his 2015 option. So what would his contract be in here $7M or 14M?

Pretty much what Tim said above, but deferred money still counts towards the year it would be earned. A signing bonus however we do not honor, so if Player A gets a $5mil bonus, plus earns $5mil in 2014 and 2015 each, we would only recognize the yearly salaries not the bonus. Deferred money typically comes from a contract reconstruction, so its not something I think we will have to worry about outside of a couple contracts this first year.