M.J.'s recent attempt to sign Loney to a long-term deal has brought up an issue with contract extensions.  We were looking at two different lists.  His was from the 2009 league page and mine from 2010 league page.  Since there were players with more eligibility constraints met per position, the list became diluted a bit.  That list isn't necessarily a bad thing, but which one is better?  Do we want to switch to a style that requires less GM research of rankings and have market values determined each off-season (and such values could be obtained from a list, or even a team page)?

In 2011, the league's variable salary cup structure will switch from tier-based to a formula that is based on averages of team financial numbers from 2007-2009.  It is designed to take into account current market position, winning, and real life economic fluctuations.  This new system fixes two problems that exist in the current structure: huge swings in cap year-to-year for mid-large market teams AND the lack of a tie to real life salaries over time.

Explanation of the formula can be found below.  As a GM, all you need to know is that you can spend freely without that affecting your cap position for future years.  The more you win over time, the higher your cap will eventually go.  The three-year average with a one-year delay prevents it from immediately happening, so the effects will be seen over several years rather than over one off-season.

Stand
Real life payrolls + $20m are used.  The standings are based on the real life franchises before 2009 and the fantasy franchises for years after 2008.  A final standing of 8th place in a season would correlate with the real life payroll (+$20m) to determine the Stand value for that year.

Return
The return is the ultimate formula in determining the cap for a year.  The new salary cap is 25% of the stand value plus 75% of the prior year's salary cap.  A three-year average of returns is then used two years down the line.  Therefore, the average returns between 2007 and 2009 would be used in calculating the 2011 cap.

Limitation of Return
The return is bounded to be no more and no less than $20m or 20% of the prior year's salary cap.  This prevents huge fluctuation in salary caps year to year.

to
P Rzepczynski, Marc, $0.5m (P-n/a) <----- make this P-2012
OF/CI Raburn, Ryan, $1.0m (2011)

to
SP Porcello, Rick, $2m (2012)

Rzep and Porcello are under contract through 2012, but Rzep's is much more friendly to a small market club.  Porcello could be a great one, but there is more of a track record in the minors to go with the southpaw that is Rzep.  Raburn is the player I originally inquired about.  He'll put up good numbers on average, and he should help out big time in the CI platoon that I see the Pirates having over the next two years.

Brewers: $4.5M

(also, he pitched 49 innings last year, and is thus not eligible for a prospect contract).

Yes he is still eligible.  The 3-year clock started ticking in 2009 when he accrued 40 IP, so the winning bid could end up being in the form of a bonus on top of a P-2012 contract.

Jon Gaskins has rarely been available, so I think it is time that we add another member to the TC.  Who is interested in this job?