I would like a ruling by the Rules Commitee

[Green]

I would like a ruling on a player retiring and its effects on payroll. I stated my case in the parent page under "A couple of questions". I will restate it here if you want me to.

[clidwin]

good question, what you guys think we should do with retired players

[Colby]

I would like a ruling on a player retiring and its effects on payroll. I stated my case in the parent page under "A couple of questions". I will restate it here if you want me to.

The rule is simple in that the team loses out by receiving a cap hit when cutting the player.  We do not have tons of clauses in contracts, but I suppose we could create one for certain cases.  The only thing I do not like about this is the ambiguity of knowing if a player has retired or moved to another league and if they would be coming back at all.

[Dan Wood]

I will say this. Once a player officially retires/ move leagues he is no longer part of the MLB. Since we cannot sign amateurs until they have a MLB contract, this would kind of fall in the same category. Also god forbid, someone gets injured that is making 20 mil a year, and cannot play anymore. What then? I think once a player is out of MLB - we should no longer be held responsible for the contract. Unfortunately our league, as are all fantasy leagues, are reactionary. So my vote would be to not have GMs be responsible for a contract if someone calls it quits. That is out of our control.

[rcankosy]

I would agree that retirement might be beyond our control, but I think that an injured player's contract should stay on the books.  That is the risk that a real team or we run every time we hand out a long-term contract to a player.  If the Yanks ever lost A-Rod, CC, or Tex to injury, their salaries would still count against the cap.  When you roll the dice folks, sometimes it comes up CRAPS!

[Colby]

When you roll the dice folks, sometimes it comes up CRAPS!

When you sign Rich Harden and Ben Sheets to long term deals... sleepless in Seattle!  Good luck with that one Chris!

[ChinMusic]

When you sign Rich Harden and Ben Sheets to long term deals... sleepless in Seattle!  Good luck with that one Chris!

Would anyone like to blow on my dice? The Seattle 7-11s has a nice ring for a new franchise name.

My view, as the owner of pitcher injury central, is that in the case of a guy blowing out his arm, that should count against the salary. I took on the contract size and more importantly length. I could pay more for a 1-year deal so it's my own call. I can always buy the guy out (hence the longer deals offered at Seattle - i think the risk with Sheets et al. is all or nothing. If it becomes nothing then I buy them out). Also as correctly stated this mirrors reality. The contracts would be guaranteed.

However I was way more pissed when Kenji Johjima bugged out to Japan, leaving me with ten million dollars to pay over the next 2 years. He elected out of his own contract so this one does not mirror reality. I think my view would be elective retirement or electing out of your contract to play abroad should carry some kind of arbitrary buyout fee.

[Daniel]

I would say that if a player retires from baseball because of age or whatever personal reasons, the best option would be to allow a free release, like it would happen in the majors. Maybe a cheaper release instead of a free one, like half the going rate. However, when a player decides to play in a different country it's usually because they weren't good enough for the majors, so in that case the team should be stuck with the bad contract they gave. Likewise with injuries, it's a risk everyone is aware of when giving a large contract.

[Colby]

I would say that if a player retires from baseball because of age or whatever personal reasons, the best option would be to allow a free release, like it would happen in the majors. Maybe a cheaper release instead of a free one, like half the going rate. However, when a player decides to play in a different country it's usually because they weren't good enough for the majors, so in that case the team should be stuck with the bad contract they gave. Likewise with injuries, it's a risk everyone is aware of when giving a large contract.

This may be worthwhile as we need to replicate MLB as much as possible (within certain restrictions such as cash exchanges).  If a player retires under contract then they essentially void their contract, right?  However, if they come back then I assume it has to be with the same team, or that team has the rights to the player (without a contract)?

[mjmezzetti]

I'm indifferenct, perhaps we should match MLB rules on this one.