Possible Rule Amendment - Sign and Trade

[Dan Wood]

This off-season gave us many expiring contracts on what most would consider star players. Said players never made it to free agency because they were dealt to teams that could afford them. Since our goal is to emulate MLB as much as possible, this is something that just never happens, or hardly ever happens. I feel, as well as several others, that this should be no longer allowed. What has been proposed is 5 days to resign your players, or ship them off to FA. The 5 days gives you time to move some payroll in order to keep these players if you so choose to do. This makes this league a lot more realistic, and spread the talent around a little better.

As GMs in this league we need to plan for the future. I'm sure Tamp Bay would have loved to deal Carl Crawford after the season ended, but the fact of the matter is they no longer owned his rights. They had their window to deal him, and they were well aware that they didn't have a snowball's chance in hell of resigning him. In the end, a large market team ended up signing him, and Tampa Bay got draft picks (see losing the RFA rule). Once the WS is over, we have 5 days to resign our players, or cut them loose to test the waters. I do realize this favors the bigger market teams, but that is also the challenge of MLB, as well as this league. We all know what we signed on for.

Please discuss further.

[Canada8999]

I am in favor of this change - the current rules are unrealistic, and we always aspire to mirror MLB's rules.

[KDoc09]

I am all for amending this rule, the closer we can make it to how these processes work in MLB  the more fun this league will become.

[Colby]

I am all for amending this rule, the closer we can make it to how these processes work in MLB  the more fun this league will become.

Do we have a five day period or none at all?  Do we give extra room for small market GMs?

[bravesfan4]

First off, players with expired contracts should not be allowed to be traded.

The problem with having 5 days to resign guys, is you dont know where they are going to be in real life. A major thing in fantasy sports. That is a negative if we put a small time period on it. With that said I really want to be like real life.

So I think 5 days from the end of our World Series all unsigned FA's should become Free Agent. So you have 5 days to sign them.

[lp815]

I do realize this favors the bigger market teams, but that is also the challenge of MLB, as well as this league. We all know what we signed on for.

Just an idea, but maybe to counter the benefit of this for big market teams would be to allow prospect extensions to small market teams only?

[bravesfan4]

Just an idea, but maybe to counter the benefit of this for big market teams would be to allow prospect extensions to small market teams only?

Possibly a good idea......Here is why I would be against it.....trading Posey who is signed for 4m is easy every team can afford him. if Posey would have been at 8 mill or so who can afford not some teams. that is a down side...just a thought

[lp815]

Possibly a good idea......Here is why I would be against it.....trading Posey who is signed for 4m is easy every team can afford him. if Posey would have been at 8 mill or so who can afford not some teams. that is a down side...just a thought

A good point, but I'm not saying that big market teams can't trade for a player who received a prospect extension, just that they wouldn't be able to create one themselves.  I think I'm on the same page as what you're saying?

[Canada8999]

My personal stance on it is we don't need all these clauses for small market teams.  Small market teams choose the challenge of playing the moneyball game, and thats how it is in real life.

We have a salary cap structure that rewards teams for good performance, and any slip by large market teams will cause a drop in their cap that could force them into undesired moves.

We have a draft pick compensation for free agents where if large market teams sign a small market's FA they cough up their draft picks (I think needs to be enhanced per Dan's suggestions for all free agents, not just RFA's).  Poor performing teams have their picks protected, and can go after the big names if they have room.  We have the EDR to let these picks develop free of cost (both salary and roster).  A few years with the top picks, some extra 1st rounders and sup. round picks vs. having no 1st rounder / sup. rounders could go a long way.

Over time, the draft pick compensation combined with our EDR should give poor performing teams a chance to build a great farm system.  As they start winning, their cap room grow - if they're using the prospect extension clauses, they'll have a low-cost powerhouse and the extra cap room is gravy. 

Also take a look at the FA pool this year - it's not like there are a ton of big names for the large market teams to gobble up.  I don't expect to see anything much better in the future either, as these guys will be extended or traded to teams that can extend them (even with the new rules, teams will adjust).

Rome wasn't built in a day, and I don't think we should try to change that.  It will take multiple years to turn around a poor performing / small market team, and I don't think this is a bad thing.

[Canada8999]

First off, players with expired contracts should not be allowed to be traded.

The problem with having 5 days to resign guys, is you dont know where they are going to be in real life. A major thing in fantasy sports. That is a negative if we put a small time period on it. With that said I really want to be like real life.

So I think 5 days from the end of our World Series all unsigned FA's should become Free Agent. So you have 5 days to sign them.

I agree with you on the uncertainty, but I may think the impact is less significant (you should pay for the skills first, the role second).  I do think disallowing sign-and-trades all together is a reasonable solution - we don't need to change the extension deadline if we don't allow sign-and-trades at all.