$0.5m

your way sounds good to me... doesnt matter tho,   more big bucks for me to spend the other way.  lol

VERDICT: Well, I may be blasted by some for this and it may be well received by others, but I decided to change the cap for 2009.  There was going to be such a high influx of cash available for teams that was imaginary and wouldn't stick around for the new caps of 2010.  This would cause a lot of salary cap hits that were unintentional.

Please check the rules with the new tiers, and the caps for everyone.  Free agency has begun, so you may start bidding on players now.

I don't mind the RFA thing, however, if I keep some RFAs I won't be able to sign ANY free agents because I'd be over the cap...

You may be over the cap with your inherited team.  See the Nationals as an example.

I have received several questions about the workings of the variable salary cap.  I am open for it to change, but I do want the variable cap to stay so large and small market teams can be differentiated.  I think before money starts to be tossed around in free agency (especially offseason), we should get people's thoughts on the cap for 2010 and beyond.

I saw this setup in another 30-team franchise league, and I think it may suit us better than using one number at the top for the Yankees and then dropping by X amount for each franchise....

• Tier 1 – Yankees
• 2008 Salary Cap Amount for Tier 1 - $140 million
• 1 Franchise Option

• Tier 2 – Red Sox, Mets, Angels, Tigers, Cubs
• 2008 Salary Cap Amount for Tier 2 - $120 million
• 1 Franchise Option
• 1 Restricted Option

• Tier 3 – Astros, Dodgers, Mariners, White Sox, Braves, Phillies
• 2008 Salary Cap Amount for Tier 3 - $100 million
• 2 Franchise Options
• 1 Restricted Option

• Tier 4 – Blue Jays, Rays, Brewers, Twins, Reds, Rangers, Royals, Indians, Rockies, Diamondbacks, Giants, Cardinals, Orioles,
• 2008 Salary Cap Amount for Tier 4 - $90 million
• 2 Franchise Options
• 2 Restricted Options

• Tier 5 – Athletics, Pirates, Nationals, Marlins, Padres
• 2008 Salary Cap Amount for Tier 5 - $80 million
• 3 Franchise Options
• 3 Restricted Options

Now, we would have to use different numbers, but maybe a setup like this would work...

Tier 1 - Team with #1 ranked max salary of previous season has cap of $250m, one RFA tag
Tier 2 - Next 2 teams, cap of $200m, one RFA tag
Tier 3 - Next 3 teams, cap of $150m, one RFA tag
Tier 4 - Next 4 teams, cap of $125m, two RFA tag
Tier 5 - Next 5 teams, cap of $100m, two RFA tag
Tier 6 - Next 5 teams, cap of $90m, two RFA tag
Tier 7 - Next 4 teams, cap of $80m, three RFA tag
Tier 8 - Next 3 teams, cap of $70m, three RFA tag
Tier 9 - Next 2 teams, cap of $60m, three RFA tag
Tier 10 - Bottom team, cap of $50m, four RFA tag

This enables the small market teams to at least get a shot to match some contracts (most likely small ones), and it cleans up the enormous amount a cap room that the mid and large market teams have right now compared to the small market squads.

Currently, the cap room from #1 to #30 looks like:
 $33.0
 $96.5
 $91.5
 $59.5
 $90.5
 $83.5
 $93.0
 $76.5
 $64.3
 $94.0
 $74.5
 $45.5
 $69.0
 $78.5
 $63.0
 $45.5
 $22.5
 $35.5
 $70.0
 $53.5
 $48.5
 $8.0
 $26.5
 $8.0
 $13.0
 $(11.5)
 $8.4
 $2.0
 $(1.5)
 $0.5

My recommended system would change it
 $33.0
 $53.5
 $55.5
 $1.5
 $11.5
 $11.5
 $3.0
 $7.5
 $16.3
 $18.0
 $(5.5)
 $0.5
 $3.0
 $(8.5)
 $4.0
 $4.5
 $2.5
 $8.5
 $8.0
 $5.5
 $4.5
 $(8.0)
 $3.5
 $6.0
 $(6.0)
 $(9.5)
 $3.4
 $1.0
 $11.5
 $(3.5)

I imagine there's no xera option either?

Here is what is available:

POSITION PLAYERS
Avg - Batting Average
CS - Caught Stealing
DP - Double Plays Fielded
2B - Doubles
E - Errors
XBH - Extra Base Hits
FLD% - Fielding Percentage
FB - Fly Balls
GP - Games Played
Sl - Grand Slams
GB/FB - Ground Ball/Fly Ball Ratio
GB - Ground Balls
GIDP - Grounded Into Double Plays
HBP - Hit By Pitches
Cyc - Hit For The Cycle
H - Hits
HR - Home Runs
IBB - Intentional Walks
MHG - Multiple Hit Games
MHRG - Multiple Home Run Games
NSB - Net Stolen Bases
OPS - On Base + Slugging Percentage
OBP - On Base Percentage
PB - Passed Balls
PKO - Picked Off
P/PA - Pitches Faced per Plate Appearance
PA - Plate Appearances
PO - Putouts
RF - Range Factor
LOB - Runners Left On Base
RL2O - Runners in Scoring Position Left On Base with 2 Outs
RBI - Runs Batted In
RC - Runs Created
RC27 - Runs Created Per 27 Outs
RP - Runs Produced (RBI + R)
R - Runs Scored
SF - Sacrifice Flies
SH - Sacrifice Hits
1B - Singles
SLG - Slugging Percentage
SBA% - Stolen Base Against %
SB% - Stolen Base Percentage
SB - Stolen Bases
SBA - Stolen Bases Against
SO - Strikeouts
TB - Total Bases
TB+BB - Total Bases + Walks
TP - Triple Plays Fielded
3B - Triples
BB - Walks
ZR - Zone Rating

PITCHERS
A - Assists
Bk - Balks
BRA - Baserunners Allowed (BB + H + HB)
BR/9 - Baserunners Allowed Per Nine Innings
BAA - Batting Average Against
BS - Blown Saves
CG - Complete Games
DP - Double Plays Fielded
2B - Doubles Allowed
ERA - Earned Run Average
ER - Earned Runs Allowed
E - Errors
XBHA - Extra Base Hits Allowed
FLD% - Fielding Percentage
FB - Fly Balls Allowed
GP - Games Played
GS - Games Started
GB/FB - Ground Ball/Fly Ball Ratio Against
GB - Ground Balls Allowed
GIDP - Grounded Into Double Plays Against
HB - Hit Batsmen
H - Hits Allowed
H/IP - Hits Allowed Per Inning Pitched
Hld - Holds
HR - Home Runs Allowed
HR/9 - Home Runs Allowed Per Nine Innings
IR - Inherited Runners
IRS - Inherited Runners Stranded
IRS% - Inherited Runners Stranded %
IP - Innings Pitched
IBB - Intentional Walks Allowed
L - Losses
NS2 - Net Saves (Saves - Blown Saves + .5 * Holds)
NS - Net Saves (Sv - BS)
NW - Net Wins (W - L)
NH - No Hitters
OPS - On Base + Slugging Percentage
OBP - On Base Percentage
PG - Perfect Games
PKO - Pickoffs
P/PA - Pitches Thrown per Plate Appearance
PO - Putouts
QS - Quality Starts
RF - Range Factor
RL - Relief Losses
RW - Relief Wins
R - Runs Allowed
Sv - Saves
ShO - Shutouts
1B - Singles Allowed
SLG - Slugging Percentage
SBA% - Stolen Base Against %
SBA - Stolen Bases Against
SO - Strikeouts Pitched
SO/9 - Strikeouts Pitched Per Nine Innings
SO/BB - Strikeouts Pitched Per Walk
TB - Total Bases
TP - Triple Plays Fielded
3B - Triples Allowed
WHIP - Walks + Hits per Inning Pitched
BB - Walks Allowed
BB/9 - Walks Pitched Per Nine Innings
WP - Wild Pitches
W% - Win Percentage
W - Wins
ZR - Zone Rating