The Planetary Extreme Baseball Alliance

I think that it is time to review and revise the house contract rules, for a couple of reasons, both related to the purpose for which (as I understand it) the house rules were developed:

1) trying to close loopholes in OOTP's contract negotiation logic; and

2) trying to reflect reality.

With respect to 1, I am sure that we still need some house rules, but I'm pretty confident that OOTP's contract negotiation logic has improved.

With respect to 2), baseball's real life contract practices on the ground has changed a lot, particularly, as noted above, with respect to the new prevalence for contracts with declining and/or otherwise variable AAVs. Back in the day, it was almost unheard of that a contract would have a declining value.

I think splitting up all jobs is a great idea, btw.

James you make a great point. We also have the ability to trade salary percentages now like teams will do in reality. We should take advantage of this new function in the game and allow it.

Sandgnats wrote:James you make a great point. We also have the ability to trade salary percentages now like teams will do in reality. We should take advantage of this new function in the game and allow it.

Is that a new feature? Interesting... of course we have always had the option to trade cash to offset...

Borealis wrote:

Sandgnats wrote:James you make a great point. We also have the ability to trade salary percentages now like teams will do in reality. We should take advantage of this new function in the game and allow it.

Is that a new feature? Interesting... of course we have always had the option to trade cash to offset...

Yes this latest version allows teams to retain a percentage of salary as terms of trade over a number of years for the length of the contract. It's pretty fun. I've enjoyed it in the solo games that I play remaking the Phillies over and over again...

Thoroughbreds wrote:As a board member without a role, I think I would be able to manage updating statslab and HTML stuff. I am guessing that this would entail Morris running the sim and putting out the new file, I would import the file then upload the new stuff for statslab etc. Am I correct Morris???

This is exactly right.

Longshoremen wrote:I think that it is time to review and revise the house contract rules, for a couple of reasons, both related to the purpose for which (as I understand it) the house rules were developed:

1) trying to close loopholes in OOTP's contract negotiation logic; and

2) trying to reflect reality.

With respect to 1, I am sure that we still need some house rules, but I'm pretty confident that OOTP's contract negotiation logic has improved.

With respect to 2), baseball's real life contract practices on the ground has changed a lot, particularly, as noted above, with respect to the new prevalence for contracts with declining and/or otherwise variable AAVs. Back in the day, it was almost unheard of that a contract would have a declining value.

I think splitting up all jobs is a great idea, btw.

I was saving this for Monday.

Longshoremen wrote: With respect to 1, I am sure that we still need some house rules, but I'm pretty confident that OOTP's contract negotiation logic has improved.

Yeah... I've got zero confidence - When Ryan Holbrook (making $5.5M) will settle for an extension of $2.2M, we need house rules...

Borealis wrote:

Longshoremen wrote: With respect to 1, I am sure that we still need some house rules, but I'm pretty confident that OOTP's contract negotiation logic has improved.

Yeah... I've got zero confidence - When Ryan Holbrook (making $5.5M) will settle for an extension of $2.2M, we need house rules...

Pigs keep flying. Aurora and Crystal Lake agree.

I had a player who was making 15 mil but was only asking 8 mil after we went from OOTP17 to OOTP 18, I understand some players (AI) might realize they have a drop-off point in regards to production. But to lose a player due to not making him a contract offer under strict rules we follow could be more flexible. With contracts getting way to high (35-37mil) I think we could manage a change here also so the smaller team could compete better. A competitive league is a better league

Warriors wrote:I had a player who was making 15 mil but was only asking 8 mil after we went from OOTP17 to OOTP 18, I understand some players (AI) might realize they have a drop-off point in regards to production. But to lose a player due to not making him a contract offer under strict rules we follow could be more flexible. With contracts getting way to high (35-37mil) I think we could manage a change here also so the smaller team could compete better. A competitive league is a better league

Here’s a possible idea - we could front-load contracts in such a way that they a) don’t descalate radically and, b) the overall average salary is still greater than the previous years salary.

For instance, a player is making $12M, and is offered a contract that is $18M, then declines to $16, then $14, then back to $12 - for an average of $15M... parameters to be discussed...

Mike's idea is realistic and easy to track than the 3 times the league average salary rule over the free agency years. The league average salary will constantly inflate over time and this compounds its effect.

I do think that rules applying to contracts of 3 years or more does encourage more players into free agency which helps the competive balance of the league.

I think one thing that might be helpful for that whole ‘league average’ clauses in the Constitution, is to simply post the League Average at the top of the forum page, so it’s easily seen. I would bet that part of the problem is even knowing what the average is! It’s not easy to find...

Warriors wrote:I had a player who was making 15 mil but was only asking 8 mil after we went from OOTP17 to OOTP 18, I understand some players (AI) might realize they have a drop-off point in regards to production. But to lose a player due to not making him a contract offer under strict rules we follow could be more flexible. With contracts getting way to high (35-37mil) I think we could manage a change here also so the smaller team could compete better. A competitive league is a better league

The funny thing is that contracts rocketed up in value because the league has much more money - because a new TV deal was invented to give more money to smaller teams.

Sorry to change the subject but are we all still onboard with the ratings being shown relative to league level? I know my team is dreadful but dealing with that and looking at prospects whose potential ratings are unrealistically bad isn't a lot of fun. Potential ratings shouldn't decline by league level as much.

But it also could be the draft classes are poor. The colleges don't look bad this year but in the IFHS of the 26 batters with 2.5 stars or more (OSA) only one is hitting .300 - this is high school ball for godsakes - and a good number barely hitting their weight. The overall league batting average in the IHS the last three years was .201, .189, .198. And the IFHS is in the .220s. As far as colleges, the ICOL has held steady but the USCBA batting averages have dropped 50 points since the league began. My concern is whether this is our future. Believe me a league of teams that hit like mine isn't going to be fun.

Does anyone have an assessment so far of whether talent is declining among recent picks?

Evas wrote:

Warriors wrote:I had a player who was making 15 mil but was only asking 8 mil after we went from OOTP17 to OOTP 18, I understand some players (AI) might realize they have a drop-off point in regards to production. But to lose a player due to not making him a contract offer under strict rules we follow could be more flexible. With contracts getting way to high (35-37mil) I think we could manage a change here also so the smaller team could compete better. A competitive league is a better league

The funny thing is that contracts rocketed up in value because the league has much more money - because a new TV deal was invented to give more money to smaller teams.

This can be changed via settings in the league options. You can set league average, league max etc.