I noticed something when looking at some of the top FAs' demands that is worth pointing out to the league, as it may have flown under the radar a little bit.
Some players, if you go to the contract offer page, will have a note that says Signing this player may result in the loss of a draft pick. This means the free agent is compensation-eligible by the implemented-in-OOTP 2012 Collective Bargaining Rules. This is what replaced the old Type A/Type B free agent rules.
What does it mean to sign a compensation-eligible free agent? According to the OOTP16 online rules, it means:
EDIT: Here are the compensation-eligible FAs for 2037, alphabetically:OOTP wrote:
- Draft pick compensation will only be received for lost free agents who spent the entire season with one team
- A team that signs a compensation-eligible player forfeits its first-round draft selection, unless it selects in the top 10 (or top third of the league), in which case it forfeits its second-highest selection. (This is an important change for OOTP leagues. Leagues using the new CBA rules should begin to see fewer picks in the first few rounds of their drafts than there are teams in the league. This is because teams are forfeiting picks when they sign compensation-eligible players. Some teams may forfeit multiple picks, meaning rounds other than Round 1 will be affected.)
- The player's former team receives a selection in the supplemental round of the draft, not the signing team's pick.
SP Chris Brown
CF Guang 'Strider' Liu
CF Francisco Rodríguez
SP Scotty Shorland
CF Pat Watson
SS Bang-xao 'Beetle' You
If you are thinking of signing any of these fellows, be aware it may cost you a draft pick in addition to their salary!
Finally! Note that there is potentially an additional wrinkle in the free agent lists as well.
In some past years there were some free agents listed as compensation-eligible, but who played in the WIL previously rather than PEBA; signing any of those players will NOT cost you a draft pick.
For 2037, there is one such player: LF Tony Velázquez. He can be signed without suffering any draft-pick penalty.
Archive of past seasons' lists
EDIT: Here are the compensation-eligible FAs for 2036, alphabetically:
SP Joe Arnold
SP Ramón Gonzáles
LF River McCausland
EDIT: Here are the compensation-eligible FAs for 2035, alphabetically:
3B Jorge Aguilar
LF Steve Boyer
LF Danny 'Hitman' Burton
SS Francisco Montoya
SP Ju-hyung Park
SP Ángel Valdéz
EDIT: Here are the compensation-eligible FAs for 2034, alphabetically:
RF Clarence Carpenter
SP José 'Slap' Fernández
SP Lance 'Mole' Harris
RF Claudio 'Matchbox' Hernández
CF Rubén Jiménez
RF Tomás Martínez
SP Dean McNeil
3B Matthias Ouellette
LF Mike Rose
1B António Vega
SP Pat Willis
EDIT: Here are the compensation-eligible FAs for 2033, alphabetically:
RF Pat Barry
1B Alex Bothwell
LF Garry Charron
2B Hai-liang Choe
SS Brian Coleman
1B Brad Davis
SP Eric Elliott
CF Nick Heath
SS Naomi Honma
1B Gustavo López
RF Roberto Martinez
1B Wilson Muñóz
LF Tom Patton
LF Pedro Rodríguez
3B Antonio Santos
SP Enrique Vázquez
EDIT: Here are the compensation-eligible FAs for 2032, alphabetically:
SP Tony Cuellar
LF Walter Daniel
2B José Gonzalés
LF Bartolo Mora
LF Gabe Moran
C Tony Parker
RF Carlos Ryan
SP Takanobu Shirai
RF Alfredo Torres
RF Tony Velázquez
RF Shane Willis
EDIT: Here are the compensation-eligible FAs for 2031, alphabetically:
SP Kenny Ashley
RF Paul Carlisle
3B Luis Cedeño
SP Orlando Garcia
3B Guillermo Justavo
1B Dave Petersen
3B Marcos Sánchez
3B Harley Schneider
SP John Turner
3B Christian Webb
EDIT: Here are the compensation-eligible FAs for 2030, alphabetically:
2B Derrick Dwyer
CF Tomás Flores
3B Adrián Fuentes
C Germán Hernández
SS Juan Hernández
C Ryan Lambert
SP Neil Maes
LF Kelvin McDonald
LF Jerry Rutledge
SP Oniji Yokoyama
EDIT: Here are the compensation-eligible FAs for 2029, alphabetically:
RF Pat Barry (signed by Scottish 1/19/29, lost by New Orleans)
2B Hai-liang Choe (signed by Yuma 2/14/29, lost by Reno)
SS Mark Edwards (retained by Hartford)
RP Jim Ratzlaff (not supplemental pick eligible)
SP Cristo Santiago (signed by Okinawa 2/8/29, lost by Fargo)
SP José Santos (signed by Neo-Tokyo 2/4/29, lost by Canton)
Last year there were some free agents listed as compensation-eligible, but who played in the WIL previously rather than PEBA; signing any of those players will NOT cost you a draft pick.
For 2029, there is just one such player: CL Aurelio López. He can be treated just like any other regular, non-compensation-eligible free agent.
EDIT: Here are the compensation-eligible FAs for 2028, alphabetically:
RF Pat Barry (signed by New Orleans 3/4/28; lost by Arlington)
DH Pedro Ferringo (signed by Reno 2/23/28; lost by Aurora)
SP Bill Gallagher (signed by Florida 12/16/27); lost by Kentucky)
C Yosuke Imai (signed by Scotland 2/6/28; lost by Havana)
C Ryan Lambert (signed by Canton 2/5/28; lost by Amsterdam)
CF Bruce McGuire (signed by London 3/28/28; lost by Duluth)
CL Pat Miller (signed by Okinawa 12/29/27; lost by Neo-Tokyo)
SP Valentim Ornelas (signed by New Orleans 3/4/28; lost by Florida)
SP Martin Ramírez (signed by London 3/14/28; was with Havana)
LF Pedro Rodriguez (DOB 10/14/00) (signed by Kentucky 1/7/28 to retain player)
SP Eduardo Romano (signed by Hartford 1/1/28; lost by Amsterdam)
SP Takanobu Shirai (signed by Okinawa 1/17/28; lost by New Orleans)
SP Clark Snow (signed by London 4/3/28; lost by Aurora)
SP John Turner (signed by Aurora 2/7/28; lost by New Orleans)
EDIT: Okay, I missed a couple seasons but here are the compensation-eligible FAs for 2027, alphabetically:
SP Víctor Carrillo
RF Matt Carter
C Scott Francis
2B Dave Hurley
CL David López
SP Félix Maese
LF Don Mercer
RF Gilbert Murray
CL Jorge Núñez
1B Rob Raines
There are some free agents listed as compensation-eligible, but who played in the WIL last year rather than PEBA; signing any of those players (very briefly, for 2027 they are: SP Brian Butler, RP Tadao Harada, RP Sadao Ichihada, SP Jorge Jiménez, SP Avery Parkinson, CL Mauro Sánchez, SP Raúl Sánchez, and SP Greg White) will NOT cost you a draft pick.
Okay, so who are the compensation-eligible free agents for 2023? From what I can determine there are a dozen of them. In alphabetical order, they are:
LF Arthur Collins
CL Raúl Cruz
3B Matsusuke Hamada
LF Ieyoshi Ishikawa
SP Clayton Lewis
RF Miguel Martínes
2B Raúl Medina
RP Davis Sutherland
CL Larry Taylor
C Scott Vinson
DH Decheng Wen
SP Jun'ichi Yoshino
EDIT: And the compensation-eligible FAs for 2024 are, alphabetically:
RF Matt Carter
C Harry Crawford
1B Jaime Espinoza
1B Ronald Harmon
1B James Heard
LF Robert Johnson
SP John Matthews
CL Adrian Peterson
3B Bobby Watson
C Norihide Yamamoto
CF Miguel Yánez