keeper rules question

[TaturCity34]

I am in the 3rd year of a keeper auction league and we are at the point where we can extend our players contracts. Its a $5 per year increase for 2 yrs and $10 per year for three. Now today I just found out that we cannot drop our players if we sign them to extensions. I personally do not understand this rule and would like other peoples opinions because this rule is effecting who i want to keep.

I would appreciate any input you all have...thanks

[TaturCity34]

Bump...

Sorry to bump guys but this discussion is becoming quite heated in our league and the auction is on saturday. Any input i can bring from the outside FBB community would be very helpful.

[Eagle Baseball]

I think it is a logical rule that says if you extend a contract you need to keep that player for the full term of the extention. That way you make an owner fully commit to his extention. Otherwise it is not really a two or three year extention it is only a one year extention with an option on the final years. Make a manager mean it if he extends.

[FilmMan]

Our league has this feature as well..with one caveat. If an owner decides to drop a player after he's been extended - he is required to 'buyout' his contract. That is he must pay a fee to the kitty. $10/yr left on contract. When you're dealing with $200 entry fees its not that big a deal, but it helps build up the kitty....

[chairshot]

I think you have to have a rule like this in place. Otherwise, there is no risk at signing the player to the long term deal. It's in line with real baseball, where contracts are guaranteed once they are signed - the owner has to make wise decisions about where they spend their money.

If you don't have that rule, you will have owners extending players to try and hedge their bets. There is no risk for wrong/stupid decisions.

The ability to protect and keep a player at a discounted price is enough of a reward for an owner. Adding the additional benefit of being able to cut them with no penalty is probably overkill and could easily throw off the balance in the league.

If you must have it where they can be cut, there should be a "cap hit" type situation. I've seen leagues where you can terminate a contract but half the players salary counts against your salary for one year anyway.

For example: let's say I had Rocco Baldelli signed to a 3 year deal, say for $12 a year. His career is likely over and I want to cut him before the auction coming up. I'd have to walk into draft day with $6 less dollars then everyone else, for one year only. Next year his salary would come off my books.

It's a fair penalty and it will keep owners honest. Cutting without penalty just doesn't work.

[Matthias]

I really don't like contracts.

They make the league rules much more complicated, they make dealing with each year's draft much more complicated, they make trades much more complicated, and they don't have that great of an upside. Instead, I just make player's salaries go up a fixed amount every year. If you want to still keep him, then pay the new salary. If you got him for cheap enough initially, it will be worth it. If you didn't, it won't. Easy, simple, and straight-forward.

[Fantasia]

The idea of contract extensions is to give a team an option of keeping a stud they get at a very cheap price beyond their 3 years, BUT not forever. In oour league if you drop a player that has been given an extension, you have to pay a fine into the league pool in the sum of TWICE the remaining value of his contract, or $100 WHICHEVER IS GREATER. This is done to keep a decent pool of available players each year. If you do a contract extension in our league, you had better be damn sure you want it, because to break an extension can be quite expensive. Last year I extended F. Lopez to $15 for 1 more year based on his steals. Right now he's overpriced at that amount, BUT not overpriced enough for me to release him and pay $100. That's the risk you take with extensions.