Free Agency Suggestion

[Deleted]

I spent some time this week trying to write up a new FA system that would eliminate these STUPID 8 year deals being handed out to everyone, regardless of their age. The two main points I tried to focus on were lowering the max contract overall (as well as lowering it more for older players) and fixing the multiplier so that short deals aren't nonexistent due to them being beaten so easily by longer deals. 

First, here is my proposed idea for the max contract that can be offered to players (which varies by age):

-- If a player is 30 years or younger, the max amount of years that can be offered is 6
-- If a player is between the ages of 31 and 35, the max amount of years that can be offered is 4
-- If a player is 36 years or older, the max amount of years that can be offered is 2

I think this system will allow for the younger stars to still be able to get long term deals (Machado, Harper, Corbin), the older stars to still be able to get long contracts (Greinke, Price, Votto) and it makes it so that the older players who are still viable options in lineups can't be held on to for the remainder of their careers with 8 years deals (Cruz, Choo, Big Sexy).

The second part of my proposal would be changing our current bidding system to a CV-based one. I ran a few numbers to see which multiplier would work best and this is what I was able to come up with:

1 year deal -- x1.0
2 year deal -- x1.5
3 year deal -- x1.75
4 year deal -- x2.0
5 year deal -- x2.25
6 year deal -- x2.50

Here's an example... to beat a deal at 1 year for $15.00, you would have to offer:

2 years @ $10.05
3 years @ $8.60
4 years @ $7.55
5 years @ $6.70
6 years @ $6.05

The numbers are a lot closer together than what they'd look like for this offseason but I think this will encourage more short term deals and in turn, that'll help our FA pool year to year. It's tough now since there are so many opportunities to retain your players whether it's through RFA or extensions. I think eliminated long deals will make it so there is a healthy amount of FAs in the pool each offseason.

I'd love some input on this, I know that you all know that the system is broken. So whether you like the idea or not, please comment below with some positive or negative feedback. The sooner we can get this fixed, the better our league will be in the future. 

[Deleted]

Different Suggestion.. keep lowered max contracts to:

-- If a player is 28 years or younger, the max amount of years that can be offered is 8
-- If a player is between the ages of 29 and 32, the max amount of years that can be offered is 6
-- If a player is between the ages of 33 and 35, the max amount of years that can be offered is 4

-- If a player is 36 years or older, the max amount of years that can be offered is 2

Change buyout costs so that each additional year you want to buyout, the yearly waiver hit increases by 5% for EVERY year of the contract:

1 year -- 50%
2 years -- 55%
3 years -- 60%
4 years -- 65%
5 years -- 70%
6 years -- 75%
7 years -- 80%
8 years -- 85%

Example: Adam Jones was signed for 8 years @ $5M.. this is what the cap hit would like like, depending on which year you waived him:

2019 (85% yearly for 8 years) -- $34M Total / $4.25M Annually
2020 (80% yearly for 7 years) -- $28M Total / $4M Annually
2021 (75% yearly for 6 years) -- $22.5M Total / $3.75M Annually
2022 (70% yearly for 5 years) -- $17.5M Total / $3.5M Annually
2023 (65% yearly for 4 years) -- $14M Total / $3.25M Annually
2024 (60% yearly for 3 years) -- $9M Total / $3M Annually
2025 (55% yearly for 2 years) -- $5.5M Total / $2.75M Annually
2016 (50% yearly for 1 year) -- $2.5M Total / $2.5M Annually

[Pirates GM (Alex)]

I don't like the second idea. The first idea could work, I think the multipliers should be slightly adjusted though. If It's a major free agent, I can offer 1 year @ $30m which can be topped by a 3 year offer at just $17m a season. I think this will still basically eliminate most 1 year contracts. What about something like?

1 year deal -- 1x
2 year deal -- 1.25x
3 year deal -- 1.5x
4 year deal -- 1.6x
5 year deal -- 1.75x
6 year deal -- 2x

So, if I'm offering 1 year contract at $15m. You can top it by offering:

1 year deal -- $15.05m
2 year deal -- $12.05m
3 year deal -- $10.05m
4 year deal -- $9.38m
5 year deal -- $8.57m
6 year deal -- $7.55m

I'd even be down to have even lower multipliers to make the values more even, but this would be a start to get them closer. I think if you have a multiplier at 2, it just incentivizes these 6 year deals too much. Especially with better players. The max contracts are a good idea, but might be tough to remember during bidding unless each player had their age posted when they were posted to free agency.

[Giants GM (Devon)]

I am fine with whatever system we choose, but I would recommend keeping yearly values to one decimal place: 1.1, 1.2, etc.

This would fall in line with the decision to need to out bid the previous bid by at least 0.1

[Marlins GM (Andrew)]

I'm extremely in favor of:
- Age-limited max length for contracts. I think something like the below makes sense, but Connors initial also would be OK;
<30 years = 6 year max
30-34 years = 3 year max
>36 = 2 year max
- Bids/CV/whatever system maintains at least a 0.1 increment

I think I need to kick around scenarios to figure out what the multipliers of choice should be, but am in favor of some sort of CV system in place to further incentivize higher AAV, shorter term deals.