Freeze salaries after trade deadline or...

[bonscott]

Please note that this isn't picking on anyone in particular, it's something I've seen over the years from time to time but it's been a bigger one this year.

The issue is high priced players being dropped at this time of year has an adverse effect on the league because their salaries reset to the default minimum. Case in point Andre Johnson. Many teams don't have a whole lot of cap room this time of year so Andre will go to a team next week well below his market value simply because there isn't enough free cap space on teams. And this team will get him not only cheap but for multiple years. This upsets the competitive balance of the league. Matt Schaub would be a good example last week.

In both my other salary/contract leagues we have a simple rule:
Any player dropped after the trade deadline retains their salary. That way any team going for next year that wants to drop high salary players won't upset the balance of the league salary wise because while they can be picked up by other teams their salary remains.

What do you guys think?

[braven112]

I agree, we should do something. The other thing that throws a wrinkle in this is that some teams could drop someone to make the cap room but we have half the league going for a title and the other half in rebuild mode so they'll be more flexible in creating cap room.

Great timing, I was thinking about this right before I saw your post. I think your idea is good, I was also thinking that guys dropped after week 13 can't be required till next season's FA period, just thinking out loud. I think I like your idea better, but I'm sure we can think of something that addresses this.

Right now it can create a domino effect, where someone else may drop another high priced guy to make room for AJ and then the cycle will continue next week.

[bonesman]

I would definitely vote in favor of something like this.

Right now it can create a domino effect, where someone else may drop another high priced guy to make room for AJ and then the cycle will continue next week.

Yea, the first dominos already dropped with Schaub/Felix

I really considered whether or not to drop AJ and risk someone (particularly the Degenerates) pick him up on the cheap... I even consulted past owners (AcerFC) to try to get an informed opinion on the matter. I realize it could create a snowball effect but I had to do what I thought was best for my team (for this year and beyond) and AJ was some expensive dead weight ... had to do it.

[bonscott]

Didn't even think about the domino effect. Heck, if I was out of it I'd dump Romo to try to free up more cap room for a higher bid.

And bonesman, you certainly did nothing wrong under the current rules as we have them. It's funny how even after 5 years something crops up to show a loophole that never really was an issue before.

[bonesman]

Great timing, I was thinking about this right before I saw your post. I think your idea is good, I was also thinking that guys dropped after week 13 can't be required till next season's FA period, just thinking out loud. I think I like your idea better, but I'm sure we can think of something that addresses this.

I think locking dropped players until FA is sufficient. I think if someone is right up against the cap (like I was) they should still be able to free up space to take a shot at a prospect that's already on the wire.

[joe.commish]

In both my other salary/contract leagues we have a simple rule:
Any player dropped after the trade deadline retains their salary. That way any team going for next year that wants to drop high salary players won't upset the balance of the league salary wise because while they can be picked up by other teams their salary remains.

What do you guys think?

I would support this. Funny thing is, I consider myself a team in rebuilding mode but how in the world do I go 14-4?? I expected to lose every week (especially when I lost McFadden) but I just kept winning. Strange.

[braven112]

Great timing, I was thinking about this right before I saw your post. I think your idea is good, I was also thinking that guys dropped after week 13 can't be required till next season's FA period, just thinking out loud. I think I like your idea better, but I'm sure we can think of something that addresses this.

I think locking dropped players until FA is sufficient. I think if someone is right up against the cap (like I was) they should still be able to free up space to take a shot at a prospect that's already on the wire.

I agree people should be able to manage their teams how ever they see fit, especially as teams are trying to make a playoff run. What if we set a deadline say week 13 where you can't sign a guy for longer than a year? So you can still drop a guy like AJ, someone else can still sign him if they want but they can't sign him beyond this year. That way we don't have to limit roster moves that are for the current year. That would be really easy to manage for me. The other two ideas would be a bit problematic since you can't really do it automatically.

The unintended consequence of that would be that non-playoffs team couldn't grab guys for the future after a certain date but I'm not sure that is a bad thing either.

[bonesman]

The unintended consequence of that would be that non-playoffs team couldn't grab guys for the future after a certain date but I'm not sure that is a bad thing either.

Typically there's little to nothing available on the wire... the end of last year I was debating between Chester Taylor and Devin Aromashodu to grab and stash off the wire. Maybe a kicker.

I would be more for freezing adds from other peoples drops (they lock for the week before the 2nd window, why can't they lock for the season?) and allowing adds as normal.


I know automating the process is important, especially at this time of year though.

Seems like your proposal would allow you to improve for this year but not next... which at this point in the game, I think is not what we're going for. I'm pretty sure AJ is done for the year... at least through week 16... MAYBE he plays week 16, but would he even be startable to someone going for the title? I don't think so.

[bonesman]

Funny thing is, I consider myself a team in rebuilding mode but how in the world do I go 14-4??

Looks like bad coaching by opponents. You were the 6th highest in points for... but had an absolutely SICK ratio of 8:1 in should've lost/should've won. That's crazy lucky... should've had 7 fewer wins.

[braven112]

The unintended consequence of that would be that non-playoffs team couldn't grab guys for the future after a certain date but I'm not sure that is a bad thing either.

Typically there's little to nothing available on the wire... the end of last year I was debating between Chester Taylor and Devin Aromashodu to grab and stash off the wire. Maybe a kicker.

Yep, I don't think its a critical aspect of our league by any means and we can make that same decision one week earlier.

I would be more for freezing adds from other peoples drops (they lock for the week before the 2nd window, why can't they lock for the season?) and allowing adds as normal.

I know automating the process is important, especially at this time of year though.

MFL allows you to pick one time for guys to unlock but its not based off the league calendar so I would have to change that setting every year and then change it back once the year is over, but it is a busy week because I'm setting up playoff brackets, draft orders for a couple leagues in a short week with Thursday games and I would hate to forget to do it one year and have to undo a mess because I forgot. I don't love that part of it.

Seems like your proposal would allow you to improve for this year but not next... which at this point in the game, I think is not what we're going for. I'm pretty sure AJ is done for the year... at least through week 16... MAYBE he plays week 16, but would he even be startable to someone going for the title? I don't think so.

It would for sure, during the playoffs they would be, one year deals only. So to your point a guy like AJ isn't even worth much at all for this year, and would probably go unclaimed and into the offseason free agency where 16 teams can bid on him instead of just a handful of the league.

[bonscott]

As for automatic settings...to keep a salary that's a single setting to not clear salary/contract on drop. The tricky part I guess would be that we would want the salary to remain but not the contract. So manual work possible each week. HOWEVER I don't really see an issue with making the contract stick either, makes it that much of a pain to pick up a guy.

Could also lock all players from being picked up, that's a single setting as well, change the lock period to be 60 days or something to get it past the end of the season.

I don't really like the idea that you can't sign a guy for more then a year as there are always guys that can get picked up that will help the future of a team. Think Stevie Johnson or Jerome Simpson who did nothing until the final week or two of a season and now are decent to solid (or even great like Stevie) guys for a team.

But...maybe that is the easiest choice to make. No settings need to be changed, teams can still grab a guy like AJ if they feel he can help them this year but it won't upset league balance. I'll miss trying to mine for prospects in the final weeks but it would be worth it to keep balance.

[bonesman]

I don't really like the idea that you can't sign a guy for more then a year as there are always guys that can get picked up that will help the future of a team. Think Stevie Johnson or Jerome Simpson who did nothing until the final week or two of a season and now are decent to solid (or even great like Stevie) guys for a team.

That's how I was feeling too... but like Brandon said, you can still do that, just have execute it a couple weeks earlier (kinda like how someone did with Z. Miller last week). If we implemented this for next year, THIS week would be the last week you could add a free agent and give them a contract for longer than one year. That seems pretty reasonable to me.

[bonesman]

Seems like your proposal would allow you to improve for this year but not next... which at this point in the game, I think is not what we're going for. I'm pretty sure AJ is done for the year... at least through week 16... MAYBE he plays week 16, but would he even be startable to someone going for the title? I don't think so.

It would for sure, during the playoffs they would be, one year deals only. So to your point a guy like AJ isn't even worth much at all for this year, and would probably go unclaimed and into the offseason free agency where 16 teams can bid on him instead of just a handful of the league.

What if I only bid 1.5 mill on Felix and cut BigBen to do it?

[bonscott]

I don't really like the idea that you can't sign a guy for more then a year as there are always guys that can get picked up that will help the future of a team. Think Stevie Johnson or Jerome Simpson who did nothing until the final week or two of a season and now are decent to solid (or even great like Stevie) guys for a team.

That's how I was feeling too... but like Brandon said, you can still do that, just have execute it a couple weeks earlier (kinda like how someone did with Z. Miller last week). If we implemented this for next year, THIS week would be the last week you could add a free agent and give them a contract for longer than one year. That seems pretty reasonable to me.

Yep, I picked up Saine a couple weeks ago. If week 13 would be the proposed last week to give a guy a contract it would actually have been last week as the final week to do so as this is really week 14 right now.

[bonesman]

oh, yea, why 13 then? Any particular reason, Brandon? Seems to me it would make more sense to have it coincide with when the playoffs start.

[bonscott]

Week 13 is the end of the regular season. Makes a good cutoff. In my other leagues it's the trade deadline which is typically week 10.

[BarneyFife]

Agree that we need to do something - as this allows for 'low signing' and teams in the playoff run usually dont have the CAP or willingness to gut the team to try to grab a bargain. I would be for either holding the current year salary intact fi they are dropped (try to model it after the true waiver wire in the NFL) and allow years to be variable - or look to lock the year amount after a certain point.

What you dont want to do is lock years on a player that comes out of nowhere in say Week 14 due to opportunity from being signed if they were not on a team during the year....

[braven112]

What if we just say that guys that are dropped after the regular season can't be signed for longer than a year and they can't be tagged, but everyone else can. That would allow everyone to still make moves on prospects and only limit a small number of players.

There wouldn't need to be a "setting" that would have to be changed, so that is nice. It would take some effort to police but this is something that we would all police together and if someone forgets, they still get the player till the end of the year when their contract runs out so its not a huge deal.

[braven112]

What if I only bid 1.5 mill on Felix and cut BigBen to do it?

Unless I'm missing something, under my idea Big Ben would be signed for the remainder of the year, if a team wanted to, and then he would go into the off season free agent pool. Not really any different than AJ except that Big Ben also has value this year.

[bonesman]

Week 13 is the end of the regular season. Makes a good cutoff. In my other leagues it's the trade deadline which is typically week 10.

Meh, I like the cutoff at the start of this week's games.

[bonesman]

What if I only bid 1.5 mill on Felix and cut BigBen to do it?

Unless I'm missing something, under my idea Big Ben would be signed for the remainder of the year, if a team wanted to, and then he would go into the off season free agent pool. Not really any different than AJ except that Big Ben also has value this year.

So it wouldn't take the 3.7 mill or whatever to get him?

[braven112]

I don't understand what you are getting at.

[bonesman]

I don't have a point I'm getting at ... just discussing/thinking about the proposed rule changes.

Ammish and RAF both mentioned keeping the salary at drop intact.

[braven112]

I don't have a point I'm getting at ... just discussing/thinking about the proposed rule changes.

Ammish and RAF both mentioned keeping the salary at drop intact.

ok, no I was saying we keep everything else how we have it now where those guys go through the blind bidding process. The only difference is that guys dropped after a certain date can't be signed longer than a year or tagged. So Big Ben would go for whatever someone wanted to pay for him to play till the end of the year.

The thing I like about both freezing drops and keeping the salaries the same is that is protects guys from signing to a cheap long term deal but both require that we change MFL settings in season and so I was trying to come up with a solution that still accomplishes that but doesn't require that we change any settings in MFL.

[bonscott]

I like the compromise idea of keeping it how it is now but any drops after X date can't be signed to longer then current season. This allows prospects to still be picked up.

So we simply pick a date and then go from there. Best date is end of week 13 games which is the end of the regular season.

There would be some manual tracking of dropped players but it's easy enough to track just thru the transactions page or maybe a message board post listing each one. Once the season is over the commish usually has to do a few manual things like up the roster limit, take guys off IR and TS, at the same time I would recommend just dropping any of these players and don't qualify for tagging. That way someone doesn't tag them because they forgot.