Cancelling Free Agent Bids

[kaill]

is there a way to do this? I haven't found one. It often happens in MLB that teams pull out of the bidding for a player. There are several reasons why one would want to do this, such as signing another free agent or completing a trade which fills the spot.

If there are two or more players available at a position, I would like to be able to put in bids for both of them to make sure I get at least one. Ending up with both of them is not realistic.

This is a special concern for me because I usually play small market teams, and would REALLY appreciate the luxury of being able to change my mind. Maybe allow bids to be pulled back at any time before the bar turns green?

[Austin Mad Cows]

I think the reason you can not is it makes sense, Example...if you bid a player up really high then drop or retract your bid you could essentially remove that player from play that year by making him to expense for anyone else to sign.

[Mikekem]

Well what if then the bid just went back to where it started before free agency ever began. There have been plenty of times where teams bid on a free agent for awhile then for whatever reason drop out of the running. I don't know if it's possible but has the idea ever been brought up that the players themselves decide they don't want to play for you? That would add a twist.

[kaill]

Maybe dropping out of the bidding would cause the player become totally available again... his "asking price" shouldn't change depending on what you were offering him.

Can anyone weigh in on why this wasn't an option?

[James Grove]

The real reason we can't allow the leading bidder to retract his bid has to do with Auction Strategy.

Say the current bid on player Bob Jones is 10 points for 4 years, with Anaheim leading the bidding. Only Anaheim knows that his max bid is 20 points for 4 years (because he really fills a gap in Anaheim's roster).

Bob Jones is looking for 13 for 4, and will sign at that price.

Along comes Baltimore, and they want Bob. They are only willing to pay 12 points for 4 years, however. So he places a bid for 12 for 4, and the new lead bid price is Anaheim bidding 13 for 4. This meets Bob Jones's asking price, so at the end of the round he signs with Anaheim for 13 for 4. Ultimately, So Baltimore does not win the player.

Of course, Anaheim thinks they got a good deal, because they were willing to go to 20 points for 4 years.


Now then, under the different scenario:
if Baltimore could retract their bid, they would immediately enter a bid of 100 points for 4 years. The bidding would jump to Baltimore leading at 21 points for 4 years.

Baltimore would then decide that this was more than they wanted to pay, and they would retract their bid. The bid would return to Anaheim at 10 points for 4 years, where it was originally.

Now Baltimore wants to make sure Anaheim pays as much as possible. So he places a new bid: 19 points for 4 years.

Now the price goes up to Anaheim leading at 20 points for 4 years.


The end result: if players can retract their bids, they can find out what other teams are bidding, and they can manipulate the auction so that the winning bidder has to pay through the nose.


That is why we don't allow bid retraction.

Any questions?

Thanks for playing,
-James

[kaill]

Well, I can't imagine that anyone would actually want to do that, but I see why it's something you'd want to avoid. I suppose it's a tradeoff, you've decided to sacrifice a bit of convenience for making sure the system doesn't get abused. Good enough for me.

Thanks for answering... still a great game =P

[Mikekem]

James,

Your answer makes sense, thanks for the reply.