Free Agent Question/suggestion

[dougummel]

Just wondering how the new bidding process with free agents works. I am familiar with the e-bay style of bidding. However, it seems to me that there is one distinct time that this may work against teams.

I think that this is the way that the system currently works; please correct me if I am wrong:

Say Pete Rose is asking for 75 points per year at the beginning of free agency. I bid up to a max of 40. Someone else bids up to a max of 20, pushing my bid up to 21. As free agency goes on, Pete rose slowly lowers his contract demands. The final sim of free agency, Pete's demand falls to 36 per year. Since I have not had anyone else bid against me for Rose, my offer still stands at 21 up to a max of 40. So, although I am willing to pay 40 (or 36) for him I am not able to sign him because no one has bid me up high enough to do so and he will not be signed by anyone and will revert to the free agent pool.

This seems to me unrealistic. If a player wants to sign for 36, he doesn't care if there are 2 teams willing to pay that or one, he will sign that contract. It seems to me that as soon as a player falls under your reserve, he should be signed to your teams at his demand at the next sim. This would still allow for him to be bid up, but would be realistic as well. This also would allow for free agents to be taken off the market earlier (possibly overpaid for?) if a team wishes to do so. The element of uncertainty would enter in, wondering what the demand will fall to and balancing that with what you think other teams will pay. Again, more true to real life.

It seems to me that it would be a relatively simple thing to code as well.

I want to congratulate you on the new free agent system and expense constraints. They seem to be working well. I especially like the free agents system. I just thought that this would be a minor improvement. It may already be the way that the game works currently, but I don't think so.... :confused:

Anyway, great game, guys!

[Particleman]

There's an easy way to solve this, after your first bid, which sets the max, just bid again, with what you think will be a fair bargain for the player (your example of 35 for Rose) don't rely on other ppl to bid up the player to his final asking price, do it yourself, then after a few turns it will come down to the bargain price, and you've got your player. You may not get the absolute lowest price which you could have gotten (but this is the way things go in real life too), but you still get a pretty good deal if no one else bids you up to your max. The moral of the story is, if you really want a player don't try to be overly cheap.

[nevets72]

One glitch though, Particle Man. Sometimes it is worth getting it up early in order to get the player. My general philodophy is, I want 3 to 4 players in the pool each year. I determine what my "limit" is due to financials. I then go and get those 3 or 4 at whatever price. The reason is that I have been beat out on more than one occasion. I find you are real safe by signing as quick as possible. This is coming from both big and small market experience. The only difference between the two is the type of player you shoot for. Either a top player(50 +) or a second tier(15-30 pts). The reason I stay away from 30 - 50 pts is I have found that I can still get another 15 - 30 pt player and have a net greater effect. The advantage to a 60+ player is that the overall production of the team is effected with those star players. I do not know if it is intentional or not, but I have seen a slight increase with the star in the lineup.

[dougummel]

Particleman,

I hear what you are saying. My point (and correct me if I'm wrong Clay or someone) is that you can't bid the player up yourself. You must rely on other people being interested in him as well. When trying to bid on a player I can rebid all day long, but unless I am a second team in the same league (illegal) then it just does nothing to my bid, right?

In other words, If I bid 40 for 7 years and then the highest bid is 16, my bid will show as 17 up to a max of 40. However, if the player is willing to sign for 35, my bid is only 17 unless someone else bids it up, right?

I haven't tried going back and bidding 18 for 7 years on the right, I've just been changing my max bid. Can you do that?

[Slugger222]

You can either up the maximum or re-bid at a higher rate. Both options are available.

Note the two empty boxes next to your max bid. The first is for the point amount, and the second is for the number of years.

(I think that is right - I'm going by memory.)

[jad9423]

Yes, that's correct. Say you are the first bidder on Lance Berkman and enter a bid of 40 pts for 5 years. After entering this bid it will show you as the high bidder at 1 pt. for 5 yrs., with a max of 40. You can then enter a bid on him (as you would enter a bid on any other free agent) at 20 pts for 5 yrs. After entering this bid, it would show you as the high bidder at 20 pts for 5 yrs, with a max of 40.

[dougummel]

Thanks for the help y'all. That's what I needed to know.