What is the point of releasing players?

[John]

The only reason I can think of is wanting to release is to pay everything in one sitting. But what kind of a reason is that? Can someone tell me why releasing players can be a smart move?

[BBM]

Maybe someone have a large rooster and they need to free up space for a SUPERSTAR.

[John]

A large rooster? Interesting.;)

[BBM]

OK.......:rolleyes: :p ;) :eek:

[hwt1313]

I sometimes will release a player to lower my payroll, which gives me more room below the spending limit. Then I can sign a free agent that I want. If I have the extra cash, it is not a problem.

[John]

Can't you just lower expenses and then sign a player?

[hwt1313]

Yes, but I don't want to lower my rankings in the expenses catagories. I guess I could lower the expense, sign the player, and immediately raise the expense again. But that sounds an awful lot like cheating.

Also, I like an uncluttered roster. I hate having trash hang around when I can just buy them out and send them packing.

[Particleman]

I wouldn't really call adjusting your expenses cheating. The only reason the budget limit was put into the game was to prevent gross overspending by signing every free agent in sight. If you are only looking for a bit of flexibility and know that you can take the extra bit of salary without putting your team in financial difficulty or need the player to make a playoff run and will pay for it later, I would not call it cheating.

But I agree, now that you can't even release players on the last year of their contract for free, there is pretty much no point in releasing players. Other than to cheat of course, so you could release the player and have another team controlled under a different account sign that player for less (like what happened in the perenial season of The Mogul Enthusiasts League, but I don't even want to get into that). This is the reason I always do follow-up checks on a headline when I see a star player released, and it's not the end of the season. I also saw someone release Arod in a league I was in just so he could sign him on another team for 80 pts and save some cash (BTW, I know who the cheater is who is behind both incidents I just mentioned (from a reliable source) and it is the same person, I also got a pretty good idea of what accounts he's using now).

[hwt1313]

I stand by my previous post. Let me explain.

If I don't have the room under my limit to sign a free agent, I could lower my expenses to provide the room. But I wouldn't want to sacrifice my medical, scouting or farm system. To beat the limit, I could lower my expenses just long enough to sign the free agent, then raise them back up to their previous level. This would put me well over the limit, and I consider that cheating.

My choice would be to "buy out" the contract of a player or players who wouldn't play anyway. If I can pay off the contract, I will lower my payroll, allowing me room under the limit. Why keep excess payroll in the minors when I could use the budget room for an impact player? As long as you have the cash, it is not a problem.

By the way, you can still release minor leaguers for free, as long as they have not spent any time on the major league roster. I often do this with rediculously poor prospects. Why should I pay 6 points per season for 6 perople who will never make it? I would rather have a 6 point player who is a decent bench player.

[Clay Dreslough]

Originally posted by Particleman
I wouldn't really call adjusting your expenses cheating.

In terms of defining "cheating" within this community, I agree with Particleman that changing your expenses to squeeze in a player shouldn't be defined as cheating. I meant the 'Budget' to be a rough guideline that prevented the kind of gross overspending that was ruining some leagues. I didn't mean it as a strict salary cap.

That said, as we launch more password leagues, you are welcome to define "cheating" in whatever way best fits your league (including, of course, private leagues run using the CD-ROM game).

Clay