Red Sox Scout, the auto-renew or not thing is NOT a bug but just what happens. Re-newing contracts is broken down between monetary ones and minor league contracts. of course players who never had a major league contract will continue to "re-new" until the day he retires.
so a player will auto-renew regardless but if hes on active roster once the Off-Season begins officially, he renews to the major league minimum. If he is in the minors he will renew to the freebie one.
the only thing i am unclear about myself is if and when ML Service keeps accumulating regardless of a players roster status.