Ideas for limiting bonuses

[Corsairs]

I'm beginning to see the need for some form of stricter limitations on bonuses than what we're currently employing. Our only limitation on bonuses right now is a stipulation that bonuses can't be in excess of 50% of the highest yearly salary of a contract. That's not getting the job done, as some teams are taking a "letter of the law" approach and giving out 50% bonuses to every player they sign. Thus you're ending up with silly situations where a nobody $600k reliever (which is near league-minimum) is getting a $300k incentive clause for winning Pitcher of the Year.

I'd like to put a stop to egregiously ridiculous bonus clauses, but I don't want to just throw out a blanket rule that bonuses aren't allowed. I'd still like to see owners negotiate bonuses. The goal is to keep them within reason and prevent them from being used as a tool to "beat" the AI.

What kinds of limitations do some of you place on the use of bonuses? Just to kick things off, I was considering adding these two clauses during the offseason:

• No Hitter/Pitcher of the Year bonuses may be handed out to players signed to contracts with an average salary value of < $5M.
• Bonuses based on AB/IP can be given to any player, capped to 105% of the maximum AB/IP that player has amassed in a single season.

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on these proposed changes, as well as your own custom rules in this area.

[Solonor]

We haven't had any cause to review bonuses, but I like your idea about not allowing bonuses to players who make less than $5 million (or whatever amount that might represent someone with a legitimate shot at the bonus).

[TGH-Adfabre]

We've actually removed all bonuses. The AI does not seem to properly calculate them. Same as option years. It is just too easy for the AI to misread the value of them.
We had a rule that the option years could not be more than 20% above the highest yearly salary in the contract and recently changes it to 20% above the average pay over the life of the contract. The AI just can't defend itself against a couple of thousand players looking for an edge.
I must comment that the league I'm in is freindly competition, I would probably see things differently if it were a "Few holds barred" league.

[Jaxxvain]

A couple of the leagues I am in use this (or similar)(personally I think #2 below should be considered together, rather than separately):

Player Bonuses

1. When making a FA offer or extension, you are allowed to offer bonuses for such things as awards, PA, or IP. However, BTI will be putting a cap on these.

2. The following chart indicates the maximum amount of dollars to a given for a bonus/incentive (Please note that each incentive is treated separately. For example, if you are attempting to sign a 5 star SS and want to offer him an incentive, you are allowed to offer up to $2,000,000 for plate appearances, AND up to $2,000,000 for the MVP bonus.):

1 star players - $500,000
2 star players - $750,000
3 star players - $1,000,000
4 star players - $1,500,000
5 star players - $2,000,000

Note: In terms of stars, if a player has stars for both actual and potential, the league office will also use the greater number of stars to determine if the bonus rule has been broken.)

3. PAs cannot be less than 400, or greater than 700.

4. RP IP cannot be less than 50, or greater than 125. SP IP cannot be less than 150, or greater than 275.

5. If an owner is found violating this rule, the player will be released immediately, and will only be refunded 50% of the total contract value that was charged to their player expenses.

[cnield]

Here's the rules for our league:

MVP/Cy Young awards are capped at 10% of the average yearly salary offered to the player. This means if you offer a $1 million contract, you can offer a max of 100k in MVP incentives. A $25 million average contract can include up to $2.5 million in MVP/Cy Young incentives. This is to stop teams from offering significant portions of a player's salary as MVP awards they are very unlikely to recieve, and to keep teams with this knowledge from gaming the system.

IP/PA awards are also capped. You cannot offer incentives for more than 650 PA or 200 IP. These are reasonable numbers that a normally healthy player can reach. The point of these incentives is to tie salary to time spent playing. If you break either of these rules to get the player to sign with you:

1) MVP/CY bonus: The player will be released. The player will not negotiate with you anymore because you released him. You will also be forced to deal with his salary that has now gone to player expenses. We're serious about this. These bonuses are out of hand.

2) PA/IP bonus: The amount of the bonus will be added to every year of the contract just signed. Offer $1.5m in incentives for reaching 700 PA, and the player gets that much added on, guaranteed, every year. And if by some miracle he does make it to 700 PA, he gets the bonus again.