Offering players a role in addition to a salary

[DiMaggio5CF]

I would like to see a player's role taken into the negotiation.

A player would list his expected role along with his expected salary, and we would offer a specific role with the offer.

The money would obviously be the most important factor to most players, but the role offered to him would be crucial in deciding between close offers.

Additionally, he could have a "willingness to move" rating and a "willingness to learn new position" rating. The "move" rating would be for how willing he is to move to a position that he knows (for example, willingness for a guy listed as a SS to move to 2B where he already has ratings), and the "new position" rating is self-explanatory; the higher the willingness rating, the less his morale will be impacted.

While a player's role obviously wouldn't be part of the contract, and we would be allowed to go against the promised role, doing so would negatively affect the player's morale, which would make him less likely to sign an extension and more likely to request a trade.

For example, a guy might say that he wants $4 million per year for 3 years to be a starting second baseman. Now I might offer him the backup role on my squad. If I offer more money than anyone else, he might sign with me without expecting a starting job; but if other offers are close to mine, he might sign to start somewhere else, but if that other team then benches him, he'll be more upset there.

This would be huge in the closer idea. For pitchers, the two ratings could be "desire to start" and "desire to close." Content middle relivers would have low ratings for both. A pitcher's endurance rating would also factor into his desire to start.

All these ratings could adjust over time based on playing time. A guy who is a closer for five seasons will be less open to a role as a non-closer than a career middle reliever would be. Likewise, an aging veteran with declining ratings who has been on the bench for the past three seasons probably won't demand a starting job regardless of how good he was in his heyday.

Obviously a rookie coming up to the bigs, aside from top top prospects, would have low ratings because he's just happy to be there. Time, success, and/or playing time will increase or decrease these "desire" and "willingness" ratings.

[Muzamba]

This is a great idea.

[Dark Horse]

Nice idea... sort of the next level after "wanting to play for a winner" and "interested in"