Slot Bonus Baseline vs. 2012 CBA

[Mike Lowe]

Is the slot bonus rendered useless with the 2012 CBA checked (drafted players get MLC)? Should I uncheck slot bonus, or does it not matter?

Or am I confused and not understanding lol?

[byzeil]

The Slot Bonus is still valid. MLB still has cash bonuses for draftees they just can't sign them to MLB contracts.

[Le Grande Orange]

As I recall, OOTP doesn't recreate the new signing bonus limit system for amateur draftees that started this year. At the time the game was being coded, the details of how the new system was going to work weren't available (only a summary of it was). Plus it was a matter of it being a complicated addition and its play value wasn't deemed worth the effort and time it would take. There is also the valid question of how to scale MLB's new draft bonus limit system to leagues in OOTP that have different draft round depths (MLB's new system is based upon the first 10 rounds; amateur drafts in OOTP may not be that long).

It's possible you'll see something like MLB's new draft system in OOTP 14 though.

[Mike Lowe]

Thanks guys. So what's the best setting for a lot and cba in your opinion?

[Mike Lowe]

So if I use both CBA and slot as checked, I'll have players accurately being assigned MLC after being drafted, but then also some will require a signing bonus.

What appears to be missing, understandably so, is the $ amount limit each team is assigned?

If so, is there a way to mimic each team having a set/same amount?

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by Mike Lowe

What appears to be missing, understandably so, is the $ amount limit each team is assigned?

It works like this: First, MLB determines the exact draft order for each round and the total number of picks involved. Second, a signing bonus value for the #1 pick is determined. Third, the value of all the remaining picks is calculated by taking the #1 pick bonus value and multiplying it by a percentage assigned to each remaining pick. Fourth, the total signing bonus pool value for each club is determined by taking the monetary value assigned to each pick it has and adding them together.

Note that MLB only assigns bonus slot values through the first 10 rounds of the draft—nominally the first 300 picks, but due to free agent compensation rounds and unsigned pick compensation the exact number of picks through the first 10 rounds can be more than 300 (in the 2012 draft the total was 338). The percentage scale MLB uses to determine the value of each pick after #1 stops at #300 and a value of $125,000 (thus any picks after #300 have the same value; in 2012, for example, picks #301-338 all had a slot value of $125,000). Picks signed after round 10 have no set value and don't count against a club's signing bonus pool if the bonus paid is $100,000 or less. Any amount over that threshold is charged to the club's pool.

The percentage assigned to each pick after #1, from what I can tell, follows a curve similar to that of the signing bonuses actually awarded to each pick position over the last few years.

This article over at Baseball America shows the breakdown of each club's signing bonus pool for the 2012 draft.

[Mike Lowe]

Thanks LGO...I guess what I was trying to ask was what is the best way to mimic this in-game?

[Ripamaru]

I know you can't replicate the pool cap. But the bonuses given on the default setting don't seem quite right.

Does anyone know if the baseline is close to accurate based on recent drafts and actual bonuses paid? Or is there a better setting to more closely follow recent bonuses.


I am very happy that they did away with major league contracts for draft picks. It was a terrible pain when you drafted a great player that you wanted to put in the minors for at least a couple years but he required a major league deal and a spot on the expanded roster. It's one thing when your team stinks but when you are stacked already you want to stash them.

Now if the same could be said about international signings. It is almost not worth bothering with them. Any time you get even a decent prospect he requires a MLC. It sucks. I never have expanded roster spots for mid level prospects. I have always got more than 15 I want to protect as it is lol.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by Mike Lowe

Thanks LGO...I guess what I was trying to ask was what is the best way to mimic this in-game?

That's the tricky question. MLB's process is built upon the first 10 rounds of a 40 round draft. In OOTP drafts tend to be much shorter, so it's very much an open question as to how MLB's system should be scaled for shorter draft lengths for those wishing to emulate such a system.

[olivertheorem]

Originally Posted by Ripamaru

Now if the same could be said about international signings. It is almost not worth bothering with them. Any time you get even a decent prospect he requires a MLC. It sucks. I never have expanded roster spots for mid level prospects. I have always got more than 15 I want to protect as it is lol.

That's fixed in the most recent patch.