Suggestion regarding contracts for next version

[Lousghost]

I haven't found this anywhere on the board, and I thought of this last evening while playing OOTP8.

When you offer a free agent a contract in the off season, he says he'll get back to you. Then you have to wait and wait and wait until he replies, while other potential FA's at the same position get signed.

I wish I as a GM had the option to put a time limit on his reply. To mail him back, and say he has until date XXX to reply or the offer is rescinded. I also wish I could withdraw an offer anyway if I change my mind. I don't know if teams in MLB can legally do that, but I see no reason why not.

[darkcloud4579]

Funny, my younger brother mentioned the same thing playing OOTP8 the other day. He didn't seem to like the feedback the guys gave him where they would say "I'll get back to you in a few days" and he took it as an affront and decided to withdraw those offers. Until I explained that the game always do that and it's hard coded.

I never thought that might be a problem for new people getting into the game and seeing that and being irritated by some guys saying "hold on" rather than just signing or rejecting your offer outright after a few days of no-contact.

[zekester91]

Originally Posted by Lousghost

I also wish I could withdraw an offer anyway if I change my mind. I don't know if teams in MLB can legally do that, but I see no reason why not.

You can withdraw offers in OOTP, there is a screen that shows all your outstanding offers to FA and on that screen you can withdraw your offer. The down side of this is that the player will never talk to your team again, so you want to use it rarly. There could also be some caladeral damage if other players know you make offers and withdraw them, they might be less inclined to listen to your offers.

[The Wolf]

Originally Posted by zekester91

There could also be some caladeral damage

That's "collateral damage."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collateral_damage

[silvam14]

Originally Posted by The Wolf

That's "collateral damage."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collateral_damage

Weaky p dea rox!

[Lousghost]

Originally Posted by zekester91

You can withdraw offers in OOTP, there is a screen that shows all your outstanding offers to FA and on that screen you can withdraw your offer.

I am not finding this screen.

[wlight1]

Originally Posted by Lousghost

I am not finding this screen.

It's under league transactions > free agents > "pending offers" sub-tab.

[DesertFox07]

I'm fine with players taking time to get back to me, but in my 2007 solo league, they took a REALLY long time. I was simming in real time in that league, and after 4 weeks of offers and from 32 teams, no free agent had yet to sign. I simmed forward 30 more days to get things going and only 2 of a possible 150 FAs had signed. Granted, there were a lot of offers for the top players out there, but still. 2 signings in 60 days?

I would suggest one thing to Markus on contract offers next time too. While smaller market/budget teams CAN pursue top name free agents, it's more realistic that they'd pursue second or third tier players who they can more readily afford to sign. I found this off-season three rebuilding teams were in hot pursuit of several of the top 5 free agents who were asking $20MM+ when they really needed to be focusing on their younger players and stop gap FAs.

And one thing that appears to be missing from OOTP 6.x is free agents refusing to sign with losing teams. I have to double check my FAs "desire for winner". but I've not seen anyone turn away an offer from a last place team yet unlike OOTP 6 Where numerous players refused to talk to me when I took over a failing small market team.

[Lousghost]

Originally Posted by wlight1

It's under league transactions > free agents > "pending offers" sub-tab.

Thanks. I'll look for this the next time I'm waiting for an FA to respond back to me.

Oh, and Happy New Year to all.

[ctorg]

Originally Posted by DesertFox07

I'm fine with players taking time to get back to me, but in my 2007 solo league, they took a REALLY long time. I was simming in real time in that league, and after 4 weeks of offers and from 32 teams, no free agent had yet to sign. I simmed forward 30 more days to get things going and only 2 of a possible 150 FAs had signed. Granted, there were a lot of offers for the top players out there, but still. 2 signings in 60 days?

I would suggest one thing to Markus on contract offers next time too. While smaller market/budget teams CAN pursue top name free agents, it's more realistic that they'd pursue second or third tier players who they can more readily afford to sign. I found this off-season three rebuilding teams were in hot pursuit of several of the top 5 free agents who were asking $20MM+ when they really needed to be focusing on their younger players and stop gap FAs.

And one thing that appears to be missing from OOTP 6.x is free agents refusing to sign with losing teams. I have to double check my FAs "desire for winner". but I've not seen anyone turn away an offer from a last place team yet unlike OOTP 6 Where numerous players refused to talk to me when I took over a failing small market team.

I agree with everything here.

I'm especially keen on seeing some resolution to the signing strategies of small market and rebuilding teams. I see very little strategy difference between Win Now teams and Rebuild teams. It makes me wonder if that drop-down does anything. And too often the small market teams shoot themselves in the foot by signing a 32-year-old superstar to a long-term deal. That really doesn't happen much in real life.

[Kaitiaki]

Originally Posted by DesertFox07

And one thing that appears to be missing from OOTP 6.x is free agents refusing to sign with losing teams. I have to double check my FAs "desire for winner". but I've not seen anyone turn away an offer from a last place team yet unlike OOTP 6 Where numerous players refused to talk to me when I took over a failing small market team.

That was an...unpopular feature. I'm not sure if it's been eliminated completely, but it has certainly been toned down drastically. I believe the focus has been shifted from players refusing to negotiate at all to simply preferring offers from better teams (i.e., a crappy team would have to bid a bit more than a successful team would to sign a player), although I can't prove this.

- Kai

[The Wolf]

Originally Posted by Kaitiaki

That was an...unpopular feature.

Unpopular or not, it needs to be restored because free agents being uninterested in signing with a perennial loser is a fact of life.

[Carplos]

I believe the focus has been shifted from players refusing to negotiate at all to simply preferring offers from better teams (i.e., a crappy team would have to bid a bit more than a successful team would to sign a player), although I can't prove this.

This definitely occurs.

[Kaitiaki]

Originally Posted by The Wolf

Unpopular or not, it needs to be restored because free agents being uninterested in signing with a perennial loser is a fact of life.

No, it doesn't. "Uninterested in signing" is not the same thing as "unwilling to listen to offers". No agent would ever refuse to listen to an offer from any team, even if the player himself would never seriously consider playing there. If nothing else, an offer can be used as leverage to get more out of another team.

The functionality that you're requesting - players not wanting to play for crappy teams - is still in the game. It's just being presented in a way that is both more realistic and more palatable.

- Kai

[ctorg]

Originally Posted by Kaitiaki

That was an...unpopular feature. I'm not sure if it's been eliminated completely, but it has certainly been toned down drastically. I believe the focus has been shifted from players refusing to negotiate at all to simply preferring offers from better teams (i.e., a crappy team would have to bid a bit more than a successful team would to sign a player), although I can't prove this.

- Kai

I think the main problem (as far as I recall) was that guys who had no business being picky were being picky. You had Joe Scrub saying he didn't want to play with this team or that. In real life, it usually seems to be guys who are going to make a boatload of money wherever they go who get picky about teams for other reasons.