Contracts

[neojonas]

I did a fantasy draft for my MLB league. I see the computer signed most people to a 1 year contract. Some say 1 Year (Contract gets automatically renewed), some say 1 Year (New contract through arbitration), and some just say 1 Year. What do these mean? I assume when it says just 1 Year that they go into Free Agency after this season. And with the arbitration one, do I have to sign them to a deal after the season even if I don't want to? And I'm not sure automatically renewed means either - do they get a raise or anything or just another year at that same salary?

[bp_]

Originally Posted by neojonas

I did a fantasy draft for my MLB league. I see the computer signed most people to a 1 year contract. Some say 1 Year (Contract gets automatically renewed), some say 1 Year (New contract through arbitration), and some just say 1 Year. What do these mean? I assume when it says just 1 Year that they go into Free Agency after this season. And with the arbitration one, do I have to sign them to a deal after the season even if I don't want to? And I'm not sure automatically renewed means either - do they get a raise or anything or just another year at that same salary?

Automatically renewed means they will get the same league minimum deal next season (it is based on major league service time so this can change later in the year, the next step up is arbitration eligible).

You don't have to offer someone arbitration if you don't want - you can cut them or offer them a contract before the game goes into the arbitration period. If you go into arb and haven't cut the player then you are stuck with what the game assigns the player for their next contract.

If a player has more than 6 years of major league service time they are eligible for free agency. So, for those players that only say 1 yr, if they have 6+ years of major league service then they will be FAs at the FA filing period after the season.

So, for MLB service time (different than professional service time):
Yrs 1-3 auto-renewed contracts
Yrs 4-6 arbitration
6+ major league FA eligible