Signing young players to long contracts

lechia · 10-11-2018, 05:31 PM

OOTP 19 is the first version where I find it hard to sign good or very good young players to long term deals. In previous iterations, I used to take hot prospects who made the majors and sign them to long term deals 5-10 years. They benefited because instead of the minimum they would get significantly more and I would benefit because in the years when they would be free agents, I had control at a reasonable salary. Of course for me there was a risk that the player would be a bust and I would be stuck with a long term contract, with the player risking a higher pay-off if his development went well where he could have made more money.

In OOTP 19 I find it very hard if not impossible to sign young stars to long term deals. They only want one year contracts or very high salaries to sign contracts that would eat into their arbitration and/or FA years. I find it is no longer worth doing this. I may as well just wait for when they are ready to sign a long term deal themselves. Have others experienced the same?

Also have seen some weird requests in this version. A 2 time all-star (31 years of age, if I remember) wanted 55 million per year for 5 years at the beginning of his last year. He would have been the highest paid player in the league at that salary and he is nowhere near the player that should be asking for that. As the year progressed he dropped his salary demands to a more reasonable 20m+ and I signed him for something in that neighbourhood (3 instead of the 5 years he wanted). Just to reiterate how idiotic the initial 55m demand was, my total salary was about 165m and was the 2nd or 3rd highest in the league. Do you see the same thing in your leagues? Is it just a question of waiting him out?

Another annoying thing I see is that players ask for a lot more money to resign with their current team (my team) then they get when they actually end up in free agency. Except for this last point, the others were not an issue in previous versions of OOTP.

WIUPIKE · 10-11-2018, 06:08 PM

I have been able to lock up a few players long term, usually there loyalty is high and greed low.

ThePretender · 10-11-2018, 07:00 PM

This is for the best, because those 5-10 year deals were pretty abusive and unrealistic. Now you're forced to sign guys for good money.

It's still worth it to sign them through arbitration, it's just you're not getting the insane bargain you were in previous versions.

drewandpedey · 10-11-2018, 10:56 PM

Realistically a young star would not sign anything longer than 2 or 3 years, after his first pro contract, until he is free-agency or arbitration eligible.

Drstrangelove · 10-12-2018, 01:07 AM

I find it to be much more realistic now. The players I have that are literally "hot prospects" will either only take a one year deal, or they'll take a long year deal, but only with a pretty good price tag on it. On the whole, I find that I'm pleased with some of the deals they'll sign (pleased, not ecstatic), and sometimes adamantly against the best long term deal I can work out. That sounds about right.

NoOne · 10-13-2018, 12:04 AM

you'd have to know a baseline and compare rates to call it unrealistic.

10-11-2018, 05:31 PM	#1
lechia Bat Boy Join Date: Nov 2015 Location: Canada Posts: 7 Thanks: 1 Thanked 0x in 0 posts	Signing young players to long contracts OOTP 19 is the first version where I find it hard to sign good or very good young players to long term deals. In previous iterations, I used to take hot prospects who made the majors and sign them to long term deals 5-10 years. They benefited because instead of the minimum they would get significantly more and I would benefit because in the years when they would be free agents, I had control at a reasonable salary. Of course for me there was a risk that the player would be a bust and I would be stuck with a long term contract, with the player risking a higher pay-off if his development went well where he could have made more money. In OOTP 19 I find it very hard if not impossible to sign young stars to long term deals. They only want one year contracts or very high salaries to sign contracts that would eat into their arbitration and/or FA years. I find it is no longer worth doing this. I may as well just wait for when they are ready to sign a long term deal themselves. Have others experienced the same? Also have seen some weird requests in this version. A 2 time all-star (31 years of age, if I remember) wanted 55 million per year for 5 years at the beginning of his last year. He would have been the highest paid player in the league at that salary and he is nowhere near the player that should be asking for that. As the year progressed he dropped his salary demands to a more reasonable 20m+ and I signed him for something in that neighbourhood (3 instead of the 5 years he wanted). Just to reiterate how idiotic the initial 55m demand was, my total salary was about 165m and was the 2nd or 3rd highest in the league. Do you see the same thing in your leagues? Is it just a question of waiting him out? Another annoying thing I see is that players ask for a lot more money to resign with their current team (my team) then they get when they actually end up in free agency. Except for this last point, the others were not an issue in previous versions of OOTP.

10-11-2018, 06:08 PM	#2
WIUPIKE All Star Reserve Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Nashville Area Posts: 720 Thanks: 222 Thanked 222x in 155 posts	I have been able to lock up a few players long term, usually there loyalty is high and greed low.

10-11-2018, 07:00 PM	#3
ThePretender All Star Starter Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 1,004 Thanks: 117 Thanked 363x in 251 posts	This is for the best, because those 5-10 year deals were pretty abusive and unrealistic. Now you're forced to sign guys for good money. It's still worth it to sign them through arbitration, it's just you're not getting the insane bargain you were in previous versions.

10-11-2018, 10:56 PM	#4
drewandpedey Minors (Double A) Join Date: May 2018 Location: Boston Posts: 136 Blog Entries: 1 Thanks: 104 Thanked 15x in 12 posts	Realistically a young star would not sign anything longer than 2 or 3 years, after his first pro contract, until he is free-agency or arbitration eligible.

10-12-2018, 01:07 AM	#5
Drstrangelove Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Jun 2014 Posts: 285 Thanks: 67 Thanked 122x in 86 posts	I find it to be much more realistic now. The players I have that are literally "hot prospects" will either only take a one year deal, or they'll take a long year deal, but only with a pretty good price tag on it. On the whole, I find that I'm pleased with some of the deals they'll sign (pleased, not ecstatic), and sometimes adamantly against the best long term deal I can work out. That sounds about right.

10-13-2018, 12:04 AM	#6
NoOne Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2015 Posts: 6,022 Thanks: 606 Thanked 1,616x in 1,310 posts	you'd have to know a baseline and compare rates to call it unrealistic.