I dont want to accuse anyone of something before I totally understand what is happening, but i have an owner in a league that has signed players to odd contracts, for the most part multi year deals. Most of the players are average at best. The strange part is he gives them all rather large bonuses sometimes as much as 7 million a season...then they make the minimum for three or four more seasons. Could there be a legit reason to do this? 
as an example.
 Player Profile: Bum Thomas - Hardball Dynasty Baseball | WhatIfSports

Sure and I'm not sure what you think he's doing wrong.

I have a buttload of payroll and no IFA/Coll/HS scouting.   While I build my scouting, I offer huge bonuses to keep my FUTURE payroll down AND utilize my excess payroll today.

Worst case scenario, he bails and leaves a low payroll for the next guy.    Who does that hurt?

It doesnt hurt anyone...it just stood out to me as an odd thing. But i can see the benefit in it. And the long term damage is...well none really

I guess i should have checked out his scouting budget...if its next to nothing there is no reason to keep money back for prospects he will never see anyway. 

thanks 

I don't think you can check his scouting budget anymore.    But that's the reason to do it.   Especially at the end of FA.   If you missed the big fish and have to sign some little ones, might as well keep their future pay down in case you run across better options.

yeah you can only see Player/Coach/Prospect budget...that ate up126 of 185, if he is maxed out in Training and Medical that wouldnt leave much for Advanced, College, High school and Inter.   I will have to keep that in mind if i ever find myself in situation like that.

It's smart financials.  I will do it occasionally under a scenario similar to what Mike described.  Current payroll that I likely will not be spending on anything else this season.  Use it now, or lose it later.

I'm often amused at how uncreative owners sometimes are with how they structure contracts.  The game offer some flexibility on how multi-year contracts can be structured.  Yet too many people offer the "vanilla" contract in which money is spread out evenly across all seasons.

I for the most part will make the contract higher in the first few years. easier to move a 36 year old pitcher with 2 seasons remaining of 5 million and 4.5 million  rather then two seasons at 6 million a piece. The players usually want the contract balanced but i do my best to work it my way when possible. 

The players don't really care how it's balanced out.   The bottom line number needs to be right. 

Season - This is the actual season salary that you would like to offer the player. In a two-year contract, neither season can comprise more than 60% of the total value of the contract. In a three-year contract, no season can comprise more than 40% of the total value of the contract. In a four-year contract, no season can comprise more than 30% of the total value of the contract. In a five-year contract, no season can comprise more than 25% or less than 10% of the total value of the contract. There is a maximum allowable offer of $20 million for any season. The minimum for any season is the minimum annual salary at that level. For the big leagues, this is 325K. To change the offer for any season, please click in the box next to the season and enter an integer value. For a three year contract, you must enter in values for the first three seasons, but you may leave seasons 4 and 5 blank. The total value of the contract will appear at the bottom of the page.

Posted by goldenboy00 on 1/29/2016 11:30:00 AM (view original):
I for the most part will make the contract higher in the first few years. easier to move a 36 year old pitcher with 2 seasons remaining of 5 million and 4.5 million  rather then two seasons at 6 million a piece. The players usually want the contract balanced but i do my best to work it my way when possible. 

There are times when you might want to front load the contract, and there are times when you might want to back load the contract.

There are times when you might want to do a signing bonus, and there are times when you might not.

There are times when you might want to tack a mutual option onto the final season of a contract, and there are times when you might not.

If you lock yourself into a "this is the was I usually/always do contracts" mode of thinking, you're likely doing yourself a disservice.

Posted by tecwrg on 1/29/2016 2:11:00 PM (view original):

Posted by goldenboy00 on 1/29/2016 11:30:00 AM (view original):
I for the most part will make the contract higher in the first few years. easier to move a 36 year old pitcher with 2 seasons remaining of 5 million and 4.5 million  rather then two seasons at 6 million a piece. The players usually want the contract balanced but i do my best to work it my way when possible. 

There are times when you might want to front load the contract, and there are times when you might want to back load the contract.

There are times when you might want to do a signing bonus, and there are times when you might not.

There are times when you might want to tack a mutual option onto the final season of a contract, and there are times when you might not.

If you lock yourself into a "this is the was I usually/always do contracts" mode of thinking, you're likely doing yourself a disservice.

Turn! Turn! Turn!

Posted by MikeT23 on 1/29/2016 11:34:00 AM (view original):
The players don't really care how it's balanced out.   The bottom line number needs to be right. 

I (slightly) disagree.  I have lost two very close free agent battles in which I offered more money but the other guy front-loaded.  It wasn't a huge difference-- like a million on a 60 million deal-- but I think front-loading gives a very slight advantage.

Mutual option on the back end?

Might have been-- I use them a lot.  Maybe that was the difference rather than the load.

Changes the per year value.   I'm sure it's not just simple math but I suspect that's the problem.