I find it to be a big flaw in free agency when being the previous team is not the first tiebreaker when the offers are equal. In Dirt, I have had Bill Gomes. I purposefully never went to arbitration with him. Signed him to a 5 year deal. In the last year, never given the chance to re-sign him. During the re-sign period this season, offered him the absolute max (20M +10M signing + no trade+ player option) but he was going no matter what. Then offered the same thing to him in the first cycle of free agency. He had me at #1 for 1.5 days and then someone overtook me. When I was overtaken, I had not yet signed my PC and so my PC from last year (PC of 93) was not enough to keep me in the lead.

I realize one player does not necessarily make the team but Gomes is one of the best pitchers in any leagues (I believe in the top 10 of ERAs) and I find it discouraging to lose him this way.

perhaps he disliked the team name on the front of his jersey.

Lol. Perhaps...if that was the case, i would have changed the name to the Toronto Gomes if needed.

I agree with this. I am new but it seems like everything in this game is 100% numbers. I am not saying that the game can have "feelings" but a player should have some preference to the team that he has played on for in this case a long time. Maybe some how tied into his patience rating?

Just a thought.

i think alot of us had the max for bill gomes, i know i did...but i was behind from day one, someone always had a better offer, which i dont understand, so slurie, what are the official tiebreakers? is it really pitching coach? cause that would be stupid

With 22 patience I would have taken him to arb twice then a 5 year deal to get 10 years out of him...Rarely do players over 80 overall sign an extension with less than 50 in patience, no matter whether you arb once or twice...

And the tie breakers are listed in the Help under Free Agency.

Is $10 mil the max signing bonus, or is it $20 mil...there seems to be some discussion in Canseco about that right now. Also, does a team's PC have anything to do with where a FA SP signs or is that just speculation?

20M per year with a 10M bonus. Yes, as ridiculous as it sounds, the ML PC plays a major role in breaking ties.

Bringing this back to the top.  Lets say the contract offer, coaching and ball park effects are all similar, if not identical.  Whats the next tie breaker?  Can a free agent determine who the better franchise is?  Does he give preference to his old team?  If he goes to the better franchise is it based upon overall player skill levels, success during the regular season, success during the playoffs, just last season or over a 4 year period like HD???

I can't believe that guy lasted until the 10th pick in the draft.

A lot of the guys that went before him flat out are not true first rounders. Maybe some that you could justify in the supplemental round, but Gomes is one of the better steals I have ever seen.

Posted by taz21 on 6/25/2010 5:02:00 PM (view original):
Bringing this back to the top.  Lets say the contract offer, coaching and ball park effects are all similar, if not identical.  Whats the next tie breaker?  Can a free agent determine who the better franchise is?  Does he give preference to his old team?  If he goes to the better franchise is it based upon overall player skill levels, success during the regular season, success during the playoffs, just last season or over a 4 year period like HD???

Here is the tie-breaking procedure from the Help FAQ:

"When a free agent has multiple exact offers of any value at the ML level the tiebreakers are as follows: relevant IQs of the coaching staff and ballpark. If the players previous franchise is also bidding on him, then that franchise will receive a small loyalty bonus. When the coaching staff is used to break the tie position players will look at the hitting IQ of the hitting coach and the fielding IQ of the fielding coach. Pitchers will look at the pitching IQ of the pitching coach and the bullpen coach. In cases where the offers are still tied and the coaching staff has been factored in ballpark is used to determine which franchise the player will sign with. Pitchers always want to pitch in a pitchers park, while position players will always want to play in a hitters park."

So, if the offers are the same, the coaches (both coaches, i.e. pitching and bullpen in this case) are exactly the same, and the ballparks are exactly the same, then the original franchise should win because of the "small loyalty bonus".  If the original franchise is not one of the teams, I have no idea what the last tiebreaker would be, but there is nothing in the answer above that indicates the quality of the team has anything to do with it.  I'd have to think that 2 coaches and ballpark factors would be able to break the tie 99% of the time.

As an aside, I went through this in one of my worlds just a season ago.  It was a pitcher returning to my team, so the small loyalty bonus applied.  I was behind after offering a max deal.  After hiring a pitching coach rated as highly as any other pitching coach (though the same as the team that was likely winning the bidding at the time), I was still behind.  After hiring the top bullpen coach (better than the coach of the team that I think was leading), my offer moved to first place and the guy eventually signed.  I play in Cincinnati, a slight hitter's park in this game, and more of a hitter's park than the team that I think was leading.  So in my experience the answer above seems to be accurate and the combination of better bullpen coach/loyalty bonus seemed to outweigh the ballpark factor.

thanks.