Trying to sign a FA catcher.

He wanted $2M x 1 year.  I offered $2M in year one and $1M in year two.  That one was sent back...which I can understand.

Came back with $2M & $1.4 M .....Rejected.  Offered $2M and $1.5M....rejected again.

OK...I came back and offered what he was demanding, $2M for one year.  I was basically laughed at (His agents actually said HAHAHAHAHA!).  Man, I had offered what he wanted!

So I came back and offered 2 X $2M.  Now the agent told me to come back with an offer that meets their demands.  Which I had done!  And then doubled!

Being thick headed....I've tried again.  2 x $2.5M.  Will see....
I hate this agent!

What's up?

Someone is likely bidding more, the actual text responses are irrlevant for working out whats going on.

Often if a guy only wants 1 year, if you try to give him more years he will reject it unless he gets a big raise. Frankly I hate the "negotiations" in HBD since they end up being more like "Don't go $1 under what the guy asks for otherwise he would rather be out of a job than play for you." It'd be nice to have some wiggle room.

Posted by prezuiwf on 1/13/2011 2:07:00 PM (view original):
Often if a guy only wants 1 year, if you try to give him more years he will reject it unless he gets a big raise. Frankly I hate the "negotiations" in HBD since they end up being more like "Don't go $1 under what the guy asks for otherwise he would rather be out of a job than play for you." It'd be nice to have some wiggle room.

"Big raise" isn't really correct.  It's annual value of the contract.

So if a guy is asking for one season, $2m, he'll probably take 2 seasons for $4m ($2m per).  Assuming that nobody else is bidding against you, which will drive the cost up.

If the responses say something about not meeting demands, I don't think that's someone bidding against you.  When someone's outbid you, you get responses like, "I'd love to move to your city, but someone else is showing me more love."

Posted by tecwrg2 on 1/13/2011 2:10:00 PM (view original):

Posted by prezuiwf on 1/13/2011 2:07:00 PM (view original):
Often if a guy only wants 1 year, if you try to give him more years he will reject it unless he gets a big raise. Frankly I hate the "negotiations" in HBD since they end up being more like "Don't go $1 under what the guy asks for otherwise he would rather be out of a job than play for you." It'd be nice to have some wiggle room.

"Big raise" isn't really correct.  It's annual value of the contract.

So if a guy is asking for one season, $2m, he'll probably take 2 seasons for $4m ($2m per).  Assuming that nobody else is bidding against you, which will drive the cost up.

No, that's the problem I was talking about. I've often seen players reject offers like that. Maybe he'll take it if I give him $3 mil in the second year but not if I try to sign him at his current salary for more years.

I've never seen a guy not sign for additional years as long as the average salary per season of his original demand was being met.

Me neither.

I have. In fact, I went $1M more, $2M more, $3M more, all the way up to $4M more per season to get the guy to go 4 years instead of 2, with no success. REJECTED every time. It wasn't someone competing against me, he just outright rejected my offer.

Sounds like he doesn't want a long-term deal.

I've only seen two scenarios where guys have refused contracts that meet a yearly salary demand:

1. Old guys (40+) who won't accept multi-year deals.
2. Late in FA, when a guy is at a decent salary, I attempted to sign someone asking for 1 year to a 5-year deal (I thought there was good value, and he was young) but he refused, saying he didn't want to get booed out of the stadium.

Iain, that's exactly what happened. He said he didn't want to get booed out of the stadium.

The parameters of my offers:

Asking for 2 years, 2.4 per. 
I offered 3 years, 3 per. Rejected. Doesn't meet his demands.
I offered 3 years, 4 per. Rejected. Doesn't meet his demands.
I offered 3 years, 5 per. Rejected. Doesn't meet his demands.
I offered 4 years, 6 per. Rejected. Doesn't meet his demands.
I offered 5 years, 6 per. Rejected, with the above statement that he didn't want to get booed out of the stadium.

Also, he's 29---it's not like he's old.

He probably thinks if he does well in the 2 years that he can cash in for his final contract.

Sign him at his demands, and then re-sign him during the season before he reaches FA again ... it will likely be at the same yearly salary.  At least that is my experience.