I've manipulated players around to avoid arb/FA.  However, if the guy is good enough, losing 20 games a year for 3 seasons isn't really good for your team.  In those 20 games, you're playing 10 against your division.  

I didn't read the entire first post but I don't think it's unreasonable to believe you can control a player's salary into his 30s.

I think you can get 11 years or so if you resign a guy in his last year of arb to a 3 year deal

meant 5 year deal

I'm pretty sure you can do this, one coach is doing such w/ a guy that was a cy young contender as well as several young studs.  I know I've held buys back the 20 days in the minors after 2 seasons of majors.  I had traded for the guy, so I don't know for sure if he spent 20 days in the minors prior to his MLB debut or just the 2 games that show up in his stat book (I suspect it was the 20 games, but who knows for sure?)

For star players that can help, sure.

I doubt a world cares about the 25th man.

Promotion/demotion for service time manipulation is hard to define but you know it when you see it.  Like pornography.

I brought this up to service a few months ago

3/26/2010 6:35 PM jonas1102
I believe there is a service time bug. Luis Vizquel was called up late in his first season (130+ ML games), played all last season, and has played 30 or so games this season. Yet his service time is only 1.030. When service time reaches a full year, all the extra days on his service clock get erased and he started this year at 1.000. This seems like a problem that can be "gamed" in order to get 3 extra years of ML time with 63 days in the minors.
3/29/2010 10:39 AM Customer Support
That's actually how MLB service time works. In the season in which a player reaches enough to get him one full season, the excess days are eliminated. This is how some MLB teams use the service time rules although abuse is often frowned upon by the commish.
3/29/2010 6:12 PM jonas1102
That's not how it works. The excess days don't get eliminated, but you can gain an extra year by calling a guy up late because instead of 6.000 years in, he's 5.170.

Look at Evan Longoria. Called up late two years ago, played a full season last year. By your rules, he would be at 1.000. According to http://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/2005/01/tampa-bay-devil-rays_112131227267025321.html , he is at 1.170.
3/31/2010 9:34 AM Customer Support
Interesting; that contradicts the reference we used when we coded that part of the game. We will research some more and make a change if necessary. In any event, those are the rules in HBD now so that's why you're seeing what you're seeing. If a change is made it will be moving forward and not retroactive.

Thank you for raising the issue.

Taz is right.

The way the system is set up, you can get six seasons from a player before his first arb contract (three of them with a 20 day stretch in the minors).  And you can get twelve seasons from a player before his first multi-year contract (six of them with a 20 day stretch in the minors if you can get him through waivers after his options have run out.)

I'm in a world with Taz and I know the manipulative bastard he is referencing, a useless, horrid man rotten to the core who deserves the hatred and disdain of all HBD owners (if not all humanity in general).

Posted by MikeT23 on 6/18/2010 3:52:00 PM (view original):
I've manipulated players around to avoid arb/FA.  However, if the guy is good enough, losing 20 games a year for 3 seasons isn't really good for your team.  In those 20 games, you're playing 10 against your division.  

I didn't read the entire first post but I don't think it's unreasonable to believe you can control a player's salary into his 30s.

Naw, you've got to think outside the box on this one.  If you have a slew of players earning $360k when they should be drawing $5-$10 mill, that's a windfall of extra payroll to sign top-tier free agents, remain competitive for the first twenty games, and amass enough talent to make up for early losses over the course of the season.

Or, alternatively, to run low payroll and transfer mucho dinero to sign top IFAs who will also perpetuate the cycle by remaining cheap major leaguers season after season.

In "real life" you can only use the 20-day trick once to delay arb eligibility.