Free Agent Bidding Topic

This post has a rating of , which is below the default threshold.
Horrible idea that I thought would go away, but apparently not.

Since everyone loves real life so much, you are basically saying that it makes great sense that the Yankees offer max dollars to every free agent out there, and every free agent in turn will stop listening to offers from other teams until the Yankees decide who they want.

Really.

The way it works now is as close to real life as possible. If you have the cash, you are probably going to get THE guy or a couple of THE guys you want. But totally unrealistic to expect that you can tie up the whole FA process with your dollars. Dumb.
11/17/2010 2:40 PM
Posted by MikeT23 on 11/17/2010 2:33:00 PM (view original):
Because I would offer max bids to every player worth having.   I would adjust down until I'm no longer the high bidder and then adjust up in small increments until I'm high bid again.   Then I'll adjust down again.   Others will still be bidding.

Did you not read my first post?

Did you not read mine? I said the devs could write something in to make guys sign at different intervals to prevent this dumbassery from being an effective strategy.

11/17/2010 2:41 PM

I'm being forced to assume you're very dumb.  I was giving you the benefit of the doubt but you're proving I shouldn't have.   Will they sign on the first cycle?   Second cycle?  Third cycle?  Fourth?  Eight?     Since EVERYTHING is set on a minimum 24 hour period, it would have to be at least six.    So I only do it for 5 cycles.   Owners are still paying a lot more than they would have otherwise.

11/17/2010 2:44 PM
This post has a rating of , which is below the default threshold.

Black and white version for you. If everyone in your world sets their payroll budgets and they total $2,720M (based on average of $85M/team and 32 teams) how much money can they spend on payroll? You guessed it $2,720M. If you 'bid up' FA to earn more than they are worth (in your opinion), how much money do those same teams have to spend on payroll? It's still $2,720M. You see what I'm getting at? Contracts aren't artificially inflated at all, they are just dispersed differently with the best players earning more and the league average and below average players earning less. The bottom line will always be the bottom line no matter how much you think you can effect it.
 

11/17/2010 3:07 PM
Posted by MikeT23 on 11/17/2010 3:01:00 PM (view original):
In short, if one owner can manipulate every FA salary for even 5 cycles, you've got a big problem.   Far bigger than having to make a decision in a decision-based game.
If one owner can manipulate every FA salary for 5 cycles, the problem is far greater than HBD. It takes a great deal of time and effort to do what you just described. That owner should probably seek professional assistance.
11/17/2010 3:13 PM (edited)

I'm sure you've heard of budget transfer, trades, ww pick-ups and promotions.   Money spent on FA can't be used for those transactions.   Big picture.   Forcing you to spend 1m more for a FA that I don't want doesn't hurt me.   But it stops you from doing other things to improve your team.

I don't know how long it takes you to make a bid on a FA but it takes me about 15 seconds.   I've got 5 minutes every 4 hours to bid or adjust bids on the 20 best FA.

11/17/2010 3:25 PM
Again, this is where publishing the bidding comes into play.

If it's shown to the entire league that you're leading the bidding, and your offer keeps changing, people are going to know what you're doing.  Maybe they pay anyway, maybe they back off and let you swallow the contract for a guy you didn't really want.

In real life, as I said, you always know who's in the running for a FA and for the most part, you know the current high offer.  Why is it so secretive in HBD?

This whole issue aside, as I said earlier, if I know someone in my division is high bidder for a FA I don't particularly want, maybe I decide to go after him to keep him from that other team.  If it's a team in the other league leading for him, I'll let him go.

Publishing the active bidders and highest bid could actually increase the competitiveness of the game.  Could you drive up prices for guys you don't want? Sure.  But you could also have your bluff called and be royally screwed with a contract you want no part of.
11/18/2010 1:34 AM
In real life, as I said, you always know who's in the running for a FA and for the most part, you know the current high offer.  Why is it so secretive in HBD?

Very simple.  Because making that information public can lead to collusion.

Lets say two teams are both competing for the same two FA's.  If they knew they were competing against each other, and what the bidding was up to, they could make a "gentleman's agreement" . . . team A gets plater 1, team B gets player 2.  They could also drop down their offers since they're not competing anymore.  They both end up with one of the players they want, and have spent less money.  That would be collusive.
11/18/2010 6:59 AM
Don't use logic on jtpops.   He keeps insisting that HBD can real-life should be mirror images while ignoring the reasons that they can't be.

But, to answer your question, jtpops, I wouldn't really care if the world knew what I was doing(I'm actually telling the HBD community what I'd do).  As I said, I'd only do it with FA worth having.   If I get "stuck" with one, I'd be OK with that.   
11/18/2010 8:26 AM
This whole idea is likely a reaction to, "I lost out on that big free agent and now I have $20MM in cap space and nothing to do with it!"  That's part of the game, and while the free agent bidding process may not be ideal, it's the best system that anyone has come up with so far.  The difference between HBD and real life is that $20MM you have left over if you don't get that free agent can only be used on what free agents are left, waiver wire pick ups, taking on salary in trades, or transferred to prospect payroll (at a 50% penalty).  If a RL team doesn't win the bidding on Cliff Lee or Carl Crawford, that owner will keep that money in his bank account which he can use for a new Maserati or piece of real estate or jewelry for his wife.

Maybe the better argument (that's been discussed before) is to have one budget from which you can pull money for coaching, prospects, and player payroll.  Then if you lose out in the free agent market you can hit the IFA market harder.
11/18/2010 9:39 AM (edited)
mhulshult...that's actually not it at all.

I had $22mil in cap space available...there were two pitchers and a catcher I wanted.  I went after one pitcher (whom I got) and lost out on the catcher.  In hindsight, I may have been able to get the second pitcher, but when forced to choose, I had to go with one pitcher and one hitter.  I feel I should have been able to make an offer to all three.
11/18/2010 11:20 AM
Posted by deathinahole on 11/17/2010 2:40:00 PM (view original):
Horrible idea that I thought would go away, but apparently not.

Since everyone loves real life so much, you are basically saying that it makes great sense that the Yankees offer max dollars to every free agent out there, and every free agent in turn will stop listening to offers from other teams until the Yankees decide who they want.

Really.

The way it works now is as close to real life as possible. If you have the cash, you are probably going to get THE guy or a couple of THE guys you want. But totally unrealistic to expect that you can tie up the whole FA process with your dollars. Dumb.
I don't even care about this, nor do I care if they change it.  But, If you can't see the glaringly obvious difference between your example and this game, then I don't really know what to say.
11/18/2010 2:27 PM
Glaringly obvious that, if I have the most payroll to offer, and there's an update that would allow multiple bids as jtsops has it laid out, that anyone with the most payroll available could max contract anyone worth their salt and screw any other owner out of the FA process until one signs?

Do point it out for us, o wise one.
11/18/2010 4:34 PM
◂ Prev 12345 Next ▸
Free Agent Bidding Topic

Search Criteria

Terms of Use Customer Support Privacy Statement

© 1999-2026 WhatIfSports.com, Inc. All rights reserved. WhatIfSports is a trademark of WhatIfSports.com, Inc. SimLeague, SimMatchup and iSimNow are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts, Inc. Used under license. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.