Just saw the in game message about 40 man roster and that 6 plus year experienced guys not on the 40 man roster will become free agents.

If I want to shed some salary, maybe to start a rebuild, since I won't make the playoffs, can I remove star players with high salary from the 40, demoting them to the minors, to get out of long term contract commitments?

I understand that someone could pick them up via waiver, which I think would shed the salary...

Are there some unexpected results...? Like could the person picking up the waiver leave me with a portion of the salary to keep paying, or would the demoted star player not leave for free agency so I would keep paying his contracts but he would have demoted ratings because he was demoted to the minors?

Thanks! Please share any related thoughts.

If you want to remove a high-salaried major league veteran from the 40, you have to put them through waivers. If you Designate them, it removes them from the 40 immediately and you have 30 league days to decide what to do with them if they clear waivers.

If they're Claimed off waivers by another team, that team takes over their contract in full.

If they're not Claimed, you can demote them to the minors but you are still responsible for their entire contract.

NOTE that if you Release them outright you are responsible for their entire contract without having the player anymore. Any other team which picks up the player gets them for the veteran minimum 327k. You still pay out the full contract, it doesn't come off your books.

YES if you demote a veteran they can (likely will?) take a hit to their ratings.
ALSO if a veteran has more than (can't remember 3? or 5?) seasons of major league service he can refuse assignment to the minors and elect immediate free agency AND you still have his contract.

The only way to get out of a long term contract commitment - besides trading the player - is to have another team claim your player off waivers. One more thing, if you dump a pile of good players on the WW you miiiiiight just **** off the league's owners for such a blatant dump. I've seen it happen.

Thanks! I appreciate the time to respond.

So, the only reason to demote a star-ish player from the 40 list is to open that spot for a prospect/other player, since if the vet decides to not accept the demotion, he can elect immediate FA AND I would STILL have the remaining contract years to pay.

So, prob best to hope its just a bad transition year for my new poor performing star players, and keep them in the Majors. I would like another team to nab them off of waivers, so I wouldn't have to pay so much per year for one of them, but I don't want him to go FA and I still have to pay.

Thanks again.

Unless a contract is truly horrible you should be able to execute some kind of trade. Especially if it’s the last year of a contract.

If a guy is poised to become a 6th-year FA, he probably isn't worth putting on the 40 at this point. Usually those are the marginal players. In this game, players who are worthy are usually in the majors within 4 seasons, if not sooner. Some exceptions, but you get the idea. One of the exceptions would be if you just took over a franchise and the previous owner didn't promote guys who should have been.