What’s the absolute highest maximum bid you can give a free agent including bonus, contract years, option, and no trade clause?

10M bonus
20M per season
5 seasons
Player option
No trade

Ok that’s what I thought it was, but I’ve done that to a free agent and the email I got back was not about depth chart but how someone had outbid me.

So obviously if there's a max there has to be tiebreakers... I'm not sure what the exact hierarchy is but there's position coaching (hitting/pitching); favorable ballpark factors... and I'm fairly certain that if his previous team offers max that might beat everything else.

Here's the decision tree: loyalty bonus to previous franchise always takes priority (might be wrong but I think the prior contract had to have been a 5yr deal for this to apply). If this rule doesn't apply then it's whomever has the highest combined coaching IQ's at the time the player signs. I could be wrong here too but, I believe max contract players will usually hold out to sign until after coaches hold out to sign, so you *should* be able to get your coaches before max contract player makes their decision. Finally, if the coaches tie (highly unlikley) then park factor comes into play.

Also, hopefully someone else can confirm, but I don't believe player options and no trade clauses have any impact on a max deals.


I vaguely remember a thread from a few years ago where an owner was talking about the highest pitching coach getting ridiculous offers (something like $10M+ I wanna say) because two owners were fighting over him to guarantee getting the HoF pitcher.


From the 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 loyalty bonus. </p> <p> 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. Please note that an FA will sign with the team that has better coaches in hand, which may or may not be the team that ends up with the best coach and/or staff. </p> <p> 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. </p> <p> When a free agent has multiple exact offers of any value at the minor league level the tiebreaker is organizational depth at the player's primary position."

Well damn. Wish I knew that beforehand as I would have went all out on the coach then. Looks like I’m out.

Awesome info here so thanks for that!

One time there was a free agent I knew would get a max deal. First signing period, I offered max and was told I was outbid. I said "alright, his old team wants him back" and moved immediately to Plan B.

@brianplath-- I'm pretty sure player option does have at least some effect, but no-trade only has an effect if the player asks for it. Each might matter less than loyalty bonus and maybe coaching bonus, so you might not notice it.

If I'm planning around offering a max deal-- which I very rarely do-- I try to figure out if the previous team has a loyalty bonus and the money to make a max offer, and if they have both, I make another plan.