In my particular world, top IFA's get really crazy bonuses.  For example, the latest signing got $38 MM.  There was lots of bidding on him to get up that high, obviously, but only team signed the player.   As a newbie, I've stayed out of that market.

Without debating whether or not it's worth spending that kind of money on *any* IFA, how does that money transfer work?  Clearly you need to transfer money into your prospect budget to sign that player, right?  So it actually cost that team $56 MM in salary cap this year.  Am I counting that right?  

Now what about the teams that bid $35 MM?  Did they have to transfer money to their prospect budget as well?  If they transferred $10 MM into their prospect budget to bid on a player, they're pretty much committed to spending that on prospects right?  So, they'll be bidding high on the next IFA that comes along.  

Or, can teams bid on players without committing that money to transfer from players budget to prospect budget? 

You can transfer left over money from player payroll or coaches payroll at the cost of 2 million per 1 million you want transferred. For example lets say your prospect budget is 20 million and you currently have used zero, and you have a 70 million player payroll and you have used 49 million. That means you have a extra 20 million you can transfer from player to prospect, however since the exchange is 2 for every 1 dollar you will lose 10 million in the process and if you moved that 20 from payroll to prospect your player budget would now be 50 instead of 70 and your prospect will be 30 instead of 20. Sounds confusing, maybe someone can explain it better to me.

Generally when a lot of teams in a world budget to get a top IFA player many of them end up disappointed, and when a lot of owners budget for top IFA players then you can find good free agents at bargain prices. A good strategy in 1 world can be a bad strategy in another world.

I, for one, love seeing an IFA get 38 mil.  That means that team played with a 9 million dollar handicap.  Besides, there is always another train comming.  I have found the same guy that gets 20 mil early in the season gets 12 mil late in the season.

Posted by carnivore on 7/25/2011 6:35:00 AM (view original):

Besides, there is always another train comming.  I have found the same guy that gets 20 mil early in the season gets 12 mil late in the season.

It cuts both ways: It's also not uncommon to find an IFA with a ceiling of utility/platoon player go for $8-10M towards the end of the season because owners have to "use or lose" their rapidly devaluating cash.

Personally, if/when I can afford it, I place a premium on getting a high quality IFA earlier in the season in order to give him more time to develop in his first pro year. I strongly suspect that the development logic regards all years as equal, so when deciding his development rate the next season it doesn't consider the fact that the guy signed during the playoffs - it just factors in that he already has a year of experience.

Fair enough.  I think if you watch the spending patterns you will get a feel for it.  The prices in Long Haul this season are much higher than I am used to.  I could be wrong, but I am assuming that the overspenders will run out of cash by the all-star break or so and my $15mil for IFA's will land me a stud.  I win half of my ESPN baseball leagues by simply not getting caught up in the overspending at the beginning of the auction when everyone is flush with cash.  If I am going to bid on IFA I know my limit based on how good that player is and I never go over it.  While I have never been in the position of spend it just to spend it with more than the last $700,000, I see you point and could see how that would happen.

Posted by jryager on 7/25/2011 12:54:00 AM (view original):
In my particular world, top IFA's get really crazy bonuses.  For example, the latest signing got $38 MM.  There was lots of bidding on him to get up that high, obviously, but only team signed the player.   As a newbie, I've stayed out of that market.

Without debating whether or not it's worth spending that kind of money on *any* IFA, how does that money transfer work?  Clearly you need to transfer money into your prospect budget to sign that player, right?  So it actually cost that team $56 MM in salary cap this year.  Am I counting that right?  

Now what about the teams that bid $35 MM?  Did they have to transfer money to their prospect budget as well?  If they transferred $10 MM into their prospect budget to bid on a player, they're pretty much committed to spending that on prospects right?  So, they'll be bidding high on the next IFA that comes along.  

Or, can teams bid on players without committing that money to transfer from players budget to prospect budget? 

To answer your last question . . . yes, you have to have the money committed in the prospect budget before you can bid with it.

I tend to know how much I have to spend on IFA before the season starts and will go after and get a top IFA early.  I may spend a little more than if he popped late in the season, but I have been left holding a 15M bag before and don't like it.

Posted by tecwrg on 7/25/2011 3:51:00 PM (view original):

Posted by jryager on 7/25/2011 12:54:00 AM (view original):
In my particular world, top IFA's get really crazy bonuses.  For example, the latest signing got $38 MM.  There was lots of bidding on him to get up that high, obviously, but only team signed the player.   As a newbie, I've stayed out of that market.

Without debating whether or not it's worth spending that kind of money on *any* IFA, how does that money transfer work?  Clearly you need to transfer money into your prospect budget to sign that player, right?  So it actually cost that team $56 MM in salary cap this year.  Am I counting that right?  

Now what about the teams that bid $35 MM?  Did they have to transfer money to their prospect budget as well?  If they transferred $10 MM into their prospect budget to bid on a player, they're pretty much committed to spending that on prospects right?  So, they'll be bidding high on the next IFA that comes along.  

Or, can teams bid on players without committing that money to transfer from players budget to prospect budget? 

To answer your last question . . . yes, you have to have the money committed in the prospect budget before you can bid with it.

Thanks, that's what I was looking for. 

Good strategy advice from everyone else too.  Much appreciated.