I've had this happen to me twice in the last 3 maybe 4 seasons; it's annoying and I really want to understand it so it doesn't happen again....

I have a player in the last year of his contract; he says he is willing to re-sign.  He's guy in his 30's who is overpaid, and I know his demands will drop if I wait until after rollover (his overall will likely drop because it dropped last season). 
After rollover, but before budgets, I check, and sure enough, his demands drop and he's still willing to re-sign with me.  Then, after budgets are set, he's "filing for FA no matter what!"

WTF?

I set my budget based on the fact that he's willing to sign for X amount of dollars.  If I had known I'd have to enter a bidding war for him then I would have budgeted accordingly.

Are there any indicators that a guy is going to change his mind in this way?  I guess the better question might be: Why does this happen and is the system broke?

anybody???

Probably his overall rating.  He was giving you a "hometown" discount.   You played with him so he Andy Pettited you and followed his butt-buddy Clemens to Houston. 

And it works the other way too.  Sometimes they're not willing to re-sign but do after rollover.

Take the good with the bad.

1.  Any message you get from a FA after rollover but before budgets are set is bogus.
2.  I've never seen a guy change his mind if he was willing to re-sign before rollover; but then, I almost always sign those guys before rollover if I want them at all.  So I might have missed one.

So are there any indicators this will happen? When I signed this player to his last contract it was for $7.5 mil. That was 5 seasons ago and since his overall rating and thus his salary demands have dropped. I could have re-signed him before rollover for $7.5 but knew I could save money by waiting. I've never seen this happen the other way around where he changes his mind and then is willing to sign.

How do you get an indicator, when the ONLY indicator of a players intention is the signing page. Where he says 'I'm willing to sign <this season>'.  Things change during rollover.

Someone comes to you and says id like to extend my contract.
You say, 'Great! We won't extend you now, we'll let your contract expire over the winter and then give you a new contract before ST, when you're eligible to be a FA. You see, we think you're a ***** who'll resign with us for less money, since you'll be one year older, even though you would have the option of testing FA. We don't think you 'll do that though, because as we said you're a *****'
You wonder why he tested FA?

i've seen this bug almost every season. After rollover, before budgets are set, they say they will sign. After budgets are set, they won't sign. Never goes the other way.

You just need to know what FAs say before budgets are set is meaningless. Hopefully WIS fixes this someday.

Bug?

I do think its a bug.  I have seen this before.

"I won't sign with you."
"Ok, I'll sign."
"No, i was kidding."

That's not a bug. That's good comedy.

A guy going from "will re-sign" to "won't re-sign" after rollover is fine, as far as I'm concerned.

A guy going from "will re-sign" after rollover but before budgets are set to "won't re-sign"  after budgets are set may not be a bug, but I don't think that should happen, and it does.  I don't think they should necessarily have to give us that info before budgets are set, but any info they do give us should be correct.

Posted by AlCheez on 10/6/2011 12:33:00 PM (view original):
A guy going from "will re-sign" to "won't re-sign" after rollover is fine, as far as I'm concerned.

A guy going from "will re-sign" after rollover but before budgets are set to "won't re-sign"  after budgets are set may not be a bug, but I don't think that should happen, and it does.  I don't think they should necessarily have to give us that info before budgets are set, but any info they do give us should be correct.

100% agree with all of that.