After leading for the entire first day on a player in FA with a max deal the player signs with another team without any notification that I wasn't #1.

It happens.  Not sure if "normal" is an accurate description.   You seem to be implying that you were leading for Day 1 and he signed on Day 2.  That seems odd.

I led from cycle #1 2/28 AM to the current cycle (cycle 8) 3/1 PM where he signed.

There are 14 cycles remaining.

Could it be because I don't have a hitting coach signed yet? Though in my experience maxed guys still wait until the last cycle.

P.S. I had put extra money into coaching just so i could sign the best hitting coach in the league. I was currently leading on him too.

Max contract?   Not familiar with the signing process with them.   I know much was being made about max contract guys holding up owners.

Out of curiousity, what's his patience rating?

Max contract, it appears me and 2 other owners had one offered as well. However I was told i was #1, they were told they were trailing.

62

Did he resign w/ his former team? If so, was he there 5+ seasons?  That may be the 1st tie breaker, and if they offered the same max deal, perhaps he saved you time/effort by signing w/ his original team once they offered what others were putting up.  That's about all I got, otherwise it does seem strange, all max contract guys w/ multiple offers have waited until the last day to sign.

One other thought, did you do something in budgeting that would have voided the deal somehow? Like tying up too much money in future seasons? 

His former team DID offer him a max contract but was not leading/nor did he sign with htem.

There was nothing that could have voided the deal, my payroll is incredibly low considering my budgets.

If future season's payroll was an issue, it would have prevented him from making the offer.

That sucks if the former team didn't win him - it was my understanding that the former team would have the first tiebreaker.  Did you offer the true maximum (10m bonus, notrade clause, player option)?

The team that won him says he was on from the start with an unchanged max offer. Why would it show me #1 then have him sign with the other team. Doesn't make sense.

It would seem to me that all teams offering a max contract would show #1. Then the player would decide between them.