I am a brand new to HBD and undertaking negotiations for a long-term contract with a soon-to-be free agent for the first time. I was reading the newbie thread for some background on best strategies for this and found these three comments that seem to take a completely differing viewpoint on the facts of how mutual options work.

hockey1984: 5) always! Always! Always! Make the last year of a contract you offer a player a 'mutual option'. They never turn it down and it could save you a ton of money when that shining free agent turns to a dog turd in their 4th year.

alogman1: This is wrong as well, as players do decline mutual options - had two players decline mutual options in the same season for one of my teams.

mongoose_22: Players do decline mutual options. In my experience, I'd say its more common for them not to, but it certainly still happens.

I realize it is 2-to-1 against hockey1984 here, but I wonder why he would be so absolute on this topic if this were not the case. Not trying to start a cage match. I basically just want to know whether to offer a mutual option to this player or not.

There are very few absolutes in this game(the only one I have is "Get training to 20m and leave it there").   Will elaborate if needed.

So, therefore, virtually nothing is "always".    Mutual options are a good idea if you're signing a player in his 30s.   Odds are he will begin to decline before the contract is up.    If you're signing a FA that's relatively young and you KNOW you want to keep him the full contract, don't offer an option.   Because, as noted, they can decline it and you're left holding the bag.

I was wrong with my statement because I didn't fully explain myself (I was at work and was supposed to be working rather then typing on the forum, so sue me).

A lot of the time, in leagues that I have been in, many of the 'top of the line' free agents, or even just players that I want, will be filing for free agency between 30 and 32. I find that, when offering a deal to a free agent that is over the age of 30, using the Mutual option can be a very valuable tool. Especially when you are in bidding wars with other owners.

I often find that (this is all depending on the player) a positional player will lose a lot of their worth when they are age 35-36. Pitchers tend to last a bit longer but it can depend on how good their stats are to begin with.

Lets say that I am bidding on 31 year old Joe Blow. He Is a power hitter who hit 41 homeruns last year, stole 30 bases and hit just a little above .300 with a OPS of .921. This is a player I want as I am going to be making a strong World series push for the next three years. I know that there will be a lot of bidding for Joe Blow with favourable stats like these. I only want Joe Blow for about 3-4 years depending on his decline, but don't want to pay 16-17 million to compete with owners who are offering him 12 million over 5 years. So I offer Joe Blow a 5 year contract at 12 million per season, making sure to backload the contract and I add a mutual option, knowing full well that I have no intention of keeping Joe Blow in season 5 of the contract. To buy him out, it still costs 25% of the salary but its a small price to pay for an important piece that I will be needing in the future.

Now, as always, there are exceptions to every rule. Joe Blow could keep his stats and opt out of the contract, making me have to bid for him again, but chances are there is a new stud 29-32 year old that has come along by then.

My best, current example I can give of this is my contract with

https://www.whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerRatings.aspx?pid=4217007

I needed a good bat and was willing to pay 4 seasons ago. After losing the bid on a few others, File was my go to. I offered him 5 years with a mutual contract and was able to get him. The last 2 seasons he had been dreadful. I had planned on buying him out, but he did me a favour and declined the option. I doubt I'll get a type A pick for him, but that's even more money off of the books to spend elsewhere.

When in doubt, listen to the other guys. They have been playing a lot longer then I have. Although I did just win a WS title. :D


Edit: What MikeT said.


(If I'm running too long just stop reading)

Another really good example I can show is with

https://www.whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerRatings.aspx?pid=4812052

In his last year of his contract he will be 35 and probably not worth $11 million. I'll probably end up buying him out if he doesn't leave first. But I don't think I could have won the World series last year without his bat.

This is really good stuff. Thanks for the clarification.