What is cash used for in WIS? To sign FA in open leagues? I don't play in open leagues, so why is cash involved in the game at all if it's not real, and can't be used in the game (exception above?), just to balance out trades that seem lopsided, but after you add cash to one side it's still lopsided cause the cash can't be used for anything???
Thanks

Couldn't it be used on the Waiver Wire? Many leagues also provide an influx of money to upgrade a team midseason. I think there's a lot you can do with it if those options are on. I haven't played an open league since I first got started, but it would be useful there for the WW potentially.

Transaction fees.

Posted by fire13 on 10/17/2019 9:57:00 AM (view original):
What is cash used for in WIS? To sign FA in open leagues? I don't play in open leagues, so why is cash involved in the game at all if it's not real, and can't be used in the game (exception above?), just to balance out trades that seem lopsided, but after you add cash to one side it's still lopsided cause the cash can't be used for anything???
Thanks

I mean, lopsided is somewhat in the eye of the beholder, right? Say you drafted 1998 Greg Maddux and I drafted 1918 Fred Toney. Then we get going and it turns out, somehow, that everyone in the AL - my league - is using Coors as their home park and 50 games in my pitching staff is looking down the barrel of a fatigue death spiral. Everyone in the NL - your league - is playing in Petco, and you drafted way too many innings for a league where every game is played in Petco. So we decide to swap guys. Maddux costs a couple million more than Toney, but if anything I suspect the average owner would value Toney more highly if they could get away with his innings, and ultimately this trade is going to help both of our teams win more games. In order to make it happen you have to send me something like $2 million along with Maddux, and I wind up with a higher salary cap after the trade. But if we're not using the WW, as you have astutely pointed out, this basically matters ZERO. We could have drafted better with the altered caps, true, but it's not going to help or hinder our teams moving forward once the season is running. So what's the harm?

And obviously, these exact circumstances are far-fetched. But it is absolutely a fact that owners under- and over-draft innings and PAs all the time, whether by misestimating the league circumstances, an abundance of caution, or what have you. And there are plenty of instances where "lopsided" trades - from a salary perspective - can be mutually beneficial.