So you have your cornerstone franchise player, annual Cy Young candidate that you have groomed since you traded the farm for him. He burns his minimum salary years, you take him to arbitration once (I know I should have taken him twice but the rules have changed), and then sign him to a maximum 5 year deal. At the end of the deal, he is 31 years old and has been with your BL squad for 10 seasons.
Now, he refuses to re-sign with you and will hit the open market no matter what, a decision that I assume is generated at random by WIS. You'll never get true value in the open market bacause he is a rent-a-player and the best that you can hope for is two draft picks for one of the best players in the World.
Someone will sign him to a max contrat for max years, a contract that someone else will most likely have to deal with four seasons later when he will be declining rapidly.
Now, I know this makes it more realistic, but it makes the game less enjoyable. Shouldn't there be a better alternative? A sign and trade option? A page out of NFL and have Franchise Players? Knowing a season earlier that he won't sign with you so that you can get more value? is there any way to avoid this in the future?