I have a max contract offered in one of my worlds but the free agent says he's being offered a lot more money from other teams. I have the top pitching IQ coach in the world and a pretty high IQ bullpen coach as well. Am I missing something? It doesn't look like his former team is in the running. My question is, is player option considered higher than no option in the contract? I have no trade and player option right now.

Yes, player option is best.

5x20, 10 bonus, p-option, NTC is a max deal.

Are you in a hitter's park?

0,0,0,-1,-1 so fairly even park

I'm just wondering if it's a lost cause and I should pull my offer to try and land some other not so good players.

If someone has you beat now, it's not going to get better unless they pull their offer.

That said, it's out in public for anyone to see so, if you pull your offer, he might lower his.

True, but I doubt they'd lower it because they wouldn't be sure that someone else might have a max bid also. I just don't see any reason to keep the offer. I also don't see how the player could be considering anyone other than my team. The whole thing seems strange based on everything I've seen in this game over the years.

Are you positive his former team isn't in the running?

Yeah, the only time I ever went in on a Max Bid free-for-all, a number of the owners apparently had the lead at one time or another till the previous franchise decided they wanted the player back.

Pretty sure they aren't. I could be wrong, but I'm 99% certain they aren't.

Bonus doesn't show up but pull up trade proposal with orig team. If they have 20m over their current payroll, they're probably in.

That explains it. I knew that trick. Didn't realize bonus doesn't show up. Then yes, they are probably bidding on him. Thanks MikeT23. That helped a ton. Now I understand why I'm behind.

Posted by MikeT23 on 3/28/2017 8:48:00 AM (view original):
Yes, player option is best.

5x20, 10 bonus, p-option, NTC is a max deal.

Are you in a hitter's park?

The p-option and NTC are not actually part of a max deal, despite an old developer chat suggesting they are. A max deal is 5x20, 10 bonus. If you're losing, the old team is involved or the combined pitching IQ of your currently signed pitching and bullpen coaches totals less than someone else who has offered 5x20 +10.

I've confirmed this through personal experience with max contracts and also through direct ticket exchanges, and the knowledge base entry (#761) also has no mention of p-option or NTC.

The relevant portions of the ticket exchange (#123103):

The offer/clause does not get included into the tie-breakers, but if a player is requesting it, and one team doesn't offer the option/clause, the player is going to sign with the team that met all of his demands.
...
A mutual option or team option reduces the value of the contract from the player's point of view.

Yeah, I guess I need to see an example of P-option/NTC NOT being included in a max deal. As I'm sure you know, CS doesn't always give correct answers and "knowledge base" isn't always knowledgeable.

Posted by MikeT23 on 3/28/2017 4:24:00 PM (view original):
Yeah, I guess I need to see an example of P-option/NTC NOT being included in a max deal. As I'm sure you know, CS doesn't always give correct answers and "knowledge base" isn't always knowledgeable.

For quick turnaround, I can give you Vincenzo Smalley (https://www.whatifsports.com/hbd/Pages/Popups/PlayerRatings.aspx?pid=2966522). His first contract is an example of the NTC not being included.

My confirmation/discussion with CS didn't come up until after his second deal (where he demanded a NTC, so got it), so he stole a player option in both instances, but it wasn't needed.

Posted by zbrent716 on 3/28/2017 4:31:00 PM (view original):

Posted by MikeT23 on 3/28/2017 4:24:00 PM (view original):
Yeah, I guess I need to see an example of P-option/NTC NOT being included in a max deal. As I'm sure you know, CS doesn't always give correct answers and "knowledge base" isn't always knowledgeable.

For quick turnaround, I can give you Vincenzo Smalley (https://www.whatifsports.com/hbd/Pages/Popups/PlayerRatings.aspx?pid=2966522). His first contract is an example of the NTC not being included.

My confirmation/discussion with CS didn't come up until after his second deal (where he demanded a NTC, so got it), so he stole a player option in both instances, but it wasn't needed.

Norm Long (https://www.whatifsports.com/hbd/Pages/Popups/PlayerRatings.aspx?pid=1297111) is another. Same lack of NTC, but still won the tie-breaker based on coaches.