So this is something I have considered a couple times, but not tried yet. Has anyone had success signing an IFA to a MLB deal when you didnt have the signing bonus cash to win them? for example, bidding goes up to say 27M, but you can only swing 20M. Instead you offer $15M, and a long term MLB deal at 4-5M/year, that sort of thing. The way I see it, if the player would go for it, I wouldnt mind paying a true stud that kind of cash to develop in AAA while using options up if that was the only way I could get him.

If I remember right, they only accept ML minimum for player salary portion of the contract. You still have to beat the other guy on bonus money. I seem to remember something about every prospect will only accept a ML contract with the salary structured at $327k for 3 years. Maybe someone else can help jog my memory.

EDIT: Just tried it out on a scrub IFA. $327k is the max you can offer in salary.

^what Brian said about $327k max is correct. But in my experience if two offers have a similar bonus, the salary matters. So let's say somebody offers $20M bonus with minor league w/invite contract, and I offer $19.5M bonus with 327k x3 salary. Technically my offer is higher overall so the Sim favors my offer as #1.

However, note that since approx a year ago agent emails began saying "my client appreciates the offer but will only sign a minor league deal". I'm not sure if that's something they patched for all prospects, or just random RNG that I'm experiencing all the time...

thanks for the info guys, I have been tempted on a few guys to go MLB contracts for players i really wanted. will keep that in mind.

Posted by pjfoster13 on 3/27/2018 6:26:00 PM (view original):
^what Brian said about $327k max is correct. But in my experience if two offers have a similar bonus, the salary matters. So let's say somebody offers $20M bonus with minor league w/invite contract, and I offer $19.5M bonus with 327k x3 salary. Technically my offer is higher overall so the Sim favors my offer as #1.

However, note that since approx a year ago agent emails began saying "my client appreciates the offer but will only sign a minor league deal". I'm not sure if that's something they patched for all prospects, or just random RNG that I'm experiencing all the time...

I've only ever signed an IFA to a big league deal once, and IIRC it was because he asked for a big league deal. Can't think of any time I offered BL and didn't get the "thanks but all I'm looking for is a minors deal and I'll prove my worth" response.

Not to say that anything is impossible or even unlikely, but I think we're talking about rare outcomes here.