1971 Off-season Thread (Pre-Draft file is up!)

[Young Drachma]

Things are already underway and a little crazy, to put it mildly. Where will the chips fall this year? We shall see...

Here are the playoff shares for this year:

Valdosta: $5 million
Compton: $2.5 million
Ann Arbor & Rio Grande: $1.25 million each

This cash, along with your media money from last year, will be credited to your cash balance in tonight's file. Tonight's sim will only sim one day. Then tomorrow, we'll run to the start of FA as normal.

[JimmyOOTP]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

Things are already underway and a little crazy, to put it mildly. Where will the chips fall this year? We shall see...

Here are the playoff shares for this year:

Valdosta: $5 million
Compton: $2.5 million
Ann Arbor & Rio Grande: $1.25 million each

This cash, along with your media money from last year, will be credited to your cash balance in tonight's file.

How does this money help our team?

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by JimmyOOTP

How does this money help our team?

You can trade cash to other teams. Also, it gives you flexibility in terms of how you deal with players. If you decide to release a guy, you have to pay the entire deal out in that year to release him. If you don't have enough cash, you can't do it, because you'll go into debt and if you do, you'll lose draft picks.

So it helps you to run a successful team both financially and on the field.

[Young Drachma]

Here's an important note on releasing players.

It's been brought to my attention that it's possible to release a guy and then offer him a deal in the same sim, meaning you can sometimes get a veteran player to take less money and get under the cap.

There isn't anything wrong with releasing a guy and trying to resign him, but the entire league ought to get the chance to offer him a deal.

So if you release a guy who is under contract for cap parity, from this point forward, you must leave him in FA for at least one sim before making an offer to resign him.

[Chief Rum]

I assume it's okay, though, to decline an option and still attempt to resign him, right?

BTW, was there every any thought on my proposal in the other thread for halting free agent signings for tonight's sim, or for Toronto to have a chance to rectify a potential error with Yamazaki?

I don't think the second one will go, but I really think the first one should.

[Young Drachma]

It's totally okay to decline an option and resign a player, yes.

Freezing FA tonight doesn't really make sense to me. And Yamazaki is out there for the taking now, so all of the offers will be valued equally and I don't think it makes sense to alter FA for the whims of one guy who happens to be worth some value, etc.

Conversely, I think other than hitting for average, that he's just 1) young and 2) overrated. But that's just me.

[Chief Rum]

Stupid emotional decisions involving electronic, non-existent players!

I just had a trying time making the decision to decline the option on Christian Larsen's contract. The actual decision wasn't hard--he's not worth $16 M. But it was a mutual option, and the game tells me "he has a player option as well, but he wants to remain with the organization", that's a gut punch to have to tell him no.

Making it worse, he wants a $29 M/5 year deal. The per season is much more in line with what I would pay, but pay him until 36, with falling ratings and no huge cash balance to release him if he goes too bad? No thanks and sorry Christian.

So Larsen will be out there in free agency (and, yes, I will probably try to resign him).

[Young Drachma]

Wow, that's rough. He's one of those guys where you wonder when the train will shut down for him. He's been good for you since you let Darby go. Making room for Yamazaki, eh? You and Japanese players, I tell ya.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

It's totally okay to decline an option and resign a player, yes.

Freezing FA tonight doesn't really make sense to me. And Yamazaki is out there for the taking now, so all of the offers will be valued equally and I don't think it makes sense to alter FA for the whims of one guy who happens to be worth some value, etc.

Conversely, I think other than hitting for average, that he's just 1) young and 2) overrated. But that's just me.

I had hoped you would consider this with FA tonight, because teams were at a disadvantage not exporting last night. IMO, allowing FA and not allowing those teams to catch up to the early exporters maintains the disadvantage of not getting to export yesterday for an early sim that you yourself have said was a mistake. This would only seem to exacerbate the problem. Just saying.

Yamazaki is out there, yes, but there are others out there as well who might receive offers, so it's not just one guy (although, yes, it is mostly one guy).

As for Yamazaki being overrated, he was certainly overpaid on his first contract. That said, he is a SS (albeit a bad one) with top speed who hits for almost a .900 OPS, and over .300 AVG his first two years, with batting title threat Contact, and enough power ability to end up with around 20 HRs per year (not to mention the very good GAP numbers). Plus, he's fully developed, has already proven himself in the bigs, and he's just 21.

I think that's pretty good, and teams could do worse than signing him.

[Young Drachma]

Well you can thank me for converting him to shortstop because I needed one that first year he was with us in Compton. I had to overpay to get him, because I knew he'd be hotly pursued and I have no regrets, since he was probably the catalyst for us winning that pennant two years ago.

Now that he's away from me, I still am a big fan, but...I dunno if I wanna pay him what he's worth, especially at a position where I don't need him anymore. I dunno why, but he's not one of my favorite players in the league. He has all of the makings of stardom, but...I guess part of me wonders how long he'll be a stud.

I'd love to see someone throw a curveball and see him end up somewhere random that we wouldn't expect.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

Wow, that's rough. He's one of those guys where you wonder when the train will shut down for him. He's been good for you since you let Darby go. Making room for Yamazaki, eh? You and Japanese players, I tell ya.

No, I have all along had enough room to make a run at Yamazaki without needing to do anything. I am still undecided how much if anything I want to spend toward Yamazaki.

Larsen's ratings have been deteriorating slightly for three years. He still performs at a high level, though. It's not going to be easy to replace him. I am hoping to bring him back for one more year, but I have a feeling someone with cap room will swoop in and make a good offer for him, a la Palmer last year for Alan T.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

Well you can thank me for converting him to shortstop because I needed one that first year he was with us in Compton. I had to overpay to get him, because I knew he'd be hotly pursued and I have no regrets, since he was probably the catalyst for us winning that pennant two years ago.

Now that he's away from me, I still am a big fan, but...I dunno if I wanna pay him what he's worth, especially at a position where I don't need him anymore. I dunno why, but he's not one of my favorite players in the league. He has all of the makings of stardom, but...I guess part of me wonders how long he'll be a stud.

I'd love to see someone throw a curveball and see him end up somewhere random that we wouldn't expect.

I think under the old rules, he may not have had much staying power, because we always had a lot of talent coming in.

Now that we're getting talent throught he draft, though, and one we have had issues with, and are still trying to really nail down settings for, I think the overall talent in the league will drop (consider we will also have slower development), and he will end up being a fairly strong player in the league.

But, yeah, if you can DH him, that's a good idea.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

No, I have all along had enough room to make a run at Yamazaki without needing to do anything. I am still undecided how much if anything I want to spend toward Yamazaki.

Larsen's ratings have been deteriorating slightly for three years. He still performs at a high level, though. It's not going to be easy to replace him. I am hoping to bring him back for one more year, but I have a feeling someone with cap room will swoop in and make a good offer for him, a la Palmer last year for Alan T.

Yeah, I was pretty bummed about that as Palmer was pretty washed up and I tried to get him but just couldn't for sentimental reasons. I was pretty correct in what he contributed this year with a .251 avg and an OPS of .665 but I knew the signing wasn't out of spite or anything so not really anything I could do about it and what was done is done. I'll still likely retire Palmer's number in Valdosta once he decides to retire. He was virtually FOOL's version of George Brett for the first 9 seasons of the league.

[muns]

Originally Posted by Alan T

Yeah, I was pretty bummed about that as Palmer was pretty washed up and I tried to get him but just couldn't for sentimental reasons. I was pretty correct in what he contributed this year with a .251 avg and an OPS of .665 but I knew the signing wasn't out of spite or anything so not really anything I could do about it and what was done is done. I'll still likely retire Palmer's number in Valdosta once he decides to retire. He was virtually FOOL's version of George Brett for the first 9 seasons of the league.

Ive shed a tear for 2 time mvp winner 1b Andy Nolan of Hartford. Ive had a few conversations with people about why the hell i still have him even on my team let alone playing, but the game took a HUGE dump on him when he should have been in his prime..... sucks......

[graygoose12]

So I am still a bit confused about the schedule of this league. Some things seem to be happening that don't seem to be in line with the schedule.

Why were trades processed in October? It seems the trade window begins on tuesday night, and ends thursday night.

Were teams allowed to make contract extension offers over the weekend?

Is there a sim tonight? If the season and championship series are going to be run by saturday night, maybe sunday night and monday night's sims should be an opportunity for teams to offer extensions, and also the ONLY sims for this to be possible.

It seems like we aren't running a consistent schedule, which is somewhat unfair to people who can't check as regularly as others.

Also, I think it is only fair that no contracts can be offered for FAs until the sim that is run on tuesday night.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by graygoose12

So I am still a bit confused about the schedule of this league. Some things seem to be happening that don't seem to be in line with the schedule.

Why were trades processed in October? It seems the trade window begins on tuesday night, and ends thursday night.

Were teams allowed to make contract extension offers over the weekend?

Is there a sim tonight? If the season and championship series are going to be run by saturday night, maybe sunday night and monday night's sims should be an opportunity for teams to offer extensions, and also the ONLY sims for this to be possible.

It seems like we aren't running a consistent schedule, which is somewhat unfair to people who can't check as regularly as others.

Sorry, I know it can be hard for new people who haven't been here to see the "quirks" to understand how we work. I'm going to work hard to cut down on that in the future, because I know it can be hard.

The file that goes up Monday night is always the last chance people have to offer contract extensions. You usually get chances to do this. After the regular season file (pre-playoff) file goes up and then again after the post-season is complete and that file goes up (that's the one out there now). Because the classic got ran on Saturday, we're just simming to the start of arbitration tonight, giving everyone their usual "last chance" to offer extensions before tomorrow night's sim.

The "trade window" thing dates back to the early part of the league and is really only setup to indicate the trade deadline is Thursday night's sim. I can see where it saying that can be confusing. So I can amend that language. It's always been the case that you could trade after the regular season ended unless you're in the FOOL Classic. But depending on what people think, we could amend that. I think it's better -- given this is an off-season league -- to make it easier for people to deal, not shortening the window.

Also, I think it is only fair that no contracts can be offered for FAs until the sim that is run on tuesday night.

Again, I tend to think things ought to be more open and while I realize some people are busy and keeping it "tight" would theoretically "keep it fair" I tend to think that leaving things more open, allows people to participate when they have time and the more days you leave open to do stuff, the better it gets.

Plus, when there are Vulture League players, they get dumped into the FA bin earlier than other players. None this year, but they will be. It's just another thing to mandate and keep tabs on. I don't think it's shown to be a demonstrable deterrent to player movement or people getting out there to participate and stay competitive.

But if the league is generally in agreement, we can vote on it and go from there.

[Chief Rum]

Isn't tonight really just to get those of us who didn't export for yesterday caught up? Why advance to arbitration? Why not just take in exports and advance one day only? This is a previosuly unscheduled sim that we put in place only because of the early Classic sim. Nothing really should be happening tonight except getting all exports in and maybe advancing one day to "legitamize it".

[graygoose12]

Thanks for responding and making things a bit more clear. I guess I am just trying to make things a bit less confusing for everybody. Also, being that you run sims nightly, I can see how it is hard to always run sims on a consistent schedule.

1. So the sim that get run after the "pre-playoff" (first chance to resign players), are those exports due by a certain time? Or is that going to be one of those sims that gets run sometime saturday-sunday, and if you miss it, you still have monday's sim? Or, is there always going to be a sim sunday night, run after the playoffs have ended, allowing teams a chance to get extensions in sunday night, and monday night?

2. Regarding the trade window, it makes sense to allow trades any time after the season has ended. I would amend the sim schedule to show that trades can be processed starting after the playoffs sim has been run (sunday night's sim, if there is one).

3. I edited my earlier post before you replied, so does it make sense that no FA offers can be made until tuesday night's sim?

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by graygoose12

Thanks for responding and making things a bit more clear. I guess I am just trying to make things a bit less confusing for everybody. Also, being that you run sims nightly, I can see how it is hard to always run sims on a consistent schedule.

1. So the sim that get run after the "pre-playoff" (first chance to resign players), are those exports due by a certain time? Or is that going to be one of those sims that gets run sometime saturday-sunday, and if you miss it, you still have monday's sim? Or, is there always going to be a sim sunday night, run after the playoffs have ended, allowing teams a chance to get extensions in sunday night, and monday night?

2. Regarding the trade window, it makes sense to allow trades any time after the season has ended. I would amend the sim schedule to show that trades can be processed starting after the playoffs sim has been run (sunday night's sim, if there is one).

3. I edited my earlier post before you replied, so does it make sense that no FA offers can be made until tuesday night's sim?

It ended up being a sim that was run early this weekend, a decison I have been harshly criticizing (I'll admit) for a day now. I believe DC said he would not do this anymore. So you should be able to count on the "pre-playoff" sim deadline returning to Sunday nights, leading up to the FOOL Classic. The file uploaded features those exports, as well as the FOOL Classic results. Plus, I think DC usually advances a few days after the FOOL Classic to where players retire, but he not sure about that. He will know more.

By and large sims always happen at 10 p.m EST/7 p.m. PDT. The only day there is not supposed to be a scheduled "export" is Saturday night, although you don't have to export every night either.

As for trades, personally I would prefer no trades be allowed until after the FOOL CLassic, but I think that's what DC does anyway. People discuss and agree to trades, but DC doesn't process them until after the FOOL Classic, which IMO is ideal.

DC to confirm all this of course.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by graygoose12

Thanks for responding and making things a bit more clear. I guess I am just trying to make things a bit less confusing for everybody. Also, being that you run sims nightly, I can see how it is hard to always run sims on a consistent schedule.

1. So the sim that get run after the "pre-playoff" (first chance to resign players), are those exports due by a certain time? Or is that going to be one of those sims that gets run sometime saturday-sunday, and if you miss it, you still have monday's sim? Or, is there always going to be a sim sunday night, run after the playoffs have ended, allowing teams a chance to get extensions in sunday night, and monday night?

2. Regarding the trade window, it makes sense to allow trades any time after the season has ended. I would amend the sim schedule to show that trades can be processed starting after the playoffs sim has been run (sunday night's sim, if there is one).

3. I edited my earlier post before you replied, so does it make sense that no FA offers can be made until tuesday night's sim?

1. Exports are always due at 10pm eastern the night of said sim. Because the season got simmed on Friday night, the rules have always been that I can run the FOOL classic 24 hours after, so long as both teams in the Classic have their files in. That's how it's always been. Because really, the sim between the end of the regular season and FOOL Classic aren't about anyone but the two teams in the Classic.

I made the mistake when I posted originally to indicate that there wouldn't be another sim until Monday night. That's when the whole "out of order sim talk" began to brew. That was my bad. I was thinking that people wanted "more time" to think, make deals, etc., so I thought I was saving people trouble by missing the Sunday sim, but if I'd done that we really would be deviating from the schedule.

This sim tonight isn't "extra". It's the same as always. People just have an extra day now to make decisions and stuff. So it's like "bonus" time.

So to answer your question. Yes, there will always be a Sunday sim and a Monday sim. I know that as my life starts to get more hectic, I'll sometimes just have to sim and go, to make sure it gets done. That's part of why we went to the open weekend simming of the playoffs, etc., because as it stands right now, to give me flexibility.

2. I fixed the sim schedule to reflect this change. Thanks for bringing up the confusion!

3. FA offers can be made from the minute after the regular season ends. Most of the guys in FA are people who got passed over anyway, except for a few who gets released after the season ends. I don't see any reason to make people wait to sign such players if they want them, so long as everyone knows they are out there and have at least a 24 hour window to try to acquire them like everyone else.

[graygoose12]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

It ended up being a sim that was run early this weekend, a decison I have been harshly criticizing (I'll admit) for a day now. I believe DC said he would not do this anymore. So you should be able to count on the "pre-playoff" sim deadline returning to Sunday nights, leading up to the FOOL Classic. The file uploaded features those exports, as well as the FOOL Classic results. Plus, I think DC usually advances a few days after the FOOL Classic to where players retire, but he not sure about that. He will know more.

By and large sims always happen at 10 p.m EST/7 p.m. PDT. The only day there is not supposed to be a scheduled "export" is Saturday night, although you don't have to export every night either.

As for trades, personally I would prefer no trades be allowed until after the FOOL CLassic, but I think that's what DC does anyway. People discuss and agree to trades, but DC doesn't process them until after the FOOL Classic, which IMO is ideal.

DC to confirm all this of course.

I think the best way to handle the pre-playoff sim is as follows:

If DC wants to run the FOOL Classic early, say Saturday, then that is fine. But, if this happens, then a sim should be run Sunday night giving teams a chance to offer extensions (I believe this is what is happening this weekend). If the FOOL Classic is not run until Sunday night(normal schedule??), then this should be the first chance to offer extensions. Basically this gives everybody 2 scheduled opportunities to offer extensions. If DC wants to throw in a possible optional, unscheduled sim Saturday night, then that should be fine, as long as a Sunday night sim is run.

Also, the schedule should be amended to show that a sim is run Sunday night. Last I checked it just says "saturday-sunday: season simmed"

Regarding trades, what I meant by after the season is after the FOOL Classic is run. So I think we all agree, and I think DC already changed the schedule to show that the trade window no longer begins Tuesday night.


I hope you guys understand that I am not complaining, just trying to help alleviate confusion, not only for myself, but other people that may be joining in the future.

[Chief Rum]

So you didn't sim to the point you usually do on Sunday nights after last night's sim? It seemed to me that Saturday night's sim was essentially our Sunday night sim. You only added the Sunday night sim after I made a big deal about the early sim. What am I missing here? How is it not an extra sim?

[graygoose12]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

3. FA offers can be made from the minute after the regular season ends. Most of the guys in FA are people who got passed over anyway, except for a few who gets released after the season ends. I don't see any reason to make people wait to sign such players if they want them, so long as everyone knows they are out there and have at least a 24 hour window to try to acquire them like everyone else.

So FA offers can be made starting with Sunday's sim? I am fine with that. In my opinion though, FA offers should not be allowed on the "pre-playoff" optional sim. And yes, usually those players are insignificant, so either way we go is fine.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by graygoose12

I think the best way to handle the pre-playoff sim is as follows:

If DC wants to run the FOOL Classic early, say Saturday, then that is fine. But, if this happens, then a sim should be run Sunday night giving teams a chance to offer extensions (I believe this is what is happening this weekend). If the FOOL Classic is not run until Sunday night(normal schedule??), then this should be the first chance to offer extensions. Basically this gives everybody 2 scheduled opportunities to offer extensions. If DC wants to throw in a possible optional, unscheduled sim Saturday night, then that should be fine, as long as a Sunday night sim is run.

Also, the schedule should be amended to show that a sim is run Sunday night. Last I checked it just says "saturday-sunday: season simmed"

Regarding trades, what I meant by after the season is after the FOOL Classic is run. So I think we all agree, and I think DC already changed the schedule to show that the trade window no longer begins Tuesday night.


I hope you guys understand that I am not complaining, just trying to help alleviate confusion, not only for myself, but other people that may be joining in the future.

No, it's cool. I always feel like talking these things out makes the league better.

And yes, pretty much what you said is what we're doing. Essentially, the Sunday sim happened last night, in terms of the date on the calendar. But everyone will still have the same amount of chances to sign guys as they would normally. They just got the file a little earlier.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by graygoose12

I think the best way to handle the pre-playoff sim is as follows:

If DC wants to run the FOOL Classic early, say Saturday, then that is fine. But, if this happens, then a sim should be run Sunday night giving teams a chance to offer extensions (I believe this is what is happening this weekend). If the FOOL Classic is not run until Sunday night(normal schedule??), then this should be the first chance to offer extensions. Basically this gives everybody 2 scheduled opportunities to offer extensions. If DC wants to throw in a possible optional, unscheduled sim Saturday night, then that should be fine, as long as a Sunday night sim is run.

Also, the schedule should be amended to show that a sim is run Sunday night. Last I checked it just says "saturday-sunday: season simmed"

Regarding trades, what I meant by after the season is after the FOOL Classic is run. So I think we all agree, and I think DC already changed the schedule to show that the trade window no longer begins Tuesday night.


I hope you guys understand that I am not complaining, just trying to help alleviate confusion, not only for myself, but other people that may be joining in the future.

Personally, I prefer that if the pre-playoff sim is going to happen "whenever", then key decisions should not be allowed by any teams except FOOL Classic teams with respect to their lineups. If the FOOL CLassic is run Sunday night, then it is a full sim. If the FOOL Classic is run early, only the two league champs' exports should be used, and they should only be doing lineups. And then there will always be the Sunday sim for the rest of us to do extensions or trades or free agent signings or what not. IMO, that keeps the flexibility of the sim schedule that DC seems to prefer without asking the rest of us to possibly prepare for an optional sim that may not happen.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by graygoose12

So FA offers can be made starting with Sunday's sim? I am fine with that. In my opinion though, FA offers should not be allowed on the "pre-playoff" optional sim. And yes, usually those players are insignificant, so either way we go is fine.

I just don't want to have to police this stuff. It makes doing this job more difficult than it already is sometimes. So we try to keep the rules pretty low, for the most part and just let people play.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

No, it's cool. I always feel like talking these things out makes the league better.

And yes, pretty much what you said is what we're doing. Essentially, the Sunday sim happened last night, in terms of the date on the calendar. But everyone will still have the same amount of chances to sign guys as they would normally. They just got the file a little earlier.

So if last night was the Sunday sim, like I thought, why are we advancing more than a day tonight? This should just be a catchup sim for the rest of us right? The next real sim is Monday (the regular Monday sim), isn't it?

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

Personally, I prefer that if the pre-playoff sim is going to happen "whenever", then key decisions should not be allowed by any teams except FOOL Classic teams with respect to their lineups. If the FOOL CLassic is run Sunday night, then it is a full sim. If the FOOL Classic is run early, only the two league champs' exports should be used, and they should only be doing lineups. And then there will always be the Sunday sim for the rest of us to do extensions or trades or free agent signings or what not. IMO, that keeps the flexibility of the sim schedule that DC seems to prefer without asking the rest of us to possibly prepare for an optional sim that may not happen.

The rule of thumb has always been that the FOOL Classic can happen 24 hours after the file indicating the regular season goes up. It won't be like I'm pulling the playoffs out of my hat.

But that said, I'm dispensing from Saturday sims unless there are circumstances that force me to do that, etc., because I'd rather not deal with all of this.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

So if last night was the Sunday sim, like I thought, why are we advancing more than a day tonight? This should just be a catchup sim for the rest of us right? The next real sim is Monday (the regular Monday sim), isn't it?

Because 1) we always sim about a week with the Sunday night file anyway and 2) because simming to arbitration makes sense. It allows people's payroll numbers to accurately reflecting their financial reality, a day earlier, giving them maximum flexibility to make decisions and moves and to assess their situation going into free agency and making decisions on who to keep/cut.

*shrug*

[graygoose12]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

Personally, I prefer that if the pre-playoff sim is going to happen "whenever", then key decisions should not be allowed by any teams except FOOL Classic teams with respect to their lineups. If the FOOL CLassic is run Sunday night, then it is a full sim. If the FOOL Classic is run early, only the two league champs' exports should be used, and they should only be doing lineups. And then there will always be the Sunday sim for the rest of us to do extensions or trades or free agent signings or what not. IMO, that keeps the flexibility of the sim schedule that DC seems to prefer without asking the rest of us to possibly prepare for an optional sim that may not happen.

I agree with this. Only those two teams should be allowed to export, and only lineups.

Another thing I just noticed, since the sim was run to the "offseason" if you cut a player now, this effects next years payroll, not this past season. I see that DC mentioned he usually won't be running saturday sims to avoid confusion. So Sunday night's sim will be for all GMs? Here you can offer initial contract extensions, make FA offers, and cut players for the current year?

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by graygoose12

I agree with this. Only those two teams should be allowed to export, and only lineups.

Another thing I just noticed, since the sim was run to the "offseason" if you cut a player now, this effects next years payroll, not this past season. I see that DC mentioned he usually won't be running saturday sims to avoid confusion. So Sunday night's sim will be for all GMs? Here you can offer initial contract extensions, make FA offers, and cut players for the current year?

Yeah, that makes it simpler and better. No more "extra" sims, no more Saturdays. Nothing. Sunday is the first time you get to make extensions, contract offers, etc., sign free agents, trade your farm system for pennies on the dollar, etc.

As for this week, we'll sim just a day. Then tomorrow, we'll sim like normal to the start of FA. No more confusion, no more anyone getting signed. Everyone gets caught up and all is happy in FOOLville.

[Chief Rum]

I deleted this because DC pretty much set it the way I think works well, so no need to further comment.

[graygoose12]

The Sunday sim (the file that we have now) should not be set in the offseason however. The reason for this has to do with cutting players. There are players I had intended on cutting, prior to the offseason, which would effect this year's expenses. But, since we are now in the offseason, I can no longer cut these players. So we need some consistency here (if you chose to run the FOOL Classic early, which you should be able to for flexibility).

[graygoose12]

I guess this is related to my previous post. The new rule is cash maximum is set at $32 million. In this files we have now it seems that cash max is set to $1, as all teams have $1.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by graygoose12

The Sunday sim (the file that we have now) should not be set in the offseason however. The reason for this has to do with cutting players. There are players I had intended on cutting, prior to the offseason, which would effect this year's expenses. But, since we are now in the offseason, I can no longer cut these players. So we need some consistency here (if you chose to run the FOOL Classic early, which you should be able to for flexibility).

Well, technically, we're in the offseason, but the game hasn't switched over yet to 1971. So we're still in season in the game. You should be able to cut players as if it was the middle of the season unless I am misunderstanding you.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by graygoose12

I guess this is related to my previous post. The new rule is cash maximum is set at $32 million. In this files we have now it seems that cash max is set to $1, as all teams have $1.

Oh, I think that's just from last night's sim. As of last night, we were going to the $1 cash max, but DC has since changed it to $32 M (the media revenue number). You should see that in the file tonight when the sim is done.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by graygoose12

I guess this is related to my previous post. The new rule is cash maximum is set at $32 million. In this files we have now it seems that cash max is set to $1, as all teams have $1.

The file you get tonight, will have this matter fixed, with cash credited to match this number.

[graygoose12]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

Well, technically, we're in the offseason, but the game hasn't switched over yet to 1971. So we're still in season in the game. You should be able to cut players as if it was the middle of the season unless I am misunderstanding you.

I am pretty sure that cutting a player effects 1971, not 1970. I say this because if you look at your Front Office, it shows the $1 balance(which will be changed) and player expenses at $0. If you try to release a player it says this will add $$$$ to your player expenses.

DC, if this is the case, can we cut players with tonight's sim, and you could manually reduce player expenses to $0? If you don't want to deal with this then that is totally fine.

[Young Drachma]

Yes, I can do that. It's fair enough. But only up until tomorrow night's sim. After that, it'll be punitive.

[Alan T]

Someone help me understand how it works... I was under the impression if you cut a player in say March, it counts as a player expense against this year but not against the salary cap. Is that correct?

Or do any cuts that need to be done for salary cap purposes have to be done before the offseason starts?

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by Alan T

Someone help me understand how it works... I was under the impression if you cut a player in say March, it counts as a player expense against this year but not against the salary cap. Is that correct?

Or do any cuts that need to be done for salary cap purposes have to be done before the offseason starts?

It wouldn't really matter in ordinary years, because you had a $100m reserve to fall on, unless you spent it all (like I did once) in Compton.

Basically, if you release a guy, you pay the entire part of his deal. But since the game has already moved on to next year's payroll, even though we're technically still in the 1970 season until free agency starts, if you were to release a guy now, you'd be paying for him with next year's cash and with only $30-something million to play with, that could be a problem.

So because you all had money from last year that's 'disappeared', I'm saying if you release someone before tomorrow night, we can zero that out in the player expenses, because you would've had the cash, even if you'd released your whole team to FA.

But after Monday, no dice, because then we are onto "next year" for accounting purposes.

Make sense?

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

It wouldn't really matter in ordinary years, because you had a $100m reserve to fall on, unless you spent it all (like I did once) in Compton.

Basically, if you release a guy, you pay the entire part of his deal. But since the game has already moved on to next year's payroll, even though we're technically still in the 1970 season until free agency starts, if you were to release a guy now, you'd be paying for him with next year's cash and with only $30-something million to play with, that could be a problem.

So because you all had money from last year that's 'disappeared', I'm saying if you release someone before tomorrow night, we can zero that out in the player expenses, because you would've had the cash, even if you'd released your whole team to FA.

But after Monday, no dice, because then we are onto "next year" for accounting purposes.

Make sense?

I understand that part. I was asking in regards to the salary cap. If a player is released in March of that year to cut salary to get under the salary cap, will the salary cap figure be reduced? Or does those type of cuts have to occur before the offseason?

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

Make sense?

Certainly does to me. I like that move, although I already reviewed my team and decided not to release anyone. But a good move for some other teams to make perhaps--so long as those players can't be resigned for 24 hours or whatever, how DC had it in a post earlier today.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by Alan T

I understand that part. I was asking in regards to the salary cap. If a player is released in March of that year to cut salary to get under the salary cap, will the salary cap figure be reduced? Or does those type of cuts have to occur before the offseason?

Oh, sorry. Yes. Anytime you cut a guy, it immediately gets reflected in the salary cap.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

Oh, sorry. Yes. Anytime you cut a guy, it immediately gets reflected in the salary cap.

I think he's wondering if players cut now affect the 1971 salary cap, since we're in 1970. I would guess if you release the player now, he won't be on the 1971 salary cap, but not sure.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

I think he's wondering if players cut now affect the 1971 salary cap, since we're in 1970. I would guess if you release the player now, he won't be on the 1971 salary cap, but not sure.

The salary cap check doesn't happen until the Friday night sim. So in theory, you can be over the cap until then, because the only thing that matters is being under by the date of that final check.

Conversely, people choosing to flout this rule, will force other measures to be implemented. It's just setup this way right now as a courtesy.

[graygoose12]

I am sure any player cut at any point during the year does not count against the cap at any time. It only affects the player expenses. Typically, you can cut a player at any point prior to the offseason, and this affects current year player expenses (which are not capped). DC is allowing us to reset player expenses just this one time, because due to the early sim, we were never given an opportunity to cut players this year. The lower cash max will make it harder to do this in the future. (Your revenue for the year needs to be high enough to add these extra expenses)

[Young Drachma]

New York, El Paso, Toronto and Texas have been reverted to AI control, as their owners have left for a host of reasons or have been gone for a month.

AI teams in FOOL isn't new, just weird for those of us who've been here to see this vibrant era of human ownership. We started with just 3 human owners, eventually had 4 and then we moved here. So...it's not foreign to this league. It'll ensure that we have active teams participating. The rule of thumb with AI teams is that we cannot trade with them. Just so you know.

That said, if you've been here a while and wanna pull a DC and go to a different team, I'm open to that, too. But if you do, you've gotta stay, you can't go back and forth the next season or something.

[Chief Rum]

Man, Toronto can't buy a break.

[JimmyOOTP]

Didn't toronto make a ton of trades last night?