Hello all! As an avid MLBTS player for the past 7 years, I have paid little to no attention to all the wonderful and fully immersive options granted to us by the developers at SCEA; specifically, all the tools of the trade when it comes to managing an effective roster. Now, in no case am I an expert on the items, but I have recently become more engaged with this kind of stuff. I mean not to point out the obvious, but I will do my best to give an understanding of some stuff that I know I had trouble with my first couple of years. That being said, please correct me if I am wrong in any statement that I make, and contribute as much as you can!
Player Control Rights
When controlling a player's rights, it is important to note some key issues:
-When entering into a year in which the player will receive arbitration, if an offer is not tendered by a specific date (see arbitration), the player is granted full free agency.
-When dealing with a player that is eligible for contract renewal, if an offer is not tendered by a specific date (see contract renewal), a player is granted full free agency.
During the first 5 days of free agency, a period exists in which teams have exclusive negotiating rights with free agents that finish the season in their organization (Team's free agents). The period of exclusiveness applies to players who are no longer under contract and do not qualify for Arbitration, Contract Renewal, or are Qualified FAs. See these sections for more detail.
-Arbitration and Contract Renewal rights are tradeable.
-If a player who is qualified for either Arbitration or Contract Renewal is not retained by these means, the player will enter free agency and will no longer be eligible for either during his time as a Major League player.
Service time
-Both in game and in real life is denoted as years.days; a player with 4 years and 37 days of service time would be written as 4.037.
-Service time is only gained when a player is either part of the 25 man Major league roster, or on the 15-day or 60-day ML disabled list.
-A full year of service time is 172 days, though going over (seeing as ML years are ~183 days) still only qualifies as one year.
Arbitration
More specifically, Salary Arbitration. This is a very important tool in the off season for keeping key, usually younger players on your team that are not willing to accept a long term contract. It usually also means a cheaper 1 year deal for a player instead of an expensive long term deal.
-If an arbitration offer is not made on or before December 12th, the player is no longer under team control and becomes an unrestricted free agent.
-The player's arbitration hearing will occur Mid-February if a contract is not agreed upon by January 17th.
-Players go to arbitration three times when their service time is at or above 3.000 and below 6.000, with Super 2 exception.
-Players only go to Arbitration 3 times in consecutive years (or 4, with Super 2 exception), so a player who has reached arbitration status will continue to go through arbitration throughout his time in the organization. (I'm not 100% on this, but usually it shouldn't be an issue, seeing as if a player has been on a roster for 3+ years, he will likely continue to do so).
DFA
Designated for assignment; this transaction tool allows for multiple things to happen if a player is DFA.
-First, if a player is DFA and is left untouched, he will be placed on outright waivers after a 10 day period, including the day he was DFA.
-If he clears this period of waivers (3 days), he will be released into the free agent pool.
-If a player is DFA and then chosen to be assigned to the minors, he is placed on outright assignment waivers, meaning he can be claimed as a normal waiver wire player. These are irrevocable.
-Also, if a player is DFA, he is able to be traded within the 10 day period. If a player is DFA, and chosen to be released, he is placed on outright waivers. If a team claims him, you will not be forced to pay his remaining salary; otherwise, he will be released and you must pay the rest of this season's salary.
Draft
The draft is pretty straight forward, however, there are some special cases to take note of:
-If a player is qualified (remained with one club the whole year without interruption), and given a qualifying offer, but signs with another team, the team which lost the free agent is given a pick after the first round.
-The team which chooses to sign the qualified player in free agency will lose its first round pick in the next year's player draft if this pick falls outside the top ten. If it is in the top 10, the team loses its second round pick instead.
-If multiple QFAs are signed, teams will lose as many picks as Free agents, starting with round 1 (or 2), and going down.
Qualified Free Agency
To be considered a qualified free agent:
-The player must have equal to or more than 6.000 years of service time.
-Must have spent the entire season with one team without interruption.
Effects of having a qualified free agent:
-The salary of a Qualified offer is for 1 year at the average salary of the 125 highest paid players. This is why qualifying offers (theoretically) increase with time.
-After the 5 day exclusive period (the very beginning of FA), the player has 7 days in which to accept the qualifying offer (so 12 days after the beginning of FA). If the players refuses, he is then considered a FA.
-If a team signs a player who has been offered a qualifying offer, the team from which he was signed will receive a supplementary draft pick, and the team who signed him loses it's first round pick (see Draft), unless it is a top-10 pick. In that case, the team will instead lose its second round pick.
Options
Minor league options are useful for players who are young, but not entirely ready for the major leagues.
-A player begins his career with 3 option years. If a player in the majors is sent down to any level of the minors, an option year is used.
-During the season in which an option is used, a player may be called up or sent down any number of times.
-Minor league options apply to spring training send downs after the season begins.
-If a player is out of option years, he must pass through certain waivers before he is able to be sent down from the majors (see waivers).
The Rule 5 Draft
The Rule 5 draft in real life works for players who
-were younger than 18 at the time of signing on June 5th and is the fifth upcoming rule 5 draft.
-or were 19 or older at the time of signing on June 5th and is the fourth upcoming rule 5 draft.
-Players must not be on the 40 man roster prior to November 20th.
-In game, however, I believe any rule 5 eligible player need only be 23 or above, though I am unsure as to how it works; I have seen Mark Appell more than once after the 2014 season.
-Players once selected must remain on the 25 man roster the entire season, at a price of $50,000. If a player is placed on waivers, he is eligible to be claimed; the team that claims him is subject to normal rule 5 stipulations (also applies to traded rule 5 players).
-If a player clears waivers, he must be offered back to his original team at $25,000.
(regarding the salary of rule 5 picks, I do not know if their salary goes to $25,000 if they return to their team, seeing as the lowest applicable salary in MLBTS is $30,000.)
-After a player has spent an entire year with a team, he is subject to normal roster stipulations.
-If a player is sent down to the minors and is refused by his previous team, the previous team loses Rule 5 rights and the players is then subject to normal roster stipulations.
Contract Renewal
At anytime before a player is eligible for Salary Arbitration but has spent time at the Major League level, a player is eligible to have his contract renewed.
-The contract must be above 80% of the previous year's contract, in game no less than $30,000.
-Arbitration begins when a player reaches, 3.000 years of service time, with super 2 exception, and may have his contract renewed during those points in his career.
-Contract renewal is available only if a player is offered a contract during negotiation periods and refuses any contract before a Date in mid February (I believe the 15th), and is subject to renewal at any time after this date and before the beginning of Spring Training.
Super 2 exception
As a preface, I think Super 2 is extremely confusing and took me a very long time to figure out.
-Super 2's are players who are eligible for 4 years of arbitration, instead of the normal 3 (which usually take away a year of contract renewal)
To be a Super 2, players must meet these qualifications:
-Have accrued between 2.086 and less than 3.000 years of service time.
-Must have been accumulated 86 days of service time the previous year.-
-Must have been in the top 22% of all 2-year players in terms service time.
The last one is a bit confusing; If a player has not played for 3 full seasons in the majors, but is above 2.086 in service time, he must have service time that amounts to above 78% that of players that are also between the 2 and 3 year service time threshold. This is why players with ~2.100 are not often eligible for super 2, and why super 2's are generally between 2.130 and 2.140.
-However, any player that is between 2.087 and 2.171 service time is a Super 2 candidate.
What this means for up and coming guys in the minors:
-Players are generally not going to be super 2's with anything less than 2.120 service time. This means players can be called up with approximately 17 weeks before the end of the season and will likely not be up for Super 2 status in a few years. I believe this comes around early June. anything before that and it will likely result in a super 2.
-To completely avoid the possibility of a player becoming a Super 2, the earliest call-up should be ~12 weeks before the end of the season (12 weeks and 2 days).
-There are generally very few Super 2 candidates in real life; recent data suggests 1 players per % point.
More Waiver Wire Stuff
There are two things to know for waivers: periods and types.
Types first:
-Unconditional Release: The player is placed on irrevocable waivers. Teams may claim him and will be added to their team, otherwise, he is released from his contract.
-Optional Waivers: Optional waivers effect players who are attempted to be sent down to the minors from the majors with no option years left. These are revocable.
-Outright Waivers: These are waivers that a player is placed on when after being DFA, out righting him to the minors (see DFA).
-Trade Waivers: These occur after the trade deadline; a player is placed on revocable waivers for 2 days. Then if he:
-is claimed by a team, he may be pulled back, otherwise the team who has waiver priority gains control
-is not claimed, he is able to be traded at any time during the rest of the regular season. This is why you will see big name guys go on trade waivers, leading to a lot of "important" notifications in your inbox (I, for one, almost always see Hunter Pence on these)
Waiver periods and priority:
-November 11th through the 30th day of the season: The club with the lowest winning % last season.
-31st day of the season through July 31st: The club with the current worst winning %.
-August 1st - November 10th: The club with the current worst winning %; in case of a tie, NL teams have precedence on NL players, while AL teams have precedence on AL players
I think I hit on everything, just click on a spoiler tag and hopefully your questions will be answered. I am looking to add more, especially if I forgot something, and because I don't know everything. I will certainly try to answer any and all questions on points of clarification!
Player Control Rights
Spoiler
When controlling a player's rights, it is important to note some key issues:
-When entering into a year in which the player will receive arbitration, if an offer is not tendered by a specific date (see arbitration), the player is granted full free agency.
-When dealing with a player that is eligible for contract renewal, if an offer is not tendered by a specific date (see contract renewal), a player is granted full free agency.
During the first 5 days of free agency, a period exists in which teams have exclusive negotiating rights with free agents that finish the season in their organization (Team's free agents). The period of exclusiveness applies to players who are no longer under contract and do not qualify for Arbitration, Contract Renewal, or are Qualified FAs. See these sections for more detail.
-Arbitration and Contract Renewal rights are tradeable.
-If a player who is qualified for either Arbitration or Contract Renewal is not retained by these means, the player will enter free agency and will no longer be eligible for either during his time as a Major League player.
Service time
Spoiler
-Both in game and in real life is denoted as years.days; a player with 4 years and 37 days of service time would be written as 4.037.
-Service time is only gained when a player is either part of the 25 man Major league roster, or on the 15-day or 60-day ML disabled list.
-A full year of service time is 172 days, though going over (seeing as ML years are ~183 days) still only qualifies as one year.
Arbitration
Spoiler
More specifically, Salary Arbitration. This is a very important tool in the off season for keeping key, usually younger players on your team that are not willing to accept a long term contract. It usually also means a cheaper 1 year deal for a player instead of an expensive long term deal.
-If an arbitration offer is not made on or before December 12th, the player is no longer under team control and becomes an unrestricted free agent.
-The player's arbitration hearing will occur Mid-February if a contract is not agreed upon by January 17th.
-Players go to arbitration three times when their service time is at or above 3.000 and below 6.000, with Super 2 exception.
-Players only go to Arbitration 3 times in consecutive years (or 4, with Super 2 exception), so a player who has reached arbitration status will continue to go through arbitration throughout his time in the organization. (I'm not 100% on this, but usually it shouldn't be an issue, seeing as if a player has been on a roster for 3+ years, he will likely continue to do so).
DFA
Spoiler
Designated for assignment; this transaction tool allows for multiple things to happen if a player is DFA.
-First, if a player is DFA and is left untouched, he will be placed on outright waivers after a 10 day period, including the day he was DFA.
-If he clears this period of waivers (3 days), he will be released into the free agent pool.
-If a player is DFA and then chosen to be assigned to the minors, he is placed on outright assignment waivers, meaning he can be claimed as a normal waiver wire player. These are irrevocable.
-Also, if a player is DFA, he is able to be traded within the 10 day period. If a player is DFA, and chosen to be released, he is placed on outright waivers. If a team claims him, you will not be forced to pay his remaining salary; otherwise, he will be released and you must pay the rest of this season's salary.
Draft
Spoiler
The draft is pretty straight forward, however, there are some special cases to take note of:
-If a player is qualified (remained with one club the whole year without interruption), and given a qualifying offer, but signs with another team, the team which lost the free agent is given a pick after the first round.
-The team which chooses to sign the qualified player in free agency will lose its first round pick in the next year's player draft if this pick falls outside the top ten. If it is in the top 10, the team loses its second round pick instead.
-If multiple QFAs are signed, teams will lose as many picks as Free agents, starting with round 1 (or 2), and going down.
Qualified Free Agency
Spoiler
To be considered a qualified free agent:
-The player must have equal to or more than 6.000 years of service time.
-Must have spent the entire season with one team without interruption.
Effects of having a qualified free agent:
-The salary of a Qualified offer is for 1 year at the average salary of the 125 highest paid players. This is why qualifying offers (theoretically) increase with time.
-After the 5 day exclusive period (the very beginning of FA), the player has 7 days in which to accept the qualifying offer (so 12 days after the beginning of FA). If the players refuses, he is then considered a FA.
-If a team signs a player who has been offered a qualifying offer, the team from which he was signed will receive a supplementary draft pick, and the team who signed him loses it's first round pick (see Draft), unless it is a top-10 pick. In that case, the team will instead lose its second round pick.
Options
Spoiler
Minor league options are useful for players who are young, but not entirely ready for the major leagues.
-A player begins his career with 3 option years. If a player in the majors is sent down to any level of the minors, an option year is used.
-During the season in which an option is used, a player may be called up or sent down any number of times.
-Minor league options apply to spring training send downs after the season begins.
-If a player is out of option years, he must pass through certain waivers before he is able to be sent down from the majors (see waivers).
The Rule 5 Draft
Spoiler
The Rule 5 draft in real life works for players who
-were younger than 18 at the time of signing on June 5th and is the fifth upcoming rule 5 draft.
-or were 19 or older at the time of signing on June 5th and is the fourth upcoming rule 5 draft.
-Players must not be on the 40 man roster prior to November 20th.
-In game, however, I believe any rule 5 eligible player need only be 23 or above, though I am unsure as to how it works; I have seen Mark Appell more than once after the 2014 season.
-Players once selected must remain on the 25 man roster the entire season, at a price of $50,000. If a player is placed on waivers, he is eligible to be claimed; the team that claims him is subject to normal rule 5 stipulations (also applies to traded rule 5 players).
-If a player clears waivers, he must be offered back to his original team at $25,000.
(regarding the salary of rule 5 picks, I do not know if their salary goes to $25,000 if they return to their team, seeing as the lowest applicable salary in MLBTS is $30,000.)
-After a player has spent an entire year with a team, he is subject to normal roster stipulations.
-If a player is sent down to the minors and is refused by his previous team, the previous team loses Rule 5 rights and the players is then subject to normal roster stipulations.
Contract Renewal
Spoiler
At anytime before a player is eligible for Salary Arbitration but has spent time at the Major League level, a player is eligible to have his contract renewed.
-The contract must be above 80% of the previous year's contract, in game no less than $30,000.
-Arbitration begins when a player reaches, 3.000 years of service time, with super 2 exception, and may have his contract renewed during those points in his career.
-Contract renewal is available only if a player is offered a contract during negotiation periods and refuses any contract before a Date in mid February (I believe the 15th), and is subject to renewal at any time after this date and before the beginning of Spring Training.
Super 2 exception
Spoiler
As a preface, I think Super 2 is extremely confusing and took me a very long time to figure out.
-Super 2's are players who are eligible for 4 years of arbitration, instead of the normal 3 (which usually take away a year of contract renewal)
To be a Super 2, players must meet these qualifications:
-Have accrued between 2.086 and less than 3.000 years of service time.
-Must have been accumulated 86 days of service time the previous year.-
-Must have been in the top 22% of all 2-year players in terms service time.
The last one is a bit confusing; If a player has not played for 3 full seasons in the majors, but is above 2.086 in service time, he must have service time that amounts to above 78% that of players that are also between the 2 and 3 year service time threshold. This is why players with ~2.100 are not often eligible for super 2, and why super 2's are generally between 2.130 and 2.140.
-However, any player that is between 2.087 and 2.171 service time is a Super 2 candidate.
What this means for up and coming guys in the minors:
-Players are generally not going to be super 2's with anything less than 2.120 service time. This means players can be called up with approximately 17 weeks before the end of the season and will likely not be up for Super 2 status in a few years. I believe this comes around early June. anything before that and it will likely result in a super 2.
-To completely avoid the possibility of a player becoming a Super 2, the earliest call-up should be ~12 weeks before the end of the season (12 weeks and 2 days).
-There are generally very few Super 2 candidates in real life; recent data suggests 1 players per % point.
More Waiver Wire Stuff
Spoiler
There are two things to know for waivers: periods and types.
Types first:
-Unconditional Release: The player is placed on irrevocable waivers. Teams may claim him and will be added to their team, otherwise, he is released from his contract.
-Optional Waivers: Optional waivers effect players who are attempted to be sent down to the minors from the majors with no option years left. These are revocable.
-Outright Waivers: These are waivers that a player is placed on when after being DFA, out righting him to the minors (see DFA).
-Trade Waivers: These occur after the trade deadline; a player is placed on revocable waivers for 2 days. Then if he:
-is claimed by a team, he may be pulled back, otherwise the team who has waiver priority gains control
-is not claimed, he is able to be traded at any time during the rest of the regular season. This is why you will see big name guys go on trade waivers, leading to a lot of "important" notifications in your inbox (I, for one, almost always see Hunter Pence on these)
Waiver periods and priority:
-November 11th through the 30th day of the season: The club with the lowest winning % last season.
-31st day of the season through July 31st: The club with the current worst winning %.
-August 1st - November 10th: The club with the current worst winning %; in case of a tie, NL teams have precedence on NL players, while AL teams have precedence on AL players
I think I hit on everything, just click on a spoiler tag and hopefully your questions will be answered. I am looking to add more, especially if I forgot something, and because I don't know everything. I will certainly try to answer any and all questions on points of clarification!
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