Player Salary Structure Rule Change Proposal

[Dodgers GM]

The proposed rule change is as follows:

1. Within 24 hours of a winning bid in free agency, a team must post their chosen salary structure. If no posting within 24 hours the average AAV will be accepted for all years.

2. A max variance for contracts is as follows:

AAV between 10M-15M - max variance of 2M (i.e. 8M min to 17M max)
Example Contract: 3 years 10M - 8M / 10M / 12M / vice versa

AAV between 15M-20M - max variance of 3M (i.e. 12M min to 23M max)
Example Contract: 5 years 15M - 12M / 13.5M / 15M / 16.5M / 18M / vice versa

AAV between 20M-25M - max variance of 4M (i.e. 16M min to 29M max)
Example Contract: 4 years 22M - 18M / 21M / 23M / 26M

AAV between 25M-30M - max variance of 5M (i.e. 20M min to 35M max)
Example Contract: 6 years 25M - 20M / 22.5M / 25M / 25M / 27.5M / 30M

Contracts are approved by LMs

3. Teams are limited to signing 3 contracts with variance.

4. If a player's contract is extended, they are extended using the AAV of the contract - i.e. a team cannot front-load the contract and then extend in the last year at a lower starting value.

Please vote if you are in favour / against the idea. Thanks!

[Deleted]

For those against this… what do you guys not like about it or are there any changes you’d suggest?

[Dodgers GM]

Dec 7, 2021 15:43:11 GMT -5 @brewersgm said:

For those against this… what do you guys not like about it or are there any changes you’d suggest?

Pretty sure I was against it last year and remained against it this year for pretty much the same reason(s); namely, that allowing teams to backload contracts is a risk I don't love if a manager comes in for a year or two and decides to ditch (and leave a new owner in the lurch) if things don't work out for them.

i.e.
I have all sorts of cap room and sign 5 guys for AAV 15 mill each for 3 years.
I back-load all contracts where I'm only paying them 5 (or whatever number) for the first, 10 for the second, 15 for the third.
When all the contracts cost 25 mill combined it's great
When all the contracts cost 75 mill I ditch and decide it's not worth it to try and move the money around

Just my 2 cents on it. Not a bad idea in theory, I worry about how it may be acted on once it's implemented is all

[Red Sox GM]

i think for me with the way some people leave the league it could cause an issue for an incoming manager to have 3 back loaded contracts.

[Dodgers GM]

Dec 10, 2021 8:37:24 GMT -5 Red Sox GM said:

i think for me with the way some people leave the league it could cause an issue for an incoming manager to have 3 back loaded contracts.

Yeah basically Shane sums it up in much fewer words than I did lol

[Padres Alan GM]

This can be fixed

[Padres Alan GM]

Change it to 1 per year, if a owner leaves change all contracts to even if the new owner wants.

[Giants GM]

My thought on this is if I lose a bid, say I bid 14.5 and am outbid by a 15M bid, I want that owner to fit the whole 15M in his roster first year, not a couple years from now. I may be old school, but that’s why I voted no.

[rms1002-Astros GM]

The way I see it as of right now 4 Yes 9 No. 3 to vote it could be 7 yes still 9 No

[Deleted]

Argh, I do see the point. But I also see it as new owners have the high likelihood of inheriting bad contracts that were signed in free agency and extensions. Sorry, but if we were to use that logic on everything how can we allow 6 year, $30M a year (almost 1/4 of a teams cap before any sort of penalties) contracts to be given out?

(This is not suppose to be a butthurt tone, just down for some good discussion!)

Thank you to everyone that replied, I truly appreciate it!