[Mister_G]

For in-season signings I try to sign guys when they look like they're about to get out of a slump.

My belief would be that players will sign for less if they're having a bad season, but I don't want to re-sign them if they're having a really bad season because they're skills may be declining.

So I try to sign them when it looks like it's just a slump and not an ongoing thing.

This is just my logic though, and is probably completely off from the actual game AI.