[ctorg]

Originally Posted by Nukester

Yes if a player has less than 12 years service time they are eligible for arbitration every year until they get to the 12 year mark. So if I draft a player when he is 20 years old, I have that guy locked in until hes at least 32 years old (or maybe 33 years) unless I cut him or trade him, depending on when I bring him up to the majors to start the clock, but he is arbitration eligible after his 1st year in the majors and every season after that. I still have to weight every year whether to let guys to arbitration or whether to sign them to an extension which might/might not be less than what they will get in arbitration.

If you have a long FA setting like 12 years, but set arbitration to something like 3 years, the player will make the same amount of money (usually league minimum I think) for the first few years he is in the majors. Thats why I set it to 1 year arbitration. It keeps player salaries somewhat near where they should be, so as to not render finacials completely useless, but allows teams to lock in players for a long time. Its been a great workaround for me

Nukester,

How does the AI handle this? My concern would be that the AI would hold onto a lot of players and run its teams into the red. Does it actually release guys it doesn't want to give new contracts to?