[NoOne]

you get ~three chances. if i fial on the second one, i am not pushing boundaries on the third. don't upset them. lesson learned. just how ootp works currently and won't change midstream so choose not to be frustrated by it and work within the rules that exist.

many ways the game could skin this cat with all sorts of benefits/costs associated with a particular method, but it's mostly arbitrary which one they go with. the way you'd prefer would be frustrating some other portion of players too. they are d^mned if the do and d^mned if they don't in this context.

rp never take extensions during arbitration years from what i know. but i didn't know the 1 year demand guys could actually accept or open to a long-term deal... could be wrong about the rp too.

not all extensions are 'cheaper' deals. if you know FA-values you can see when it's beneficial to let them hit FA and let their inflated demand drop to a more normal level.

side note from bigd51's post:

holy crap! a 1year demand took an extension offer. i am going to try "1" time on every player each year from now on, lol. never seen that before.

i always even out the salaries, i don't escalte / back-load them. pretty sure they only care about average salary and relative to buying out arb years a factor too. so no worries doing that and upsetting them.