MLB Minimum Salary - Question

[The Game]

In my main league I use Financials & Strategy from MLB past. In this case I start with 1973 currently 1979. In 2008 (1978) in which I began the season on 13 and ended on 14 the min salary was around 88K maybe even as low as 80k. To start the 2009 season the ML min salary is 59K. I have not had it that low since 2005 when the min salary was around 60K. IRL did the ML min salary go down after 1978. Based on this, Minimum salary - BR Bullpen it was never as high as 80K but I set teh finances each season so i know in my league it was 80K. I have several players that have ML exp making 59K so i am wondering if 13 had it wrong or 14 does if either are wrong.

[Bristolduke]

I think I understand what you are doing. The key here is are you updating financials from history every season? If that is being done, then you are reading the financials.txt file which contains all the historical financial data. There were some changes to that file in 12 if I remember correctly (might have been 11), but not sense.

If you are not using that file then the financial engine is setting the annual values based upon the league's economy and there is no correlation to history.

If you converted the league other than the day before financial rollover (end of playoffs) then it is possible that the engine re-adjusted the financial values at conversion time (which makes it seem like you are not using the historical financial data).

[The Game]

Originally Posted by Bristolduke

I think I understand what you are doing. The key here is are you updating financials from history every season? If that is being done, then you are reading the financials.txt file which contains all the historical financial data. There were some changes to that file in 12 if I remember correctly (might have been 11), but not sense.

If you are not using that file then the financial engine is setting the annual values based upon the league's economy and there is no correlation to history.

If you converted the league other than the day before financial rollover (end of playoffs) then it is possible that the engine re-adjusted the financial values at conversion time (which makes it seem like you are not using the historical financial data).

1st day of Free Agency I set my financials to the next season. So while I was playing 2008 using 1978 finances when FA hit I switched to 1979 for 2009. Min salary went down.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by The Game

IRL did the ML min salary go down after 1978.

That is not correct. Here are the real-life Major League minimum salaries. The year listed beside an amount is the year in which that minimum came into effect. Prior to 1947 there was no official minimum wage. All amounts are in nominal (unadjusted) dollars.

1947: $5,000
1954: $6,000
1957: $7,000
1968: $10,000
1970: $12,000
1971: $12,750
1972: $13,500
1973: $15,000
1975: $16,000
1976: $19,000
1978: $21,000
1980: $30,000
1981: $32,500
1982: $33,500
1983: $35,000
1984: $40,000
1985: $60,000
1987: $62,500
1989: $68,000
1990: $100,000
1992: $109,000
1996: $122,667*
1997: $150,000
1998: $170,000
1999: $200,000
2003: $300,000
2005: $316,000
2006: $327,000
2007: $380,000
2008: $390,000
2009: $400,000
2011: $414,000
2012: $480,000
2013: $490,000
2014: $500,000

*The minimum was $109,000 for the first two-thirds of the season and $150,000 for the last one-third of the season. Pro-rated over the entire season that works out to $122,667.

There are several ways in which those nominal dollar values can be converted into constant dollars. The method used most commonly is the CPI, but that may not necessarily be the best method. For a discussion of the other methods and their applicability to converting values, see this page at the web site Measuring Worth.

For example, that $10,000 minimum in 1968 when adjusted using the CPI results in a value of $66,000 in 2012. If you were instead to convert it based on the production worker compensation method, it would be $77,100. If you instead converted it based on per capita GDP, then it would be $110,000. If you converted it based on relative share of GDP, then it would be $172,000. There is no one right answer. It depends on what you're converting and what you're trying to measure with the conversion.

[The Game]

OK LGO, but why would the min salary be 80K in 1978 but 59K in 1979 in OOTP? When I redo the finances each year I have noticed many of the min salary guys get their #'s changed.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by The Game

OK LGO, but why would the min salary be 80K in 1978 but 59K in 1979 in OOTP? When I redo the finances each year I have noticed many of the min salary guys get their #'s changed.

Has to do with OOTP's financial engine. I supplied Markus with real-world values and from there they have to be adjusted to work within the game. For any further explanation you'd have to ask The Man himself.

[Bristolduke]

Originally Posted by The Game

OK LGO, but why would the min salary be 80K in 1978 but 59K in 1979 in OOTP? When I redo the finances each year I have noticed many of the min salary guys get their #'s changed.

Lots of things at work here. I am assuming you are selecting the financials tab and selecting the year you want. That is the step you use at FA time.

LGO is correct in that the historical data is provided. If you look at the financial.txt file you will see 1978 min salary is $39,340 and 1979 is $44,460, which is not the number LGO references. As I indicated the financial.txt file has not been updated for several releases. But I believe Marcus would say it is not a historical file but an adapted historical representation. Something we would like to change, but that is a different matter.

Second, you are applying the new financial information too late. When the season rolls over the day after the playoffs, the financial engine runs and adjusts all of its financial data for the following season. Once that is complete, most of the parameters are fixed and you can't influence them until the follow financial rollover. Thus by running new data a month (roughly) later, you are setting some new values but not impacting the financial parameters for the coming season. This will likely cause some very inconsistent results. I am actually a bit surprised that some salaries are re-computed. I would have expect new players put in the majors to get a different min salary than the ones computed at financial rollover.


Third, since you are running a fictional league you are operating under the OOTP economy, not any historical model even if you do import financial data, which is not a simple thing to explain but as you can see you are not using the exact financial.txt data but it is being modified by the engine for league inflation. The main reason I can see for the min salary going down was a reduction in the inflation or even deflation as determined by the financial engine. Running a solo league you really have no control over this since the AI is managing the finances for all the teams (maybe less the team you run, if you do).

As confusing as this may sound, that is the simple answer. I am working with an on-line league now which is doing some similar things, so I may run some tests, but based on the information here I would say it is working as designed.

I would recommend changing the importing of the new financial data to the day before the season roll over. You will cause less havoc to your finances.

[The Game]

Originally Posted by Bristolduke

Lots of things at work here. I am assuming you are selecting the financials tab and selecting the year you want. That is the step you use at FA time.

LGO is correct in that the historical data is provided. If you look at the financial.txt file you will see 1978 min salary is $39,340 and 1979 is $44,460, which is not the number LGO references. As I indicated the financial.txt file has not been updated for several releases. But I believe Marcus would say it is not a historical file but an adapted historical representation. Something we would like to change, but that is a different matter.

Second, you are applying the new financial information too late. When the season rolls over the day after the playoffs, the financial engine runs and adjusts all of its financial data for the following season. Once that is complete, most of the parameters are fixed and you can't influence them until the follow financial rollover. Thus by running new data a month (roughly) later, you are setting some new values but not impacting the financial parameters for the coming season. This will likely cause some very inconsistent results. I am actually a bit surprised that some salaries are re-computed. I would have expect new players put in the majors to get a different min salary than the ones computed at financial rollover.


Third, since you are running a fictional league you are operating under the OOTP economy, not any historical model even if you do import financial data, which is not a simple thing to explain but as you can see you are not using the exact financial.txt data but it is being modified by the engine for league inflation. The main reason I can see for the min salary going down was a reduction in the inflation or even deflation as determined by the financial engine. Running a solo league you really have no control over this since the AI is managing the finances for all the teams (maybe less the team you run, if you do).

As confusing as this may sound, that is the simple answer. I am working with an on-line league now which is doing some similar things, so I may run some tests, but based on the information here I would say it is working as designed.

I would recommend changing the importing of the new financial data to the day before the season roll over. You will cause less havoc to your finances.

1st day of the off season or 1st day after playoffs before off season?
I do it at the time I do so teams dont get slammed in arbitration. And FA will sign contracts closer to what they would get IRL. As it is In teh 3 main leagues in this universe only 3 team have + $$. 1 in MLB and 2 in my league all 16 teams in the CBF are in the red. On one hand having the min salary go down is a good thing for my team but i was concerned abut it going down by 21K vs my league on 13 which went up every year of my league since 2003.

[Bristolduke]

1st day after playoffs before off season.

In reality this is probably the day of the last playoff game as the game likes to roll over right after the playoffs. That rollover event triggers the financial updates, so you want it in front of that.

Arbitration uses the new data, so if you are running high inflation, then teams will get hammered at arbitration, before you run your update.