My star RP is mad at me, lol

[Qeltar]

Okay again, this isn't about the merits of this particular offer or negotiation.

It is about game logic that locks you out of even talking to someone who is basically an employee because he doesn't like the exact terms of the raise you are offering him. There's no logical basis for it. Period.

It doesn't matter what the terms are. "I'm sadface so you can't talk to me any more" is something that would never happen in MLB except for perhaps between the biggest jerk GM and the biggest jerk player in the game. It would be exceptionally rare. Most people are, well, adults, and would act like it.

Again, this was an 8 figure offer that didn't cut into his free agency. I am in charge. If you don't like the offer, then turn it down. I'm not interested in your "mood."

If I thought it would do anything but make it worse, I'd send him down just to make a point (but I doubt that sort of level of logic is built into the game.)

ETA: "It really just comes to trial and error..." But that's the entire point. I was doing exactly that and now I have to wait for some petulant relief pitcher to decide he wants to talk to me again? Ridiculous.

[MizzouRah]

Try to sign players with Matheny as your manager. Nobody likes him.. LOL!

Most of the time, check back with the player and they will talk again. That's why I typically negotiate early in the season, even players that say they won't talk because of my manager, eventually come around.

[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.

[BBGiovanni]

You're right, they get snippy too fast, and the game is way underestimating the number of players that are willing to sign extensions. Almost every guy on the Giants has an extension that the AI players never would have signed.

[Qeltar]

So, another variant on this....

I have an RP who qualifies for arbitration. He had a crappy year last year, and despite that I want to offer him an extension to avoid arbitration. A pretty nice gesture on my part I think. (He's a middle reliever, not a star.)

But he won't talk to me because he's "not in the mood." Note that I have never had ANY prior negotiations with this guy, who was obtained in a trade.

The deadline is in 9 days. If his "mood" doesn't improve in that time, I'd say this is an area of the game that needs tweaking. I can't imagine any real MLB player being too pouty to even discuss a contract extension offer in the face of arbitration.

Especially after a glorious 3-8, 5.51 ERA season. I mean seriously.

[JC769]

Lots of players decline to talk contracts, especially in the middle of the year. Did his morale change? Or any of that? If not, then you're the one who's taking it personally and he's treating it like a business. You're reading way too much into this, IMO.

I don't think it's abnormal much at all. He didn't like your offer (after you seemingly agreed on one prior) and chose not to talk again. He's not a FA to be, and since it'll change when the season ends most likely. Really not a big deal at all.

At the same time, you keep pointing that it's "flawed logic" because you talk to real GMs and kick around ideas all the time. Unfortunately, as realistic as we all want this to be, we'll never get a realistic contract talk engine. You just can't. There's a human element that you can't replicate. Plus, I'd rather not be allowed to have 100 shots at offering a player a contract.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[Qeltar]

"Waa waa I don't want to talk to you" is not treating this like a business. It's acting like a child.

At any rate, that part of the discussion is over. You are not going to convince me that churlish behavior on the part of people with no negotiating leverage whatsoever is reasonable. Because it runs contrary to everything I have seen in 30+ years in the business world.

He's now going to get auto-renewed at $550k or whatever instead of the big payday he had coming. So be it.

As for the guy in arbitration, he lost his case. I would have probably given him what he wanted, so he walked away from $350k because of a "bad mood" -- I suppose someone is going to tell me that that also is normal? To not even take the GM's phone call?

And just to make the point again: these guys have AGENTS for a REASON. It is because they are young, inexperienced, too emotional and often make bad choices. The game seeks to be realistic and that should be worked into the equation, IMO.