Opt-Out Rule

[Bob_Meteors]

Hi everyone. Now, some recent events (nobody knows what I'm talking about right?    ) have made it clear to me that we need a rule regarding sign-and-trade players. I think it should be something like:

If a player is traded after the playoffs start, but before the start of free agency, and this player has an opt-out or player option in the current season (so it could be exercised in one to two weeks), then the trade is put on hold until the opt-out/option is decided. Then the teams involved in the trade are allowed to review it and make the decision to confirm or not.

[claphamsa]

i thought we banned optouts...and it was only the ones remaining before the rule that were still around?

[Huckleberry]

No, you suggested banning opt-outs but we never changed the rules. Looks like you probably have a co-sponsor for that amendment now, though.

[Bob_Meteors]

Haha yeah. I will co-sponsor that amendment...

[claphamsa]

No, you suggested banning opt-outs but we never changed the rules. Looks like you probably have a co-sponsor for that amendment now, though.

im shocked that my suggestion was taken as a suggestion and not a proclamation of basic WBA rights!

[Claybor]

This is the only league I have ever been in that allows trades during the playoffs. Isn't it technically still post trade deadline and therefore all players need to clear waivers?

[rbeadle3]

I would have to say I agree with Claybor, even if you agree to a deal with a team during the playoffs maybe we have to wait until the first post season sim to actually confirm them? Just to make it more realistic and keep the playing field as level as possible? Although if it’s a trade between 2 teams not in the post season I’m not sure it’s really an issue.

[CaseyBlakeDeWitt]

Agreed with Claybor and Beadle. Despite being one of those that made deals, it felt strange to be trading during the playoffs. In the past there have been monetary deals, and that made sense because of the functionality of our financial system, but making significant player acquisitions felt kind of wrong. It definitely makes more sense to me that trades wouldn't be allowed during the postseason (other than ones focused on money).

[squaredrive]

Agree with sentiments here, trade deadline should be extended until final day of playoffs. Puts more focus on the playoffs for immersion and also seems unfair to playoff teams who can't really focus on buying or selling.

I'm also ok banning opt-outs - in reality this is something that players would ask for in contract negotiations and i've never seen that happen so they don't seem to function realistically.

[Huckleberry]

I tend to agree with the consensus here. It caused a lot of issues I hadn't foreseen.

I agree that in the future we should probably just not allow any player movement trades until the first day of the offseason (OD1). There are, however, some issues there because as noted we have custom financials so deals are frequently made involving cash before it's lost on OD1. We also have to consider the fact that we have the draft that runs during real-time and scheduling that around everything else, especially considering that people love to have draft picks involved in the trades. So here is what I think we may enforce as the postseason schedule moving forward.

• During the posteason, trades may only involve cash and/or draft picks.
• After the final game of the WBA Championship Series, I will sim to OD1. This is when I will input the new financial data. At this point all players will have made their decisions on player options and opt-outs. Additionally, this is when GMs receive the message indicating they need to make a decision on team options. They must respond that they are buying out the option or else the option year is automatically activated.
• The above two steps combined mean that if you want to involve a player in a deal for cash that will be lost to the cash maximum then you have to make that trade by the trading deadling, July 31st.
  
• Because player trades are illegal during the postseason, this means that the draft start will be delayed so that players can be involved in draft pick trades. I will load the draft into StatsPlus following the sim to OD1 and will set the draft timer to begin 3 days later. I.e., if the sim to OD1 happens on a Friday night then the timer will begin at 8:00am Central on Monday morning.

Where I really need help is the timing of options in #2. I believe what I wrote above is correct but please let me know if I have that OOTP timing wrong.

Does anyone have any issues with this?

[Bob_Meteors]

Um, that all sounds good to me. I think that is the correct timing.

[Claybor]

I do sometimes see the easy fix without considering the unique circumstances in this league. The proposal looks good to me, I just hope that I did not cause you any more stress or workload Huck.

[AndyHustle]

I would support no trades until after the playoffs and holding off on the draft until after also. I wanted to see my team through the end of this year before getting a move on next season and that was kinda difficult with the hot stove happening so early.

[rbeadle3]

Huck, just an idea but not sure if this would cause big issues, could we extend the deadline to unload cash until a day or 2 after the postseason ends to allow trades involving cash for players still? Again probably not a big deal one way or another and don't want to cause you extra work or stress?

[Huckleberry]

Not a bad idea. Only hard deadline is that we would have to make sure the financials are adjusted when free agents declare. I was thinking that we don't want people offering extensions with old budget information being used by OOTP but that is the case throughout the entire postseason so there's not really any harm in extending it a bit. Good idea. I will input the new financial data after the first offseason sim. So in the schedule above that gives everyone an extra day to make those deals.

It's not great but it's a little extra time. Don't think I can promise two extra days because the day of the week that the season ends affects things a bit I think. But I will do that and then people who are planning those deals can plan them out together before we get to that point then post and confirm them after we reach the offseason.

[APMP]

Is there any reason we shouldn't allow minor leaguers (zero major league service) to be traded during the time in question? Sometimes throwing a prospect in the cash deal gets it done...

[rbeadle3]

Sounds good to me Huck, Thanks Mr. Commish

[rbeadle3]

Is there any reason we shouldn't allow minor leaguers (zero major league service) to be traded during the time in question? Sometimes throwing a prospect in the cash deal gets it done...

I mean you can still make the deals it just won't be processed until the offseason starts, I don't think theirs much difference? Unless I am misunderstanding you.

[APMP]

I mean you can still make the deals it just won't be processed until the offseason starts, I don't think theirs much difference? Unless I am misunderstanding you.

I think it's the same if your suggestion is accepted (to push back the cash trade deadline/finances update to a few days after the start of the off-season).

Basically I was requesting that July 31 not be the last day to trade minor leaguers in a cash deal. Without the finances update not being pushed back, July 31 would be the deadline, right Huck?

[Huckleberry]

Correct, but with rbeadle's "amendment" then you can work out the deal and it will be processed on that one day before the financials are updated.