Topic: Tier 2 Free Agency Enabled and Active

[Dodgers Doug S]

Boys, it's time to release the hounds!!

Tier 2 FA starts on Monday, April 5, 2021. We've got a bunch of new GMs here, so a few things to keep in mind about Tier 2:

-Our FA page lists a bunch of free agents who are available, but it is not an inclusive list. There may be some players who have been in the league in the past but who did not receive a rating in the last few years (Miles Mikolas a few years back is an example). You can use the Player Search function to look up individual players - if their current team is listed as None (free Agent), you can submit a bid on them even if they do not show up on the FA page.

-Earlier today default action was taken on all pending AE salary demands and contract options.  Two players were added to the list of eligible free agents as a result of this process.  Newly minted free agents for your perusal are catcher David Freitas and centerfielder A.J. Pollock.

-You can make 1 bid per day. This bid can either be on a player who has not yet received a bid, or a counterbid on a player who has a Day 1 offer. All bids are processed at midnight EDT Monday through Friday; the clock stops on the weekend; you can change your bid as many times as you want before the deadline.

-Any player who has an active Day 1 bid who does not receive a counterbid will automatically sign with the original team with the original offer when bids are processed at midnight.

-Any player with an active Day 1 bid who receives a counterbid superior to the initial bid will enter into a bidding war between the GM with the highest Day 1 bid and the GM with the highest counterbid. Bidding wars are handled by PM or email between the two involved GMs. Once the bidding war is resolved, both GMs need to post in the Tier 2 FA thread confirming the final contract.

-The "best contract" is determined by our FA Calculator - enter in the details for the player and both contracts to determine which is better. For "Starting age", use the "baseball age" of the player for the current year (if a players birthday is between now and July 1, count them as having already had their birthday this year; if their birthday is after July 1, use their current age in years). the calculator tends to favor dollars per year for younger players, and contract length for older players - I encourage everyone to play around with it to get a feel for how it works. Note that option years tend to reduce the value of a contract in our system - a four-year $15M deal is worth more to the player than a four-year $15M with an option contract.

-Players signed to one-year deals can be sent to the minors without having to clear waivers; players signed to multi-year deals (and options count as years in the deal) need to clear waivers before being demoted.

-Players signed to Tier 2 deals who will not have six years of service time upon completion of the deal will remain on your roster after the contract expires, with the updated amount of service time. (example: if you sign a "3rd" FA to a 2-year deal, he will be a "5th" when the deal expires, and stay on your roster.)

-Tier 2 FA will end once we have two consecutive days with no bids made, and then we will move into Tier 3 FA. Tier 3 FAs sign one-year contracts to the highest bidder on a given day, and become free agents upon completion of the season in which they are signed.

If anyone has additional guidance to offer regarding Tier 2 free agency, please add onto this strand.

Good luck gentlemen, and good hunting!  Aside from the summer draft, this is my favorite time of the DMBO calendar year.

[Tigers John M]

I'm trying to look and see what constitutes a free agent vs. draft eligible.

There's a specific player that I'm looking for. He's 26 YO (turns 27 later this year), career minor leaguer to this point (4 years in minors), and he's not found with the "player search" tool. Is he still draft eligible, or is he someone we should be able to bid on as a free agent?

Sorry, I tried finding this info myself, but couldn't seem to locate it.

[Tigers John M]

I'm trying to look and see what constitutes a free agent vs. draft eligible.

There's a specific player that I'm looking for. He's 26 YO (turns 27 later this year), career minor leaguer to this point (4 years in minors), and he's not found with the "player search" tool. Is he still draft eligible, or is he someone we should be able to bid on as a free agent?

Sorry, I tried finding this info myself, but couldn't seem to locate it.

Never mind! Guess I didn't look hard enough, which considering how easy I found it just now, shows I was looking in completely wrong spots. Looks like he's only draft eligible.

"2. Any Player who has never been on a Team roster but has exceeded 130 career plate appearances or 50 career innings pitched in MLB and was not selected in the Draft of Exhausted Eligibility Players."

[Dodgers Doug S]

John,
I apologize for not catching your question earlier.  FWIW, I've gone over the same sort of  inquiry regarding a couple of players who have gotten ZiPS projections but never surfaced into MLB during their playing careers.

The simplest way to sort through potential FA finds is to enter the name(s) into the "Player Search" feature via the GM Desk.  If a player is eligible for DMBO free agency, he should show up through that vehicle.  If not, perhaps stash him away until the late rounds of the summer draft.

[Tigers John M]

No need to apologize! I answered my own question literally 2 minutes after asking it, ha!

Thanks for the response, though! I mainly wasn't sure if there were FA-eligible players who slipped through the cracks and didn't make it into the player search feature. Now I know!

[Royals Ian H]

John,
I apologize for not catching your question earlier.  FWIW, I've gone over the same sort of  inquiry regarding a couple of players who have gotten ZiPS projections but never surfaced into MLB during their playing careers.

The simplest way to sort through potential FA finds is to enter the name(s) into the "Player Search" feature via the GM Desk.  If a player is eligible for DMBO free agency, he should show up through that vehicle.  If not, perhaps stash him away until the late rounds of the summer draft.

I know I've asked about this before, but what about guys who have fallen between the cracks on this?

Merrill Kelly doesn't show up in the Player Search, and he exhausted rookie eligibility in 2019.

Is there a method in place for GM to bid on guys like that who should be free agents?
Can he be added, so I can bid on him? lol

[Dodgers Doug S]

Ian,
In the future, I recommend submitting names of players such as Kelly to the EC for consideration as an addition to the list before free agency begins, especially prior to Tier 2, so that time is available to add such a player at a time that allows league-wide opportunity to examine and include the player in the league's database.  Once in that system, he can easily as a free agent.

Kelly should have been added a couple years ago, but sometimes things get missed.  Anytime someone is aware of a player that should have been added, or (as in this case) eligible for the winter draft, please let us know so that any oversight can be corrected.

[Blue Jays Scot H]

John,
I apologize for not catching your question earlier.  FWIW, I've gone over the same sort of  inquiry regarding a couple of players who have gotten ZiPS projections but never surfaced into MLB during their playing careers.

The simplest way to sort through potential FA finds is to enter the name(s) into the "Player Search" feature via the GM Desk.  If a player is eligible for DMBO free agency, he should show up through that vehicle.  If not, perhaps stash him away until the late rounds of the summer draft.

I know I've asked about this before, but what about guys who have fallen between the cracks on this?

Merrill Kelly doesn't show up in the Player Search, and he exhausted rookie eligibility in 2019.

Is there a method in place for GM to bid on guys like that who should be free agents?
Can he be added, so I can bid on him? lol

There are 2 ways that Kelly can get in the game:

-by being drafted in the summer draft
-by being on the list of players eligible for the winter draft (where he would either get drafted, or become a free agent if he is not drafted)

Scot.

[Pirates Larry W]

Just as a bit of context, this is not the first time something like this happened. Every once in a while there is a major leaguer who escapes our notice for the Winter Draft or who never accumulated enough IP or PA to become WD eligible. They then have to wait until the Summer Draft to get selected. Usually, it's a RP when this happens.

Pretty sure it happened with Kevin Kiermaier. He was getting regular PT at the start of the 2014 season, but had to wait until the 2014 Summer Draft before he could get selected in our world.

[Royals Ian H]

Just as a bit of context, this is not the first time something like this happened. Every once in a while there is a major leaguer who escapes our notice for the Winter Draft or who never accumulated enough IP or PA to become WD eligible. They then have to wait until the Summer Draft to get selected. Usually, it's a RP when this happens.

Pretty sure it happened with Kevin Kiermaier. He was getting regular PT at the start of the 2014 season, but had to wait until the 2014 Summer Draft before he could get selected in our world.

That makes sense, especially that it's usually relief pitchers.

There are 2 ways that Kelly can get in the game:

-by being drafted in the summer draft
-by being on the list of players eligible for the winter draft (where he would either get drafted, or become a free agent if he is not drafted)

Scot.

Since he's not eligible for the Summer Draft, I'll try to remember to mention him this offseason.

Thanks.
Ian

[Dodgers Doug S]

Since he's not eligible for the Summer Draft, I'll try to remember to mention him this offseason.

Thanks.
Ian

If the player does not show up in the DMBO database (ie "Player Search") and is under contract with a MLB franchise or MLB-affiliated team, he should be eligible for the summer draft. 

Same-year international signings are ineligible for the summer draft until the year after they sign with a MLB franchise.  While unique, individual circumstances have occurred in the past that result in an individual player be declared ineligible for the draft those are cases where the EC publicly announce that player as being ineligible so the guessing game as to their status is eliminated.  Personally, I can not recall a circumstance of that sort of ruling that didn't involve someone coming to MLB from a foreign professional league, or perhaps a highly-rated amateur program such as a national team.

[Royals Ian H]

Since he's not eligible for the Summer Draft, I'll try to remember to mention him this offseason.

Thanks.
Ian

If the player does not show up in the DMBO database (ie "Player Search") and is under contract with a MLB franchise or MLB-affiliated team, he should be eligible for the summer draft.

C. Players eligible for the Draft of Unaffiliated Players will be limited to:

   1. Any Player not on a Team roster, not a Free Agent, and either:

        a. Eligible for the MLB Amateur Draft occurring in the same calendar year, or

        b. Professional players under contract with an MLB-affiliated or independent franchise who have not exceeded 130 MLB career at-bats or 50 MLB career innings pitched during the most recently completed season.

The way I read it, Merrill Kelly is neither a (because he's 32) nor b (because he exhausted his rookie eligibility in 2019), so he is ineligible. Let me know if I'm reading that wrong.

Also, the way I understand the purpose of the draft in the offseason is that it's meant to 'catch' all the usable MLB players that were never selected in our Summer Draft, then give teams a chance to select them, then they go Free Agency if they aren't selected.

[Pirates Larry W]

Based upon having thrown 180IP in 2019, Kelly should have been in the Winter Draft that off-season; but we missed him. So, he should have been on the list and then if not selected he should have gone to the FA list.

Then in the 2020 Summer Draft he went unselected. Either because he was declared ineligible or because nobody thought his performance was worth a pick. Doesn't matter why he wasn't selected - he wasn't.

Then he could have been included is this year's WD, but we were looking for guys who debuted in 2020; not who debuted in 2019 and with already 210IP over two seasons.

So, since he should have been a WD option (at lest once if noot twice) who then (at worst) would have gone to free agency; why not make an announcement that is Kelly is eligible for free agency effective immediately. It's either that or hold him back for the Summer Draft or next year's WD.

[Dodgers Doug S]

C. Players eligible for the Draft of Unaffiliated Players will be limited to:

   1. Any Player not on a Team roster, not a Free Agent, and either:

        a. Eligible for the MLB Amateur Draft occurring in the same calendar year, or

        b. Professional players under contract with an MLB-affiliated or independent franchise who have not exceeded 130 MLB career at-bats or 50 MLB career innings pitched during the most recently completed season.

The way I read it, Merrill Kelly is neither a (because he's 32) nor b (because he exhausted his rookie eligibility in 2019), so he is ineligible. Let me know if I'm reading that wrong.

Also, the way I understand the purpose of the draft in the offseason is that it's meant to 'catch' all the usable MLB players that were never selected in our Summer Draft, then give teams a chance to select them, then they go Free Agency if they aren't selected.

If I was ever aware that the rookie status qualifier was part of the summer draft eligibility it was forgotten.  That clearly puts in responsibility on the EC, and that was a player that was simply missed. 

Yes, by all means bring his name up at the start of the next off season for inclusion in the winter draft.