BWB Primer #7 - Off-season Money

The BWB Primer is a series of commentaries to provide rule interpretations and hints - something a bit more than you get out of the rules. See the Primer Index for the entire series.

Hopefully, none of you has lost enough hope that you're simply planning out for next year, but as we near the halfway mark of the season I just want to quickly explain how cash works from one season to the next.

2010 Salaries and Salary Cap
Salaries are determined by player performance. 2/3 of the 2010 salary will be based on performances in 2009 and 1/3 of the salary is the player's 2009 salary. In addition, players ranking in the top of certain hitting/pitching categories and for post-season awards will have a bonus attached to the 2010 salary - making premium players worth a premium price.

The salary calculations are shown in the rule book.

Once the salaries are complete (usually mid-November), the salry cap is calculated. Again, see the rules for the actual formulas, but the idea is to allocate so much money for the top salaries, an additional amount for mid-tier players, and an additional amount for minor leaguers. As overall salary levels themselves rise and fall, the salary cap will also change.

Cash Distribution
There's not really a hard cap on team salary - instead the "cap" is used to determine how much cash each team gets in the off season. The cash distribution for every team in a league will be the amount needed to get the team with the lowest balance up to the cap level.

For example, if Team X has the lowest cash balance in the league at 100,000 at the end of the season and the salary cap is 48 million, each team in that league will get 47.9 million. Any bonuses for playoff performance or player of the year awards will come after that.

Off-season signings
You get to keep up to 28 players from your roster. You must pay for those players immediately when you select them in December. You'll get only a 50% rebate if you cut them later in the off-season. Your remaining cash is all you'll have to sign players in the Redistribution Draft or in free agency until the season begins. Note - you do NOT have to sign a player to a contract during the season in order to keep him next season (more on that in Primer #8 regarding multiyear contracts)

Maximum cash
Just before the 2010 season will begin, any team with more than 5 million in the bank will have their cash balances reduced to 5 million. So you need to spend wisely in the off-season, but you can't hoard your cash either.

Multiyear Contracts
One way to save cash for the next year is to sign players for 2010 at their 2009 salary. This is the subject of the next chapter to come soon.

Multiyear Contracts open up

I'm just about to flip the switch to allow you to start signing multiyear contracts. But I just wanted to put out a few caution flags first...mainly for brand new owners who have taken over Orphan Teams.

First, familiarize yourself with the rules for contracts at: http://www.benchwarmerbaseball.net/rules/rulespages/Rules_16_0_Contracts.asp

And keep these things in mind:

• To correct a misconception several people have had...you don't need to sign someone to a contract to keep him for 2010. You will get to keep up to 28 players from your roster in November - contract or not.
• You must have ALL the cash to pay the ENTIRE contract up front. And once you spend the money, you will NEVER get it back.
• Above all, the contract is a salary/cap play, not so much a roster move. You're betting that the player's salary will go up so much that it's better to lock him up for the same salary now rather than pay his inflated salary next season.
• Since salaries are based on performance, if you sign someone in March and he is injured in April and out the rest of the season, you would almost certainly have been better off paying his salary next season...and there's no reason to sign a player who won't even see the major leagues this season or not until August or September.
• You have until the end of July to make contracts.

So, why even do it now? Well, teams in returning leagues can only take 5 million in cash into the new season. You will lose any cash above 5 million that you have left after the Week Zero transactions. If you don't use it for signing new free agents in the next few weeks, well, it might be worth a gamble then to do a contract or two.

For BRAND NEW leagues, you're not subject to this 5 million cash limit. You should hang on to your cash and wait to sign contracts later in the summer.