Contracts

[Ace]

Contract Limits

Free Agency

Total Salary - Maximum Years
$3.2m or less, 2 years
$3.3m to $19.9m, 3 years
$20m to $49.9m, 4 years
$50m+, 5 years (the overall limit)

Extensions

Average Salary - Minimum Years*
$20m+, 5 years
$15m to $19.9m, 4 years
$10m to $14.9m, 3 years
$1.2m to $9.9m, 2 years

Average Salary - Maximum Years
$1.2m to $4.9m, 3 years
$5m to $9.9m, 4 years
$10m+, 5 years (the overall limit)

The salary for both free agents and extended players may be varied each year but must be within 33% of the average annual salary (average of $3m means min of $2m and max of $4m in any year). Teams are permitted to increase the contract value in order to offer more years.

*The minimum years for extensions can be reduced based on the player's age on opening day of the season that the new contract takes effect, but must still be at least 2 years in length.

30 = 1 year less
34 = 2 years less
38 = 3 years less

For extensions which incur a surcharge the minimum length is based on the salary before any multiplier is applied.

Example

Winning free agency bid of $18m

Thus 3 years maximum or can increase to 4 years by upping contract to $20m.

Options would be:

1 year at $18m
2 years at an average of $9m
3 years at an average of $6m
4 years at an average of $5m

If taking the 3 year option with an AAS of $6m the most salary that could be put into any one year would be $8m and the least would be $4m (1/3rd of $6m=$2m).

Prospect Contracts

Prospect contracts are denoted by an entry in the PC year column of the spreadsheet and don't count against the salary cap so long as the player remains in the minors (see eligibility limits in roster topic). On promotion the roster hit will be $500k for all future seasons.

Prior to arbitration a player on a prospect contract may be cut at any time without penalty, although signing bonuses are fully guaranteed and stay with the winning team for the remainder of the year. P-n/a can essentially be understood as being a prospect contract where the last year at 500k is unknown because the player hasn't exhausted rookie eligibility yet.

Once a prospect has accumulated 50 innings or 150 AB's in real life his service time clock will be started. If this occurs in the 2023 season the player would remain p-n/a for the remainder of the season before his contract was updated to p-2026 in the offseason. This means that he is under control for 3 more years (2024-2026) at 500k before he reaches arbitration.

This is the structure that prospect contracts follow once service time begins:

1st year = $500k
2nd year = $500k
3rd year = $500k
4th year = $2m (Arbitration 1)
5th year = $4m (Arbitration 2)
6th year = $6m (Arbitration 3)

GMs may choose not to offer arbitration to players. You must release the player before the December deadline if you don't want to guarantee him the arbitration salary for the upcoming season.

Arbitration salaries for relief pitchers are set at 50% of the listed values. If a player qualifies at SP and RP then the protocol detailed in the extensions post shall be applied.

Due to the shortened season in 2020 (and subsequent halving of the prize pool) players who were on prospect contracts and had exceeded our rookie limits by the end of that season will be given an additional arbitration year.

This was set at $8m for players already in their arb years in 2020 and $6m for those still on 500k deals (amounts halved for RP). It's denoted in column N of the spreadsheet ($8m now applying only to players who reached Arb-4 in 2023) and can be overridden by an extension performed during or after a player's Arb-3 season (or their Arb-2 season in the case of an early extension).

Teams won t be required to pay salaries to any players they demote to the minor leagues except in the case of a non-prospect contract being removed off the 32-man roster and sent to the minors.