View source for OOTP Baseball:Important Game Concepts/The Financial / Contract Model/Player Contracts Overview/Building a contract offer

So, you need to sign a player, and you're already familiar with the basics of the OOTP player contract model? Let's do it! We'll talk about contract extensions a little later on. In OOTP, any player without a contract is considered a free agent and can be signed by any team in the league. (Even if you have disabled free agency in your league options, the term for a player without a contract is still 'free agent.') The easiest way to find a player to sign is by going to the Free Agent page. Once you're there and you've found your target, right-click on the player's name and select '''Offer Contract'''. Alternately, if you have his Player Profile open, select '''Offer Contract''' from the Action menu. This will bring you to the '''Contract Offer''' page.

===== Building a Contract Offer =====
You offer a contract by defining your contract in the top right part of the page.

Contract offers consist of the following components:
{| class="wikitable"
|'''Option'''
|'''Description'''
|-
|Contract Type
|You can offer a major or minor league contract. Minor league contracts can only be offered in leagues that have minor leagues.
|-
|Total Number of Years
|The total number of years in the contract, from 1-10. Minor league contracts do not specify a number of years.
|-
|Year-by-Year Salary
|You can define the amount of salary in each year in the contract. Type the amount in the salary box, or use the +/- buttons to the right to quickly adjust the amount. Assign the salary to the first year before increasing the number of years. If you do so, then when you select the years, all years will have the same salary. Doing this makes it much easier to quickly build a multi-year deal.
|-
|No-Trade Clause
|You can opt to include a no-trade clause. A no-trade clause has no dollar value, but players appreciate the security and are likely to accept less money when offered a no-trade clause. OOTP no-trade clauses all-or-nothing. You cannot have a clause that prevents trades only to some team or teams. Similarly, there is no way to get out of a no-trade clause once it has been included. A player cannot waive a no-trade clause.
|-
|Last Contract Year Optional?
|You can choose to have an optional final year on any multi-year deal. There are three types of 'option years.' See Option Years below for more information.
|-
|Promised Role on Team
|You can choose to offer a player a "Promised Role on Team" to make the offer more attractive, eg Starting Rotation or Closer for pitchers and Starting Lineup for hitters. Obviously, not playing the player in that role will adversely affect morale and willingness of the player to re-sign.
|}

===== Incentives =====
In addition to the basic definition of your offer, you can also choose to include incentives in your offer:
{| class="wikitable"
|'''Option'''
|'''Description'''
|-
|Hitter Incentives
|Hitters can be given three contract incentives.

* '''Minimum Plate Appearances''': This incentive gives the player a bonus if he makes a certain number of plate appearances. GMs typically give this sort of bonus to players whose health is suspect.
* '''Outstanding Hitter Award''': This incentive give the player a bonus if he wins the league's Outstanding Hitter Award in any season during the term of the contract.
* '''All-Star Selection''': This incentive gives the player a bonus if he makes the All-Star team.
|-
|Pitcher Incentives
|Pitchers can be given three contract incentives.

* '''Minimum Innings''': This incentive gives the player a bonus if he pitches a certain number of innings. GMs typically give this sort of bonus to players whose health is suspect.
* '''Outstanding Pitcher Award:''' This incentive gives the player a bonus if he wins the league's Outstanding Pitcher Award in any season during the term of the contract.
* '''All-Star Selection''': This incentive gives the player a bonus if he makes the All-Star team.
|}

===== Option Years =====
There are three types of '''option years''' available in player contracts:
{| class="wikitable"
|'''Option'''
|'''Description'''
|-
|Team Option
|The team decides whether to trigger the option year of the contract or make the player a free agent.
|-
|Player Option
|The player decides whether to trigger the option year of the contract or become a free agent.
|-
|Vesting Option
|The relevant condition must be satisfied for the option year of the contract to vest or else the player becomes a free agent.
|}

* If the option year was a player option, the player will inform you whether he has accepted the option year, or whether he will become a free agent. If the player does not accept the option year then there is no buyout payment. [The OOTP13 contract offer screen incorrectly had provision for a player option buyout amount, but OOTP did not give effect to the payment upon the player not accepting the option year.]
* If the option was a team option, the team will be asked if it wants to accept the option year. You respond using the Respond to Message action menu at the bottom of the Manager News page. If the team does not accept the option year then it must pay the Buyout amount (if any)to the player.
* If the option year was a vesting option, then after the last year of a contract preceding an option year, the general manager will receive a message concerning the option year.

===== Summary =====
The bottom right of the screen includes a summary of your contract offer.

The summary begins with a suggestion for what the player is looking for in a contract. It's possible that the player would accept less, or that you could offer the indicated amount and get outbid by another team. It's also possible that the numbers will change over time. As you work on your offer in the top half of the screen, a text description of your offer will be automatically updated at the bottom of the page.

===== Action Buttons =====
There are three action buttons at the bottom of the contract offer page:
{| class="wikitable"
|'''Option'''
|'''Description'''
|-
|Ask for Response
|Asks the player for a response to the offer as currently configured.
|-
|Submit Offer
|Submits the offer to the player as currently configured.
|-
|Meet Demand
|Automatically configures your offer in the top half of the screen in a way that will match what the player is currently demanding. You can then edit the offer further if you wish.
|-
|Go to Player Profile
|Opens the Player Profile.
|}

===== Signing Extensions =====
You can attempt to extend the contracts of players already under contract, to avoid losing them to free agency. Most players prefer to negotiate extensions only in the final year of their current contracts. However, this is not necessarily always the case. To offer an extension to a player currently under contract, open his Player Profile and select '''Offer Extension''' from the Action menu. Alternatively, right-click on the player's name and select '''Offer Extension''' from the right-click menu.

Apart from the different action name, the process for offering an extension is identical to offering a free agent contract. When offering an extension, the player's current contract is visible in the lower left of the Contract Offer page:

Contract extensions take effect when the current contract expires, not on the day on which an extension is signed.

===== Submitting Your Offer =====
Once you have constructed your offer, click the '''Submit Offer''' button, and read on to learn what happens after the contract offer!