This post discusses a simulation of the Winter Meetings. Any signings or trades mentioned for the faux Atlanta Braves happened only between FanSided writers acting as GMs. The event started slowly, but a couple of early moves paid off.
The commissioner for this simulation – Colby Patnode from SoDo MoJo – and the player agent – our own Alan Carpenter – manage the event every year. They established rules team must follow to get their simulated deals approved. Without getting into minutia, the idea is realism.
Rebuilding teams should act like rebuilding teams; teams had to establish a general payroll bogie that matched their team’s history and stated goals; not a hard-and-fast number, but the general area of expected expenditure to start next season.
I set the limit for the faux Atlanta Braves at $142M. Competitive balance tax rules applied; if your teams said the goal is staying under $208M for 2020, teams must factor that into their plans.
Free-agent bidding began Monday with an open period for each bid and rules to prevent sniping. The meeting simulation officially opened this morning, but many teams discussed and agreed on deals prior to that.
"Free agent bids are pure AAV bids, no options, no deferrals, no incentives and no limitations on trades or bonuses. [As Alan put it in the rules]: if you offer $100 million over 5 years, it’s a straight-up $20m per year. Not (sic) gonna mess with any 18/19/20/21/22 math."
When in doubt, the commissioner makes the final decision. With that administrivia out of the way, here’s what I did early on for the faux Atlanta Braves.