Quote:
Originally Posted by Goffie
I understand the league wanting to step in and make sure that our new agents get a feel for what contracts should be worth. However I feel that this was never done before and their should be a lot more taken into consideration then the contract amount. Take for example a player like Tony Amonte who is making 5 times as much as what he should be, should he not be given a paycut cause he has a new agent? I think that there are certain situations that paycuts are totally warranted, not saying that all the offers that get sent in are fair cause I know some of my fellow GM's to well to be that naive.  |
We have options when a player is overpaid due to a poor negotiating strategy. We can buy them out, let them become free agents and then bid for them at a fair price. I dislike any renegotiations that see a player get a lower salary. This past summer there were some unbelievable offers out there. In a couple cases I pulled out of the bidding and congratulated the agent for getting more than fair value for a player. To see those GMs get a 'reduced rate' now that its obvious how overvalued a player is, is frustrating. The value of a player is driven by the market, supply and demand. To evaluate a contract under todays conditions is unfair. The market fluctuates, part of the challenge of this game is to make sound judgements based on those market fluctuations.
To use your example of Amonte, he was given the contract when his ratings were higher. That's the risk we, as GMs, take when signing older players declining in their career. The GM has two choices - keep the player or buy him out. If his contract is so overvalued, then it would make sense to buy him out. If Amonte is making 5 times more than he is worth, then this could happen:
Buy out contract : $7.31M x 50% = $3.655M
Resign Amonte: $1.42M (determined by 7.31/5)
Total cap savings : 7.31 - (3.655 + 1.42) = 2.235M
Thus, the GM could buy out Amonte and resign him and save money (asuming he is overpaid by 5 times). If the GM misinterpretes Amonte's value, other GMs could outbid for Amonte thus netting more cash for Amonte and his agent.
In addition, every season there is a window pre-July1st when we can buy out a player and then negotiate in good faith for a more market value type deal.