Expected market. The game shows a published term range and a broad annual-salary range. It does not average the total guarantees of different-length contracts into one asking price. Where there’s one editorial forecast, that source is named. Players without public coverage receive wider model-based guidance.

What makes a star available? The required return includes the underlying player value, a 10% negotiating margin (at least $2M), a control premium, and any cost of losing current wins. The star premium runs from 20–50% for three years of control and 35–75% for four or more, rising with competitiveness. Two years carries 5–25%; a rental carries 0–15%. A club’s top two assets use the same control premium, not a second stacked premium. A deep package still needs a real centerpiece.

Current wins versus future value. Competitive urgency increases smoothly from zero at 75 projected wins to one at 90. The cost of losing W projected WAR is 12 × urgency² × (W + W² / 2), in $M. For repeated trades, the next deal pays the increase in that cumulative cost, or its standalone cost if larger. A 78-win club losing three WAR adds roughly $3.6M to its price; a 90-win club adds $90M. Immediate replacements reduce the roster loss. These are transparent gameplay assumptions, not fitted estimates of real teams’ asking prices.

Roster demand and depth. Rival MLB signings must improve their projected roster. The final closeout requires at least 0.1 added WAR and a role of at least 80 PA or 15 IP. Every club, including yours, is limited to 12 MLB free-agent signings in this offseason; your signed players plus pending offers must fit that limit. Low-priced players without an MLB deal may instead accept non-roster invitations, capped at three hitters and three pitchers per club. Invitations add no MLB salary or WAR and are listed separately. These are gameplay guardrails, not MLB roster rules.

Trade package quality. Each side can include at most five players. A club discounts incoming positive values to 100%, 85%, 70%, 55% and 40%, highest first. Negative contracts and outgoing players count in full. Controllable stars require a meaningful centerpiece. Losing projected WAR is no longer an automatic rejection: sufficiently strong future value can compensate, even for a top star. Full no-trade clauses, ownership, salary limits and newly signed player restrictions still apply.

Team strategies. Spending ambition and trade horizon are separate. Payroll still shapes free-agent plans and budgets. Trade preferences instead follow opening projected wins, gradually shifting from future value at 75 wins toward immediate production at 90 wins. That horizon stays anchored throughout the game, so stripping a roster cannot make the next star cheaper. Prospect values blend the existing five-percent patience adjustment with the win-now valuation; this is not a new scouting grade.

Playing-time decisions. The game chooses the highest projected WAR available within eligible roles and player workloads, while allowing players to remain unused. Adding an optional player cannot force the roster to become worse. Automatic relief workloads are capped at 70 innings for converted starters and 85 for projected relievers. Most hitter roles come from 2026 MLB usage: at least 75 innings or 10 games. Listed roles remain the fallback without qualifying usage.

Secondary positions. Shortstops can cover second or third; center fielders can cover either corner; left and right fielders can switch corners; catchers and third basemen can try first base. All hitters can DH. These are direct conversions, not a chain that unlocks every easier position. We never infer a move into catcher, shortstop or center field, from DH into the field, from the outfield into the infield, or from relief into the rotation. New roles use position-specific defense when available, cannot increase a player’s rate above his best known fielding role, and subtract two runs per 600 PA (about 0.2 WAR) for the transition. That allowance is a conservative game assumption, not a fitted estimate. The preview labels assumed roles. Depth-chart methods explain the shared allocation model.

Following your offers. Your free-agent offers stay visible across rounds, with your latest bid, the decision, and the actual signing team and contract, including late closeout deals. Withdrawals are recorded. Undo recomputes this history without the reversed move.

Rival spending room. Trade partners show approximate budget and available-payroll ranges, updated after signings and trades. Rivals plan to keep $5–15M of their existing budget for trades and in-season moves. Minimum-salary depth signings can use part of that reserve, but leave at least $5M. Trades can use the reserve; a club already over budget does not receive extra money. Available room does not guarantee a trade: roster fit and the value of the package still matter. These are game estimates, not reported ownership budgets.

Rosters and WAR. Teams start from the depth chart, with free agents off their old teams and reported signings and option decisions applied. Team WAR uses the same playing-time and position rules.

Competitive market. Choose this mode for three bidding rounds. Rival clubs bid on a priority target each round and make additional affordable signings as deadlines arrive, comparing the WAR he adds to their existing roster with his annual cost. Contenders put slightly more weight on immediate improvement. Rival offers reserve payroll; completed signings change the next round’s needs and spending room. Your pending offers show their combined annual cost, but may exceed your budget. You can revise or withdraw them before advancing. Players have seeded decision deadlines and asking prices, with a small preference for playing opportunity or contention worth at most a 6% boost to an offer’s score. Money is the main driver. Rival offers are shown in approximate bands, not their private ceilings, and can rise in response to your bid. These preferences, ceilings, and deadlines are game assumptions, not claims about the players or clubs. After round three, unsigned players can take instant offers; the season uses the market’s actual signings without another hidden AI signing round. The standing-pat comparison reruns the same competitive market without your moves.

Budget and undo. In Competitive Market, you can go above budget while assembling your roster, but must clear salary before Opening Day. Undo removes the original action and replays the remaining offseason, including rival signings. Later trades and offers that no longer work are removed and reported. This is a sandbox correction, not a real contract cancellation. Quick Offseason keeps its immediate budget checks.

Free agents. A player’s asking price varies by game around the tracker’s market guarantee when available, or the DV production value otherwise. Negotiations use one published whole-year term as a reference for covered players. Offers can be within a year of the reference or within the published span. A longer deal requires more guaranteed money. In Quick Offseason, ownership won’t approve a signing that puts the 2027 luxury-tax payroll over your budget. When you simulate that mode, the other 29 teams consider the remaining free agents, most expensive first. They balance added roster WAR against annual salary, budget room, and a small random preference. Some players remain unsigned.

Trades. Clubs use our surplus-value model, but their exact valuations and asking thresholds are hidden during negotiations. Contenders care most about immediate help, while rebuilding clubs put more weight on future seasons. Stars with years of control and a club’s most valuable players are especially difficult to acquire. A rebuilding club is more open to moving a star nearing free agency. Contenders protect their current roster and want MLB-ready help back for a regular, not just prospects. Full no-trade clauses and the other club’s budget still apply. Players who just signed can’t be traded in this offseason. After you simulate, the trade review reveals the model value you sent and received. This is an educational sandbox, not a secure competitive leaderboard; the underlying public model remains available elsewhere on the site.

Closing the market. Round three resolves regular offers, late signings and a final closeout. Your last pending bid competes with offers based on rival budgets and roster fit. One-year salary floors are 65% of the annual estimate for stars, 50% for regulars and 40% for other players, never below the minimum. Multi-year floors are 75% of the higher of the annual estimate and the seeded annual ask. An inexpensive depth player can still take a minimum deal. A player without a credible offer remains available. These are gameplay guardrails, not calibrated salary forecasts.

Trade cash and contracts. Cash can cover only the 2027 budget charges of players the paying club sends. Each club can pay at most $50M across its trades in this offseason, and neither payroll may become negative. Cash counts dollar-for-dollar in trade evaluation and the two clubs’ budgets; undo reverses it. It cannot buy premium talent without a meaningful player return. This simplified rule is not MLB luxury-tax accounting and does not retain salary in future years.

Contract lengths. Published forecasts are kept as term-and-total pairs. Quotes for the same term are averaged; prices between quoted terms are interpolated. If forecasters disagree so much that a longer deal costs less, we require each extra year to add at least half the lowest quoted annual salary. Outside quoted terms, the nearest quote supplies annual pay, with an 8% premium per forgone year, capped at 24%. Players without editorial quotes use that same security premium around the model reference. These are game assumptions. Late-market offers use the same closeout floors for you and rival clubs.

Contract grading. The final review uses the DV production value for the signed term whenever the tracker has one. For other terms, it prorates the primary DV value for a shorter deal and caps the benchmark at that value for a longer deal. The player’s contribution to your 2027 roster is scored separately.

Counteroffers. Rival clubs react to credible competing offers, including offers from one another. In each round a trailing bidder has a seeded 65% chance to respond, with a raise capped at a seeded 2–6% and never exceeding its private ceiling. A club can hold firm or lose a player even when it could technically afford more. Offers below the player’s contract requirements do not set the market. Your valid over-budget offers can influence bidding because you may clear salary later; rival clubs retain hard spending limits. These are transparent gameplay choices, not rates estimated from real negotiations.

The season and saves. Expected wins are 81 plus projected WAR above the league average. Performance uncertainty and luck are illustrative, not fitted probabilities. Twelve teams make the playoffs. Your moves and standing pat use matched random draws across 10,000 trials. Saved games contain your actions and seed; rival signings and rosters are recomputed, not trusted from a link. Undo and Start over do not reroll the seed. Older snapshot-only saves cannot be verified and are retained as recovery links rather than imported as valid games.

The grade. Every club receives an objective and a score. Win gains count at full weight for contenders, 80% for balanced clubs, 35% for rebuilders, and 50% for teams starting over budget. Net model value adds one point per $25M. Payroll-repair teams can earn up to two points for clearing their initial shortfall. Trade grading counts each player once at full model value; trade partners discount incoming depth packages, never their own outgoing assets. That prevents manufacturing value by splitting one player into several. This is a sandbox score, not a validated measure of GM skill. Compare custom-budget scores only with the same resources. Standing pat is a no-moves counterfactual, not necessarily a budget-compliant roster.

Game limits. Free-agent plans and scoring objectives use opening projected wins and payroll investment. Trade willingness uses projected competitiveness independently of payroll. There is no full 26- or 40-man roster management, detailed injury calendar, schedule, home-field advantage, or postseason rotation management. These are game rules, not predictions of real club decisions. Rosters and contracts use the site’s saved data, not a live transaction feed.