pyle, check this out. It was my ATTEMPT at trying to be TT for a day, and in the end I concluded there was no way TT could have signed Whale because of the limited cap space he had to work with.
If I want to keep Whale, I'm handicapped because of my salary cap this year. That means I have to low ball him presently, and give him an outrageous offer, one that will overpay him WHILE allowing me the ability to get out of it once the high payout starts, without any cap ramifications.
Length of contract: 5 years
1st year salary: I offer Whale a low salary, starting point is $500,000. I offer him a 1.5 milllion dollar signing bonus, which is spread out over 5 years, meaning I take a cap hit of $300,000 extra this year. Total value of the deal in year one is $800,000. Leaves me enough cash, about 2 million to sign any players along the way should we have injuries. If worse comes to worse, I ask Brett to convert a part of his base salary (about 2 million or so) into a roster bonus for this upcoming year, once activated will be spread over the remainder of the contract, making sure Brett gets his money, and I save an additional $500,000 or so on the cap. Total cap charge: $800,000.
Year 2: (Carry over signing bonus charge = $300,000) Brett may not be here, so we will have about an extra 8 million or so to play with. Add that to the money that will be freed up from this year, and we have some serious cash to play with. 4 years left on the deal, I need to pay him a ton this year. Base salary will be 2 million dollars, a big jump. Roster bonus of of 10 million, which will be spread out amongst the cap for 4 years, costing me 2.5 million in subsequent years. Total cap charge for this year: 2 million base + $300,000 signing + 2.5 million signing bonus, which equates to 4.8 million dollars.
So far the deal is worth: $500,000 base + 2 million base = 2.5 million base. Bonuses: 10 million + 1.5 million = 11.5 million bonus. Total value thus far: 11.5 + 2.5 = 14 million.
Year 3: (Carry over charge = 2.8 million) Well I am under the impression Brett is gone, or in his final year. If this his is last year, I think I can ask Whale to defer his bonus payment until next year, which I think he will gladly do. If Brett is gone, I have even more money to spend. Starting base salary: $3 million. 3 years left on the deal, so I will add a moderate roster bonus, one I can manage. 3 million dollar roster bonus, spread out over 3 years. another 1 million cap charge for this year. 3 base + 2.8 in bonuses + 1 million in bonuses = 6.8 million cap charge for the year, so we are good to go, seeing as I expect the salary cap to be damn close to 100 million.
Total value of the deal thus far: 14 million + 3 million base + 3 million roster bonus = 20 million.
Year 4: (Carry over cap charge: 3.8 million) Well I think I can commit a little more to Whale this year, since I expect us to have over a 100 million dollar salary cap. Base sallary: 4 million. roster bonus of $400,000, divided over two years equals a charge of $200,000 this year. Cap charge this year: 3.8 million in bonuses + 4 million base + 200,000 bonus = 8 million cap charge.
Total value of deal thus far: 20 million + 4 million base + $400,000 bonus = 24.4 million
Year 5: (Carry over charge: $4 million) Final year of the deal, so I set the base salary at 4 million, Whale will be 33 at this point. I add a $100,000 roster bonus this year, so the cap is set at 8.1 million. I add a clause that I can buy out Whale, lets say for 3 million. If he refuses this clause, I argue that at any point I can refuse to pay him a roster bonus, and set him free. Thus he accepts my offer of a buyout clause, one which will be triggered if a payment of a roster bonus is NOT made, or at your discression. So in year 5, I can pay 3 million, and get out of the deal (or at any point).
this buyout clause also allows me to protect myself if I need to cut Whale, incase of the new CBA.
Total calue of contract: 24.4 million + 4.1 million = 28.5 million, with a buyout clause of 3 million, up it to 4/5 million if it becomes a sticking point.
5 year deal worth 28.5 million dollars.