i've been spending a good deal of time on the TL recently, and it is complicated. i was never very good with numbers (check out my transfer balance), but i sense there are some relationships between salary and asking price that i can't quite get a handle on.
as a recent example, take the case of Tobe M. for Desert Storm and the guard i just purchased. Tobe is a very good player, with probably at least two more high quality seasons ahead of him. huge salary ($244,000) but Tobe is on the NT. What is he worth? Jason began by asking, i recall, something like $2 million, then $1.4, the $1 million, and now has asked the bare minimum.
i bought a good G, younger, but no where near Tobe's skill level, but what i thought was a lot of skill for a much lower salary. the guy selling him figured that lower salary was of value, and i agreed, shelling out $1.3 million.
the outlines of the finances becomes clear -- low salary, high transfer fee, high salary, low transfer fee. but did i overpay? is jason asking too little (how many teams can afford such a salary and need such a player? if the answer is "too few", then there will be no bidding and tobe is transferred for $100,000 or less.) (but Jason shells out $240,000 every week tobe stays on his roster, unwanted.)
i've seen people do this kind of analysis of the tradeoff between salary and bid amount for staff, but the numbers and issues there are relatively straight-forward. i don't have the skills to analyze the patterns on the TL -- and that is why i am always losing money, i suppose.