In one of my RT leagues, a team to be contracted has Bonds and Sosa. This year's #1 Free Agent was Tomko; next year's would be Bonds.

I took over a sick team, and have it contending for a WC dispite a 57 PBV. I really don't have a shot at the playoffs this year, so all I'm doing is managing my way out of a good pick. Now, if I sandbag, I would have a chance at Bonds, Sosa or Thome and would instantly be a contender next year.

Unfortunately, I don't have a better solution, but it is worth emphasizing how drastically contraction will affect the balance.

Note to Mike - I hope you make a reasonable attempt to add managers to minimize the contracted leagues. For example, I've never seen Purebase ball sponsering key words on Google. You can pay as little as a nickle per click through on selected terms such as "fantasy baseball" or "baseball sim". If 1 of 50 who clicked decided to join, you aquire new owners at $2.50 per pop. That might be worth a try for Winter LLs which might in turn bring in new full-timers.