When a contract expires, the player heads for free agency, unless you stop him. The transition tag is your tool for keeping one expiring player out of the open market while still paying a fair, market-set price.
Transition tag
The transition tag puts your player on the free-agency auction block. You can't bid on your own tagged player, but rival bids set his market price. When a rival wins, they lock in the years and salary structure, and you get a matching window, 5 days by default, to match those exact terms and keep him. Match and he stays on that contract; decline and he signs with the winning team (your tag salary comes back, but you can't transition-tag again until next year). Each team gets 1 transition tag per offseason by default.
Tag defaults
- Transition tags
- Default 1 per offseasonRange 1–5
- Right of first refusal: the player goes on the auction block and you match the winning bid to keep him.
- Transition match window
- Default 5 daysRange 1–14 days
- Time you have to match the winning bid on a transition-tagged player.