Hi All,
New to the game and the forum, it looks very interesting so far and I'm sure I'll be overjoyed if I hit .500 at the end of next season.

We're currently in the playoffs and I was looking at my roster (my team didn't qualify) and I was wondering when the best time was to release players whose contracts are about to expire. I have some players who I know I don't want on my team, but I don't want to release them now if I'm going to get a cap hit for next season. Any advice?

It will be the same whenever you release them. Check out their contracts first. If they have a one year deal, they will be gone at the end of the season anyway. If they have multi year deals, you'll need to determine if it is worth it to release them. Sometimes, it may be better to keep a guy and use him as a backup. Also, some players may have some trade value, and you can consider trying to trade them.

My suggestion is this... don't cut anyone. Wait until next season, go through free agency and the draft. Try to trade guys you don't want. But, before cutting someone, either trade him for something or be sure you get a better player to take his roster spot. You never know what will be there in the draft and free agency...

Just my two cents. As for your cap. Any bonus money is a cap hit. The bonus money for this season is a cap hit for this season. Any bonus money for future seasons all comes off you cap for the next season. So if you cut a guy who has a 6 year deal, this year's cap will take a hit equal to this year's bonus money, and next year's cap will take a hit of the bonus money from the last 5 years of the deal. You also take these cap hits when you make a trade. The difference is you get something in return when you make a trade.

The way a cap hit on a cut player works is as follows:

If the player has no bonus, there is no cap hit when you cut him.

If the player is in the last year of his contract, his bonus will stay on your cap, but not his base salary.

If the player has two or more years on his contract, the current year's bonus will stay on your cap for the current year, and the remainder of his bonus will be applied to the following year.

So:

2014 - $200,000 base, no bonus - can be cut without penalty

2014 - $200,000 base, $20,000 bonus, 1 year remaining - will free up your cap by $200,000 but the $20,000 bonus will remain on your cap.

2014 - $200,000 base, $20,000 bonus
2015 - $205,000 base, $20,000 bonus
2016 - $210,000 base, $20,000 bonus
2017 - $215,000 base, $20,000 bonus - if you cut this player in 2014, then the $20,000 will stay on your cap in 2014, and $60,000 will be on your cap in 2015. After 2015 he has no cap impact.

When you cut a player, you will receive a dialog telling you what the cap impact will be before you commit to it. The player technically stays on your roster until the next sim - you can retract your pending cut at any time before the sim runs.

(Did it really take me 5 minutes to type that?)

To piggy-back on what Zoot said, you can carry 60 players through free agency. I agree with his point that usually it's better to hang on to your players until you have to cut them, you never know whether you'll actually be able to replace them with better players. During early free agency (which will happen at the start of the next season) you can carry as many players as your cap will allow, you don't need to cut to 60 until training camp.

Excellent replies, guys, I appreciate that.