Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think your "A" is what JDB is suggesting. The problem that I described is that the owner doesn't actually 'leave', he just disappears. In JDB's solution, the AI would take over if the owner became absent.

I want to publically apologize here for previous statements, were way out of line, and you wont hear anything like that again from me. I have a problem with picks being valued way, way too low on the trade meter. But, so what? There are going to be those who can take advantage of that better than others, which is gamesmanship. I highly value both the game and players who put a lot of time and involvement into it. So, again, my sincere apologies, I greatly prefer to be a positive influence than a negative one.

This is correct - right now if you have abandoned your team, the AI will try to re-sign the best players during the end of season stage (as long as there is cap room to do it). But if a player is still owned by a human, the AI will leave it alone. My idea above is to make the default be that the AI does not leave it alone unless you tell it to.

Awesome! If that is what you are suggesting, it would be a great solution to this problem.