oh i know u made it clear, i just dont agree with you. The genreal concept of 'why pay for 3 weeks of salaries for a guy that you cant use in games that make a difference'' isnt strictly 100% true for all teams.
You comment suggests, that in the lull period of the transfer market, (which by my definition is roughly from now until next week or thereabouts, roughly.) ... that at the moment, in that period, nobody buys players unless they are for scrimmages. And i disagree with this. (I know your generalising, i know you dont mean 100% of people dont buy in this time, but i think the number is actually higher than you think).
Here are the types of users who buy during this period.
1) New users, because, well, they just dont know any better, and probably arent going to be playing finals anyways. But lets not count these guys.
2) People who know they are going to be relegated. This could be 8th, 7th or 6th placed teams eg: My league, the guy finishing 6th knows he will lose his relegation, so he is buying his team for next season. He doesnt want to wait until week 1 of the new season, where he has to fight other bidders for players, he wants to secure his team early and hit the ground running of week 1 of new season. They have the cash to spare to pay slightly higher purchase prices for players and are happy to pay salaries of cheaper players because more than likely, they are downgrading in total salary (ie: selling their expensive players, buy cheaper players because the new league wont support them).
3) Non-draft participants for the next season - Users not partaking in the draft, for whatever reason, but want a draftee for the following season, sometimesy look at the end of season because teams are often off-loading their failed 18 year old trainee from that year, or they have decided they dont want him anymore, doesnt fit into long term plans etc. Lull period is a good time buy a partially trained 18 year old, to train up the following year. and so what, $5k salary for a few weeks? is peanuts. In the new season, 95% of draftee's get off-loaded, and its just a free-for all, and good draftee's are hard to come by.... its actually harder, when there is so much choice, and so many people are bidding on the good players. So why not get in early i say.
4) Cashed up teams (not all cashed up teams, just cashed up teams willing to spend more cash)...... So in the lull period, the economics suggest that good players are harder to come across, and even though there are less buyers, Supply is still lower than demand and as such, prices are higher. Cashed up teams are willing to pay a little bit extra for players, AND pay the extra week or two in salaries, in order to secure the player they want.
5) Time-zone disadvantaged buyers - OK so this is a concept which is very odd concept. Due to the time zone differences, being here in Australia i tell u what.. can be very annoying sometimes! The majority of players being sold are from Europe/UsA time zones. which means the sale expiry is, 1am-7am Australia time...(depending on where you are and the time people put them on the market).... for example, of the 8 guys ive bookmarked for buying, 7 of them expiry in that time... ANNOYING! anyways it means that im up for buying guys whenever i can get them, and this may mean spending more dosh, during the lull period, as per item 4 above.
anyways sorry thats a long post. Im not disagreeing that there is a lull period in the transfer market, i just think there are enough numbers of teams who purchase players in this off-season period, (for reasons other than scrimmages) to warrant an extension of the current playoff-cut off time.
id like some stats around this! Currently 7500 players for sale on transfer list. what was it last week?