Responding to myself in case this can help anyone else...

Did some more digging and found that anytime the fare basis for the award ticket was in the lowest fare bucket "O" for business class there was no ability to do cash and points.

What's interesting is that there are some days where the same miles are required yet the ticket books into "Z" class. On those days, you can do cash and points.

Why do I care so much? The AF algorithm sells them to you for 1.5 cents each which is usually the lowest you can buy them at.

Hope this helps others as well.