Let’s round out the day’s coverage with a few interesting notes from around the game:
- Three prominent players have reportedly agreed to terms in recent days, all settling for much less in dollars and years than had been expected. Reports also suggest that those players could have had greater earnings had they taken offers available previously. Though agent Scott Boras says Mike Moustakas never received a multi-year contract offer before returning to the Royals, two sources tell Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star that the Angels dangled a three-year pact in the range of $45MM. Meanwhile, the Rockies are said to have offered slugger Carlos Gonzalez an extension in the realm of three years and $45MM this time last year, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports on Twitter. And the Rox also were willing to go to three years, at a $21MM guarantee, to catcher Jonathan Lucroy earlier this winter, Nightengale adds on Twitter. (Lucroy is reportedly in agreement on a one-year deal with the Athletics, though terms are not yet known and the deal is not finalized.) Of course, in each case it’s easy to understand why the player in question might have elected against jumping at the reported opportunity at the point at which it was presented.
- In other news that’s largely of historical interest, Jon Heyman of Fan Rag provided some notes on the Padres’ offseason efforts. The team was able to land Eric Hosmer after Kansas City was unable to earn ownership authorization for its initially reported, seven-year offer, Heyman reports. That seemingly helps explain why subsequent reports indicated that K.C. never went that high in the bidding. San Diego also “made a big play” for outfielder Christian Yelich before he was shipped from the Marlins to the Brewers, Heyman notes in his leaguewide rundown of information. Notably, the Pads effectively ended up adding an outfielder when they inked Hosmer, thus pushing Wil Myers back onto the grass.
- Some of the above information suggests, to an extent, that some players missed chances at bigger earnings, though perhaps it might only mean that others would have ended up enduring rough trips through free agency. And the reported offers are hardly overwhelming numbers for those players. Those interested in the broader subject of labor relations will certainly want to read this recent piece from Evan Drellich of NBC Sports Boston, who takes a long look at what the union could do to begin fighting back against some of the problems that have arisen from the players’ perspective under the current CBA. Meanwhile, J.J. Cooper of Baseball America also tackles the subject, arguing that the owners will need to be careful not to press their advantage too strongly. And union chief Tony Clark discussed some of the qualms with the Marlins, who are one of the teams facing a grievance from the MLBPA, as Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald reports.
Moral of the story: Boras is a fool.
Y’all gon’ make me act a FOOL
Up in HERE, up in here
Y’all gon’ make me lose my cool
Up in here, up in here
Moral the the story is the players that hired Borass are fools.
Agreed on both accounts. Boras cost some of his players tens of millions of dollars this offseason. Why Moustakas hasn’t already ended his relationship with Boras is past puzzling.
Last offseason, there were signs that this could happen. The market was ‘flooded’ with first baseman/DH types. There simply wasn’t enough room for all of them to land strong offers. One player after another settled for significantly less than what they hoped. Additionally, ‘big name’ players who were clearly past their prime had a much harder time finding jobs than they had in previous years. Bautista was one example of this. It was a telling indicator that teams were starting to pay attention to future results, rather than the name on the back of the jerseys. How one of the ‘top’ agents in baseball failed to see this is absurd. Boras made his players millions by producing world-class binders on his clients. Binders that reportedly compared his players to all time greats while showing how many wins and fans would be gained. These binders clearly were great for a number of years. But the advance in analytics, coupled with telling signs of the last offseason, should have been a clear sign that these binders carrying much less weight than they have historically.
One can almost make an argument that Boras hurts his players, more than helps them these days. He has burned owners (or done such a good job in the past) that front offices have a raised eyebrow on his tactics/antics.
I won’t be surprised to see players start dropping BorAss as their agent. This offseason has been past embarrassing for him.
It isn’t overly puzzling. To this day, Stephen Drew has Boras as his agent, even though he and Boras declined Red Sox QO after 2013 season…turned down some two year offers early on, but eventually were forced to slink back into Boston in June on a one year deal far below the initial QO.
Harper will sign a $400mil contract next offseason and he will once again be on top. Additionally, he offers more to his players than just binders. Do a little research into his training facility and nutrition consulting.
Doubt it. His injury history will do him in!!
And like a scout said when asked which player he would take between Trout & Harper. His answer Trout. And when asked why, his reply included “Better in the Clubhouse”.
@vedder
ANY agent is going to be able to get a record contract for Harper. (think JZ representing robbie cano) To be the top, or very near the top of the agent heap, you have to produce ie. read the market. When you can read the market, you get deals for the likes of moose, arrieta, etc.
boras isn’t doing that this off-season and has, it appears, lost traction with the reality of the market place.
Highly doubtful. The reigning MVP and his $280M contract and better numbers than Harper, had to have money added just to move him. The return for Stanton was garbage. So Stanton, the better player, isn’t worth $280M but Harper is worth $400M and a draft pick? Fat chance. Harper will be lucky to get a Cano contract.
Oh yes, thanks for the reminder on his famous training facility. The one that BorAss opened after several PED suppliers alluded to BorAss covering up the fact that he knew his players were taking steroids. He had a high number of players on the Mitchell report. Ones such as Bonds, Manny Ramirez, Kevin Brown, Eric Gagne, Pudge, Gary Sheffield, A-Rod, etc…
The same facility that has led to players such as Prince Fielder, Jacob Ellsbury, Shin-Soo Choo, Chris Davis, etc… continuing to perform at extremely high levels years after they sign….
Bravo cursed Ranger!
Lucky? You’re forgetting the most critical issue of this whole thing. Cano was going into his age 31 season while Harper will going into his age 26 season next year. He’ll be 5 years younger and arguablynot even in his prime yet. He’s getting 400 mil because he’s one of those guys out there that could get actually make that surplus value because he could be worth over 50 wins in that period. It probably won’t happen but it doesn’t mean it can’t. That doesn’t even include that if over this period that the average value of a win above replacement changes either.
There is a difference between trading for a player with an enormous contract and signing one to a free agent deal. IF Stanton had been a free agent this offseason, and not a guy with nearly a decade left on his contract, he’d have commanded at least as much and likely more money on a contract.
And Stanton is not better than Harper. He’s got more power, sure, but is also older and doesn’t have the ceiling Harper does. Harper will get paid bigger dollars.
does it really
matter who the agent is in Harpers situation? why should borax be on top? doesnt make sense thatboras Will get credit for Harpets talent. Harper conceivably write his own contract with borax as could other players in this class
Amen
Boras is one of the top agents in the world and you rubes act like these players hired H.E. Pennypacker. Get over it, you’re wrong.
Pennypacker! Is he opening a silver mine in peru after this contract mess gets settled?
It baffles me that that there is a narrative being pushed that tanking is such a problem. Baseball is the only sport without a salary cap. How is that not ever discussed in this?
The lack of salary cap makes it hard for small market teams to keep their core players long term. That’s why teams need to tank for their survival.
What’s their alternative, create more distance between big and small market teams? Yeah that’s good for the league lol. But at least they will have succeeded in saddling teams with crippling contracts.
The Angels got robbed by their free agent signings. choo makes over 20 million a year. Would he even be on a roster if he was not getting paid like that?
Well fans discuss a salary cap all the time. As well as a salary floor. The truth of the matter is after the strike in 1994 the league almost died. Fans felt that arguments between millionaires and billionaires wasn’t worth it so neither side has wanted any potential issue with money since.
That said, I think you’re talking about the Rangers and Choo. Also no one put a gun to Jon Daniels’ head and sign Choo or else. They just responded to the market. Rangers fans get to be in line with every other fanbase and whine about having a bad free agent signing after they once hailed it as great.
Choo is on the Rangers Maybe you mean Pujols
Bless you
Nobody keeps players long term with a salary cap. What idiot would even believe salary caps allow teams to keep players???
Must be a fan of a big market team that uses financial leverage to gain competitive advantage.
I”m a fan of the Rays, the smallest revenue team, and I want no part of a salary cap.
If that’s the case, you are actually a Yankees fan who watches the Rays.
Yes, TomBradyRings, “financial leverage to gain an advantage” is a great description of capitalism. Welcome to America, where everyone wants socialism in sports leagues but not in our healthcare.
We’d rather die from a disease we can’t afford to treat than see the Yankees keep winning.
I love this post.
It’s not like that. The is without small market teams the league would cease to exist. Also, it’s kind of like devalues the accomplishment of winning when you need to use an advantage your competitor didn’t have to win. Yankees winning in 2009 after signing Sabathia/Texeria/Burnett was like a Warriors championship. Sabathia belonged in Milwaukee they loved him there and needed him. Never seemed right.
You points all conflict with one another. You are bemoaning that small market teams can’t keep their players long term (ie past initial control) and pointing out that teams that have signed big name players long term (ie past their initial control) have gotten burned and are stuck paying for junk.
So what:s the point? You want small market teams shelling out for players once they’ve ceased being useful? Like more Alex Gordon deals?
Baseball would be better if they relocated or disbanded the Florida teams, Pittsburgh and Oakland. Make them AAA cities, since they can’t get fans and/or an owner who will support the city.
Pittsburg should not be mentioned alongside the Florida teams. Oakland probably shouldn’t be either. Florida teams were ill conceived from the start and they’ve lived up to their promise, sadly.
The weird thing is, it’s not like they couldn’t see the problems of the Marlins before they added the Rays.
Florida had seen attendence under 2 million starting in just their second season, when the “newness” alone should have been putting fannies in the seats
They knew this before before awarding a franchise to Tampa Bay, and did it anyway (then instantly starting screaming that the game needed “contraction” with them attempting to get rid of the Expos and either A’s or Twins because *sigh*)
That second season was a strike shortened season that saw the N.L. average attendance at below the Marlins. In fact in the championship winning season of 1997, they were above league average in attendance. It only got bad after the first fire sale which has killed interest in the team for years. There was no reason to suspect that it would not work in Tampa based on the attendance of the Marlins at the time..
Yeah, check out how well that salary cap is working in the NFL. One team has been in the Super Bowl like six times in the last ten seasons, while another team, literally, went 0-16 this last season. Meanwhile, in MLB, a different team haas won each of the last five World Series, and the last three World Series has featured six different teams. Salary caps serve to put money into owners’ pockets, but they don’t serve competitive balance in the slightest.
The NFL is now 99% quarterback driven, up from 60% or so a few decades ago. That explains why a handful of teams have hogged the Lombardi.
Besides, “parity” refers to opportunity, not outcomes. Just because each team has an equal chance to win doesn’t mean each team will win equally.
In MLB, different teams must take different paths of different lengths to a championship. The Royals are the ONLY true small market team to win in the free agency era and two years later, they have already been dismantled.
In the NFL, no one says, “gee, Green Bay better go all in now before their window closes.” Their window is as wide open as anyone’s and their success or failure will come from their player personnel decisions, not a lack of money. Just like every other team.
Also, the players in the NFL, NBA and NHL are all enjoying record earnings because their salaries are tied to a guaranteed percentage of revenue while baseball players huddle at IMG waiting for table scraps because the owners can pay them whatever they like while pocketing the difference.
The Royals lost only Cain and Hosmer and added Duda and Jay as replacements. Escobar and Moode came back. Soria doesn’t count.
The Patroits aren’t a Small Market Team. Astros been able to keep their guys. Orlando was the choice before Tampa Bay and still should be a choice for MLB,NFL,NHL,WNBA and OKC to.
Hosmer. Cain. Moustakas. Cueto. Davis. Zobrist.
5 of the 6 best players on that team are gone and the only one left is there because his market collapsed.
“Astros have been able to keep their guys”? Houston is the 4th biggest city in America. And no NFL team is a “small market team” because of the cap and revenue sharing.
The KC Chiefs have the same chance to win as the NY Giants.
Is anyone going to argue with a straight face that the Royals have an equal chance to win as the Yankees?
A salary cap is a terrible idea. Teams are built around drafting and spending international pool money strategically. Every team gets to draft and they all get the same amount of pool money. Look at the consensus top teams for 2018: Astros, Cubs, Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, Indians, and Nationals. All of these teams have a core built from the draft with other parts acquired by free agent or trade (of prospects).
Also, take a look at the NBA. You have teams sitting players purposefully to lose games. There are 6 teams that are horrible this year.
NFL is not 99% driven by the QB. How did Nick Foles beat Tom Brady? The Seahawks demolished the greatest offense of all-time against Denver. The Broncos beat Cam Newton with a QB that threw for under 200 yards. The league is definitely NOT just a QB league. None of your comment makes any sense and just proves you have absolutely no argument.
@Matt Galvin
First, are you arguing Houston, the 4th largest City in the US, is somehow a small market club? They’re not.
Second, so you’re saying what we really need is a 3rd attempt at a Florida club since no one supports the other two?
Are we to ignore that the Orlando Metro area (2.3m population) is just the 3rd largest in Fla behind Miami (6m) and Tampa (3m) – or in other words, the two other Fla markets that don’t support their clubs
And Oklahoma City, despite having a great stadium and being the Dodgers farm club, was 20th in attendance in Minor League Baseball last year (and 17th of the AAA clubs) …so 19 other cities, including 2 with just AA clubs, supported baseball better than OKC
You are literally what I’m talking about…
“Yankees’ fans want to talk about how GREAT their team is, not how rich their team is”
The NFL is a QB driven league and the Yankees have advantages over other teams. Yeah, what crazy talk.
Do the Chiefs have an equal chance to win as the Giants? Yes.
Do the Royals have an equal chance to win as the Yankees?
Yes or no? The non-Upton Sinclair answer is no.
“Also, the players in the NFL, NBA and NHL are all enjoying record earnings because their salaries are tied to a guaranteed percentage of revenue while baseball players huddle at IMG waiting for table scraps ”
Your comment was making some sense until this statement, when you blew your credibility apart. This is one offseason where baseball is adjusting to a new market for mid-level players. The comparison in earnings (from their sport) is a joke. I’d tend to think that the majority of players in other sports would gladly trade their earnings and contract terms for their counterparts in MLB. What NFL player would say, “Nah, the NFL pays better”. NHL? Yeah, right. And in the NBA, sure some players earn HUGE dollars, but how many really? How many NBA players earn $20M+ annually? How many do in baseball?
In regards to long-term economics, MLB is by far the most rewarding for the the most players, and it’s not even close.
Every league is trying to get into Vegas right now even the MLB…no major team or league is going to Orlando…you might get a MLS team or something
That’s because in the NFL, one player such as the QB can make or break a team ! Same thing in the NBA !
NFL, NBA and NHL players are all guaranteed between 47 and 50% of the revenue in their leagues. Some estimates have MLB players getting as little as 38%.
The NFL salary cap and those teams that continue to do well shows more reason why you need one. Well run teams will continue to have success because they are well run and can balance the roster with salary cap issues. GMs that spend like a drunken sailor on Leave splurge on a free agent and then can’t afford to put a roster around them. A salary cap works in the 3 other sports, the MLB should have one as well.
“The NFL salary”
You’re on the wrong site, not me. Put a gun to my head and I couldn’t name three current NFL players, same for the NBA or any other sport you want to name.
I’m here for the baseball.
David, don’t be a Yahoo article. The team that went 0-16 is the absolute worst run team in professional sports and has around 4 wins the last three years combined. The Pats have the best quarterback of all time and arguably the best coach. Once one of those two retire they are done. Look at what happened when Jordan left the Bulls, or when Marino left the Dolphins
A salary cap isn’t the answer. I don’t know what is. However, what teams like the A’s are doing is a disgrace. They bemoan a small market when they are in the top five media markets in the country. They have a very wealthy ownership that refuses to invest in the team or helping upgrade the stadium they are in. When they are putting winning products on the field (1988-1993, 2000-2005) that place holds around 2.5 million people a year.
I’m all for teams doing what they want – if they have a 5 year plan and tear it down and rebuild then great – do it. But I can’t help but think the Marlins were thisclose to having a playoff team if they had just spent some money on pitching. Instead they gave their players away and are the pariah of the league.
Fans arguing to add teams should just look at Tampa and Miami and Pittsburgh to see what happens when you’re stuck in mid-market limbo. There’s a reason their owners don’t pack up and move in the middle of the night to Portland or San Antonio (besides leases). Their position wouldn’t change.
The league, the union, the players, the TV partners, the fans in big markets…not one of these groups wants anything to do with a salary cap.
The league and the TV partners make more money when the big market teams do well, so they keep their finger on the scale for them. The small market teams are window dressing in MLB.
Yankees’ fans want to talk about how GREAT their team is, not how rich their team is, meanwhile every NY team in a salary cap league is garbage right now because they are forced to compete on a level playing field.
None of these groups are going to rock the boat because the A’s, Rays, Pirates, Reds fans, etc. would like it.
A salary cap on the 2018 Yankees would help them tremendously. We have so many all-star players making league minimum (Judge, Sanchez, Severino, Bird, Torres, Andujar, Hicks, Green, etc) that we would be an even bigger threat to win it all. It’s hilarious because the Yankees are building a team around prospects and people still complain they are “buying” players. We don’t even have the top payroll anymore.
“We have so many all-star players making league minimum” so much to begin with. Of those players you mentioned two either haven’t played at the big league level or barely have. Yankees don’t have anyone outside of Judge-Severino-Sanchez who are All Star caliber players making the minimum.
Greg Bird, Gleyber Torres and Miguel Andujar (when they come up), Clint Frazier, Chad Green, Jordan Montgomery.
None of those players are all-star players right now. They might have the potential to be but so many things can happen before that can be said.
May not be all stars yet, but they’re potential all star caliber players as early as this year. How many other teams have ten or so players making less than 1 million dollars a year that have a real shot of being all stars in 2018?
I despise the way the NFL does it. A contract is a contract. You don’t get to tear up contracts unless both sides agree or have void/opt out clauses.
If a team signs a player for 6 years 120 million its a calculated risk and bc that player in year 3 has a bad year you shouldn’t be able to tear the rest up. You feel bad for the billionaire getting “burned” for 20 million dollars with the amount of revenue they take in.. I certainly don’t. It’s a business and when you sign a contract and it’s not going your way you deal with it not rip it up.
I hope MLB never changes the way they do things
It’s the equivalent of an opt out for the team though. It’s not like that every season. Most good players get two or three, sometimes more guaranteed years. They know their number isn’t guaranteed or is only guaranteed for injury after that. It makes sense because they can be kept for 4-5 years before hitting FA and the average NFL player probably doesn’t have more than 3-4 good years left after that because of the grueling sport it is. Football is a different beast entirely because of the toll it takes on your body that can cause rapid decline. The real issue is that NFL contracts are misreported as 5 years 50 million when it’s really 2/20 with three team option years.
Wait, do you really think that if the contracts were guaranteed in the NFL they would offer the same figures they do for a non guaranteed contract?
People should never compare the salary structures between the NFL and MLB.
Tanking is a problem. You have a professional league with almost a third of the teams actively not trying to win. That is a problem.
Name 10 MLB teams that are “actively not trying to win”. Let’s go through a few.
1. Royals: After signing Moustakas, Duda, and Escobar they aren’t trying to tank. Sure, they won’t compete but they still have a solid rotation and lineup.
2. A’s: This team is looking awfully good especially with the reported signing of Lucroy and the acquisition of Piscotty and Buchter. The A’s can mash the ball. Just need some breakout pitchers.
3. Phillies: Signed Carlos Santana and may be adding another starter before opening day. That rotation is already young and full of potential. The Phillies have a sneaky good lineup especially with full seasons from Hoskins and possibly Crawford.
I can keep going but the only teams that are talking without a real shot of winning are the Marlins, White Sox, and arguably the Rays.
Support what you say here except for the inclusion of the White Sox (they are about to be good again) and exclusion of the Tigers (how’d you forget them?)
I’d also say it’s clear Tampa is not trying to tank – they adjusted their roster and trimmed some salary (something they had to do because of their horrific market), but it can be argued they are about as good a team now as they were while setting themselves up better for the future. That’s not tanking, thats just smart manoeuvring within the market
J.P. Crawford can’t hit his way out of a paper sack.
Scott Kingery on the other hand looks like a mini-Mike Trout. I expect Kingery to be a runaway winner of the ROY in the N.L.
But the A’s
I hate this phone so bad!
It is total BS to say 1/3 of MLB teams are not trying to win. That is just the MLBPA tag line.
There have been quite a few teams that HAVE tanked recently! They might not call it that, but it’s that exactly !
AngerBot angry at cynicism. Yes, huge multi-year deals often bad decision for small or mid-market teams, but Oakland A’s projected 2018 payroll to be near $80 million with very little locked up in future years. That enough for AngerBot to field decent team of well-drafted talent and well-picked veterans. If lucky — like Yankees — young talent will surge and have immediate impact. And for some teams, cheaper free agents will mean more competitiveness (look at recent stories on this site).
Much working against free agents now. Still feeling out post-steroid era — old getting older faster. Fewer years makes sense for owners. Luxury tax at 197 million likely keeping 6 or 7 teams from spending more — Jays, Yankees, Dodgers, Cubs, Giants, Nats, Sox. Glut of aging, offense-heavy free agents competing for similar roster spots driving down price further.
And yet, AngerBot not socialist, but cannot understand such strong downward pressure on salary across the board. Total MLB revenue = over $10 billion (Nov, 2017, Forbes) while player salary = $4.3 billion (2018, est, Cot’s). For individual players, if number of contract years go down, annual salary should go up. Monopsony pressure at play?
AngerBot puzzled. And angry!
This seems to be a story every offseason, Boras concentrates on getting the best deals for his top dollar clients and most of the others get less than he said they would. The problem was this year the market was against him and he lost across the board, even more severely for some.
I don’t mind Boras, he’s just part of a system. I think his really problem is he cares more about his name than outcomes for all of his clients which makes him worthless to most of his clients.
Yet, they keep flocking to him.
I just get the sense that the way Boras operates is out of date by at least a decade now. The way the market works has passed him by. The guy is a dinosaur. He’d better adapt, or retire.
Borass needs to retire . He’s clearly out of touch with reality. Guaranteed contracts are burdensome towards their expiration and owners are starting to realize that metrics play a huge role in a players value. It’s the beginning of a new era in free agency .
All contracts in MLB are guaranteed. Maybe your point should be long term contracts more then not are burdensome…
Many contracts include significant performance bonuses and options, so in that sense they are only partially guaranteed.
Yeah but the incentives are usually only a fraction of the deal. Most of the money is guaranteed.
Player A signs a contract for X amount of years for 30 million that is guaranteed. If incentives are added he could earn say an extra 10 million but that amount is a “could earn” for the contract.
Maeda signed an 8-yr/$25 Million contract that could end up paying him $106 Million.
These contracts should be written more often, so player can “earn what the earn”…..and Teams only have to “Pay for Production”.
No they are fully guaranteed. An incentive is just a perfomance bonus.
Performance bonus money is conditional on factors the player may or may not control, so it is not guaranteed by any real definition of the word. What percentage of the overall contract is guaranteed varies from contract to contract, and is irrelevant to the point in any case.
Maeda’s contract is a perfect example of what I mean. He is guaranteed only $3m/year but can easily make $15m/year under the right conditions, none of which he actually controls.
That is silly.
No agent would have gotten those big deals.
Every site predicted more than they got.
Players with othes agents settled for less, too.
Did you tell owners who failed to pony up big dollars, in years past, they should get out because rhe days of small contracts were over?
I don’t buy for even a second that we’re in some sort of new era of free agency. This is just the sound of fans claiming that they’ve always been smarter than the baseball professionals about what players are worth. It sounds as much like nonsense this year as it did before. The main difference is the de facto salary cap depressing spending from the most flush teams and the number of other teams who are happily pocketing their revenue sharing funds. No metrics required to understand that.
Lots of downvotes but no rebuttals to the points being made. Interesting.
First off an extension offer is not a FA offer.
Second dangling is not an offer and certainly if it was serious they could have jumped in before he went to the Royals for 38 million less
Third, MLB knows a collusion case is coming and is attemting to influence perception not only of fans but possible arbitrators. Anonymous sources are not to be trusted
First, a contract offer to buy out FA years is a contract offer the player could have accepted
Second, the Angels made their offer at least before mid-December. Sure, it was never written down in official contract form since Moose/Boras indicated they would never even consider accepting it – that doesn’t somehow mean it was never offered for him to accept (you’re just parroting the childish ‘they didn’t pay their lawyers to offically draft it so no offer was made’ game Boras plays)
…and how in the world do you come up with something basically saying “well if the Angels really made that offer in Nov-Dec then they would have jumped to sign him in March – do time and alternative options just not exist in your world? On Dec 15th the Angels signed Cozart to play the position they offered to Moose; they moved on without him that day nearly 3 months ago.
Third, you apparently don’t know what collusion means and are just spouting mindless nonsense conspiracy theories because you don’t want to bother understanding anything.
If the y bring a collusion lawsuit……their Goose Is Cooked. Fans will be outraged everywhere. It will just serve to tarnish their image…….Besides…..
1. Teams being smart doesn’t add up to collusion.
2. Players aren’t “entitled” to maximum compensation.
3. “The New Luxury Tax Deal” is an excellent reason to reduce spending this winter.
4. The Players Association AGREED to the Luxury Tax. Didn’t they do their Homework before signing it???
5. If the “Overpaid Players” sue for More Money……Fans will Snap. Players are already “Filthy Rich”. Go ahead and use that “without the players, there’s no game” excuse……but it’s no different than any other business……”If You Quit, Someone WILL Take Your Place”.
43 Players ,ake Over $20 Million/yr
69 Players make over $15 Million/yr
130 Players make over $10 Milion/yr
249 Players make over $5 Million/yr
Most people don’t make $5 Million in their whole Lifetime. These guys Play Baseball as their Job.
“THERE’S NO CRYING IN BASEBALL”
Not to mention the Astros gave Correa 1 million out of good will which is like a 350k raise or something like that and the 2nd highest pre arb salary ever, and he was so offended he wouldn’t even sign the contract.
@22222pete
I was about to jump in an nail you for your ignorance but darkstar and others have done such a great job of it already. Read those comments and you may learn something
Collusion ? Are you still on that silly perception ? Really ? If it was collusion, no players would be getting signed to big contracts to help any trans at all !
Teams at all! This phone is messed up! Sorry !
The only players worth the huge long term contracts are the perennial MVP candidates. The rest of the money should be spent on player development and giving solid performers 3-5 year contracts that are front loaded. Simple.
Also, looking at the current trend, middling starting pitchers should be clamoring to become bullpen studs. Those guys are still raking.
Upvote.
Yeah but the structure of the deal shouldn’t always be front loaded. If you’re near the end of your window backloading might be beneficial if it gives you room to add another guy, or if your the Nationals and you’ve deferred so much money you’re paying more for today’s roster in 20 years than you will be for the 2038 roster haha
Agreed re: frontloading. It’s the only reason why I can stomach the recent Hosmer contract…..say what you want about the length (I would have preferred him not being signed by the team at all), but having him paid more for his “prime years” and likely at what will be slightly above-average for his downturn years isn’t terrible. Makes a significant overpay palatable.
It’s funny how one offseason has fundamentally changed the game. No one was talking about these issues until January, and now it’s a broken system bc 10-20 free agents got paid less than projected.
Blame the Players Union for not seeing this coming and not preparing.
Correct……
After All…….THEY SIGNED THE AGREEMENT!!!!!!!
Commi-Unions have ruined every industry they’ve ever been involved with. Baseball will prove to be no different.
If tanking only helps small market teams reset and stay competitive, why did the Cubs do it? If a team needs to purposely tank strictly because they are too small market then perhaps they need to be relocated to a market that allows them resources to compete every year or perhaps retraction is in order.
Well just ask yourself why is almost half the teams tanking? Because players asking price is way to high so right now the best way to have a successful franchise is go for young controllable players instead of risk the albatross. The goal is the win here. Unions aren’t happy about that so they are suing
Teams don’t do it because they’re a small market. They do it because they want to build a juggernaut like the Cubs and Astros.
Or maybe a career 250 hitter like Moustakas who strikes out a quarter of the time is worth 30 million a season for the next 5 years. I doubt it tho
I enjoy sarcasm when it’s presented properly……Thank You Doc!!!
A large portion of the MLB Fan Base have completely lost their minds……and have “No Idea” what the word “Value” means. I’d have to guess that most of the people who cry for players to “Get More Money” are simply grumpy employees who feel underappreciated at their own jobs. The Hate for Business Owners is widespread among those folks, and it’s often appalling. If they only knew the Life Of A Business Owner………..
I believe that front offices hire people to make comments here. Only explanation on why so many seem to be so protective of billiomaire’s moneys.
Players make horrific personal decisions resulting in problems for themselves and everyone is supposed to find vast evil conspiracies to explain it away or they are being paid by the teams?
Moose could have made 17.5m in 2018
Moose could have made 45m from 18-20
Moose chose to instead make 6.5 by refusing to accept the reality of the situation
Fact is, he’s just not that good with tons of red flags indicating he wasnt really worth the years/money he was demanding anyway and that there were almost no teams in search of a 3B. He should have been able to recognize that and not price himself out of the market – his failure to do so is nobody’s fault but his
This^^^^^
Spot On darkstar
AND his agent!
Oh my god baseballfan22 what about the enormous amount of people here insulting the owners and crying that the players deserve more or are “victims”.
Perhaps the MLBPA hires people to make such posts huh? Or the agents or both?
Who’s “protective” of anyone else’s money, whether it be player, agent, owner, or the guy who runs the gas station down the street? I think most people on here realize that is America, a free market society where everyone has the freedom to make as much money as they can—poor or mega rich—and no one has the right to tell anyone else how to spend their money.
If a billionaire owner, with revenues of $500M per year, wants to spend the bare minimum on payroll that is his right. If a player wants to seek the absolute most dollars, and is willing to wait until it comes, that is his right too.
I think it all comes down to cord cutting. Regional Sports networks have been charging all cable subscribers for baseball networks. Most of whom never watch the games. With less cable subscribers that money is not only not growing it will decrease. Also ESPN has lost a ton of money off sports programming due to decreasing viewership. Revenue will be going down and the owners are reacting. Peak salaries have been reached.
That is indeed a double-edged sword. While ESPN has lost subscribers over the last 5 years they have reported record sponsors revenue having contracts with the NFL and NBA who don’t rely on regional networks. All networks keep increasing their fees every time their contracts are renewed with Cable companies be it Sports or AMC..for example.
Peak salaries have been reached, even as revenue continues to increase? How do you figure?
Are we going to be seeing a lot fewer teams offering qualifying offers next year, or a lot more players accepting qualifying offers? Or, both?
Good post tiger……..I think it will be “Both”.
Fewer QO’s and a higher percentage of players accepting them. It’s possible that “The Number” will go down significantly if that happens. It’s all connected…..but it’s Math……lol
Boras did well for Hosmer and JDM. The Arrieta situation is unresolved. Moose and Cargo were obviously catastrophes (for the player), The market is telling agents to review their negotiating strategies. If you don’t have prime highly sought-after FA, waiting for the maximum dollar may not be wise.-find a good placement and a solid contract and don’t torture yourself worrying about whether you got the last dollar, Boras has a particular problem in that he’s representing too many, so waiting may not just be a bargaining strategy, but also a logistical one–he needs more time.
In fairness to the agents, both MLBTR and crowdsourced predictions were much higher for many players. Who wants to be the player/agent that takes the early deal that is 60% of what the predicted value was?
But the early deals were NOT 60% of what was predicted at all. Example Moose was offered 3 years at average of $15m. And please do not say its a percent of what the “market predicted”. There is no such thing.
MLBTR prediction and contest is just a fun guessing game. Its not the “market” predicting. The market does not predicts. The market says how it is period
It is the agents job to study
and try to predict the market. They didn’t do a very good job of that this year at all ! Plus the players didn’t do enough thinking for themselves either!
A lot of the folks who are commenting on here complaining about “billionaire owners” making too much money give me the impression that they just don’t like billionaires.
So, they assign nefarious reasons to the owners for the FA market not continuing to pay aging players well past their primes.
Well, maybe there are nefarious actions by the owners, but I doubt it because being nefarious wasn’t isn’t necessary. Analytics and past experience has taught teams that paying a guy – any guy – past the age of 35 is likely to be a lot of dead money, and past the age of 33 is risky too.
And how is it nefarious that the owners negotiated a CBA collectively WITH the players union right across the table. All the owners are now doing is reacting rationally to the deal the union negotiated.
But what bothers me the most is how all of the pro player/union guys that comment ignore the nefarious actions by the union.
That tells me they probably didn’t completely read the JJ Cooper piece over at BA that Jeff linked.
The union has spent years screwing, international players, minor leaguers and high school kids to whom they deny representation by negotiating on their behalf, whether it be spending limits on the draft (which are supposed to benefit current MLB players by limiting money spent there and redirecting the money to them), spending limits on international FAs who are kids (by limiting the money teams can spend on them) and completely ignoring the plight of minor leaguers for which many pro-player posters here blame the teams.
And the union gets away with it because of baseballs anti-trust exemption. They like it as much as the owners do because it lets them set terms for people who they don’t even represent.
The union and players a bunch of good, un-greedy guys? Here a a few choice quotes from the BA piece:
” In exchange for chefs in the clubhouse and extra off days, the owners managed to severely restrict free agent spending, tamp down international amateur bonuses and keep the qualifying offers that have proven to douse a free agent’s market. The players got some nice perks. The owners figured out a way to save millions of dollars.”
As much money as Moustakas lost this offseason, it pales in comparison to how much Angels RHP/DH Shohei Ohtani lost because he was subject to the new international bonus restrictions that limited him to a minor league contract and capped his signing bonus.
Under the previous CBA, Ohtani would have been a free agent subject to the posting system, allowed to sign a major league deal for whatever contract he desired, likely $150 million or more.
The players gamble was that by screwing international players like Ohtani (who, until he signed, was not a union member), additional money would be freed up to spend on free agents.”
Here’s the link again ICYMI: baseballamerica.com/stories/owners-emerging-as-cle…
The players are JUST as greedy as the owners, but negotiated a bad deal.
Now they’re whining about their own short-sightedness and incompetence.
question. isnt a job just that ? i cant go on strike cause i dont make the wage i think i deserve. why does this happen in bb? all this stuff turns me off. if a player negotiates a good contract he should be content. imo its none of my business what the owner makes. geez
So where are all the Scott Boras ass kickers who worship him and always comment on how great he is or you “cannot bet against” Boras or Boras always comes through or he always surprises or always gets MORE then predicted???
Where art thou???
Boras defenders …. Cat go your tongue? Lol
i really dislike boras
I don’t get it. You guys are blaming Mlb, agents, players, owners. It is what it is.
Owners have been burned many times for players not preforming
. Let’s look at 2016. All those top players who were FA.
Price, Cuteo, Umpton, Heyward, ZG, Zimmerman, the shark, Kris Davis. I can go on. All signed mega deals. None really have lived up to the dollars.
This is not the 90,s 80’s no more. Those days are done. You can’t blame anyone.
A player is worth what someone going to pay. No different than your car or house. You might think it’s worth this or that. Maybe your car has $2000 wheels on it. . But it is worth what someone will pay simple as that. Teams are going younger with few older players to compliment the puzzle. The days of but everyone are over. Even for teams like NY, LA and SF. Fans better get use to it.
Players will sign but it won’t be crazy 7-10 year deals no more. If so a lot of indentures and opts. It will be more of I’ll give you this and show me your worth that and you get paid. Not I’ve done this and that. It’s not what you know it’s what you can prove. Welcome to the 2018 and beyond. Just saying. You can’t force someone to pay this and that. There’s a lot of players in the minor league and even in mlb who are in the shadows just waiting.
Kris Davis ? I don’t think he belongs in that group of players just yet!
But not but typo**
You can’t have your cake, and eat it too
Did any of you ever stop to think that maybe Boris advised Moustakas against turning down that QV? or advised him to take an early deal and Moustakas told him he wanted more money and years?
Haha Bruinsfan you are a joke and a Boras ass kisser! No sir, no one but you is naive enough to believe Boras advised Moustakas to take the QO nor is there any way anyone can be dumb enough to think Boras said take the 3/45 offer and Moustakas said hell no! I want more money! I want more years!
Sorry but your hero, Scott Boras, blew it big time!