2020 salary terms still need to be sorted out. But what about what’s owed to players beyond that point? The near-term economic picture remains questionable at best. That’ll make teams all the more cautious with guaranteed future salaries.
Every organization has some amount of future cash committed to players, all of it done before the coronavirus pandemic swept the globe. There are several different ways to look at salaries; for instance, for purposes of calculating the luxury tax, the average annual value is the touchstone, with up-front bonuses spread over the life of the deal. For this exercise, we’ll focus on actual cash outlays that still have yet to be paid.
We’ll run through every team, with a big assist from the Cot’s Baseball Contracts database. Prior entries can be found here. Next up is the Giants:
*Includes buyouts on club options over Evan Longoria, Johnny Cueto, Buster Posey, and Wilmer Flores
*Reflects remaining portion of Evan Longoria salary owed by Rays
*Includes remaining signing bonus obligation to Johnny Cueto
(click to expand/view detail list)
You know it’s going to be a rough rebuild when letting your best starter and best reliever walk for comp picks is “trimming long-term payroll obligations”.
And the NL West is so tough to make any headway in now.
Generally I would agree but I think they see the widow on the dodgers starting to close in the next three years and are trying to come up as the dodgers descend, much like the dodgers did when the window on the Giants started to close in 13. Of course the giants bounced back and won a title in 14 so timing this sort of thing is always a crap shoot, but I think about 2022 the Giants start getting real exciting to watch.
I don’t quite see your analogy being an appropriate one. Prudent decision-making(and thorough scouting/analytics) from the front office will be significant factors in SF improving as well as LAD sustaining their success. The Giants winning 3 rings had more to do a future HOF manager utilizing fortunate moves by Sabean, and key players stepping up when it really counts(Bumgarner, Pence, Panda, etc).
To add: a potential LAD decline, it may happen, much of it hinges upon how Boras’ clients(Bellinger & Seager) are retained long term.
Meh. The Dodgers have tons of depth and talent waiting in the wings. I don’t see their window closing anytime soon (and I say this a a Giants fan).
The Dodgers don’t have a window closing. They are a fine tuned machine that keeps churning out young talent year after year.
The Dodgers have been winning since 2013 and maintain a top farm system every step of the way. They’ve consistently spent money in the free agent market place and traded prospects/young talent for win-now pieces, both of which can expedite a decline. They’re constantly uncovering hidden assets and utilize a tremendous amount of depth.
I’m not a Dodgers fan by any means, but as long as Andrew Friedman is running the show, they aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. Even on contracts and assets they miss on, they aren’t the nine-figure weights of other large markets.
Money and elite management are the easiest ways to maintain success, and they got em until proven otherwise.
It’s hard to survive with your take, I also am not a dodger fan by any means but as a Giants fan I have learned you don’t count out the dodgers until they are mathematically eliminated from a season and even then they have a knack for playing the spoiler. But I think there is a sense of urgency for them to win as Clayton ages and cody and A few other players start to get to the end of Arbitration, the Betts trade signaled this to likely be the case. I agree they have the farm system to retool and the money to keep those players/replenish through free agency, but I think from the Giants perspective timing is everything and it makes the most sense to begin to improve at the MLB level as a potential LA retool/ rebuild is beginning. But i admit that is a tricky scenario to time and above my expertise level, but I am not Farhad or Andrew so I will just enjoy watching their dance play out.
The Giants .Lol
So, what is your complaint about this article? What are the Giants doing so horrible by trimming payroll?
Bumgarner is an average starter at this point. Look no further than the fact that he got average starter money. And a team like the Giants has no business paying a reliever 3/$40M. They have a much improved farm system and will have loads of cash to spend when they’re ready to contend.
He might be talking about Johnny Cueto. Letting him go the offseason. Madison Bumgarner is already gone.
No man, he was definitely talking about Bumgarner. Cueto is an unknown commodity now, and most Giants fans see his contract as a bust.
Paying relievers big money is a horrible investment……and Bumgarner, bless him……is mediocre. at this point.
Zaidi gets bashed, but anyone that can offload Melancon’s contract and get prospects…..plus turn Pomeranz into Dubon is doing a good job. Especially considering the nightmare he was left.
Not to mention finding diamonds in the rough like Yastrzemski. I get it, he was a 28-year-old rookie, but he was among the best hitters in the NL after the All-Star break. Dickerson was really good too when healthy.
If the owners win their $1 billion grievance against major-league baseball which is a very good possibility for unfair labor practice could see the mess salary dumps. And is a very good chance you could see one or two teams file bankruptcy
The owners file a grievance against themselves!!??
It is difficult to expect much from the SFG. Crawford seems to not have the range for an adequate SS and is a Mendoza-line hitter.. Belt has concussions, knee and declining trend issues. How does a team suffer thru a 1B with an 98 OPS+? Unlikely Cueto could become an average KBO pitcher at 33+ but his contract seems to be a total failure thanks to prior management.. Longoria is now just a league average guy, at least he isn’t a dead weight like most of his highly paid infield starters. Posey is a total black-box going forward. The farm system honestly isn’t interesting. Are there any starters that are exciting? No. Ramos has been injured and will miss the year. So Bart is the possible star. The only saving grace is that the Rockies are likely worse and the Padres constantly make terrible decisions.
Reality check!
This beyond the worst take I’ve ever read. FYI Ramos will not miss the whole year. Marco Luciano has a chance to be the best hitting prospect in baseball. Jose Marte is a very exciting pitching prospect. Seth Corry is also exciting, he resembles a young Matt Moore. Hunter Bishop looks like a beast. Kyle Harrison could also be an under the radar prospect. Such a polished high school pitcher, he’s only going to get better.
Wtf? What are you talking about. Ramos’s injury was well over a year ago.
The farm system isn’t interesting……do you pay attention?. Bart, Ramos, and Luciano are top 50 prospects with all-star potential. Luciano has MVP type potential. They have multiple other high hit tool prospects as well. I’ll give you pitching being weak, but uninteresting is laughable..
And btw….everyone pans the Cueto contract. He was just fine, arguable elite pre-blowing out the elbow. I bet he has a sub 3.5 ERA this year.
i disagree. Bart is a good C prospect but i dont think he’ll ever fill Posey’s boots. Ramos has been inconsistent in the minors and still needs to refine his game, and Luciano is still very young and not shown anything above the rookie ball level. i think anyone has every right to be apprehensive about that trio.
So Bart can’t be a good player unless he fills Posey cleats. Do you know how ridiculous that sounds.
Wilmer Flores is not signed through 2022 with an option for 2023. He is signed through 2021 with an option for 2022.
Otherwise spot on.
Rightyspecialist. Lol
Between Kean and Jake, could it be that the Giants are headed in the WONG direction??
Us Giants fans know we aren’t gonna see exciting baseball in some time. I’m content with the 3 rings though. Not sure how Dodgers fans feel.