Has anyone considered that the Yankees and Dodgers essentially sitting this FA period out is having a bigger ripple effect than anyone anticipated? Those two not spending in free agency decreases the pressure on other teams in their respective leagues to spend, and this could create a logjam like the one we're seeing. It might be smartest for some of these players to take the Cespedes route and sign a 1 year deal to be available for the spending spree teams are already planning for next offseason.

They can moan and groan all they want but GM's are just smarter now.

 

It's not like team payrolls aren't going up they are just being smarter with how they devote their resources.

Agreed and as many have pointed out already, numerous bad contracts have paved the way to the situation at hand. I'm all for owners spending money, just not stupidly.

It's not like team payrolls aren't going up

 

It actually is like that.

Has anyone considered that the Yankees and Dodgers essentially sitting this FA period out is having a bigger ripple effect than anyone anticipated? Those two not spending in free agency decreases the pressure on other teams in their respective leagues to spend, and this could create a logjam like the one we're seeing. It might be smartest for some of these players to take the Cespedes route and sign a 1 year deal to be available for the spending spree teams are already planning for next offseason.

But the other side of this...if you narrowly made the playoffs last year or were close...Twins, Rockies, Diamondbacks, Red Sox, maybe Nationals, Brewers....one of these guys will cost you a lot more next year. Go take your shot this year. Good chance I'm saying that about the White Sox next year.

It actually is like that.

 

This article is misleading because he is comparing opening day payrolls to today when there are so many FA available. If payroll does decrease it will be negligible. What is more likely is the term for many of these players won't be what their agents are looking for. They'll get their AAV just not the term.

Josh Reddick was a pretty consistent 2.5-3 WAR player and he signed for 4/$52 last year.

Would Boras take that for Hosmer/Moustakas? Hosmer is inconsistent - he'll have a 3-4 WAR year, and then a 0 WAR year. Moustakas is inconsistent too.

The tanking teams has something to do with it, but it's also a fact that the market has changed...these 30 year old good/not great players just don't have the value they did.

Josh Reddick was a pretty consistent 2.5-3 WAR player and he signed for 4/$52 last year.

Would Boras take that for Hosmer/Moustakas? Hosmer is inconsistent - he'll have a 3-4 WAR year, and then a 0 WAR year. Moustakas is inconsistent too.

The tanking teams has something to do with it, but it's also a fact that the market has changed...these 30 year old good/not great players just don't have the value they did.

 

 

The other problem is the player agents have badly misjudged the market.

 

The longer they wait the more apt teams are to make trades to fill in holes which many have already done.

Pretty awesome article here how Boras is trying to hold MLB FA hostage and why he will fail:

 

https://www.athleticsnation.com/2018/2/9/16...ony-clark-mlbpa

If we still had Tatis, Jr., we wouldn't even have to worry about signing Machado for $250-300 million. Being out of those sweepstakes, we could instead focus on the second tier of FA's (spreading money around) to give you solid 2-3 WAR players around our young core. If the White Sox put all their eggs in the basket of signing Machado or Harper and that FA then went all Albert Belle as an Oriole, that would put a huge dent in their competitive window unless we still hit on as many prospects as the Cubs managed to do.

 

We'd also CLEARLY have the best farm system in all of MLB, not an argument with 2-3 others teams currently staking a position.

 

And if we still had Tatis Jr., we may have never started the rebuild and we could continue being a 75 win team for the next 5 years. This horse can't be any more dead.

Like every industry you can’t pay workers too much or you will go out of business and everyone loses their jobs.

Let’s start a list of major professional sports teams which went bankrupt.

1.

 

Who here is going to walk into their employer and demand a lower salary so the company can lower costs and “win” market share? If I was a player I’d have Boras as an agent. I want someone getting me every last penny. Pro athletes are competitive, at everything. That includes whose got the biggest check.

Like every industry you can’t pay workers too much or you will go out of business and everyone loses their jobs.

Let’s start a list of major professional sports teams which went bankrupt.

1.

 

Who here is going to walk into their employer and demand a lower salary so the company can lower costs and “win” market share? If I was a player I’d have Boras as an agent. I want someone getting me every last penny. Pro athletes are competitive, at everything. That includes whose got the biggest check.

 

 

Buerhle was willing to do it to keep Uribe around...or defer more.

Buerhle was willing to do it to keep Uribe around...or defer more.

 

Buehrle took the largest contract offered to him by the marlins and left.

Buehrle took the largest contract offered to him by the marlins and left.

 

What did the White Sox offer to keep him?

What did the White Sox offer to keep him?

 

Does it matter? You are trying to prove that the system isn’t about making as much money as possible by adding one insignificant example that meant nothing in the long run

Does it matter? You are trying to prove that the system isn’t about making as much money as possible by adding one insignificant example that meant nothing in the long run

 

What field of endeavor does a worker deliberately NOT try to maximize earnings?

 

Priest/monk....non-profit/charitable org workers, pro bono lawyers.

Edited February 28, 20188 yr by caulfield12

What field of endeavor does a worker deliberately NOT try to maximize earnings?

 

Priest/monk....non-profit/charitable org workers, pro bono lawyers.

 

I turned down a job interview for significantly more money just because I didn't want to leave the situation I am in now.

I turned down a job interview for significantly more money just because I didn't want to leave the situation I am in now.

 

But that’s not an industry-specific trend...

But that's not an industry-specific trend...

 

So a Priest is a baseball specific thing? You are just making stuff up now.