***OFFICIAL 2017 MLB HOT STOVE THREAD***

[simpdog]

I never really understand arbitration especially with your star players.

Marcus Stroman took to Twitter on Thursday to express his displeasure with losing his arbitration case against the Toronto Blue Jays. In a series of Tweets, Stroman said, "The negative things that were said against me, by my own team, will never leave my mind." Later, Stroman added he's "not mad at all" with how the process played out.


So now you head into Spring Training and Stroman is pissed off over $400k. The club offered 6.5 and he wanted 6.9mill. I realize it's a business and you can't cave into every player's demands but you're leaving a bad taste in their mouth.

On that note I don't understand how baseball ended up where it is with regards to salaries. Younger players earn peanuts and you hope you last/have a couple good seasons so you can cash in at 20-30 mill a year and start declining during your huge payday.

[Sanlmar]

.On that note I don't understand how baseball ended up where it is with regards to salaries. Younger players earn peanuts and you hope you last/have a couple good seasons so you can cash in at 20-30 mill a year and start declining during your huge payday.

I waffle back and forth on this.

I offer this. Entire minor league systems exists to develop an extremely low number of kids who have any realistic shot.

The scouts, the coaches, the multiple minor league levels and all the kids that are brought in as fodder for the real prospects to play and practice against. All that has a cost.

You aren’t waltzing into the MLB directly from college or some third world island. You get a draft bonus and then shit gets expensive for the team.

It’s so hard for the kids who get drafted to be real about their chances. So many kids leave Junior year of college and 4 years later are nowhere with little hope.

[Dan Druff]

I never really understand arbitration especially with your star players.

Marcus Stroman took to Twitter on Thursday to express his displeasure with losing his arbitration case against the Toronto Blue Jays. In a series of Tweets, Stroman said, "The negative things that were said against me, by my own team, will never leave my mind." Later, Stroman added he's "not mad at all" with how the process played out.


So now you head into Spring Training and Stroman is pissed off over $400k. The club offered 6.5 and he wanted 6.9mill. I realize it's a business and you can't cave into every player's demands but you're leaving a bad taste in their mouth.

On that note I don't understand how baseball ended up where it is with regards to salaries. Younger players earn peanuts and you hope you last/have a couple good seasons so you can cash in at 20-30 mill a year and start declining during your huge payday.

I've complained about the baseball salary structure for a long time, and the response I always get is, "Well, the teams need to have some incentive to develop talent in the minors."

Then they point out the significant investment all teams have in the minors, such as 7-figure signing bonuses for tons of players who never make it.

So basically the first 6 years of a player's career are payback for the risk the team took on him in the minors, plus a reward for the team for successfully drafting and developing him.

But still... something needs to change.

Teams are finally realizing that these after-peak free agent contracts are almost never worth the money, and laughably, in the rare cases they are, the player often has an opt-out clause after 3-4 years. (Zack Greinke for the Dodgers was a good example of this.)

So now teams are rebelling and just saying, "You know what? We don't need this shit. We'll just stick with the cheaper talent we already have."

They need to change this.

I agree with you that the arbitration process over peanuts is LOL, especially when they fight it out with productive players. Like the Marlins went to arbitration with both Realmuto and Bour -- among the very few good players they have left. Bour won, and Realmuto lost. The difference they were fighting for was, again, like $500k or less.

Anyway, there needs to be a shift in how players are paid. Maybe the market will accomplish it naturally, but there's already talk of another strike.

I've always felt it would be fair to have free agent contracts mostly based upon incentives, with a relatively low base, and a high reward for performing. That would also prevent free agents from getting fat and lazy once they have a 6-year contract signed for big $.

[GrenadaRoger]

.On that note I don't understand how baseball ended up where it is with regards to salaries. Younger players earn peanuts and you hope you last/have a couple good seasons so you can cash in at 20-30 mill a year and start declining during your huge payday.

I waffle back and forth on this.

I offer this. Entire minor league systems exists to develop an extremely low number of kids who have any realistic shot.
m
The scouts, the coaches, the multiple minor league levels and all the kids that are brought in as fodder for the real prospects to play and practice against. All that has a cost.

You aren’t waltzing into the MLB directly from college or some third world island. You get a draft bonus and then shit gets expensive for the team.

It’s so hard for the kids who get drafted to be real about their chances. So many kids leave Junior year of college and 4 years later are nowhere with little hope.

re: minor leagues--I recall reading only 1 in 10 minor leagues players ever spend as much as a single day on a big league roster---and those that make it there are more likely taken in the early rounds of the amateur draft...the work time for a players in the low minors often work out to a hourly wage below minimum wage -- despite that, each minor leaguer believes they will make it

[jsearles22]

You have to admit that all of these guys still being available in mid-february when spring training is starting is pretty insane:

[gut]

You have to admit that all of these guys still being available in mid-february when spring training is starting is pretty insane:

LOL, not sure what site that is from, but their market values are waaaaaaay off.

If anyone thinks Melky's worth more money than CarGo, or that Valencia is worth more than Neil Walker.....i'd love to see them run an MLB team.

[GambleBotsChafedPenis]

just saw on the fox crawl that hosmer agreed to 8/144 with the padres...im gonna guess this is a decent chunk below what he thought he was gonna get...

[mulva]

just saw on the fox crawl that hosmer agreed to 8/144 with the padres...im gonna guess this is a decent chunk below what he thought he was gonna get...

they got a nice player. but bats go to die in SD. maybe hossey will be different

[limitles]

just saw on the fox crawl that hosmer agreed to 8/144 with the padres...im gonna guess this is a decent chunk below what he thought he was gonna get...

they got a nice player. but bats go to die in SD. maybe hossey will be different

What colour is your favourite player? Did he get to where he is through talent/scholarship or was he picked out of the general population
as a necessity?

[gut]

just saw on the fox crawl that hosmer agreed to 8/144 with the padres...im gonna guess this is a decent chunk below what he thought he was gonna get...

This is an interesting deal that the Padres probably "won" over Boras, although I'm personally still not fan of Hosmer as a cornerstone/highest paid player of a franchise.

The deal is basically only 5/105...5 signing bonus and 20/year. The interesting part is the player option after year 5, as the final 3 years are knocked back to 3/39. So if Hosmer puts up stats similar to last years over the next 5 years, obviously he will opt out. If he crashes at some point and becomes a -ev player, he would then probably opt in, but even then the 3/39 isnt a disaster for the Padres to be paying.....assuming of course he doesnt flop right away, then it all looks bad.

[mulva]

they got a nice player. but bats go to die in SD. maybe hossey will be different

What colour is your favourite player? Did he get to where he is through talent/scholarship or was he picked out of the general population
as a necessity?

moar videos, less text.

[gut]

...and another way to look at it: Padres give out a record deal for their franchise to sign who is now the third best 1B in their division.

[GambleBotsChafedPenis]

JD 5/110 to the sauwks...

@ boras

[Dan Druff]

JD 5/110 to the sauwks...

@ boras

Pretty good result for the Sawks. They'll be playing him at DH and will get to avoid the negative defensive value he otherwise brings.

He's 30 1/2 years old right now, so 5 years is fine. He will probably regress some in the final 2 years, maybe 3 years, but I'm guessing he won't fall off a cliff, barring injury. He's had 4 very good years in a row (with 2017 being the best), so all signs point to him continuing to be a force at the plate. Spent most of his life in the AL so there won't be any adjustment (though the adjustment tends to be tougher for pitchers, for obvious reasons).

[GambleBotsChafedPenis]

that deal is gold for the sauwks...they wont get hit hard with the regression bug...hes not gonna be the same at 36 as he is now, but he can still be a decently productive player at that age...

man agents must be FUMING that those 10 year mega deals for guys who are 30-31 are a thing of the past...

[Sanlmar]

If this deal takes Machado, Harper and others off the Sawks menu its all good.

I snap bought Sawks v Yankees for April 10. I’ll bet they will be giving away snow shovels or mittens that night so it should be a good take.

The outfield bleachers or the pedestrians on Lansdowne Street won’t be safe when the Yankees are at bat.

[GambleBotsChafedPenis]

If this deal takes Machado, Harper and others off the Sawks menu its all good.

I snap bought Sawks v Yankees for April 10. I’ll bet they will be giving away snow shovels or mittens that night so it should be a good take.

The outfield bleachers or the pedestrians on Lansdowne Street won’t be safe when the Yankees are at bat.

I mean it's a pretty reasonable deal...don't know if that takes them outta the running for anybody...they probably will be outta the harper shitshow with this, but they still might be able to swing machado for 25 per...

makes me wonder if we're gonna see 10/500 for harper...I mean it's a totally different situation because he's in his mid-20s so it COULD still happen, but the deep pocketed money is starting to be sucked up really quick...

[Dan Druff]

If this deal takes Machado, Harper and others off the Sawks menu its all good.

I snap bought Sawks v Yankees for April 10. I’ll bet they will be giving away snow shovels or mittens that night so it should be a good take.

The outfield bleachers or the pedestrians on Lansdowne Street won’t be safe when the Yankees are at bat.

Baltimore, KC, and Detroit will all be at home on opening day, March 29.

Bless those fans who have paid a lot of money for those tickets.

[gut]

JD happened like I thought it would after the Hosmer deal. it seems the ultimate compromise now between Boras and the owners is shorter (but frontloaded) deals, with higher AAV's but also player options. JD got two, so he either signed for 2/50, 3/72, or 5/110...depending on what he wants to do.

I wouldnt be shocked to see him opt out the first time, after 2 years, if he performs well.

[GambleBotsChafedPenis]

JD happened like I thought it would after the Hosmer deal. it seems the ultimate compromise now between Boras and the owners is shorter (but frontloaded) deals, with higher AAV's but also player options. JD got two, so he either signed for 2/50, 3/72, or 5/110...depending on what he wants to do.

I wouldnt be shocked to see him opt out the first time, after 2 years, if he performs well.

I'm confused...OK so a guy get a frontloaded "mega-money" deal for 2 years and gets to go FA again...does he think that all of a sudden his guys in their 30s are gonna get lavished with 8 year deals? that all of a sudden their production is gonna keep increasing?