2019 Misc MLB News

[TURBO]

Poor Manny... Though it makes me feel good that he might not make his 300 million, he is still going to be beyond rich, whatever his contract ends up to be.

 

Punk.

 

 

 

According to Jon Heyman, neither the Phillies nor the White Sox have offered close to the $300 million-plus that free agent Manny Machado is requesting.

 

There isn't so much pressure for them to go that high when the Yankees seem only willing to sign him at a bargain rate and no one else is in the mix at all. The market for Machado should be significantly hotter, but the entire league is more fixated on profits than winning.

 

Source: Jon Heyman on TwitterJan 9 - 2:32 PM

[xisxisxis]

the entire league is more fixated on profits than winning.

 

Where did Manny Machado = winning? Certainly didn't solve the Orioles problems...

 

Capitalism really sucks for a baseball player... I mean having to scrape by on millions of $ per month... /tears

[DuWayne Steurer]

That Trevor Bauer situation over the last four five days is weird as heck. He's always been known as kind of a tool, but that situation really takes the cake. I'm usually in the camp that doesn't really care what players do I have the field as long as they're not getting suspended, but he's a guy I absolutely don't want to see the Brewers ever pursue

[SRB]

Although I'm generally sympathetic to the owners squeezing the players as revenues soar, I never understood why we were all supposed to just accept that Harper/Machado would get the largest free agent contracts in history.

 

They are relatively young but not without red flags. In particular, Machado was mediocre for much of 2017, and Bryce Harper only has one truly elite or even MVP-caliber season out of seven.

 

The potential is enormous, but do you give a $300 million contract to potential alone?

 

The media has been acting like these guys are vintage A-Rod or vintage Pujols, who were machines that could be counted to give you an MVP season every single year. That's not the case with Machado or Harper. (The only current player who is in that league is Mike Trout.)

 

Then again, I was mystified by the Stanton deal at the time, who is similarly not an elite-elite player.

[xisxisxis]

That Trevor Bauer situation over the last four five days is weird as heck.

 

Things I learned from the situation:

1) some people are just one witty comeback from Twitter stardom. If she had only responded to his tweets about 'learn how twitter works' with "learn how drones work" she could have been a star.

2) Trevor Bauer can multitask - while he plays baseball hero by day he can also play Twitter stalker/dick without missing a beat...

3) Twitter still is a platform for the least honorable people to have a voice... and by implication, the internet in general gives a voice to people who really need to go back under their rocks...

[Oxy]

Although I'm generally sympathetic to the owners squeezing the players as revenues soar, I never understood why we were all supposed to just accept that Harper/Machado would get the largest free agent contracts in history.

 

They are relatively young but not without red flags. In particular, Machado was mediocre for much of 2017, and Bryce Harper only has one truly elite or even MVP-caliber season out of seven.

 

The potential is enormous, but do you give a $300 million contract to potential alone?

 

The media has been acting like these guys are vintage A-Rod or vintage Pujols, who were machines that could be counted to give you an MVP season every single year. That's not the case with Machado or Harper. (The only current player who is in that league is Mike Trout.)

 

Then again, I was mystified by the Stanton deal at the time, who is similarly not an elite-elite player.

 

 

I totally agree. Still, other than Trout, who is definitively better than Harper and Machado? If baseball is making XXX amount of dollars, the best players should probably get the largest contracts, and I have a difficult time finding anybody else to give it to.

 

Granted, it makes sense on the surface if the costs of everything were halved (cheaper tickets/food/parking and cheaper contracts) but that's not the way it works.

[TURBO]

[/b]

 

Where did Manny Machado = winning? Certainly didn't solve the Orioles problems...

 

 

...and technically, he didn't solve the Dodgers problems either. (although a trip to the world series and losing is better than no trip at all....or is it?)

[MNBrew]

Although I'm generally sympathetic to the owners squeezing the players as revenues soar, I never understood why we were all supposed to just accept that Harper/Machado would get the largest free agent contracts in history.

 

They are relatively young but not without red flags. In particular, Machado was mediocre for much of 2017, and Bryce Harper only has one truly elite or even MVP-caliber season out of seven.

 

The potential is enormous, but do you give a $300 million contract to potential alone?

 

The media has been acting like these guys are vintage A-Rod or vintage Pujols, who were machines that could be counted to give you an MVP season every single year. That's not the case with Machado or Harper. (The only current player who is in that league is Mike Trout.)

 

Then again, I was mystified by the Stanton deal at the time, who is similarly not an elite-elite player.

Absolutely spot on re: Machado & especially Harper!!! Harper especially has been more hype than big-time production since he was drafted. Yes, his MVP year was massive, and in 2017 he was on a similar production rate before he got injured. Overall, he's definitely a good player. But I'm not sure he's really that good.

 

Other than those two years, Harper's best attribute is that he's a walk machine who's averaged 93 RBIs over the past 4 years.... (I'm sure Mike Moustakas' 95 RBIs last year and consistently solid defense aren't getting him a contract in the range Harper's hoping for. Heck, they're probably not even getting Moustakas a contract in the range that Moustakas is looking for.)

 

- Harper's only had 2 years out of 7 where he's hit over .275 while, for example, Ryan Braun has hit .285 or better 9 out of 12 years (2 of those 3 "below" years being the past 2).

- Braun still has a career OPS that's a point different from Harper's in spite of Braun's overall dropping off the last 2 years.

- For the concerns about Braun's durability in the year since his injury/suspension (2013) -- his age 30-34 seasons -- Braun's averaged 127+ games played per year. Harper, meanwhile, over his 7 seasons to date -- age 19-25 seasons -- has averaged 132+ games per year -- a mere 5 games/year better than Braun. . . . In the 6 years before his injury/suspension, the only year Braun played in fewer than 150 games was his rookie year, when he wasn't recalled until late May.

 

Harper's good but he's not a "best in the game" level of player. And besides quite ordinary/average numbers in some parts of his offensive game, he's also got legit durability/injury-prone concerns (3 out of 7 seasons he's missed over 1/4 of the year -- 40+ to 60 games). No doubt he's a very desirable free agent. But he's not someone who deserves anything in the realm of a record-breaking contract, media hype and agent-driven hype (which Boras has been building really since Harper was drafted) notwithstanding.

[owbc]

We might be seeing the downfall of guaranteed contracts. Machado carries too much risk for a huge guaranteed contract. Harper deserves a massive paycheck though, if teams aren’t lining up for his services then there is a definite problem. Any team that wants to win in the next 5-7 years could benefit from Harper.

[rickh150]

We might be seeing the downfall of guaranteed contracts. Machado carries too much risk for a huge guaranteed contract. Harper deserves a massive paycheck though, if teams aren’t lining up for his services then there is a definite problem. Any team that wants to win in the next 5-7 years could benefit from Harper.

 

The length of the deal is a bigger issue than the amount of money per year. The history with 6+ year deals for MLB clubs is not good. If he wanted just a 4 year deal, he might get 150 million.

[MNBrew]

^^Heaven forbid that in this analytics-driven age that teams actually get smarter about the length of contract they guarantee!

 

Harper has certainly earned a robust payday even though some of that is predicated on potential, but if Harper's paid any real attention to market doings this year and last, he's blind, misguided, or foolish if he thinks it'll be the last contract he signs until he's close to 40.

[owbc]

Max guaranteed money has to be the highest priority. It's impossible to know what the market will be in a few years. It would take some sort of insane short offer like 3 years / 125 million for Harper to even remotely consider a shorter contract. There's no point in signing for 5-6 years when there are offers on the table in the $300 million range.

[MNBrew]

The rumors/speculations of dollar amounts and years may or may not be accurate. If those offers were there before and Harper turned them down, there's no guarantee they're still there.

 

Boras can argue and preach all he wants about what Harper's worth, but it still comes down to whatever the best offer is that's actually put forth and currently/still available.

 

To pick a round number, I might believe I'm worth a $100,000 salary. But if my current employer and any prospective employer would only pay me $60,000 at the most, I'll eventually have to choose between the $60,000 or earning nothing. Bird in the hand...

 

If Harper and/or Machado break the bank setting FA contract records, well, obviously that's good for them. I don't think either's worth nearly as much as the numbers we keep hearing they think they're worth.

[502 to Right]

Poor Manny... Though it makes me feel good that he might not make his 300 million, he is still going to be beyond rich, whatever his contract ends up to be.

 

Punk.

 

 

 

According to Jon Heyman, neither the Phillies nor the White Sox have offered close to the $300 million-plus that free agent Manny Machado is requesting.

 

There isn't so much pressure for them to go that high when the Yankees seem only willing to sign him at a bargain rate and no one else is in the mix at all. The market for Machado should be significantly hotter, but the entire league is more fixated on profits than winning.

 

Source: Jon Heyman on TwitterJan 9 - 2:32 PM

 

It should be noted that Jon Heyman didn't write the part about the league being "more fixated on profits than winning." That was added by a writer at Rotoworld.

 

I disagree 100% with that writer. I think the executives of MLB have finally realized that nearly every 7+ year contract is a time bomb waiting to go off.

[owbc]

It should be noted that Jon Heyman didn't write the part about the league being "more fixated on profits than winning." That was added by a writer at Rotoworld.

 

I disagree 100% with that writer. I think the executives of MLB have finally realized that nearly every 7+ year contract is a time bomb waiting to go off.

 

The counter argument is that MLB owners can afford to take the hit if it doesn't work out. If the goal is to win a World Series, these big FAs make your team better, especially at the front end of the deal. You are paying for the rest of his career production regardless of how many years it occurs in. Machado was the #1 target at the trade deadline and now suddenly nobody wants him? I could see it if Machado and Harper were 29, but they should be just coming into their prime.

 

I don't necessarily agree with everything above, but I do think we will see pre-arbitration MLB players making considerably more money in a future CBA and possibly earlier free agency. The efforts to save money are too widespread given the simultaneous record revenues.

[DuWayne Steurer]

Yeah, the 10 + year deals may be quickly becoming a thing of the past. Unless you sign something like that in your pre-arby years and buy out some of your first 3-4 free agency years.

[DuWayne Steurer]

It should be noted that Jon Heyman didn't write the part about the league being "more fixated on profits than winning." That was added by a writer at Rotoworld.

 

I disagree 100% with that writer. I think the executives of MLB have finally realized that nearly every 7+ year contract is a time bomb waiting to go off.

 

The counter argument is that MLB owners can afford to take the hit if it doesn't work out. If the goal is to win a World Series, these big FAs make your team better, especially at the front end of the deal. You are paying for the rest of his career production regardless of how many years it occurs in. Machado was the #1 target at the trade deadline and now suddenly nobody wants him? I could see it if Machado and Harper were 29, but they should be just coming into their prime.

 

I don't necessarily agree with everything above, but I do think we will see pre-arbitration MLB players making considerably more money in a future CBA and possibly earlier free agency. The efforts to save money are too widespread given the simultaneous record revenues.

 

Yeah, I think everyone understands the "it's a business" side of things, but it's really hard for owners to cry poor when the books are open enough to see that the player's piece of revenue pie has been getting smaller, percentage wise, year by year.

 

It's not unwise to not give guys huge contracts during their 35 - 40 age years, it's counter productive, but the players (fairly) want to be compensated. SOmething's gonna give, and soon.

[3and2Fastball]

Would love to see the Brewers swoop in & sign Machado to something crazy, like a 2 year $70 million deal.

[sveumrules]

Would love to see the Brewers swoop in & sign Machado to something crazy, like a 2 year $70 million deal.

 

Spotrac has Strasburg as the highest paid player for 2019 @ 35 million, though most of it is deferred. Trout is next @ 33.25 million.

 

I'm not sure 2/70 gets it done, but bump it up to 3/110 or 4/150 & it starts to get hard to say no with the average annual value at 36-38ish million plus the chance to hit free agency again at 29/30.

[Invader3K]

Random news: Jaime Garcia has decided to retire. 32 years old. I'll never forget his debut against the Brewers...made the Crew look pretty foolish.

[Lathund]

Not exactly news, but not really worhty of a new thread either. Just wanted to point out that Joseph Daniel Votto is a special ballplayer.

 

Joey Votto has 6,563 career plate appearances.

 

He has never popped out to the catcher, pitcher, or first basemen.

 

He has 7 popups total since 2010.

[TURBO]

Would love to see the Brewers swoop in & sign Machado to something crazy, like a 2 year $70 million deal.

 

I would really hate having to root for this guy though. It would be a moral dilemma.

[jerichoholicninja]

Not exactly news, but not really worhty of a new thread either. Just wanted to point out that Joseph Daniel Votto is a special ballplayer.

 

Joey Votto has 6,563 career plate appearances.

 

He has never popped out to the catcher, pitcher, or first basemen.

 

He has 7 popups total since 2010.

 

That's a pretty cool stat. But I would think there are a lot of players who never popped out to the pitcher in their career as pitchers generally don't catch fly balls. The same is a little bit true with first basemen as unless they don't have to move to catch it, the 2B is probably going to catch a fly ball in that area.

[Lathund]

Not exactly news, but not really worhty of a new thread either. Just wanted to point out that Joseph Daniel Votto is a special ballplayer.

 

Joey Votto has 6,563 career plate appearances.

 

He has never popped out to the catcher, pitcher, or first basemen.

 

He has 7 popups total since 2010.

 

That's a pretty cool stat. But I would think there are a lot of players who never popped out to the pitcher in their career as pitchers generally don't catch fly balls. The same is a little bit true with first basemen as unless they don't have to move to catch it, the 2B is probably going to catch a fly ball in that area.

 

I don't think there are a lot of players who pop out, to anyone, no more than once per season.

[xisxisxis]

I thought Moustakas did it several times last year with the Brewers...