The State of Free Agency

[JarsOfClay]

So after last years slow free agent market, we were told it was slow because people were waiting on Machado and Harper the following year. Yet it is still very slow with Machado and Harper still unsigned and 1 year contracts galore.  Evan Longoria is claiming free agents are being "devalued." It appears last years slow free agent market was not an anomaly.

Are 10 year deals a thing of the past? Are free agents being treated unfairly? Are we headed towards a strike?

What do you guys think?

[ettin]

I think the owners and MLB better wise up here soon, they are not playing well with the players union and it can easily lead to a strike.

They need to expand to provide more job opportunities to players and it will inject more money into the game. Revenues need to trickle down more to the players, especially Minor League players whom teams are investing more in once they reach the Majors but are spending little on down on the farm. If younger players are the focus now then paying and investing in your Minor League players should have greater importance (not talking as much about money but about resources such as training, nutrition, etc.).

There has been an air of collusion from my perspective among the teams, particularly with what Dan Lozano, Machado's agent, recently said regarding the news reports from major sports writers reporting what is, from my view, absurdly low dollar amount offers from interested teams. There seems to be a real effort to prevent the natural flow of free agent bidding from exceeding certain dollar thresholds (not exceeding $300M or $400M for example) to save money overall for all 30 clubs.

MLB better wise-up or they are going to lose not only on the player front but it will impact their fan base too as viewers on the margins (on the fence) could migrate away from baseball to other sports.

In regard to 10-year deals they are fine for players age 30 or less (preferably 28 or less). I think a lot of those deals for players over 30 were not good ideas. It seems like teams have discovered that the current market inefficiency is in how veterans are overpaid and younger, potential stars are underpaid in the market. There seems to be a sea change in how money is distributed and it is having an indirect effect of pissing off players and lining owners pocketbooks more because they are paying less overall to take the risk of extending young superstars versus paying older superstars hitting the early (or even middle) part of their decline phase.

Manipulation of the market whether directly (collusion in news reports and reported contract offers) or indirectly (the shift of where teams apply their resources to younger players) is having a real bad look put on the game.

MLB needs to create more excitement in the game too. They need to figure out a fair system for draft pick/qualifying offers compensation. Revenue sharing needs to not favor the large market teams. Trading draft picks should have been implemented a long time ago. Heck having a real draft that excites viewers like the NFL does would do a lot for public viewership.

There is so much they could be doing and it doesn't seem to be taking a priority and all that is happening is that there is a head of steam building and soon it will explode if they rest on their laurels.

[Lou]

free agents aren't undervalued, they were just overvalued in the past. 

also, Harper turned down $300 MILLION.  the poor little ball player act is a crock of shit. 

[Lou]

it's players like Longoria who have given owners pause. he signed a $100 million contract then proceeded to have the worst two seasons of his career. 

[Docwaukee]

teams have figured out different and better ways to get production at a lesser rate than it costs to pay some guy in his mid 30's a ton of money for the last 2-3 years of a deal because they want the first 2-3 years.  

Personally, I put a lot of blame on the mlbpa for not anticipating these tendencies.  Analytics have been part of the game for long enough now and everyone who knows anything about baseball could see a shift in the aging curve coming.  I have never heard of the mlbpa having an analytics department like teams do but if they don't, they should.  

I'm not buying the collusion thing one bit.  

Hey Longoria - you are one of the poster boy's for why teams don't want to pay guys a shit ton.  A decent prospect or some guy on a one year deal is outproducing you.  

The risk has shifted and the players are pissed but their union should have anticipated that.  Next go around they should have their duck in order.  The owners will be expecting it and will likely have their bullets loaded as well.  

a year of earlier arb, an extra roster spot and a salary floor for each team relative to revenue.  penalties include a drop in draft position.  1 vet cap exemption per team per year for any player over 33.  

MLBPA's biggest math problem is how to decrease the supply of players from age 31+ that can be outdone or at least closely approximated by a guy in the minors.  

I would also like to see them try to get an increase in minor league salaries and benefits.  

[arch stanton]

Players should definitely jack up their asking prices in arbitration and make more money while they're still good

[Blarg]

I can't believe the support of athletes making a minimum wage of nearly 1/2 million dollars a year being somehow abused. The economics of sports is just plain batshit crazy. 

[Pancake Bear]

30 minutes ago, Dochalo said:

teams have figured out different and better ways to get production at a lesser rate than it costs to pay some guy in his mid 30's a ton of money for the last 2-3 years of a deal because they want the first 2-3 years.  

Personally, I put a lot of blame on the mlbpa for not anticipating these tendencies.  Analytics have been part of the game for long enough now and everyone who knows anything about baseball could see a shift in the aging curve coming.  I have never heard of the mlbpa having an analytics department like teams do but if they don't, they should.  

I'm not buying the collusion thing one bit.  

Hey Longoria - you are one of the poster boy's for why teams don't want to pay guys a shit ton.  A decent prospect or some guy on a one year deal is outproducing you.  

The risk has shifted and the players are pissed but their union should have anticipated that.  Next go around they should have their duck in order.  The owners will be expecting it and will likely have their bullets loaded as well.  

a year of earlier arb, an extra roster spot and a salary floor for each team relative to revenue.  penalties include a drop in draft position.  1 vet cap exemption per team per year for any player over 33.  

MLBPA's biggest math problem is how to decrease the supply of players from age 31+ that can be outdone or at least closely approximated by a guy in the minors.  

I would also like to see them try to get an increase in minor league salaries and benefits.  

This is the correct answer.

The thing about Longoria - He was on what was supposed to be a team friendly deal. So much for that. 

Blaming the owners/teams is hilariously dense. The owners have no incentive to help the players, that’s the PA’s job. If you can be successful and spend less, why not? The rich teams are getting smarter and realizing that they can pass on big ticket players and be more successful. The front offices are filled with the smartest guys in the game - who do the players have reperesenting them? Players. They’re ridiculously outmatched, and so far, their response has been pathetic: They’ve mostly just whined about the big, bad owners. 

Longoria’s complaint was hilariously illogical and childish. I don’t really give a rip between the owners and players, tbh - people should get whatever money they can for themselves. The guy sitting across from you is almost never going to be doing you any favors. There is no “how things should be”; there are the takers and the taken, and if the players don’t get that, they’ll keep getting taken for a ride, whether they strike or not. A strike won’t help the players much - they need to be a whole lot smarter in the next CBA negotiation, or they’ll get taken again. 

[Angel Oracle]

In addition to Doc’s idea of reaching arb a year earlier, have club control upon MLB debut be cut from 6 years to 5 years?

Thankfully, the owners wised up, especially Arte.   His only big FA contract from elsewhere after Hackilton’s (6 years ago) has been Upton, who already has done much more than Hackilton did here. 

[Lou]

4 hours ago, Dochalo said:

a year of earlier arb, an extra roster spot and a salary floor for each team relative to revenue.  penalties include a drop in draft position.  1 vet cap exemption per team per year for any player over 33.  

MLBPA's biggest math problem is how to decrease the supply of players from age 31+ that can be outdone or at least closely approximated by a guy in the minors.  

I would also like to see them try to get an increase in minor league salaries and benefits.  

what will the owner's receive in return? they're not giving up all of this out of benevolence.