Reese Kaplan -- The Brave New World of Ownership Economics

The period immediately following the World Series is always fraught with great anticipation from baseball fans anxious to see how their team will set about improving themselves for the coming season.  Ever since Curt Flood and Andy Messersmith created the free agency movement.  Flood, of course, refused a trade which in effect ended his career.  Messersmith wanted more money, played without a contract, and got the courts to agree that a reserve clause is a one-time thing that teams cannot use over and over again.  After that decision, free agency as we now know it began to exist.  

 

This short season was very strange for players who did exceedingly well or who struggled mightily.  In either case, they will be looking at team owners crying poverty for the lack of gate, TV and ancillary revenue due to the pandemic.  As a result, many of the mid tier free agents are not necessarily going to see the huge payday about which they've dreamed for quite some time.  As a result, some fairly high quality players have already been unceremoniously cut loose by their teams to avoid contract buyout options and as a result the free agent marketplace has some folks that heretofore were not expected to be available.

 

To me, the greatest surprise came from the Cleveland Indians who opted to part ways with closer Brad Hand.  Now, to many baseball fans who follow the Mets, whenever a player is in the AL except perhaps with the Yankees, he pretty much ceases to exist.  The post season will give some spotlight on these high performers, but unless he's on a national stage then his efforts are often unnoticed.  Such is the case with Mr. Hand.

 

Good baseball fans will remember Hand as a rookie coming up through the Marlins system where he mostly struggled as a 21 year old.  He toiled in Miami for five years before he was cut loose and latched onto the San Diego Padres.  There it's as if a switch got turned on in his head and he started to pitch admirably well.  The Padres moved him to the Indians and during the period of 2016 through 2020 he has delivered a 2.70 ERA, saved 104 games, has a WHIP right around 1.000 and strikes out nearly 13 per 9 IP.  Those are very fine numbers indeed.

 

This past 2020 season was more of the same for Brad Hand.  He appeared in 23 games, finishing 21 of them, and lead the AL in saves with 16.  His ERA was an eye-popping 2.05 and although his strikeouts were down to a tick under 12, his walks also plummeted to 1.6 per 9 IP.  This pitcher is a stud yet the Indians felt they did not want to pay him the $10 million he would cost to retain.  Rather than pay him that amount or buy him out for $1 million, they simply put him on waivers.  A claiming team can have the 30 year old closer for the $10 million price for one year, but if no one claims him, he's a free agent and able to negotiate whatever salary and term he desires.  

 

Now the whole transaction feels very much like something the Wilpons would do (if they still owned the Mets).  They were looking to save at best $1 million by waiving him, but also felt that they could not get anything in return for a pitcher who lead the league in saves by trading him????  It was all about the Benjamins and Hand is the first of many losers who will face a similar fate.  

 

A similar situation evolved with the Houston Astros and their highly successful (and young) closer Roberto Osuna.  He is dealing with injury issues and would likely face another $10 million in arbitration if they retained him, so the Houston Cheaters, er, Astros, opted to waive him from the roster.  Now anyone picking him up can gamble that he'll recover and become the formidable closer he once was (when he wasn't busy assaulting women in Canada and Texas), but it's another case of a highly desirable baseball player being shown the door for economic reasons.  

 

Now the Mets are in this game but by paying off options on Robinson Chirinos, Todd Frazier and Wilson Ramos.  It's not big bucks, but by doing so they saved a significant pile of cash to be put to use on other roster options.  Soon we'll learn the fate of Dellin Betances.  Brad Brach realized a 5.84 ERA wasn't going to net big bidders so guess who's occupying a $2 million roster spot for 2021? In these cases, the club is not terminating All Star caliber players, but guys with filler talent or major injury issues who would not provide good value.  

 

Keep your eyes wide open over the next few days to see whatever unexpected names enter the free agent fray and see if any would look good in the Mets lineup.  Hopefully now the team is willing to consider top notch talents rather than merely castoffs and diamonds in the rough.