I wanted to let some time sink in before adding my thoughts on the Los Angeles Dodgers, Ohtani deal that went down earlier thus month.
Everybody from my left uncle to Will Sammon has written about this so I don't have to repeat all the interchangeable parts of this deal.
What I ask now is, if this was allowed by the Baseball Gods and the Players Union for one player and team, why can't another deep pocket owner or team do the same for other players?
In fact, let's just fully expose this stupid clause and kick the can down the road on all future contracts for big stars?
Turn this into a 2mil a year till the day you die clause.
You could now rack up 10 superstars for 20mil a year.
Kick into this a sponsorship package like Ohtani got from the Bums... which, by the way, is not regulated or held to the standards of the league... and players get their cake and eat it well before they dig into the majority of their deferred cake... err... salary.
Sounds stupid?
Well, this is the current game you support by going there, parking in their parking lots, eating their sushi rolls, and wearing their garb.
So I ask.
Who really is stupid here?
It will be interesting to see if:
Other owners jump in this year and work out similar deals for free agents like Yamamoto
Scott Boras make this kind of deal the template for high profile free agents like Soto. (probably not Boras... he wants his money up front).
Or baseball and the player's union screw their collective heads on straight and rework this clause in their agreement.
Or...
As a great prophet said once...
"Stupid is what stupid was"
10 comments:
In his introductory presser, Ohtani was honest about this being used to 1. circumvent the CBT and 2. to give the Dodgers a chance to sign more good players. No matter what is done in future MLBPA agreements, these contracts will be grandfathered. The Dodgers have done this with Freeman, Betts, and Taylor, but this extreme has made it fair game to completely blow the lid off salaries. The Dodgers can do this because they just signed a huge TV contract and I can’t understand how this is good for the game. I’m figuring that Park Avenue is pretty pissed off, as well as many other places. The only person happy is probably Steve Cohen because now no one will give him crap about how much he spends. At least he is upfront about it and not a scoundrel.
Well said Gus
There are consequences down the road for franchises that manipulate the rules like this. Unfortunately, until it is eliminated by new rules, other clubs will try the same approach. I like Atlanta's approach much better - lock 'em down early when you don't have to spend obscene amounts of money to attract stars.
The big difference with Atlanta is that they actually support and develop the players from their farm system. The Mets seem afraid to do that and their minor league operations have been unspectacular, hence the number of management changes made for the people who scout, draft and develop young ballplayers. Those changes won't happen overnight, but at least finally they're moving in the right direction.
Agree
Also agree but results won't come for 4-5 years
ruining the game
I sort of disagree with Paul. Yes, Atlanta locked their player down early, but the Mets locked down Lagares early and Wright. What happened there? Atlanta spent many years building their farm while the Nationals were dominant. The Mets were dealing with them then, and the Phillies and Atlanta now. It never ends, LOL! The Braves are owned by a corporation and while everyone thinks they cornered the market on smarts, they really didn’t. They got lucky that Acuna took a $100MM contract for 8 years and he will lose quite a bit or revenue. Acuna was maligned in the press for that, but he did what he wanted to do. After that, locking up Albies and Riley wasn’t a bid deal. Did they lock up Freeman? No. Fried? No. But, guess what? Luckily, there’s a team in Oakland who at that moment had an all-star first baseman and all-star catcher that they are dying to get rid of and will take a few eh prospects for. Then, both get extended on team friendly deals, wow. Why isn’t Alonso accepting Olsen’s contract, if it’s so fair? Atlanta is riding the wave of anti-Cohen sentiment to get favors around the league. The Kelenic deal shows that. Too bad the Mets didn’t sign an $8B tv deal with SNY. But don’t worry, that contract will end and then you’ll really see the Mets overflowing with money too!
Tom, Cohen doesn’t care. Steinbrenner wonks and smiles. A few other franchises may say to themselves that they’ll remember this. But, what about over half your league that cannot play on this level? How about:
Baltimore
Washington
Detroit
Cleveland
Pittsburgh
Cincinnati
Minnesota
Arizona
Miami
Tampa
Kansas City
Milwaukee
San Diego
Colorado
Oakland
Or the teams that needed MLB to step in and broadcast their games this year because their network package went belly-up?
Gus, hear you. My first thought looking at that list of wannabe teams is: there are a lot of them, so how on earth do the Mets miss the playoffs at least 80% of the time?
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