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2018-19 MLB Free Agent Tracker

finally, teams are starting to figure it out. You can't win with a few overpaid stars, you need a complete team. Too bad the Tigers didn't realize this about 5 years ago.
 
tomdalton22 said:
finally, teams are starting to figure it out. You can't win with a few overpaid stars, you need a complete team. Too bad the Tigers didn't realize this about 5 years ago.
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It isn't just that. Why pay a player like Jordy Mercer or Jose Iglesias $6 Mil, when a minimum MLB salary is $550 K and can provide the same value?


Additionally, signing a Harper or Machado to $30 Mil a year, you should expect significant improvement in your team. Assuming we use WAR (Wins Above Replacement) in the argument, then Machado's best was 7.1 and Harper has been 10.0. In between, they both don't go over 5 much. You really want to spend $30 Mil to achieve 5-7 more wins?


Like it or not, analytics is driving decisions. That was the gist of Moneyball. Putting value into something that no other team places value you. Tampa Bay can be a highly successful team the last 20 years or so and not spend huge amounts of money on aging veterans or long term contracts. They still sign veterans, but they are signing the guys most teams ignore and then getting the most of them. They look at the value that player provides in a given area and do not overpay for that value.


Now, if you are a good team and playoff bound and that player is the difference in possibly winning the world series, than go for it. But not 10 years. Why not 4 years at $32-35 Mil, versus 10 x $30 Mil? That's what teams are offering and it is the players/agents that are pushing for the long term contracts and not getting them.


Best 3-year WAR (CAREER):


M. Cabrera = 22.0
D. Evans = 20.8



A. Trammell = 18.7

M. Machado = 17.4
I. Kinsler 17.0

B. Harper = 16.2
C. Granderson = 16.0 (25-27)
C. Lemon = 15.5

L. Whitaker = 14.7
K. Gibson = 13.8

J. Upton = 13.7

Ad. Jones = 13.6
L. Parrish = 13.1

Y. Cespedes = 13.0

V. Martinez = 12.9 (when he actually played in the field)

J.D. Martinez = 11.9 (3.9 per year)
A. Jackson = 11.4 (first 3 years in MLB)



L. Herndon = 9.8



J. Iglesias = 5.2
N. Castellanos = 5.1

J. Mercer = 5.0
C. Maybin = 4.8 (1.6 per year)
T. Brookens = 4.1

J. McCann = 3.3 (1.1 per year)



Peak WAR is generally 26-30 ages. Why pay any player past 30 for assumptions they will generate a WAR necessary to justify a large salary?


Would we have looked at Alan Trammell differently if he was getting max salary for past performance on a long term contract and then not living up to the contract?
 
tomdalton22 said:
I say fuck the players. They are worried about the wrong things. They are bitching about guys like Machado and Harper "not getting paid"? That's ass backwards.
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They bitch because one day they want that money.
 
Mitchrapp said:
They bitch because one day they want that money.
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but 99% of them aren't good enough to get that kind of money. If the players union was in it for the majority of their members, they wouldn't be fighting for the max guys, they would be fighting for the guys in the minors, raising the league minimum salaries, getting players to free agency earlier. Instead, they bitch about guys like Machado and Harper getting their $300M contracts too late in the off season.
 
tomdalton22 said:
but 99% of them aren't good enough to get that kind of money. If the players union was in it for the majority of their members, they wouldn't be fighting for the max guys, they would be fighting for the guys in the minors, raising the league minimum salaries, getting players to free agency earlier. Instead, they bitch about guys like Machado and Harper getting their $300M contracts too late in the off season.
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Baseball is unlike any other sport due to the arbitration process. If players really wanted to make their case, then do away with arbitration and require teams to pay them when they are getting production for "free". Or a tier level salary structure based on where they finished the year before. Having to pay someone the league minimum, or even a low arbitration number for top tier production is absurd. The players are then trying to get paid for past performances. Pay them for that performance, and then you won't see these types of issues.


I would even go to something like the NFL. Only guarantee x number of years of the contract.
 
tomdalton22 said:
but 99% of them aren't good enough to get that kind of money. If the players union was in it for the majority of their members, they wouldn't be fighting for the max guys, they would be fighting for the guys in the minors, raising the league minimum salaries, getting players to free agency earlier. Instead, they bitch about guys like Machado and Harper getting their $300M contracts too late in the off season.
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But the more the Harpers and Machado's of the world get the more the lower level guys get. It just moves everyone up 10% or 20%..
 
Patrick O'Kennedy aka TigerDog1 is someone I have known for many years and he has an incredible mind for baseball and overall smarts.
 
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