Baseball stoppage 2022?

[rats60]

Players are eligible for arbitration after 3 years and start getting big money then. Kris Bryant made almost 11 million dollars last year with only 2 years experience and will make over 12 this year. Bryce Harper got 13.6 and then 21.6 million in arbitration years. Mike Trout by signing a longer term deal is getting 34 million before he can be a free agent. It is a two sided sword. Owners don't want to pay a young guy big money because he has 1 good season, they want him to prove himself over a longer period before he starts getting paid big bucks. They are also paying out big signing bonus when players are drafted. Aaron Judge will be fine if he keeps performing.

[Yastrzemski Sports]

Originally Posted by rats60

Players are eligible for arbitration after 3 years and start getting big money then. Kris Bryant made almost 11 million dollars last year with only 2 years experience and will make over 12 this year. Bryce Harper got 13.6 and then 21.6 million in arbitration years. Mike Trout by signing a longer term deal is getting 34 million before he can be a free agent. It is a two sided sword. Owners don't want to pay a young guy big money because he has 1 good season, they want him to prove himself over a longer period before he starts getting paid big bucks. They are also paying out big signing bonus when players are drafted. Aaron Judge will be fine if he keeps performing.

When you have a union, the interests of the majority have to be represented. So the elite players you mentioned above made nice money and will be fine. Mookie Betts made $2 mil his first 3 years in baseball - total, $10 mil last year and $20 next year - because he’s a huge talent. But for a majority of the players your first 7 years under team control are difficult and most players don’t have that kind of leverage to negotiate but at the same time can’t leave. So they are at the mercy of the team. Then when free agency comes around most players are 30 and teams don’t want them. It was different a few years ago when a 30 year old could get $50-100 mil and never had to worry about money. Mike Moustakas is a perfect example. He’s had a decent career and is a very good player. Last year he took a 1 yr $5.5 mil deal and this year he hasn’t signed yet and no one seems to be throwing offers out there. They would rather bring up kids from the farm. If Betts was a free agent right now he would be looking at $30+ mil per year instead of $20. If Moustakas had negotiating power 5 years ago he could have had the chance to get a big multi year deal. And that’s where the next CBA is going to lead. Players are going to be free agents much sooner in their career.

[KCRfan1]

The Moustakas contract was closely followed by us in KC. It was strongly rumored he had a 4 year 60 mil offer from the Angels, and turned it down for more.

Not many teams needed 3rd base help, and that greatly limited his suitors and Moose settled for a 1 year 6 or 7 mil deal. ( You better believe the wife had A LOT to say to the agent and the hubby about this decision! )

This is purely on his agent and lastly on Moose.

The agent works for the player, not the other way around. Moose is a SoCal guy, his wife is a SoCal girl, and this is where their family is. The Angels make perfect sense as a landing spot for Moose.

Now Moose is a year older and STILL waiting for a contract and is an afterthought to the big names. He and his agent made a huge mistake potentially passing on a contract for more money. As a side note, surprisingly, Moose kept the agent. I think I would have fired my agent after that mess.

Originally Posted by Yastrzemski Sports

When you have a union, the interests of the majority have to be represented. So the elite players you mentioned above made nice money and will be fine. Mookie Betts made $2 mil his first 3 years in baseball - total, $10 mil last year and $20 next year - because he’s a huge talent. But for a majority of the players your first 7 years under team control are difficult and most players don’t have that kind of leverage to negotiate but at the same time can’t leave. So they are at the mercy of the team. Then when free agency comes around most players are 30 and teams don’t want them. It was different a few years ago when a 30 year old could get $50-100 mil and never had to worry about money. Mike Moustakas is a perfect example. He’s had a decent career and is a very good player. Last year he took a 1 yr $5.5 mil deal and this year he hasn’t signed yet and no one seems to be throwing offers out there. They would rather bring up kids from the farm. If Betts was a free agent right now he would be looking at $30+ mil per year instead of $20. If Moustakas had negotiating power 5 years ago he could have had the chance to get a big multi year deal. And that’s where the next CBA is going to lead. Players are going to be free agents much sooner in their career.

[steve B]

Originally Posted by Yastrzemski Sports

When you have a union, the interests of the majority have to be represented. So the elite players you mentioned above made nice money and will be fine. Mookie Betts made $2 mil his first 3 years in baseball - total, $10 mil last year and $20 next year - because he’s a huge talent. But for a majority of the players your first 7 years under team control are difficult and most players don’t have that kind of leverage to negotiate but at the same time can’t leave. So they are at the mercy of the team. Then when free agency comes around most players are 30 and teams don’t want them. It was different a few years ago when a 30 year old could get $50-100 mil and never had to worry about money. Mike Moustakas is a perfect example. He’s had a decent career and is a very good player. Last year he took a 1 yr $5.5 mil deal and this year he hasn’t signed yet and no one seems to be throwing offers out there. They would rather bring up kids from the farm. If Betts was a free agent right now he would be looking at $30+ mil per year instead of $20. If Moustakas had negotiating power 5 years ago he could have had the chance to get a big multi year deal. And that’s where the next CBA is going to lead. Players are going to be free agents much sooner in their career.

The unions in Sports really haven't looked out for the average players interests for quite some time. The big stars? Sure, the everyday players even the merely just above average aren't helped at all. There's always a way around the CBA. Like the collusion, or the period a few years ago where players who were solid everyday players were being cut outright and new teams would sign them to a minor league contract. That happened a lot right when they got to the point where the pay tiers/arbitraton kicked in.

[Yastrzemski Sports]

If you want to see something truly eye opening take a look at the free agent tracker. There are a ton of 28-35 year old players who are not yet unsigned - a lot of familiar names of players who have been productive but are now replaceable. Come spring, many of these guys are going to have to take minor league deals, sign for 1 year at close to minimum or retire and start a new career as the rosters fill up. The players know what’s going on and it’s only a matter of time before they’ve had enough.

[steve B]

I suppose if I was an owner, I'd move along an average or slightly better player who is at a point where they'll get a couple million. Especially if I can replace them with a guy from the minors at half a million.

Although fan popularity should count for something, it didn't help Daubach or any other guys in a similar situation.

[mckinneyj]

Originally Posted by steve B

I suppose if I was an owner, I'd move along an average or slightly better player who is at a point where they'll get a couple million. Especially if I can replace them with a guy from the minors at half a million.

Although fan popularity should count for something, it didn't help Daubach or any other guys in a similar situation.

Yeah, if I have to pay a handful of millions more to keep a young star/difference maker (Mookie Betts?) then I'm going to want some older vet on the downside of his career (Kimbrel?) to take a haircut as his production declines or I'll look elsewhere at a cheaper price.

[AGuinness]

Originally Posted by steve B

I suppose if I was an owner, I'd move along an average or slightly better player who is at a point where they'll get a couple million. Especially if I can replace them with a guy from the minors at half a million.

Although fan popularity should count for something, it didn't help Daubach or any other guys in a similar situation.

Originally Posted by mckinneyj

Yeah, if I have to pay a handful of millions more to keep a young star/difference maker (Mookie Betts?) then I'm going to want some older vet on the downside of his career (Kimbrel?) to take a haircut as his production declines or I'll look elsewhere at a cheaper price.

You guys are really hitting at home with the Red Sox players...

I have found my opinions on team/players to be an interesting dichotomy: on one hand, I really appreciate value and economic efficiency and I enjoy looking at how teams are effectively built and the value of getting a player on a good contract; on the other hand, I think the players are the game, so to speak, and deserve every penny they can get.
The current system seems to be in place to keep costs down, so I don't begrudge any player - from Mike Trout and Mookie to any Quad-A guy or player heading to Japan or Kyler Murray - from trying to get as much as they can before their time is up on the playing field. In the end, I want to see the great talent on the field, even though I appreciate how teams are constructed, etc.

[AGuinness]

Originally Posted by Django7975

I wish we could go back to those days and just forget the money. Such a shame to me why the worship of mammon must bastardize all good things. Shame shame

Maybe money wasn't a big concern in the 1800s, but it wasn't too long after the turn of the century that money had already taken a hold in the sport (see battles of salary, including Tris Speaker and Babe Ruth, not to mention the Black Sox scandal). I'm not a historian, but I'd wager that the different leagues at the time wanted to kill off others because of the finances, too.

Originally Posted by rats60

They are also paying out big signing bonus when players are drafted. Aaron Judge will be fine if he keeps performing.

Money in the draft and in the international market is basically capped now, too. The owners have done a great job in building a system that limits their biggest expense, the workforce on the field, while the MLBPA has done a really bad job in representing their members.

The record bonus for a draftee is $8 million by Gerrit Cole (Pirates) in 2011. Last year's first overall pick got $7.5 million (under the slot amount of just over $8 million). Using an inflation calculator, Cole's $8 million in 2011 translates to nearly $9 million for 2018. Meanwhile, MLB had the 16th consecutive year in setting the record for revenue (despite down attendance and flat TV revenue) (source: Forbes).

I think the players see this as a raw deal and will take a strong stand to really change the current system, and I doubt the owners will give in easily. And my impression is that with so much youth in baseball now, there aren't many players that were even old enough to remember the 1994 strike (a 30-year-old player in 2018 would have been 6 in 1994). It's going to be ugly.