2017-18 Offseason Non-Phillies News/Notes/Discussion

[julio]

Sorry - had been reading all the Arrietta postings earlier today and didn't realize there was another thread on his signing.

No biggee. We all went ballistic when the Arrieta news (the real news, not the rumors) broke!

[Lawman]

This is a phenomenal idea:

https://sports.yahoo.com/orioles-letting-kids-9-younger-attend-games-free-180414369.html

The Baltimore Orioles have introduced a new initiative to try and combat that problem and get more families — and kids in general — out to the ballpark. It’s called “Kids Cheer Free.” When an adult buys a regularly priced upper deck ticket at Camden Yards, they can add up to two free upper deck tickets for kids age nine and under. Tickets will be available on a rolling basis throughout the season.

Looking at the numbers, that’s a stellar deal. For example, when the Orioles play the Cleveland Indians on Saturday, April 21, upper deck tickets are priced between $15 and $27. A family of two adults and two kids age 9 and under would save between $30 and $54. And if both adults bought “Kids Cheer Free” tickets, each kid could bring a friend with no extra ticket cost. That’s tangible savings for any baseball-loving family with young kids.

[donaldorc]

The Baltimore Orioles have introduced a new initiative to try and combat that problem and get more families — and kids in general — out to the ballpark. It’s called “Kids Cheer Free.” When an adult buys a regularly priced upper deck ticket at Camden Yards, they can add up to two free upper deck tickets for kids age nine and under. Tickets will be available on a rolling basis throughout the season.

Looking at the numbers, that’s a stellar deal. For example, when the Orioles play the Cleveland Indians on Saturday, April 21, upper deck tickets are priced between $15 and $27. A family of two adults and two kids age 9 and under would save between $30 and $54. And if both adults bought “Kids Cheer Free” tickets, each kid could bring a friend with no extra ticket cost. That’s tangible savings for any baseball-loving family with young kids.

Agreed that this is a great idea.

[nycphils]

Make the kids fans early. I think it’s great.

[Squire]

Rangers giving Carlos Tocci at lot of ABs. He's up 32 PA. He is 7 for 31, with one double, one BB, 9K and a .531 OPS

[zambonir]

They also got Gose back and were able to outright him.

[phillychuck]

Tocci has more hits than the Phils do at this point (or at least seems that way).

[andyb]

Tocci has more hits than the Phils do at this point (or at least seems that way).

But if he does that and still only has a 531 OPS we unfortunately have the Tocci problem. Good defense is nice, but few BBs, SBs, and XBHs is a problem for an outfielder.

[zambonir]

Bullpen car longread

A slow ride through the history (and future) of bullpen...

[mdougherty12]

Houston signs Jose Altuve to 5 year/$151 million extension:

Source: Astros extend Altuve with rich contract

[andyb]

One of the benefits to the Altuve contract is the AAV which should include the next 2 seasons (at $12.5 million total) in addition to the 5-year extension. $163.5M over 7 years is an AAV of only $23.4 million which should help them when they are thinking of extending guys like Correa. And they have room this year (post-Beltran) where the increase in AAV does not put them into the luxury tax yet.

This is a reason why a team might do a slight overpay on an early extension as you get to average the AAV for all the remaining full seasons the player is signed for. We have nobody worth doing anything close to what Altuve got at the moment, though it definitely would be a benefit to a Nola deal that bought out a year or two of free agency. Nola will make near the minimum this year and then has 3 years of arbitration. A 6 year deal that goes 2, 5, 10, 16, 22, 22 would have an AAV less than $13 million and those back years are years where we might challenge the luxury tax limits.

[allentown]

Well, of course this extension makes sense. It is, however, not at all on a par with the extremely early lock-ups you previously proposed for Crawford and Kingery. Altuve is already a star and these are all post-arb years being added to extend the team's years of control substantially. I doubt either Crawford or Kingery will ever be on a par with what Altuve is now (two consecutive years of .920+ OPS for a 2B) but at the very least they are extremely far from showing that they will achieve this level. There will be a time to lock them up early, if we can buy several non-arb seasons, but that time is two or more years from now, unless they agree to a contract with enough discount from their projected future performance to represent a real sharing of risk, rather than simply paying them what we think they will be worth if the continue to develop as we hope and they stay healthy. The first guy to extend is Nola.

[Lawman]

https://sports.yahoo.com/president-donald-trump-just-made-harder-baseball-teams-make-trades-182034455.html

As the Times explains, the law previously in place allowed businesses to swap “like-kind property” tax-free. This mostly applied to farmers, who could swap machines without being taxed. It also, however, applied to baseball contracts.

That’s no longer the case. Under the new law, “like-kind property” will be limited to real estate. That could wind up having a significant impact on how MLB teams operate. Suddenly, if a team makes a trade for a player with a big contract — like Verlander — they’ll be taxed on the value of that deal.

[andyb]

Looks like the Orioles and Alex Cobb are close. Not sure I believe the 3/50 alluded to by Ken Rosenthal after what Lynn got.

"Strong Belief" That Alex Cobb Is Close To Signing

[zambonir]

The Orioles are either going to be the best story of the season or the biggest July fire sale.

[andyb]

4/57 is the latest Cobb report. Deferred money part of it so imagine the AAV is more like $12 million.

[andyb]

Looks like MLB is getting their labor exemption so they don't have to pay minor league players anything close to minimum wage. Minor league players have a lawsuit they will almost certainly lose now. I guess the owners are just going to pocket that extra $50 million they get this offseason.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2018/03/22/minor-league-ballplayers-will-lose-minimum-wage-rights-as-part-of-1-3-trillion-spending-bill/#2786dd8f37fa

[Jeff05]

Thanks for posting the link, Andy. A good reminder of how hard life is for these young men and many others, who are little more than sub-contracted serfs.

[julio]

who are little more than sub-contracted serfs.

But...but... but they'll get million-dollar paydays later!

Oh, wait... that only applies to... what, 5% of them? If that? 1%?

When you decide that signing bonuses are out of control - when you think that Joe Blow should be grateful to sign for $10,000 to "play a kid's game," remember that Joe Blow will probably put in four or five months' service, on the road away from home, for about $1,000/month - for those months he's playing/working only. You wonder why minor leaguers go home in the off-season, and do menial labor/construction/etc.? Because it pays better than playing baseball; the off-season labor makes it possible for them to play "professional" baseball for sub-minimum wages. Most of them will never see a 40-man roster, or the salary that comes with that. And these kids, working for sub-minimum wages, make MLB's profits possible.

When you argue that the draft is "necessary," that a seven-year minor league reserve and a six-year major league reserve are "necessary," to preserve the quality of your entertainment (because that's what we're talking about here), remember that it's these exploited kids who make your quality entertainment possible.

Enjoy the games.

[Jeff05]

Exactly! That's what annoyed me recently when someone on this board (or another) remarked that they were hesitant of drafting college grads because such players don't have sufficient incentive to succeed.