Baseball

[ousdahl]

Ya I think that’s it

[NewtonHawk11]

Royals just signed Billy Hamilton. Between Girod, Hamilton and Phillips there will be many web gems.

Hamilton will be flipped at deadline to a team desperate for speed and defense. I’m cool with it.

[jfish26]

I like this a lot.

Your Favorite Baseball Team Can Afford Any Free Agent It Wants

https://deadspin.com/your-favorite-base ... 1830890838

[H]ere is one thing to remember as we move forward into this new year and this offseason’s flatlands of obfuscation and euphemism and cheesy compromise: every Major League team can afford to sign Bryce Harper or Manny Machado to a contract of 10 years or more, and every Major League team would be made better by doing so.

[...]

There are players on the market, even beyond Harper and Machado, that would move virtually every team in the sport nearer to [the] professed goal [of winning the World Series]—A.J. Pollock and Yasmani Grandal and a host of veteran closers, for starters. Those players are available to every team, right now, for nothing more than money. I know you know all this, too. It just seems worth bearing in mind at a moment when teams are insisting, against all that evidence, that it’s somehow more complicated than that.

[CrimsonNBlue]

So, do we no longer look at something like Tulo's contract and call it a noose for a small-market club?

[jfish26]

Not sure I follow.

[jfish26]

Whit gets just $16.5mm for his last pre-arb year and three arb years. I feel for the guy...that's pretty light. Great for the Royals, but sheesh.

[NewtonHawk11]

Whit gets just $16.5mm for his last pre-arb year and three arb years. I feel for the guy...that's pretty light. Great for the Royals, but sheesh.

Whit said he wanted Royals to remain flexible to take a step up in regards payroll in the next few years. Royals have 2 leaders for the foreseeable future. Salvy is the vocal one. Whit is the quiet one who leads more by example. Both guys are great Royals and easy to root for.

[jfish26]

Whit gets just $16.5mm for his last pre-arb year and three arb years. I feel for the guy...that's pretty light. Great for the Royals, but sheesh.

Whit said he wanted Royals to remain flexible to take a step up in regards payroll in the next few years. Royals have 2 leaders for the foreseeable future. Salvy is the vocal one. Whit is the quiet one who leads more by example. Both guys are great Royals and easy to root for.

I haven't seen this quote anywhere (haven't really looked), but if true, this is sad to hear from a player in an uncapped sport.

[NewtonHawk11]

[NewtonHawk11]

And maybe I took that quote wrong, but it feels like he took a bit less than he thought he could to help KC be flexible.

[CrimsonNBlue]

Dear Whit: The Royals are worth $1,000,000,000.

[CrimsonNBlue]

Does Whit mean structure in regards to flexibility?

Here's the other side about Whit that I'd tell him if I were his agent: You just turned 30, every team in the league thinks you've been juicing the last 3 years, and you want a 4-year deal?

[jfish26]

And maybe I took that quote wrong, but it feels like he took a bit less than he thought he could to help KC be flexible.

I think the "flexibility" piece is mainly about how the money is spread around (the deal is actually mid-loaded).

But CnB's point is mine: the Royals do not fucking need "flexibility". That the player thinks they do is a testament to just how effectively the owners have flummoxed the MLBPA into thinking operating revenue is a good proxy for franchise viability.

[Cascadia]

Poor Whit.......

[jfish26]

Poor Whit.......

I get it, it's a lot of money. About $8 million in cash, give or take, if none of the good stuff in the contract happens.

But that's not enough to start giving nickels to billionaires.

[jfish26]

The writer here is a bit...uncritical (with my notes in italics):

Merrifield contract signals that payroll flexibility will be critical for Royals’ future

https://www.kansascity.com/sports/mlb/k ... 49420.html

Flexibility will remain the biggest asset for the Royals [note: why?] as they try to figure out which pieces of their current roster will be part of the puzzle for the coming years and how to make that it all fit together financially. [note: in what way(s)?]

[...]

The “cost certainty” proves critical for a team like the Royals [note: why?], who rely on their player development system to produce major-league options that will remain under club control for multiple years.

[...]

“We’re still trying to do some things with the bullpen, but we don’t have a lot of flexibility financially,” [note: why?] Moore said on Monday when asked about possibly making more additions.

[...]

“I felt like with us moving forward, while (the contract) was beneficial to me, it would also help Kansas City as far as flexibility with money forward to spend on other needs,” [note: why is this your job?] Merrifield said on Monday “So, I felt like it was good for both sides.”

[NewtonHawk11]

Brad Boxberger signed a 1 year $2M deal with Royals today. Good back-end bullpen arm and a potential trade piece in July.

Smart signing by the Royals. 41 saves with Tampa a few years back. And 34 this past year with Arizona.

[thekid6]

Pitchers and catchers have reported! It's almost baseball season!

[Geezer]

Pitchers and catchers have reported! It's almost baseball season!

That means Spring is almost here.

[NewtonHawk11]

Machado to Padres for 10 years $300M.

Harper likely next domino to fall.