Royals

[Sparko]

I didn't know that about Ragans - when I looked up his contract online it said a 1 year deal.

That was a gamble worth taking in retrospect. But flags fly forever and Texas has one, despite giving up a long term guy. Who must stay healthy.

[jfish26]

I didn't know that about Ragans - when I looked up his contract online it said a 1 year deal.

Yeah, the way MLB works (very generally) is that unless you and the club agree on an extension, you're on a series of one-year contracts until after you have six years in.

The first three of those years are at minimum-or-slightly-more numbers - basically, the minimum plus whatever the team thinks it needs to give you to not piss you off so much that you'll be a problem. These are what people will call the "pre-arb years." You are not allowed to sign with another club unless yours relinquishes your rights.

The second three of the six years, you still cannot leave but have more power to negotiate, because if you and the club don't agree on a number, it can be resolved in winner-take-all arbitration proceedings. By the third of these three years (so, year six of six) your salary is probably approaching "market" value unless you are a super-duper-star.

And so, you don't hit free agency until after your sixth year. There are loads of other nooks and crannies in these rules, but this is the gist of it.

(Not at all trying to be argumentative, but this is one of the reasons that payroll numbers are somewhat misleading - players aren't truly expensive until they're (in most cases) at or even beyond their peak performance years. Would you rather have Giancarlo Stanton than, say, Hunter Renfroe? Of course you would. But Stanton (34) is a shell of his former self, and represents a $32mm payroll hit by his lonesome. He, Anthony Rizzo (35, missed playoffs for injury) and Marcus Stroman (33, missed playoffs for poor performance) had combined 2024 salaries of close to $65mm!)

[pdub]

But the Yankees can afford those mistakes.
The Royals absolutely cannot.
( again, this is running under the premise that owners do not want to run the risk of their clubs loosing them money annually - in a perfect world, owners are spending out of the goodness of their hearts so their community can feel good about their teams, but that is not reality )

[jfish26]

But the Yankees can afford those mistakes.
The Royals absolutely cannot.
( again, this is running under the premise that owners do not want to run the risk of their clubs loosing them money annually - in a perfect world, owners are spending out of the goodness of their hearts so their community can feel good about their teams, but that is not reality )

I agree with you in part. Money is an advantage, because it buys you margin for error (at the margins of the roster). But free agency spend is extremely inefficient (again, mostly because of age), so I don't think a 3:1 payroll disparity means anything like a 3:1 competitive advantage.

I would still very very very strongly disagree that the Royals "cannot" do anything. Ownership chooses what it spends and what it doesn't. No one forced current ownership to buy the club, and no one forces current ownership to spend only any particular amount.

I absolutely recognize that the Royals' revenue isn't the Yankees' revenue.

But (1) that's why the negotiated free agency system is what it is - and it has proven to be very effective at ensuring opportunities for competitiveness at all sorts of payroll levels, and (2) fundamentally, I do not believe in giving billionaires a free pass on cheaping out on spending, whether on labor or facilities, when it is completely their choice to be in the game in the first place.

[pdub]

Cap and floor.
Owners max spend and min spend.
Fair for all.

[Back2Lawrence]

Sherman is a KC guy through and through, so I don't really think they'll move...but they still definitely could. I wonder if he holds steady with $$$$ until some of those questions are figured out.

[jfish26]

Cap and floor.
Owners max spend and min spend.
Fair for all.

My opinion is that (in addition to being a giveaway to billionaires) this makes things worse, not better, for fans of teams in lower-tier markets (like the Royals).

If you compress salaries, then salaries become less powerful of a differentiating factor among offers. That means that things like weather, lifestyle and off-the-field earning potential become more powerful.

The Royals will not often win on those things (but they CAN win on money).

[jfish26]

Sherman is a KC guy through and through, so I don't really think they'll move...but they still definitely could. I wonder if he holds steady with $$$$ until some of those questions are figured out.

By and large, he's said and done the right things. The campaign for the stadium funding vote stands out as an exception - that was just so poorly managed. But I strongly suspect the Royals will end up in/around downtown KCMO in the end.

[pdub]

If you compress salaries, then salaries become less powerful of a differentiating factor among offers. That means that things like weather, lifestyle and off-the-field earning potential become more powerful.

The Royals will not often win on those things (but they CAN win on money).

Hi.
I'm the Chiefs.
Have you met me?

[jfish26]

If you compress salaries, then salaries become less powerful of a differentiating factor among offers. That means that things like weather, lifestyle and off-the-field earning potential become more powerful.

The Royals will not often win on those things (but they CAN win on money).

Hi.
I'm the Chiefs.
Have you met me?

The NFL exists in a category all to itself.

I think the better analog here is the NBA, where compressed salaries have resulted in super teams that tend to form - there are exceptions, but generally - in the more-desirable markets.

[Sparko]

Appreciate the contract insight Fish.

[Sparko]

I have been gratified seeing some of the end of season podcasts and commentary. It is good to be grateful for the playoffs, but with even a little investment in the farm or hitting, the Royals would have beaten the NY Trust Funders. Thankfully the Dodgers were soundly beaten. Ummmm. No. So PDub has a real point too, it is coming down to paying $3-4M per win, or extracting absolute maximum roster value and playing almost flawlessly at a discount.

[pdub]

The NFL does not have to exist in a category by itself.

[jfish26]

The NFL does not have to exist in a category by itself.

I don’t expect that, during my lifetime, baseball will regain its spot at the top. It could sure start the climb back up, though, by cutting the miles and miles and miles and miles of red tape that keeps people from watching it.

This is not a call for corporate charity - I tend to think it is very bad for business when your customers cannot consume your product where, when, how and with whom they want.

We’re not running a diamond cartel, here, where there is at least purpose to artificially restricting supply.

[Sparko]

I understand that MLB will drop the blackouts next season. Hoping that is true.

[jfish26]

I understand that MLB will drop the blackouts next season. Hoping that is true.

Zooming out, I really think baseball should lean into what is best about it - the everyday, sound-of-summer ubiquity of the game - and away from trying to out-football football.

Be the counter to football.

The counter that fairly neatly rises back into public consciousness about when football ends.

The pitch clock and other rules designed to improve pace of play have helped. I would love to see someone design their next venue to have a BIG chunk of it - the entire outfield, maybe - be in-and-out-and-in-and-out from street level.

Make a game something that can be consumed for a duration (and at a price point) of people’s choosing. Make a game be a part of what someone might choose with their day or night, not THE thing.

Lower the barriers to consumers accessing the product, in every way you can.

[twocoach]

Alex Rodriguez was the only shortstop in MLB history to achieve all three of the following at any point in their entire career:

Batting Title
Gold Glove
Silver Slugger

Bobby Witt Jr. just did it all in the same season.

[pdub]

Matt Quatraro shoulda won AL manager of the year.