Fixing Baseball Free Agency

There’s certainly been a lot of chatter about free agency in baseball this off-season - albeit without a lot of actual free agent signings and a real dearth of big-ticket deals. I’ve seen a few different perspectives out there, including some good stuff from the Sons of Steve Garvey predicting a decline in player values this off-season similar to what we’ve seen in real estate in Southern California (the McCourt purchases in Malibu notwithstanding, of course).

We all know that much of the gamesmanship that goes with being a free agent is based on the past performance of other players and their ability to land long-term contracts with large sums tied to them (in the form of up-front money and deferred payments). A small number of teams in MLB can afford to drive a certain number of signings at astronomical levels that, in turn, gets the rest of the free-agent market to hold out for the chance to be one of the lucky few who join the $100 million dollar club.

So how exactly do we fix it? I certainly don’t have the answers - no one yet has come up with a good solution - but there was some good commentary over at The Sporting News blogroll that got me thinking about some steps that would get baseball in the right direction:

1. Gradually phase out long-term contracts - this involves a sliding scale based on age that would ensure that more money was distributed across the entire player pool rather than being tied up in a few stars who may or may not ([cough] Andruw Jones [cough]) actually realize a level of play that justifies a huge payday. As the author puts it:

Sounds good but the players union would never go for it right? Well, the players union is supposed to represent all players, not just A-Rod and the rest of the chosen few. Most MLB players never get a shot at the brass ring - they toil along at the league minimum and never really get their due. Short term contracts would free up more cash for more players. With less dead money, teams could afford to pursue more players aggressively. With the contract years fixed, the only negotiating point then is money so even the stars would benefit.

Sure, the big money teams could still win out and out bid anyone, but it would give every team a chance to get into the game. So, to me, a fan of a mid-market team, I want to see the White Sox be able to be in the game but I do not want to see them tie up salaries in players who can’t play out their contracts. All teams need to be able to make the system work for them - not just the Red Sox, Yankees, Angels and Mets

2. Eliminate Guaranteed Contracts - The NFL definitely got this one right. Why should teams be saddled with an annuity for a player that hasn’t delivered performance equal to his past results? Allow some portion to be guaranteed and let the rest ride - it makes much more sense from a long-term viability perspective and also encourages a player not to show up 20 pounds overweight to spring training and then half-ass it during the season before getting injured ([cough] Andruw Jones [cough]). You’d get teams willing to sign longer-term deals for younger players and get some security for the older player looking to be somewhere for 2-3 years without having to feel like your contract negotiations involve actuarial tables for baseball players.

3. Create the Franchise Player tag - Again, similar to the NFL Franchise Player you would designate a player that you want to build your team franchise around and offer significant benefits over the rest of the roster. The tags would be limited in nature and still enable teams to lock up a signature asset for a long period of time. The tag would also reduce poaching as is customary in the current system

Is this the magic bullet? Is it really this simple? Absolutely not. However, I (and many others that have posted on this topic across the blogosphere) think it’s a step in the right direction and one that needs to come sooner rather than later. After all, who wants to buy $11 beers to support a player who is no longer on the team’s roster ([cough] Andruw Jones [cough] hopefully [cough]) or help an owner who paid $40+ million for two beach front Malibu homes try and eek out a profit in the current environment of Major League Baseball? Not me.

Sporting News Calls It: Andruw Jones Career Possibly Over

OK, so everyone likes to hate on Andruw Jones these days. We’re certainly no strangers to this activity here at dodgerfan.net, but The Sporting News had a great take on the contract restructuring and its implications to doing a deal prior to Spring Training:

Jones so wants out of Los Angeles that he agreed to restructure the final year of his contract. He came to understand that the Dodgers couldn’t trade him if he was still owed $22 million in 2009.

Now he’ll take $5 million in base pay in 2009 instead of $15 million and will get the rest of his money paid out at zero interest over 15 years.
If the Dodgers can’t trade him by the end of spring training, they’ve agreed to release him.

The Reds and Braves are among the teams believed to be interested in Jones, but they have zero incentive to make a deal. Even if they do not have to give up any significant players in a trade, they know they might be able get him for the major league minimum of $400,000 after the Dodgers release him.
Moreover, there’s no sign that he’s determined to get better. He’s hitting less than .100 in winter ball and still looks lost at the plate.
If nothing else, he’s worth keeping an eye on in spring training. If the Dodgers can’t trade him, they’ll still play him regularly and hope he can still produce.
He was so good for so long that it’s almost incomprehensible his career is over at 31. Then again, these last two seasons have gone a long way toward making us forget that other Andruw Jones.

Wow - could any front office take a runner on Jones at this point? Hard to believe that this guy might be playing for the league minimum come April…

Manny to the Giants for Four-Year Deal?

Now while I strongly believe the “source” in this story is closely associated with one Scott Boras, it’s still worth passing along to the Dodger faithful. Make your own assumptions, but it’s interesting timing given the Andruw Jones news this evening. From CBS 5 in San Francisco:

Giants Offer Slugger Manny Ramirez 4-Year Deal

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) ?The San Francisco Giants are pursuing free-agent slugger Manny Ramirez and have offered him a four-year deal, a well-connected source told CBS 5.

Financial terms of the contract offer were not immediately known. The deal was said by the source to contain incentives for the third year of the contract and a club option for the fourth.

In addition, the Denver Post newspaper quoted a Major League Baseball insider as saying the Giants were “quietly making an aggressive play” for Ramirez.

The chances of the Giants signing Ramirez, a 36-year-old left fielder, were unclear. A team spokesperson told CBS 5, “it’s not happening.”

The Los Angeles Dodgers recently withdrew a two-year, $45 million offer they presented to keep Ramirez, who helped lift them into postseason play with an NL West title this past season.

Dodger officials said the team took their deal off the bargaining table after not hearing back from Ramirez’s camp.

Calls by CBS 5 to Ramirez’s agent, who is known for trying to pit teams against each other in a bidding war, were not returned and his publicist had no knowledge of any negotiations with the Giants.

Andruw Jones No Longer a Dodger!

Yes, it’s the New Year’s gift we’ve all been hoping for, but it does not come cheap. According to Ken Gurnick at MLB.com, the Dodgers have agreed to pick up ALL of Jones’ remaining salary, but will defer it to future years. Jon Heyman at Sports Illustrated is reporting this will save the Dodgers $12 million this year, which obviously could be used for the long-awaited Manny Ramirez signing. According to Heyman, Jones will be released or traded before Spring Training. In exchange, Jones is free to sign as a free agent elsewhere, and the Dodgers will pick up the tab.

Regardless of what happens to Jones, I still think this is the move that had to be made. For whatever reason, Andruw was never comfortable in LA, and nothing that Torre, Mattingly or even Man-Ram did could break the guy out of what (at best) could be described as one of the most incredible slumps of all time.

Good luck, Andruw. We hardly knew thee.

Rumor Mill: Free Agent Andruw Jones?

According to TJ Simers at the Los Angeles Times and confirmed by Yahoo! Sports, that’s a scenario that the Dodgers are exploring with Jones’ agent, potentially through a deferred buyout or maybe a jinky contract extension moving the money owed to future years. Along with every other Dodger fan with a pulse, a contract buyout is something that we heartily endorse and a fantastic way to start off the new year fresh. Nothing like washing away the sins of 2008, right?

BTW, we loved the story about how the Giants are reportedly interested in entering the Man-Ram sweepstakes. Yeah, right. I’m sure those knuckleheads up in SF are indeed interested in having Manny in their outfield to sell some tickets now that they have The Big Unit on board for one year, but do you think Boras would seriously consider parking Manny in the Bay for 4-5 years? That’s the baseball equivalent of doing a stint in Alcatraz. Boras knows he needs another bidder to drive the price up with the Dodgers, and what better team to use than The Hated Ones?

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