December 17, 2003
Ultimate Free Agent
Reggie Sanders has become THE fill in free agent. Need a right fielder? Reggie's available. This will be his 7th team in 7 years, the last four signing as a free agent. When the players won the right to free agency in the 1970's, Oakland owner Charlie Finely wanted a deal where all players got one-year contracts and became free agents every year. He saw (and so did Marvin Miller) that a small supply of free agents every year would drive salaries up. But if all players were available, if you didn't get Reggie Jackson, you could always get Dave Winfield or Dave Parker. But Finely was obnoxious and disliked, and the ballplayers got the model they wanted.
I should really take a look at the length of free agent contracts and see if they have fallen in recent years. It could be that MLB has realized that if they keep contract length short, they keep the market flooded and salaries lower.
I agreed with Finley then, and still think it is a good strategy now. One-year contracts for free agents. Homegrown guys should be offerred the long-term contracts. I'd max them out at 3 years.
Ahhh....1776. Saw the movie when i was 12 and still think of the song the "Lees of Virginia" when someone finishes their sentence with a word that ends in "ly". It's the kind of thing that drives a person nuts. I'm trying to do everyone a favor and warn them to stay away from the song "Lees of Virginia". The life you save may be your own.
In Sanders's case, the parade of one-year contracts might have something to do with his inability to produce in consecutive seasons. Here's a bizarre stat line: in odd-numbered years since 1995 his OPS has been 976, 857, 903, 886, and 912, but in even-numbered years it's only been 816, 764, 705, 779.
It's gotta be a fluke, but I'd have thought twice before signing him for '04.
