February 03, 2008
Youth Movement
There are ninety free agents still available. It looks like teams are more willing to spend their money on youth rather than aging veterans:
More than a few agents these days grumble, always anonymously, that teams are flirting dangerously close to collusion. With revenues creeping above the $6 billion mark, agents point to the slow-moving free agent market as proof something is askew. Some agents are still trying to get over the shock and chagrin of the Theo Epstein and Larry Beinfest-inspired idea at last November's GM meetings to have clubs openly announce who is available for trade while detailing some of their offseason quests.
A more sober analysis calls for an honest appraisal of who remains unsigned. Some very useful veterans are still on the market, but it is no stretch to understand why teams would rather take a flier on upside than gamble on declining skills.
"It's an aggressive market now for outstanding payers, but for non-regulars and even some regulars, teams are looking within more often," said longtime agent Adam Katz, who still has veterans Sammy Sosa, Aaron Sele and Tony Batista unsigned. "Going with kids is one way to save money, and one result of that is that there are a lot of quality veterans out there now without a job."
On the one hand, I can really see why one wouldn't spend money on Aaron Sele or Sammy Sosa.
On the other hand, I think the burden of proof for collusion is pretty much on the owners these days. If they were to tell me they loved their mothers, I'd want it in writing, notarized.
It's high time that teams begin to realize that they get no value out of marginal veterans. (Tony Batista? Come on!) For way too long, teams have opted for "proven" players, the ones with intangibles, experience, and/or good chemistry. The results: a lot of money is wasted, and the likes of Neifi Perez, Tony Womack, and Dan Miceli hang around a lot longer than they should, doing their little bit to make baseball more boring.
You beat me to it - NB
"Sammy Sosa, Aaron Sele and Tony Batista "
No market for washed up vets? Boo hoo.
I read a good article a couple weeks back (I think it was in this year's Hardball Times annual) about how Fehr has done a remarkably poor job of securing good salaries for his mid- and low-level employees. Essentially, the top-level players get paid the huge bucks while the guys who are maybe solid bench players, back-of-the-bullpen types or your generic platoon player don't make much at all (relatively speaking).
This issue is, of course, that baseball clubs have a strong incentive now to simply replace talent that is only marginally above replacement-level with low-level prospects, who can do an essentially similar job for league minimum. This pulls down salaries quite a bit for that type of player.
Instead of trumpting contracts like ARod's and Santana's, what the union should (to maximize the earnings of its members as a whole) is to negotiate a much higher league minimum (say $1-2M, rising annually) and at the same time give MLB a salary cap (or some sort of max annual salary thingy), as well as a floor. This would allow players who make the majors to earn a fair chunk of the pie in their time up, even if it isn't for very long. Sure, you won't break that $30M annual barrier as quickly, but it helps the "little guy" in the baseball labor market.
Look at last year's playoff teams...every one of them, including the previously "Vets Only Need Apply Here Yankees," had rookies or near-rookies in major roles. Teams have always copied success so now they're just copying that too! The fact that it makes financial sense too is just a lucky break for some of these fools.