December 29, 2018

Lucroy for a Song

The Angels sign Jonathan Lucroy to a one-year deal for very little money:


The deal, which was not announced by the Angels, will pay Lucroy a reported $3.35 million, with incentives that could lift the value over $4 million. The Angels will need to make a corresponding 40-man roster move before making the deal official.

OCRegister.com

Lucroy is a great example of how the value of catchers can plummet. In his prime, seasonal age 26 to 28, he collected over 13 WAR. In the four years since, he posted a little over seven WAR, most of that in 2016. The Angels are now paying him as a half-WAR player. With this contract, his career earning will be about $26 million. According to FanGraphs, he generated about $170 million worth of value in his career.

This is just another example of why players need to fight for quicker free-agency, especially now that teams are not paying free agents for past performance. Maybe the union should fight for free agency by seasonal age 25, so teams can no longer keep a player in the minors so they capture prime seasons cheaply. Let the best players get paid for their best years.

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