Article: Twins Minor League Report (4/23): Pitching Prowess

[AlwaysinModeration]

 

Agree, though I wouldn't describe that as the reason for him not being on the team now, in relation to Meyer.

 

But this is my least favorite argument ever for the types of prospects that Buxton, Sano, and Meyer are (e.g.: Elite) in regards to making an MLB debut and starting service time at the beginning of a season. It is absolutely unfathomable to me that if you have a guy ready for the big leagues, who obviously is going to help and IMPROVE your team right out of the gate, that you stash him in the minors for a few months. On a potential contending team, that could be the difference between making the playoffs and just missing at the end of the season.

 

For guys like this, it's very likely they have good to great success in their first years up in the bigs, and if/when Super 2 would even come into play, smart teams should be looking to buy out that year, the rest of their arbitration years, and even a year or two of free agency.

 

Did Mike Trout ever have an arbitration contract? No.

 

Did Clayton Kershaw ever have an arbitration contract? No.

 

Did Joe Mauer ever have an arbitration contract? No.

 

Did Andrew McCutchen ever have an arbitration contract? No.

 

Did... I could go on and on and on and on.

 

I've heard people attempt to make the "Well, the guy has to want to sign that contract though..."

 

Well, I then ask them to tell me about someone who didn't (provided the contract offer was reasonable), and decided to go year-to-year through those team control seasons, and nobody has been able to give me a single name that I would classify as an "elite" prospect type, who did this. They are potentially risking a lot of guaranteed money if they pass it up.

 

Hate, hate, hate the super-2 argument in relation to potential cornerstone up-and-comers.

 

Except those contracts that buy out the arbitration years differ in price (and not insignificantly so) based on how much arbitration clock a player has left.

[tobi0040]

 

Except those contracts that buy out the arbitration years differ in price (and not insignificantly so) based on how much arbitration clock a player has left.

 

My understanding is if you bring a guy up before April 29th or so, you get an additional year of control. If you wait until June 1 to June 15th or so, the super 2 deadline passes and while the control is the same, you swap a year at a rookie salary for a year of arbitration. For a player that turns out to be very good, the difference could be up to $10M.

[Steve Lein]

 

If you wait until June 1 to June 15th or so, the super 2 deadline passes and while the control is the same, you swap a year at a rookie salary for a year of arbitration. For a player that turns out to be very good, the difference could be up to $10M.

 

Which is why teams buy those years out in the first place, so that potential difference from arbitration gets a concrete/cost-certainty number put on it.

 

I can't even imagine what the number from Arbitration for Mike Trout would have been. But I think the $5 mil they gave for what would be his first season of it is a massive money saving amount from an arbitration standpoint.

[tobi0040]

 

Which is why teams buy those years out in the first place, so that potential difference from arbitration gets a concrete/cost-certainty number put on it.

 

I can't even imagine what the number from Arbitration for Mike Trout would have been. But I think the $5 mil they gave for what would be his first season of it is a massive money saving amount from an arbitration standpoint.

 

I am not convinced the Angels saved any money at all. The last two years on his deal pay him $35M and $38M. Miggy's deal is about $30M a year, so I don't see how Trout is going to make 33% more than that.

 

The average of Trout's deal is $24M a year over six years. Regarding arbitration, the highest ever award I believe is $10M for Ryan Howard. While Trout would certainly get more than that, he would not sniff $24M.

 

So to me it looks like they wanted to keep the guy happy and overpaid him.

[ashbury]

I can't even imagine what the number from Arbitration for Mike Trout would have been. But I think the $5 mil they gave for what would be his first season of it is a massive money saving amount from an arbitration standpoint.

 

If so, then why did Trout go for it?

[Mike Sixel]

Many are wondering why Trout went for it. Rumor has it that the union is mad at him actually. Maybe he's like me....someone offers you enough money to last your lifetime, and still leaves you years to get paid more later, you take it, and don't worry about leaving a few million on the table.

[Mike Sixel]

 

I am not convinced the Angels saved any money at all. The last two years on his deal pay him $35M and $38M. Miggy's deal is about $30M a year, so I don't see how Trout is going to make 33% more than that.

 

The average of Trout's deal is $24M a year over six years. Regarding arbitration, the highest ever award I believe is $10M for Ryan Howard. While Trout would certainly get more than that, he would not sniff $24M.

 

So to me it looks like they wanted to keep the guy happy and overpaid him.

 

Given baseball inflation.....I think you underestimate his value in the end years of that deal. As I said, the union thinks he's underpaid.

[tobi0040]

 

Given baseball inflation.....I think you underestimate his value in the end years of that deal. As I said, the union thinks he's underpaid.

 

Couple of things. A-Rod signed a 10 year, $252 million dollar deal in 2000. I beleive that was the highest deal until 2007, when he got 10-275. That is only a 9% increase and it took seven years. In the last year or two, I think Miguel Cabrera and Kershaw's deal are the only larger deals on a per year basis, at $29.2M a year (Miggy) and $30.7M (Kershaw). Kershaw's deal is only 11.6% more than A-Rod's and it took seven years to go up by that amount. So a 33% increase in just four years (when Trout would have been a free agent) seems unlikely.

 

The other key is, when Trout was on a year by year basis, he carried all the injury risk. If he had concussions, major knee injuries, etc. it would be him that was out the money. Now that he has $144M guaranteed, all of that risk transferred to the Angels. A price should be put on that and on this deal I don't see how the Angels got him for less.

 

I think this was a situation where they wanted to keep their best player happy. This was not a team friendly Evan Longoria, 6 year $36M deal.

 

If the union guys think he is not paid well, that is their issue. I don't know how they can look at Cano and Pujols 10-240 and think Trout is going to get $380M over 10 years just four years later. I think the union wants a guy like Trout to go through each step of abrbitration so they have new records to go off of. With a deal like this, the ceiling is still Ryan Howard or whoever.

[twinsfan34]

Meyer...another 6 innings and 11 strikeouts with 2 hits and 3 walks tonight. In a word, dominant.

 

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