We have the first, I believe, player to accept a QO

[jimmer]

Colby Rasmus today accepted the qualifying offer.  Will other players/agent now start to think this is sometimes a good option?

[biggentleben]

Mentioned in the offseason thread.

 

This is why we can't have nice things.

[jimmer]

 

Mentioned in the offseason thread.

 

This is why we can't have nice things.

Sorry, I didn't see it.  I just saw it on the MLB front page. I suppose next time I'll make sure to look at every thread closely and see if something about other teams' transactions was posted on a generically named thread :-)

[biggentleben]

 

Sorry, I didn't see it.  I just saw it on the MLB front page.

 

Just razzing you. Normally the threads in here get off track with Twins talk, so it's at least a different distraction!

[jimmer]

 

Just razzing you. Normally the threads in here get off track with Twins talk, so it's at least a different distraction!

it's okay, I razed back.  Hope you don't mind :-)

[biggentleben]

Nah, it's all good.

 

It did bring up something I was discussing with a friend during half time of the football game today...

 

How much would it take on a one-year deal to get someone like Jason Heyward, David Price, et al to forego the long-term deal? $30M? $40M? more?

 

We were about 10 players deep into the free agent pool with our guesses when half time got over, but it was an interesting thing to think about.

[Squirrel]

It will be interesting to see how many accept this year ... I have to believe there will be more than a few. I see Kendrys Morales received one ... I can't imagine he'd turn it down after he did so last time.

[jimmer]

 

Nah, it's all good.

 

It did bring up something I was discussing with a friend during half time of the football game today...

 

How much would it take on a one-year deal to get someone like Jason Heyward, David Price, et al to forego the long-term deal? $30M? $40M? more?

 

We were about 10 players deep into the free agent pool with our guesses when half time got over, but it was an interesting thing to think about.

It's an interesting question, but I think the top FAs like the two you mentioned, wouldn't do it no matter what.  They can get top money and plenty of years.  Still a good question.

[biggentleben]

 

It's an interesting question, but I think the top FAs like the two you mentioned, wouldn't do it no matter what.  They can get top money and plenty of years.  Still a good question.

 

We had Heyward at $47M. He's 26. He plays 2016 for $47M and likely still gets a 5+ year deal after 2016 for 150M+. Wouldn't that be worth it? The biggest risk is that on opening day Heyward tears his ACL and is out for the season, but even then, he's got such a track record, that you'd think that he'd have his $47M in the bank and still get solid money only being 27.

 

It was interesting to consider. Greinke was our highest number mostly because we both figured he had the most to lose in an injury/bad performance year after the 2015 he had.

[DaveW]

It will be interesting to see how many accept this year ... I have to believe there will be more than a few. I see Kendrys Morales received one ... I can't imagine he'd turn it down after he did so last time.

I dunno, morales had a real nice year, someone would give him 2-3 years me thinks

[kab21]

Morales is already under contract for this year but I think it would have been hard for him to decline a QO.

 

Apparently there are 3 that accepted QO's this year.  Rasmus, Wieters and Anderson while Estrada signed a contract before making a decision.  I agree with both Rasmus and Anderson accepting since their market could have been lukewarm and I understand why Wieters accepted.  He wants a big contract at age 30 instead of settling for a 3-4 yr deal this year.

 

Which FA's do you think will have a hard time signing a contract considering the loss of the draft pick?

1. I see Gallardo being a tough one to justify a long term contract and the loss of a draft pick. 
2. The 34 yr old less than durable Iwakuma looks like a tough sign unless he goes back to the Mariners. 
3. Lackey has pitched really well since TJ but he is 37. 
4. Ian Kennedy hasn't pitched that well for the most part. 
5. Samardzija has a little Ricky Nolasco in him.  His results have rarely matched his otherwise good peripherals.  Nobody could have predicted the injuries but this would have been the knock against Nolasco at the time.  Some pitchers just give up a few more run than they should.  I think he signs with some ease because the peripherals are good and he is durable.

I wouldn't be surprised if at least 2 or 3 of these return to their former team.

 

Kendrick, Murphy and Desmond are a bit fringy but I think they will sign. 

 

I can't wait to see what team signs Wei Yin Chen.  This directly affects which games are televised in Taiwan next year.  Please don't let it be an awful NL team.  The games would be awful and they would rarely play the Twins.

[TheLeviathan]

When you offer players that won't get half that much per year 16M, they'd be fools to decline.

[jimmer]

Weiters and Anderson just accepted their QOs as well.

[ashbury]

Weiters and Anderson just accepted their QOs as well.

Weiters apparently saw the move the Twins made, said "forget free agency then," and ducked for cover.

[drjim]

The QO is such a silly concept.

 

The fix seems pretty obvious and clear.

 

1. No lost draft picks for signing free agents and all regular draft picks can be traded.

 

2. Keep (or not) the competitive balance picks as is.

 

3. Free agent compensation is calculated the same way as NFL. Take net free agents signed (free agents lost minus free agents signed), assign value points to them, provide comp picks based on net value lost that occur after rounds 1-10 that count towards overall draft pool (but can't be traded).

 

The split of the revenue pot between owners and players is a potential land mine in the next cba negotiations, this seems like an easy give up for owners, and makes offseason even better with more assets that can be traded.

[diehardtwinsfan]

I think something needs to be in place to help the smaller market teams, but this system really hurts players, paricularly the slightly above average ones. 

[kab21]

 

I think something needs to be in place to help the smaller market teams, but this system really hurts players, paricularly the slightly above average ones. 

Compensation picks don't help smaller market teams.  Better teams have more good players and thus more players that get QO's and draft pick compensation.  Big market teams actually get more comp picks which put them further ahead of smaller market teams.  In addition to that the penalty for signing a FA is more severe for a small market team because they must rely on their farm system so they usually pass on top/mid level FA's even if they can afford a top/mid FA.

 

Draft pick compensation (old and new systems) have done way more to hurt small market teams than to help them.

[Mike Sixel]

QO is there to keep salaries down, no other reason for its existence at this point.

[Monkeypaws]

For those hell-bent on Wieters, does this affect your opinion of the Murphy deal?