Riverbrian

If I'm the players union and I want true value. I am holding firm on: Discontinued use of the first year player draft. The market forces will change drastically and will even move naturally... once every player is no longer drafted and subsequently shackled for a significant period of time. I know that what I said... seems shocking or extreme. BTW... The players union will never do this because they ain't boy scouts either. Both the owners and players association keep the advantages of the CBA away from the young player.

Players with 5 years of experience have the right to refuse outright assignment. Brian Dozier and Eduardo Escobar are new members of this club. If Hughes exercises this right and refuses outright assignment... the Twins must reinstate or release him and are still responsible for the duration of the contract. Now I assume... you might be thinking... "tough cookies Mr. Hughes". If he refuses the assignment... just let him go. The problem with that... you have to be sure... absolutely sure that Phil can't help you during the duration of the contract. Because if the Twins release Hughes... he can sign with anyone and if the Royals sign him... The Twins will be paying 26.4 million for Hughes to pitch for the Royals. The Royals will get to see if Hughes can get better and it costs them nothing. Since the Twins are already paying him 26.4 million and they can't escape it... they might as well be the team to see if he can get better. Just imagine what an owner would say to a GM if Hughes was pitching decently for the Royals and the Twins were paying the 26.4 million. Just imagine what the GM is going to say to the medical staff and training staff and coaches. If the Twins release Hughes it means that all hope is lost. This brings up another CBA Viewpoint that is going to support the way you feel. The Accrued Rights of the veteran player can be problematic. Teams are starting to prefer players with options at the minimum salary that they can do with whatever they please over the free agent making millions with big thick strings attached to them. Cain, Hosmer, Moustakas and Escobar of the 2017 Royals were beaten by Rosario, Buxton, Kepler, Sano and Polanco.

I believe there is no question that teams are typically not getting value at the end of most long FA contracts. Sometimes they don't get them in the middle or at the beginning and it's expensive. I believe that any GM with the slightest sense of metrics can see that. I think it is undeniable. I think where you and I are on opposite sides is this: You look at Pujols getting paid 30 Million at age 41 and you say... I don't want to eat that. Where I have already eaten it. I ate it the minute I signed the contract and I baked it right into the spreadsheets because I wanted the player right now. If you look at each contract year... Age 41 is going to be ridiculous. I believe the Angels knew that but they wanted the player right now... to win right now. They will have time to set up for the back half of the contract later. I totally get why the GM's might be pulling back on the long contracts to players in their 30's. It can't be argued but I am saying to the GM's and Owners. You may want to be careful here. The Owners may have adjusted based on solid metric reasoning but they just changed a game that they were already winning. The players will see the game change and adjust themselves accordingly. The players may win at this new game. Only because I love weird analogies. If the Owners are playing basketball against the players and the players are fine losing by 20 points but all of a sudden the owners take out knives... they are no longer playing basketball. Let sleeping dogs lie.

I'm not advocating bidding against yourself but at some point the buyer and seller have to reach an agreement. I'm sure the Angels would have preferred to give Pujols a 5 year deal but it took 10 because the Cards presented an offer of 10. When Bryce Harper hits the stage next year. If the Dodgers want him and the Yankees have offered a 15 year deal... the Dodgers will probably have to do the same or lose a player that they want. If you going to purchase some Bark Art and you are bidding against 5 others. You'll have to make a decision that you are comfortable with but if you want the Bark Art you'll have to pay the price that Bark agrees with to make it happen. If you are worried about the Bark Art losing value (IT WON'T) and try to negotiate some kind of safety net. That's fine if Bark agrees but Bark may not agree if I'm willing to buy the Bark Art with no loopholes because Bark would be crazy to do so. Do you want the Bark Art or not? That's the question.

The value of the contract should only be determined by what is needed to get the player into your uniform. If it takes a 15 year guaranteed contract... that is what it takes. Do you want the player? That is the only question that must be asked before signing your name. If Pujols is making 30 million at age 41... the Angels know that they will probably not get full value but they signed the contract because that is what it took to get him into an Angels Uniform because the Cardinals also offered him 10 years. Players are living year to year until they reach free agency. They have no security until they reach free agency. They can be out of baseball and looking for a job as a Maytag repairman because they ran into that wall and injured themselves. The players who survive that, stay healthy, are talented enough to help a team and reach free agency should be paid. I have no problem with them getting guaranteed money after they paid the dues. I have no problem paying them in decline phase. It is unfortunate that the Rangers have to pay Fielder and that the Angels have to pay Josh Hamilton. But... they wanted the player... they were aware of the risk and the price they paid was what it took to get them in uniform. When Pujols is 41 years old and making 30 million in the last year of that contract. Nobody should complain about it. The Angels wanted him and they got him.. they WON!!!

I'll tell you this much. Whenever Ketchup and Free Agency can be tied together. I'm happy.

Yeah... They are meddling in everything. They started doing that after they saw the movie "Charlie Wilson's War".

It'll be at its most interesting at a crowded convenience store. Zach will acknowledge while everyone else will wonder why the person doesn't keep going and name everything else he sees. "Counter top, magazine rack, refrigerator full of rock star. real old looking hot dogs". (True Story) We had a cat named "Rope" and the cat got outside one day. My wife went out and yelled "Rope" and yelled that at intervals trying to call the cat back. I don't know how many "Rope" calls it took but eventually our neighbor brought some rope over. (True Story)

That's true... could also explain why the Dodgers seemed to insist on moving him.

I'm always curious on how and why information is leaked/released. Curious... maybe more suspicious. I always assume the parties involved are professionals and know how to keep a lid on something if needed. so if it leaks... I assume it is intentional. Who would want 2/20 out to the public?

Based on how I think they will perform this year -- Here's Mine from best to worst: MAX SCHERZER – NATIONALS CLAYTON KERSHAW - DODGERS COREY KLUBER – INDIANS MADISON BUMGARNER - GIANTS CHRIS SALE – RED SOX DALLAS KEUCHEL – ASTROS NOAH SYNDERGAARD - METS LUIS SEVERINO – YANKEES JAMES PAXTON - MARINERS YU DARVISH - CUBS MICHAEL FULMER – TIGERS ZACH GRIENKE – D BACKS CHRIS ARCHER – RAYS JOSE BERRIOS – TWINS CARLOS MARTINEZ – CARDS COLE HAMELS - RANGERS JON GRAY - ROCKIES DANNY DUFFY – ROYALS JULIO TEHERAN - BRAVES MARCUS STROMAN – BLUE JAYS DYLAN BUNDY – ORIOLES AARON NOLA - PHILLIES GARRETT RICHARDS – ANGELS CHASE ANDERSON – BREWERS JAMESON TAILLON - PIRATES DAN STRAILY – MARLINS BRYAN MITCHELL - PADRES ANTHONY DESCALFINI - REDS SEAN MANAEA – A’S JAMES SHIELDS – WHITE SOX

Injuries happen and they ain't exactly predictable so I won't use the injuries to declare JDL would have been a bad trade target in hindsight. I have no idea what was offered or even talked about so I'm really not comfortable pretending I know for sure... However... The only name consistently mentioned in the rumors was JDL and JDL ended up being the only guy traded to get Forsythe so I'm under impression it was a 1-1 swap. I could be wrong. If true... I was against that trade because a player Brian's proven ability should be worth more than one minor league prospect not in the top ten. I was also against that trade because the Dodgers had a lot of talented prospects yet only JDL was consistently rumored. Right or wrong... I made an assumption that was because JDL was the player the Dodgers would like to part with. Meaning... the other guys on the farm were better in the Dodgers opinion. I was happy the trade didn't happen and am still happy it didn't happen and his health has nothing to do with it.

Players would never run into walls. They would take their effort down to 80% if injuries voided the contract.

Batting... Average Joe

I'm good with that. Who wouldn't want the nickname "Countertop" Hey Countertop!!!

Uncanny resemblance.

Assuming these numbers are correct and I have no reason to doubt them. The Twins have under spent by over 100 million. I imagine they will not make up the difference in future years by going over 52%.

Yeah Kinda. I'm going with... A controlled burn... self inflicted damage for the overall good. A few crumbs of good will. We might still be under the rule of England if King George III would have said... "Sure bring some representatives over here. We will pay the travel expenses out of the taxes we collect". The Lutheran Church may not have been created if the Catholic Church would have just said... "I'm alright with 42 of these 95 theses things you nailed to the door". I think it was Brock who was quoting "The Grapes of Wrath" in one of the political Forums that applies here. "Here is the Node, you who hate change and fear revolution"

I'm going to Boo that one as well but I admire the effort!

Has to be "Frosty" Lock that one in.

Eggs is good. I also like "Whiff" because of the Easy Odor of his last name.

The Shepherd

Boo!!! You were on a roll until that one.

I was depending on it. It was going to be my RV Gas Money!!!