Major League Ready

Please enlighten me. This is a very important clarification where the team budget is concerned. What part do I have wrong? Does every other company in America pays SS and Medicare but teams don't. Do MLB teams get their medical coverage for free? I mean players get medical benefits for life. Who pays for this. How about other retirement benefits? If you want to take a stand my position is ignorant you should be prepared to prove you point with facts and don't say let's just move on when you realize you are not too well informed.

Apparently you are confusing employee tax deductions with employer paid payroll expense. Social Security and Medicare taxes are imposed on both the employee at a flat rate of 6.2% for social security and 1.45% for Medicare and the employer 's single flat rate of 6.2% and 1.45%, respectively, creating a combined FICA tax rate of 15.3% (12.4% for Social Security and 2.9% for Medicare). Self-employed individuals are responsible for paying the entire 15.3% tax themselves. Teams also pay medical benefits and a retirement fund. This is an example of one of those things where fans don't have all the information and get bent out of shape about something they simply don't fully don't understand.

You don't understand. Every company pays Payroll taxes regardless of their level of profit.

I watched the Wichita game last night. Not so sure Winder is not becoming our top SP prospects. It sure seems to me like he and Balazovic have top of the rotation stuff. I also think that Ober has always had plus command and the odds of him being a solid contributor for the next several years is quite good. There are a couple other guys like Varland that could end up being nice surprises.

The first thing that comes to my mind is did he mean 50% with the inclusion of payroll tax and benefits which is a touch over 11% the last time I saw something written on the topic. Guys in charge of the P&L or that have significant influence on the P&L don't omit things. So, my guess is that if that was said, he meant total payroll cost and player salary is roughly 89% of that number. Fans hear or read this statement and assumes a payroll of 50% of revenue means salaries equal to 50%. Many people have absolutely clung to this 50+% of revenue sound bite. Salaries at 52% plus taxes and benefits equate to roughly 63% of revenue. Operating costs have definitely gone up since that soundbite. What I have seen written about operating costs suggest the average is around 1/3 of revenue. That's 96% of revenue which is why you are seeing salaries closer to 40% of revenue.

It’s quite interesting to look at how other front offices approached their off-season. What did Boston do after losing a superstar to free agency in 2020 and finishing last? Did they use their considerable financial resource to extend their CFer. No they let him go to free agency. Did they sign any expensive FA? No. They signed veteran SP Garret Richards and Enrique Hernandez for $7M. The rest were bargain signs like our old friend Marwin Gonzales. I bet many Boston fans thought the FO was incompetent. Where are they now? 1st place in the AL East. What did Tampa do after their WS run? Did they trade for a SP to replace Morton or did they sign a big free agent. No. They traded away Blake Snell and signed Chris Archer for $6M and 6 other guys for a total of $12M. I bet their fans were having a fit. Where are they? ½ game out of 1st place. How about Houston. They lost Cole the year before and now Spring. Did they trade for big name SPs or did they get them via free agency. Neither. They resigned Brantley and signed Odorizzi for under $8M. I have to believe the Twins would have given $8M in a heartbeat which just goes to show it can be very difficult to resign players who believe they can get more. Houston did sign a fairly expensive RP in Pedro Baex for $6.25M. He has missed the entire season so far. I bet even after all their success some of their fans were critical. Where are they now? Best record in the AL. How about Oakland? They lost Hendricks and Semien to free agency as well as De La Stella, Minor, and Grossman. Who did they add? Rosenthall who has not played and a half dozen guys for 3.5M or less. Those dumpster diving cheap skates. Bet they are at the bottom of the standings. Nope. 14 games over 500. I won’t go over the NL. The point is that a fair number of fans cling to spending big and making block buster trades. We should pay more attention to how winners are built, especially among teams with average or less than average revenue. The trades that count most for average revenue teams are more often than not trades for players that have not been established. Give me Tatis Jr. for James Shields or Bauer for whoever he got traded for or the haul that Seattle got for Cano and Diaz.

My guess would be $55M. The problem with that approach is that we our starting point is the same roster that has not gone it done but now spending an incremental $35M. Of course, this reduces the payroll available for free agents. We would have to move Donaldson in my estimation because the reality is that it would probably cost close to $50M just for Berrios/Buxton to get them to forego free agency. So, that's $70M not $50M for three players if you can't move Donaldson. Nobody is taking him at full salary so we would have to retain part of that salary. No easy or obvious answers here.

I like this idea. Move him to AAA and see how he does. I don't believe in pushing guys before they are ready but maybe he could come up in September for a look. Can anyone comment on how his defense has progressed?

For me it all depends on what is offered back in a trade. This team needs to developing pitching if we are ever going to seriously contend. That's not happening by the start of next season. 2022 is a long shot even with good free agent signings. Buxton has to play the way he has this year and stay healthy. Donaldson has to play better and stay healthy. They need to do something at SS. Replace 3 SPs and rebuild the BP. Sano needs to get his act together and I can't see them bringing back Cruz. That money would have to be allocated to pitching. That's not a situation that is likely to produce a contender. The good news is they could be back in 2023 and beyond. This is an excellent chance to rebuild in a short period of time. Going for it next year could have a significant long-term cost. They have the trade capital in players that won't be here after 2022 to return the type of prospects that can make a difference. They did well in the 2018 deadline but this year they have considerably better assets to trade. It could be a huge boost.

How has Miranda done defensively this year? Fangraphs rate his fielding below average. I just got Milb TV so I can see these things for myself but I have not seen him play yet. He is going to have a nice move up prospect boards especially if his defense has improved.

Josh Winder looks the most ready to me. Perhaps they give him an audition. It seems from the chatter Barnes could get a shot too. I have watched a couple of his starts and his stuff does not look like it will play at the MLB level but I would love to be wrong.

The Mets would be a better trade partner unless St. Louis was willing to give up Liberatore. I doubt they would. He seems to be close to major league ready. A prospect like him would make me feel quite good about are chances to rebuild/retool and get into serious contention soon.

3 of our 4 top SP prospects out really sucks! The development of these 3 is a big factor in "re-tooling" our roster.

Why should one company have to give revenue to a competitor so that competitors employees can get get paid more? How is that even remotely fair to the large market teams. Why is it so hard for you to understand this is a business? Why don't the highest paid players share their income with lower paid players? That makes about as much sense. Player compensation has risen at an incredible rate for 50+ years. Things are just fine as is. Raise 1st year salary to 800K, 2nd year to 900K and 3rd year to $1M. Leave the rest the way it is or perhaps make the 3rd year arbitration eligible. I don't want our team or teams with lesser revenue to be at an even bigger disadvantage. The one other thing I would change would be MilB comp and in a big way. Max signing bonus would be $1M for 1st overall and the amount decreases by 2% per pick. Milb payroll is increased equal to the amount formally used for bonuses. With this change they could pay Milb players and average of $85K. It could be something like 75K for A, 85Kof A+/AA and $100K for AAA.

What they do with service time is going to be very interesting. The big market teams might not mind from a competitive standpoint but revenue from gate sharing is going to be hurt if parity gets worse. Oakland and Tampa have managed to field competitive teams but the rest of the league is putting more value on prospects. I would think the small market teams would absolutely dig in there heals on keeping something close to what we have now. If those teams lost a year of service it's going to be even harder for them to compete. In our case, Buxton and Berrios would be gone next year.

His contract has bonuses for innings and starts which make the $9M very probable unless he is injured a significant portion of the year. When forecasting the proper methodology is the most likely number.

I could see them moving him up after the deadline if by some miracle they trade Donaldson. I am assuming he would not start the season at the MLB level. That said hopefully the undertone of this is my hope came through. A man can dream.

I like it but there is one other thing I would love to see. That's Miranda here early in 2022 to take over 3B. He hit two more HRS today and his OPS is now 948. I am really cheering for this guy to continue his current success and get even better. He looks like the Twins minor league break-out player of 2021. That would be a real boost. It would great if Gordon continues to push him for that honor and DeLa Trinidad is all the sudden a hitting machine too. He is batting .328 with a 946 OPS. We could also have a fantastic bench with great flexibility next year. If Miranda did take over 3rd at some point we potentially have Arraez / Refsnyder / Gordon as bench players.

The best trade they did was Odorizzi for Polacios, Especially given they resigned Polacios and he is doing well. You could argue the Maeda trade was their best trade but that one could still go the way of great for us or bad for us. The one with the most upside is probably Duran given he was traded for a rental but it's also possible he could bust. Of course, they got DeLa Trinidad in that deal. He has not looked like much until this year but he is hitting 319. We also did not give up much for Valimont or Rijo. They may not ever see the big leagues but those trades could also be very positive in our favor.

It's probably about 100 days too early. The relative progress in developing starting pitching and BP options for that matter are likely to weigh heavily into how much the spend and what they spend it on. Next year is sunk IMO if they don't develop two SPs that can be mid rotation types or better and they will need to be relied on next year. I don't consider Dobnak to be a reliable option to even fill a spot but he certainly could become a decent back of the rotation option. If they don't develop two SPs this year I think they have to hope Maeda bounces back and they land an free agent SP as good or better than Berrios if they are going to win the division and have any shot in the post season. They would need to do something with the BP because that group won't cut it.

It was not meant to be a comp. It's a concept directed at the comments that some here made that it's incompetent to trade away good players. Of course Sale was a superior asset. That's not even remotely the point. The point is that Buxton and Berrios are players that SHOULD bring a good return and I prefaced the scenarios I laid out with IF we got impact prospects the years of 2023 and beyond were very likely better than if we kept them. I believe he brings a top 40-75 prospect. Keep him if not.

Yes. The reality is that the large markets have a very significant advantage in free agency. It's going to be very interesting to see what happens in the CBA. Teams have caught on to prospect value so even the larger market teams are far more reluctant to part with prospects. They are not paying for rentals. Somehow the league needs to promote parity and the players are going to want to somehow loosen free agency terms.

That seems reasonable. I just expect that some players are not willing to leave any money at all on the table. Engaging the free agency process without questions is more likely to present the highest possible offer. And, as I have said previously, many players, especially of this profile (good but not elite) have demonstrated they believe they are worth much more than they actually get in free agency.

The assumption he will sign for "somewhere between 5/80 and 6/125" is a bold assumption. If he thinks he can get 6/125, there are plenty of players that are not signing for a dollar less. We also need to acknowledge there are a lot of players who start out with absolutely wild salary demands. Free agency is the opportunity for all the highest revenue teams to bid on your services. There are lots of players who are not budging without the benefit of that process so to assume they can convinced to forego free agency is a wild assumption.