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Free Agent Quotas
Readers often ask whether teams will face quotas if they want to sign multiple Type A or B free agents. So tonight I busted out the Basic Agreement and tried to translate it into English. The relevant section:
Quota
(a) Clubs shall be limited in the number of Type A and B Players, as defined below, they may subsequently sign to contracts. The number of signings permitted shall be related to the number of Players electing free agency under this Section B. If there are 14 or less such Players, no Club may sign more than one Type A or B Player. If there are from 15 to 38 such Players, no Club may sign more than two Type A or B Players. If there are from 39 to 62 such Players, no Club may sign more than three Type A or B Players. If there are more than 62 such Players, the Club quotas shall be increased accordingly. There shall be no restrictions on the number of unranked Players that a Club may sign to contracts.
(b) Irrespective of the provisions of subparagraph (a) above, a Club shall be eligible to sign at least as many Type A and B Players as it may have lost through Players having become free agents under this Section at the close of the season just concluded.
Got all that? There will be many more than 62 players electing free agency, so the exact number of Type A/Bs allowed per team is unknown. It is certain that each team will be allowed to sign at least three. 191 players are potentially eligible for free agency. It seems that if 131+ players file, each club could be allotted up to six Type A/B signings (more than enough for most).
The above-quoted section b lets certain teams sign even more than the normal allotment. Say every team is allowed to sign six. Two teams, the Dodgers (8) and Angels (7), could potentially lose more than six Type A/Bs. So if the Dodgers somehow lost all eight of their A/B free agents (Kent, Furcal Blake, Ramirez, Lowe, Maddux, Penny, Beimel), they would be allowed to sign eight to make up for it.
To sum it up, I don't see any team running up against the Type A/B quota. Comments and questions are welcome - I am not certain my interpretation of the Basic Agreement is correct.
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Your interpretation of the rule is incorrect. The 14 or less, 15 to 38, ect ect... refers to the number of type A/B free agents. Not the total number of free agents.
Here are some links that back it up...
http://baseball.about.com/od/majorleaguebasics/a/freeagentprimer.htm
http://groups.msn.com/BaseballForum/mlbgeneraltransactionrules.msnw
Posted by: spieldogg | October 16, 2008 at 03:49 AM
According to Eddie Bajek's projections for all pitchers and catchers, there are 45 Type A and B free agents. I would have to think that between all other hitters we get at least the 18 more needed for teams to seemingly be able to sign 4 Type A or B guys. I know that isn't exactly what Tim was getting at, but if the limit is 4, I'd say the Yanks are the only team likely to possibly hit the limit, with the possible exception of say, the Dodgers re-upping 3 of their own and adding one outsider.
Posted by: gatling | October 16, 2008 at 05:13 AM
Of course the number of potential type A/B's is high now. How many of those 45 type A/B pitchers/catchers have options that are going to be picked up? My guess is a lot.
Last offseason saw 21 type A/B switch teams. The year before was 34. No way more then 62 will hit the market. There is a possibility that it will reach 39, but most likely teams will only be allowed 2 plus whatever they are losing.
Another part is that I believe(not sure about this one) if you don't offer the player arbitration then they lose their A/B status. If that's the case, a team like the Yankees won't be able to gain additional Type A/B's for Giambi/Pudge(assuming arb is declined). Seriously when was the last time you saw more then 2 big name free agents the caliber of Lowe, CC, Dempster, Tex... get signed by the same team in the same offseason?
Posted by: spieldogg | October 16, 2008 at 06:19 AM
Good point about the options, there were maybe 10 guys wuth options in that 45, but Penny was declined, and I think Smoltz will be too. Anyway, outside of the Yanks and maybe the Angels this year, I doubt anyone is going to import even 2 Type A/B guys. I think the Dodgers could end up with 4 guys that are classified as Type A/B, but three of those would be guys they retain(Manny/Blake/Furcal).
As for Giambi/Pudge, I could see the Yanks offering arbitration to Giambi with the provision that he decline and test the market, with maybe a backside guarantee of 1 year at $10M with an option if he doesn't find a better deal. Pudge....he wouldn't be the worst thing to happen to the Yanks, since Posada isn't a reliable option behind the plate(still a good bat though). I'd offer him arb, because I think he's gonna try to look for a multi year deal. If I were the Yanks, I'd try and take on Bengie Molina or Ramon Hernandez in a salary dump for a year, but Pudge isn't a much worse option-he'd definitely be better than relying on Jose Molina if Posada can't play behind the plate. I could see the same kind of deal with Pudge, offer arb but he declines, then if he can't find a multi year deal, you do a one year + option.
Posted by: gatling | October 16, 2008 at 07:28 AM
I'm not convinced that the quotas are a function of only the number of Type A/B players electing free agency. The links provided are just internet people posting their interpretation of the document and are in no way authoritative. The document speaks for itself and it seems to me it states "the number of signings permitted shall be related to the number of Players electing free agency under this Section B." It could have said the number of rated Players, but did not. The document makes a distinction between rated players and unrated players but uses the more generic "Players" when discussing the quotas.
There may well be some unpublished interpretation by the Commissioner's office that applies the quota based on the number of Type A/B Players. If so, I suspect the players union could mount a serious challenge if MLB tried to impose this limit to block a team from signing a free agent.
In any event, as others have pointed out I doubt that this limit, under either interpretation, will impose any real limits on teams this off-season. This stuff just seems to tickle the imagination of baseball geeks, but has little, if any, practical import.
Posted by: thomasbp | October 16, 2008 at 07:44 AM
How are the compensation picks worked out if a team signs 2 type A. Which team would get their unprotected 1st round and what would the other team get.
Posted by: mkorpal | October 16, 2008 at 08:29 AM
I am with thomasbp. I initially thought that "such players" referred to Type A/Bs, but really "Players electing free agency under this Section B" should not be implied as Type A/Bs. Section B simply talks about electing free agency in general.
Posted by: Tim Dierkes | October 16, 2008 at 08:36 AM
mkorpal,
Whichever team loses the higher rated guy gets the 1st round pick. I think then the other team would get a 2nd round pick, but I'm not totally sure. I think something like this happened a couple of years back, I was thinking it involved the Mets maybe, but off the top of my head I don't remember the situation exactly.
Posted by: gatling | October 16, 2008 at 08:39 AM
Type A/B status is not affected by offers of arb; even non-free agents are ranked as Type A/Bs. Compensation picks are what is affected by offers of arb.
Posted by: Tim Dierkes | October 16, 2008 at 08:39 AM
Tim, a couple of questions:
1.) What if a Type A/B player doesn't file for free agency, and instead signs an extension with his team? Does that affect the 'available' number of Type A/B free agents?
2.) If a team loses a Type B free agent, can they sign a Type A free agent and not affect their 'quota'?
And this question has to do with compensation for losing free agents:
3.) Let's say the Yankees sign CC Sabathia and Ben Sheets, both of whom are Type A free agents and both of whom have been offered and declined arbitration. What happens with the Yankees' picks? Do the Brewers get their first round and second round pick, as well as adding the two supplemental round picks?
Posted by: AndrewYF | October 16, 2008 at 08:59 AM
1. I think they actually have to file to be counted.
2. I think the quota just groups As and Bs. So if the allowance is 4 you could sign four As or two of each or whatever. Just a guess, the document does not seem to clarify.
3. That sounds right.
Posted by: Tim Dierkes | October 16, 2008 at 09:09 AM
In the absence of this quota ever having been a constraint at any time I can't see it being an issue this offseason either.
Posted by: George Purcell | October 16, 2008 at 11:03 AM
Good point George. In asking around, I get the impression that despite the exact wording of the Basic Agreement, the allotment depends on the number of A/Bs who file. They should be more clear.
To me that means most teams are allowed 3; a few may be allowed more. If someone signs four it will be worth checking into.
Posted by: Tim Dierkes | October 16, 2008 at 04:34 PM