Type A/B Free Agents

How in the hell is Izzy a type A?

Thought the relievers were pretty off with the rankings. Reading through the manner in which the ratings are determined is comedy. With all the stats that are available they use things like winning percentage for relievers to determine the ratings. Not to mention they try to determine players values using a small set of statistics which is going to create things like Casey being rated higher than Giambi.

It just seems weird to me for him to be in Type A.

Can someone link to the rules explaining compensation for type A and B free agents?

After a certain date, can you sign a type A free agent that declined arbitration from another team without giving any draft picks compensation?

what meanx type a and type b

Elias rankings are used for compensating teams for losing important players. As such, they are more about your value to your team than about how good a player you are.

If you're a monster with the bat but miss a lot of playing time, you're considered less important to your team than a guy who played every day with less impressive stats.

Is Giambi a better player than Garko? Yeah. But over the past two years, did he contribute more to his team? I'd say no. Giambi missed half of '07 and wasn't that great when he played. Garko never came close to Giambi's numbers, but he did put up ok numbers over two full seasons.

How is Darren Oliver a type A?

No way are Varitek and Pudge type A's

"Tek actually made type A after that miserable year? Hell, I almost want him to walk and sign with someone else... Seriously though, minimum offer the guy arbitration."

You know, as someone who doesn't care one way or the other for the Red Sox I can tell you that letting Tek go would be a great idea for them. The guy didn't contribute much on '08 and probably won't contribute much in '09 and beyond. Assuming anyone would sign him as a type A then he's got more value leaving than he would staying. I know the Red Sox fans are going to go ape because he's the capitan and a leader and has intangibles or whatever. The thing is, the guy they draft with the pick they'd get from letting an expensive, overrated, offensive liability leave might just have those same qualities. Besides, they're going to have to cut ties at some point unless they plan on playing him when he's in his 60's. Rip that bandaid off now when you can still get something valuable for him. The Red Sox don't owe Tek a contract, they don't owe him a damn thing. He's been paid handsomely to play for them for as long as he's been there. He doesn't owe the Sox anything and the Sox don't owe him anything.

It's moves like this that will keep the Red Sox competing and contending for a long time, even after the Yankees right their ship and start contending again.

Izzy a type A free agent? LOL.

"No Joe Crede??"

Consider he spent most of last year injured and when he was playing White Sox fans probably preferred him injured wished he was injured. And then this year was out for a third of the season and didn't break an .800 OPS.

You really that surprised?

No way Ivan Rodriguez is a type A ! (As a Yankee fan I'm overjoyed!)

Explain to me how Garland and Blake are type B's? They didn't have an aweful season foor guys who get paid a salary thats above league average.

"Explain to me how Garland and Blake are type B's? They didn't have an aweful season foor guys who get paid a salary thats above league average."

Elias Rankings have nothing to do with the player's current salary. It's all stat-based (although it isn't that great an indicator of current performance).

Garland is a #4-5 starter. If a guy is only the 4th best guy in a good rotation, he shouldn't be in the top 20% of all MLB pitchers, which is quintessentially what "Type A" is *supposed* to mean (although as I said before, there are big time flaws).

Question: Can a team sign the quota plus how many ranked FA's they are losing? For example, if the Mets let Perez go, can they sign a total of 4 ranked FA's (3 from the quota plus 1 for losing Perez)?

"It is simply far to dangerously to give him the 3-4 year contract that snake Boras is probably seeking"

I don't see Boras getting such a contract for Tek from ANYBODY. Nobody does that deal. Tek will sign late in the offseason, ala Kyle Lohse.

Tek should ONLY come back with a part-time role..as in...someone else is the starting catcher (Salty, Laird, etc.).

And, I will bet money that Smoltz is staying a Brave.

So if all 5 of the Yanks FA are offered arbitration and they all decline then the Yanks will get either 1 or 2 pics for each of them depending on whether that teams record was basically top 15 or bottom 15 for the '08 season? If the Yanks sign more than 1 FA would they just lose their own pic at worst or would they possibly lose some of the pics they might get from other teams this winter?

YF78- the picks you receive from free agent compensation are protected. The only picks the yankees could lose are their "natural" first second third.. etc picks. The picks they receive from not signing their first and second rounder are also protected, so we already have a guaranteed first and second round pick no matter what happens.

YanksFanSince78: All five of the Yanks (Pudge, Abreu, Moose, Pettite, and Marte) are type A free agents so the Yanks would get 2 picks for each if they are offered arbitration and leave. 1 from the team that signed them and 1 in the supplemental first round. All the picks they recieve both from the other teams and supplemental, are protected meaning that no matter how many FA's they sign the Yanks won't give up those picks. If they sign CC they will give up their 1st round pick, CC and Tex 1st and 2nd, and so on. (also their picks they recieved for missing out on their 1st and 2nd round picks this year are protected as well).

As for the picks they are determined by two factors 1. team recond and 2. comparision of other free agents the team signs. As for team record a team's 1st round pick is protected if they finished in the bottom 15 of the standings. So if the Braves sign Mussina then the Yanks would only get a 2nd round pick from them and the supplemental 1st round pick. As for the second part the comparision, every free agent is given an Elias rating a numerical score out of 100. Players in the top 20% in that category are Type A (21%-40% are Type B meaning just a supplemental pick no pick from other team). And that is not top 20% of free agents but of all players. If a team signs multiple Type A players then the player with the Highest Elias score gets the first eligible pick and the player with the second highest score would bring back the next pick and so on. So in the senario of Mussina to the Braves the Yanks could get no better than the 2nd round pick but if the Braves also signed CC (unlikely but using an example) then the Brewers get the 2nd round pick and the Yanks would get the 3rd round pick. And it could be even lower if they signed other Type A's who scored higher than Mussina even in other categories like RP and signing K-rod.

SWP: I agree with you in all likelihood Abreu would be the only player the Yanks would get compensation for MAYBE Moose as he could def go to a Philly or Atlanta type situation. In reality it actually hurt the yanks that Pudge was a Type-A, b/c if he was a Type-B i can think of a number of teams who would be in on him since they wouldn't lose anything.

I love it. We got the Type A/B rankings out. The playoffs are over. Second season is about to start. Tim must be excited too, this is big business time for him. I always like the site better in the offseason because they are so many people to discuss baseball with. Should be a fun winter.

Hey nrmax88 you are right. This is a great time of the year. Hey, can you rank allll the FA by obp for us all?

:)

Only after you rank them all by avg, doubles, and strikeouts. ;)

Is that by who has the most strikeouts (Cust/AL), by strikes vs walk ratio or by position (Cameron ranked 3rd among CF's)? I can have that by tomorrow.

:)

This is random and off topic, but just had a question. I posted something similar in a topic about the Mets toward the bottom of the recent list, so I didn't think it would get seen. It was a discussion about Delgado, and I brought up the question of does anybody know of a site/stat the measures average distance per homerun? I was talking about Delgado's second half, and why I didn't think he would fall off next year, and was just remembering some of the massive bombs he hit. I was discussing with a friend the other day whether he knew of anywhere to find a stat like this, because it would be cool to see a stat of who hit their homeruns the furthest, both in terms of average distance/hr, and total distance of HR balls for the year. I ask this because I think that Delgado probably lead the league in total distance traveled by homerun balls, because he hit so many monster shots. I know it's random, and doesn't hold much meaning, if any, but I just thought it would be cool to know. So if anybody knows where I could find a stat like that I would appreciate it.

YanksFanSince78 -

"-How many at bats does one need to be rankd in percentage categories like avg, obp, fielding %?"

If you're on the major league roster or DL on August 31, you get ranked. The heavy weighting of counting stats counters this.

"-Do you weigh their score relative to who's available in the FA market among C's (ex. If Irod had the 14th best overall fielding % but had the best % among available free agents do you then rank him #1)."

No, the rankings are based on all players who qualify for the position, regardless of contract status.

"-Are each categories weighted the same (ex: are fielding scores weighted better at defensvive position as opposed to obp or if there are 7 categories does each account for 1/7 of the score)."

Everything is weighted equally, except for IP by relief pitchers, which is only given 75% weight.

Defensive stats only count for the position you're ranked as. For example, if you played 100 games at catcher and 50 at first, you'd be considered a catcher in the rankings. All your offensive stats would be counted, but only defensive stats while playing catcher would count.

Teetz,
Think Cashner will be ready? I know he was supposed to be one of the most MLB ready guys in the draft last year...but I would be surprised if he makes the squad. Obviously, there is a big difference between what will and what should happen...but just wondering if you have heard anything about him either way.

Bob Howry type A????? HOLY SH**! So if somebody pickes him up do the cubs get draft picks?

nrmax, if he signs with a bottom 15 team, they get a supp. 1st rounder and that team's 2nd rounder.

First - I am amazed that howry is a type A. He certainly over the past couple seasons would not figure to be one...but this is an equational thing. Second, i don't think the cubs should offer arbitration to him. I wouldn't give up a pick (First or second round) for Howry so i don't see another team signing him. And i would be worried he would accept it and we'd be stuck with a 3 million dollar guy who can't pitch well anymore.

MLB really needs to revise this system for compensation when players like Alou who was injured most of this year get type B it is pretty ridiculus. Middle relievers should not be able to get compensation because there is no way you can say they are more valuable than the starters that just missed type A.