A few items from baseball's high-rent district…
- John Boggs, agent for Adrian Gonzalez, tells Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald that he'd be "surprised" if his client isn't signed to a long-term deal with the Red Sox once the season begins. Boggs said he hasn't been in negotiations with Sox managment since December, but will travel to the team's Spring Training camp in March to continue talks. There have been rumors that Gonzalez has already agreed to an extension but the deal isn't being announced until April so the club can avoid a luxury tax hit; the first baseman denied these rumors in December.
- The Yankees, for a change, head into Spring Training with a lot of competition for jobs, writes Fanhouse's Ed Price.
- In his profile of the Rays' "sleeper" pitching prospects, John Sickels of Minor League Ball says Tampa Bay's collection of minor league arms is so deep that "in other organizations, some of these would be Top Ten prospects and considered anchors for the future, rather than 'oh yeah, him too' pitchers."
- Albert Pujols in a Red Sox uniform? It's not a hint about next winter, but rather a what-if from the 1999 draft that ESPNBoston.com's Gordon Edes explores with Boston scout Ernie Jacobs.
UMMMMMMM of course A-gon denied the rumors because thats what he was told to do…. if he said “yah we signed an extension but we are not announcing it till opening day, it ruins the whole purpose and screws the sox by going towards the lux tax. ESPN/NESN/sports writers all say a deal is done, and it is not official and a-gon cannot admit it, or else the sox get screwed
I don’t understand. Why can’t he just say they have a deal in principle, but it isn’t signed yet? Can MLB force you to sign if you announce a deal? That sounds very Suge Knight Vanilla Ice to me…
As far as I know a contract isn’t an official deal until it’s been officially announced by the team and player. Makes me think there is no contract, just a general idea of the years, money, and perks.
regardless, if he says we have a deal in principal or we have a deal, the MLB hears that and goes after the sox….. you cant say anything about having a “deal” or :deal” in place to the media because of what i said above. they did the same thing with josh last year, think of it this way, if the sox had announced an extension, could they have signed crawford? would the sox have even done this deal without getting a contract extension in place. no becuase the prospects they gave up were their best prospects, theo aint stupid to trade away players for someone who he had a man crush on his whole time, and not say, WE WILL DO THis deal even if we dont get an extension done
In your mind, what would have prevented them from signing Crawford? Did MLB institute a hard salary cap I’m not aware of? I don’t buy into all these conspiracy theories. You can agree to marry your partner without setting a date or tying the knot immediately.
what would have prevented them from signing crawford is that it would have shot them over the lux tax
You really think that being over the Competitive Balance Tax would have stopped them from signing Carl Crawford?
Henry repeats several times each year how he hates paying owners like Luria of the marlins millions of dolars when all they do is pocket it and not spend the money on the teams like they are supposed to. The profit sharing, or redistributing it,whatever you want to call it is supposed to be spent on the teams..Payroll etc..But teams like the Fish, Padres, pirates etc..Those owners choose to pocket most of the money and the payrols they have is proof in point year after year.
Most of the money for revenue sharing is separate from the Competitive Balance Tax(a.k.a. the luxury tax), but who really cares about that. I’m asking for a logical reason as to why anyone would think that the Red Sox, one of the most profitable teams, would balk at signing Crawford even if it would mean paying an additional $3MM-$5MM for one year, knowing that enough contracts would be coming off the books in 2012 to put them back under the CBT?
“but who really cares about that.”
That is just it.. Sox owner John henry does and he rails against it year after year and multiple times with marlins owner Jeffrey Luria being his #1 target. Henry just does not like the idea of paying any extra money to personally enrich an owner who refuses to spend it on the team like it is supposed to.
Boston delayed last season until after the start of last season announcing the contract extension with Beckett more than likely to stay under the cap, probably will this year with Gonzalez also. it’s Henry’s money and if he does not want to give it to other owner’s to share as they are supposed to? His choice.
I wrote “but who really cares about that” because I don’t think you understand the difference between revenue sharing and the CBT and didn’t feel like explaining it because I felt it has no bearing on you offering a reason for your argument. Did you do the math that supports the rationale for your argument? How would it affect future payroll obligations? I’m curious about the over/under dollar amount that would make ownership say “tell Carl Crawford to peddle his wares somewhere else.” I don’t think they would want to be $30-$40MM over the tax cap like the Yankees typically are, but I just wanted a well reasoned explanation for your opinion. Obviously, I disagree, but am open to convincing.
It doesn’t really matter a ton to me.. Not our money u know.. Sure would rather have a Gonzalez signed already and not have to wait until the 1st week of the season, but you can probably understand why he is not from Blackcourt’s figures below..At just 15% penalty they are saving millions with just a 2 month delay in announcing a pretty much done deal.
Boston has pretty much always in the Henry Era gone out and targeted the guy they wanted and made a strong attempt to get them, so spending has not been a problem, but they will save money when possible and 5m here and there adds up at anytime. Why not try to save it when one can? We talk about 5-10m here on these boards like it is 5 dollars sometimes and these millions actual amount seems to get lost.
The reasons for delaying the Gonzalez contract signing are smart ones and I agree with that type of business decision making. That is not what we are debating. Jordan contends that if the Red Sox had signed Gonzalez to an extension they would never ever have signed Carl Crawford. Yea or nay?
I say they would have signed him anyway, because he is a talented player and they have enough payroll coming off the books in 2012 to be under the 2012 estimated CBT. I based this on the fact that the Red Sox, while trying to not spend over the soft CBT cap, have been over it in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2010.
The amounts:
2010 $1,487,149
2007 $6,064,287
2006 $497,549
2005 $4,148,981
2004 $3,148,962
I contend that being over the CBT cap in 2011, while unfortunate, would not have prevented them from signing Crawford.
As I said earlier it’s a waste of money and bad business! Henry didn’t get to where he’s at by giving money away!
The luxury tax is a 20pct hit! 20 mil for Crawford becomes 24 million which is simply bad business and a waste if you’re an owner!
You’re doing the math wrong, the taxable portion is the spending over the CBT. Read my response to johnsilver to understand what we are debating.
If a contract is not signed then it’s not a contract. You can agree with a handshake but until both team and player have signed off on a deal then there is no deal. Despite that people want to claim there’s some conspiracy behind this the Sox are too careful to have anything official.
There is no deal, it’s called FRAUD…..Can you not claim a purchase until the next year to get out of owing the IRS? NO because thats tax whats that word? Oh yeah FRAUD, his agent is down in Florida to hammer out a deal because as of today, there is no deal, sheesh people I really wish peple could wrap their brains around this.
Given how they just meet when they started talking of a deal and had, what 24 hours, it is asking a lot to expect them to agree to a deal and then agree to keep it quiet.
More likely the RS offered a deal, Gonzalez counted, and the Red Sox said because of his injury they were not prepared to go anywhere near that level. So they agreed to continue talking in spring if he was proven to be healty. Everyone knows what both sides offered, and both sides think they can meet somewhere in the middle.
but think of it like most deals with an impending FA get done. Theo would not have traded for him if they did not get a deal done….. if anything the contract is written out with how much he is going to get paid/years, which they both agreed on, and all thats left is to put pen to paper…. so it is “done” to the point where they cant report it
Tell us something we don’t already know Mr. Price
Pujols went in the 13th god damn round, any team could play what if. Friggin worthless.