The Nationals will consider adding a veteran starter to bolster their rotation down the stretch, Yahoo’s Tim Brown writes. Kevin Millwood and Francisco Liriano could be possibilities for Washington unless the asking price on the top available pitchers drops. But the Nationals don’t need to rush to make a move and could even wait until August, when players have to clear waivers before being traded. Here’s the latest from Brown, starting with a note on Washington’s most talked-about pitcher:
- Agent Scott Boras said Stephen Strasburg the pitcher is worth $30MM per season “in free agent value.” Ostensibly, Boras was commenting on the Nationals’ decision to cap the right-hander’s innings, but it’s interesting to see how Boras values Strasburg. In case you’re wondering, the Nationals control his rights through 2016.
- Though the Rangers are “staying on top of” the pitching market and prepared to discuss deals for top starters, they’re more likely to upgrade their bench this summer.
- Rival teams are curious about what the Marlins have in mind with just 12 days remaining before the trade deadline. Here are the latest rumors regarding the 44-47 Marlins.
For sure Strasburg is worth that much. But like any young pitcher by the time he gets to free agency his worth will be diminished. He will probably fall around whatever kershaw signs for, and I don’t think it will be anymore than 25M. I really don’t think teams will go up to 1/6 of their salary cap on one player.
Salary cap? Wrong sport.
If MLB doesn’t cap spending, then the teams will be the most (and possibly only) effective deterrent for limiting these types of outrageous deals. By refusing to play a player that much money, then they put pressure on the player to sign for a lesser amount or risk not playing. Sadly, it will take an entire effort of all the teams capable of signing Player X to make this happen. And I don’t think it will.
Sadly, this will surely mean increased ticket prices every year. The only thing I can see happening is that ticket prices will eventually become so outrageous that the average fan will no longer be able to afford to go to a game, and maybe that will eventually mean less revenue for these higher payroll teams, thereby causing them to lower free agent spending. But I just don’t see that happening for a long time.
Talk about a war of attrition. And you’re right, that’d be really sad. For everyone involved.
Isn’ that technically very illegal in US law? Business owners coordinating to fix the market is a huge violation of anti-trust laws
I’m not exactly sure. But I wasn’t necessarily proposing that all the owners comply on a specific written plan to not sign a player. I was trying to state that all owners should just refuse to sign a player for that much money. Which would inevitably cause that player to lower their asking price and in turn, stop the market from getting so inflated.
Is a salary cap a huge violation of anti-trust laws too? What about the slot bonuses with a cap?
Scott Boras is bad for baseball.
maybe, but hes great for his clients, his does his job exceptionally well, why hate?
30 Million per season is quite a bit for a kid that has already needed Tommy John surgery to fix problems caused by arm mechanics. Or was Boras referring to his free agent value based on monopoly money?
$30mm Rupee per season
Why the dollar sign in front?
Oh Boras….
I hate Bud Selig. If he had a spine to propose and implement stricter financial regulation, then Boras’ prophecy would never become reality. With the spending spree that MLB free agency has now become, sadly it actually might happen.
$30 million/year for a guy who plays once every five days? That’s ridiculous. And I’m a Nats fan.
Boras is nostradmus he knows everything that will happen in 2016
Just heard that the Rangers might be interested in Cliff Lee as a backup if they don’t land Hamels or Greinke…
That rumor surfaced yesterday. It isn’t very likely to happen though.
Milwood and Figgins for Harper.
Mariners fan? Time to walk the plank.
why not throw in Strasburg while you’re at it?
funny….
When fans bash Boras, aren’t they indirectly saying they would rather the team’s ownership pocket the money than pay the players?
No I think they want a Josh Hamilton or Cole Hamels on their team next year for 10-15 million a year. That way their team fields an all-star team.
That’s exactly what they are saying. Any fan who thinks that if salary was capped ticket prices would go down and owners wouldn’t have their hands out for taxpayer subsidies like free stadiums and infrastructure hasn’t been paying attention.
If you’re gonna sit there and say that these ridiculous contracts have zero impact on rising ticket prices, you’re delusional. I’m not gonna pretend that ticket prices would go down or stay the same, but they wouldn’t be inflating as much as they are. It’s real simple. If you’re going to pay a guy $30 mil a season instead of $15 mil (just an example), you need to make up that extra $15 mil somehow. Hello, outrageous ticket prices. simple business sense.
See my post above. Salary capping the big clubs makes the playing field to sign MLB free agents more competitive.
Not necessarily, Yes players should get paid, but in the case of Appel he screwed up. He will probably fall further next year and make less money. They arent going to change the new system in one year to appease Boras. Ive heard next years draft will be much deeper then this years and that doesnt bode well for Appel or Boras. He tends to do bad for those he represents by limiting the market on them due to GMs not wanting to deal with him. Players will get paid regardless, having a toxic agent doesnt help anyone.
Sorry, wrong place. This is in response to Mike1L:
That’s not what I’m saying. I want stricter financial regulation to make the field for singing MLB free agents more competitive. Previously, smaller market teams could use the draft to invest as much money as they wanted, which somewhat helped. Now that the draft has capped spending, smaller market teams can’t use this strategy, which further severely hampers them in MLB free agency. IMO, if you’re gonna cap the draft, then cap the big club as well.
I’m in complete agreement on the draft. I think Bud was trying to hold down overall spending, and didn’t think about the actual implications for the small market mid market team trying to build through the draft. But I’m not in favor of capping the big market teams-I think all you get is punishing the players with no economic gain to the fan.
How so? Not that I disagree with you, but I’d like to hear your reasoning.
If you look at a sport like basketball (and football), which has bizarre capping rules, midlevel exceptions, amnesties, etc etc. trades that make no economic sense or esthetic sense get made all the time. Trading players is one thing, trading contracts without regard to player quality hurts the fans experience. And you know we aren’t going to benefit economically. When is the last time you heard a team owner say “well, Cole left for free agency, and we are replacing him with a $3M pitcher, so, to compensate our fans, we will be reducing ticket and concession prices by 10% until we give back the $12 Million”
I’m not completely on board, especially with how disruptive it is towards the fans experience. Last time I checked, the NBA and NFL are the two most popular sports in the U.S. and to be honest, I believe it is because of the more stringent salary caps/financial regulations each of those leagues impose. Many examples in each sport reinforce this point. The most recent would be Jeremy Lin going to the Rockets. Sure, with all his endorsements and marketing appeal the Knicks could have probably paid those tax penalties they would have incurred because they would be violating the NBA luxury tax, however because the tax was in place and acted as an effective deterrent, they didn’t. Subsequently, this allowed a team like Houston to acquire a player they most likely wouldn’t of had the Knicks been able to spend freely.
In the NFL, look at Mario Williams going to the Bills, Brees to the Saints, or the success of the Green Bay Packers. If the NFL had a financial system similar to that of MLB, none of scenarios would exist. Buffalo, Green Bay, and New Orleans are among the smallest media markets in all of the major professional sports leagues. Allowing each team in the league to have a fairly comparable salary dictates which players and what years certain teams can make their pushes in free agency. “How much cap room do I have? Can I make this deal” are two great questions that need to continue to exist. It levels out the playing field over the entire league and as a result, increases fanbases and support all over the country.
Bottom line: Stricter financial regulations (possibly a salary cap) equalizes the market for available talent, and thus, creates support for teams league wide, increasing overall revenue at an unprecedented growth. NFL fans in cities like Green Bay, Charlotte, New Orleans, Tampa Bay, San Diego, Cleveland, Buffalo, St. Louis, Minneapolis, and surrounding areas grow by the number because their home teams have a great chance of winning year in and year out. NBA it is New Orleans, Milwaukee, Charlotte, Orlando, Indianapolis, Portland, etc. Can you say the same for these cities which have MLB teams? How is San Diego’s attendance and marketing appeal? How is Cleveland’s? Tampa Bay’s? MIlwaukee’s?
I tried to post earlier, and I’m not sure why it didn’t go through, but I’ll write a shorter version.
I’m not on board with the argument that a salary cap/more stringent financial regulations will hurt the fan experience. In fact, I think it’ll do the exact opposite.
The NBA and NFL are the two most popular sports leagues in America today, and I believe it is directly because of the strict financial legislation each league imposes. I’d be happy to give you examples, but allowing every team a bigger piece of the pie (in terms of acquiring competitive talent) via the salary cap increases the fanbase, and subsequently revenue for teams (and ultimately the league) who would not enjoy the same ability in an unregulated market. Financial regulations gives NBA fans in small markets like Portland, New Orleans, Charlotte, Indianapolis, Orlando, Milwaukee, and Indianapolis and NFL fans in Green Bay, Tampa Bay, Cleveland, Minneapolis, Nashville (Tennessee), New Orleans, etc. more motivation to follow and support their hometown teams because they have a greater chance of success year in and year out. The same can’t be said for MLB .
I’ll add onto my our argument and say that implementing stricter financial legislation will also be an economic benefit for both fans and owners. For owners, it’s simple. Yes, some of the small market owners may initially be pressured to put more money in payroll (as more free agents are financially available), but the return on investment is fantastic. You put a better product on the field, money from ticket sales, merchandise, media deals, the whole nine years goes through the roof. Additionally when this happens, owners can also pocket the excess money they might usually spend on payroll but are deterred from now penalties are in place (ex: NBA luxury tax).
Similarly for the fans, it’s more bang for our buck, which is a benefit economically. Ticket prices could go up yes, but the quality of the product has risen as well.
The more expensive a player gets, the more of a burden he becomes. Look at all these huge contracts given out over the last 10 years. All those players currently have negative trade value and are have become dead weight. These massive contracts will be a thing of the past in the coming years.
No job on earth is worth $30MM/year.
you’re worth what the market will pay you …
The market has never been wrong.
Boras: Mark Appel is worth a $6 million bonus.
MLB GMs: No he isn’t.
Scott Boras is ruining baseball. There is NO WAY he’s worth 30million a season NO FLIPPIN WAY!!! When…..When…..will baseball do the right thing and put a hard cap in place? When Bud Selig?
Just like I’m sure Aroid is worth $25/mil a year too.
30 million a year coming off of TJ surgery? Chile, please.
Boras is a lot of talk but he’s a lot of risk too. The sooner players realize that the sooner he’ll finally go back to nagging high school kids full time.
Remember Matt Harrington? Turned down five pro contracts, four with Boras before hanging it up with shoulder surgery and working at Costco.
Even the guys that cash-in, like A-Rod, have their reputations completely ruined by his image. It’s generally not worth it to go with him over other agents– at least not anymore. Too many clubs refuse to work with him all together, and some of the wealthiest ones do a great job sticking to their guns. You can only take somebody and jack-um-up against the wall, shake them down so many times before they get smart.
Hendricks Sports Management, (Clemens, Chapman), CAA (Howard), take 10% too, except they stay behind the scenes and still get the money.
I don’t think Strasburg is worth 30 million per season. Even JV is not worth that much according to fnagraphs. I hope SS ditches this guy and signs a long term contract as soon as he can, so does JZ.