Young Angels lefty Andrew Heaney has become the first professional baseball player to sell a piece of his future earnings through Fantex, a company which markets shares of that interest to individual investors, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. Heaney, 24, will sacrifice ten percent of all his future “brand” earnings — including dollars earned through his MLB contracts as well as endorsements and appearance fees — in exchange for $3.34MM. (The agreement has been approved by the league and the union, but is still dependent upon financing.) We’ve seen an increasing willingness of players (and teams) to consider creative ways to lock in earnings over recent years. This could be a new frontier in that regard, though the model is obviously still in its infancy and other methods of locking in salary (such as insurance and early-career extensions) have greater traction at present. Heaney has shown plenty of promise in his first year with the Halos, throwing 84 1/3 innings of 3.52 ERA ball with 6.6 K/9 against 1.8 BB/9, but he won’t achieve real earning capacity until he qualifies for arbitration in 2018. Free agency will have to wait until 2021, but he certainly has the potential to take down quite a bit of cash over his career — if he can maintain his performance trajectory and avoid injury, of course.
Here are some more notes to round out the evening:
- The Giants have shut down outfielder Gregor Blanco after he was diagnosed with a concussion, as Chris Haft of MLB.com tweets. Manager Bruce Bochy said today that the team may not receive any more contributions this year from Blanco, Nori Aoki, and Hunter Pence, as John Hickey of the Bay Area News Group adds on Twitter. It’s been that kind of year for the San Francisco outfield, with center fielder Angel Pagan also having dealt with a fairly significant injury lay-off. While the club won’t reach the postseason regardless, barring a miracle, that group of maladies represents one of several areas where the team will hope for better fortune in 2016.
- As the Padres look ahead to what could be another offseason of change, the club intends to take its time in addressing its managerial situation, GM A.J. Preller tells MLB.com’s Corey Brock. Interim manager Pat Murphy could get the permanent post, or the organization could look elsewhere, but the latter course would involve competition with a number of other teams that will be looking for new dugout leaders. “It’s an important decision for us,” said Preller. “We just want to make sure we make a good call and we don’t feel pressure from what’s going on in the industry or anything like that. We’ll get to a spot where we’re comfortable making a good decision and we will make a good hire.”
- Among the many other questions facing the Padres, deciding on a course with righty Tyson Ross could be among the most impactful. The 28-year-old has once again been excellent — in part, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes, due to the addition of a cutter to his arsenal. He had used the pitch previously, but relied almost entirely on a fastball-slider combination in the majors before this season. “I just think it’s a different look,” Ross said. “It’s movement (away from) the barrel, trying to get poor contact and just avoiding the hitters being able to sit on anything.” The successful re-introduction of that offering represents another feather in the cap of the sturdy hurler, who was in high demand at the trade deadline and would be again if marketed this winter. Since the start of the 2013 season, he’s thrown nearly 500 frames and carries a strong 3.05 ERA with 9.0 K/9 against 3.5 BB/9 to go with a well-above-average groundball rate (61.5% this year). Ross can be controlled for two more seasons via arbitration after earning $5.25MM in his first trip through the process this year. It remains to be seen, of course, whether San Diego will have any real interest in moving him. If not, Ross could profile as an extension candidate.
“The 28-year-old has once again been excellent”
***looks at 2015 stats via baseball reference***
1.315 WHIP, leading the league in wild pitches and walks….
I guess he’s consistent, but I would hardly consider him anything above a C+ in most areas. Honestly, looking over his stats, I think his 2013 season of mixed starts and relief appearances (along with a lower 1.15 WHIP and a lower walk and lower hit per 9) was one of his best along with his 2014 AS season, if not his very best.
The fantex thing is interesting. I could see a lot of young guys going that route for a more guaranteed payday. How many players really make it “big” compared to their hype through no fault of their own? Call it the Jon Singleton effect.
And with a nice payday up front, it may make it easier to do things like refuse those early-career contracts that usually end up being so friendly to the team. Definitely an interesting development.
I find it interesting from an investment standpoint as well…according to this, once Heaney makes 33 million, the investors getbpaid…he’ll likely reach that
Yep, Ten percent seems like a lot when you consider that $33MM figure (probably closer to $40MM with inflation). Then again, this probably works because Heaney is still three years away from even getting arbitration and six from free agency. A lot can happen injury/development wise. On the flip side, if he ends up pitching well, Fantex can make a lot of money.
The most interesting thing is comparing it as you mentioned to the traditional safety model of buying out FA years on an arb extension for clubs. In this scenario, I think there is far less risk to the player. You get that guaranteed early money AND get to FA at the earliest time. Safety against injury and regression with the added bonus of getting that big contract. 10% is peanuts even on high end FA deals. Fantex seems like a pretty sweet deal for the players.
I think it will take while before this becomes something investors are willing to play with. For one, their “stock” selection is extremely limited and they are going to need be able to sell more players on this idea. For another, the risk to the investors is pretty substantial. A few of the risks I think of right away are player injury, death, and abrupt retirement.
Another risk – financial mismanagement on behalf of the athletes. They make the money but they can’t return the money to the investors. Or we’ll go one step further…they decide not to return the money and everything goes to the fan in a court battle.
I’ll zone in on football. Just for the sake of example, how many times have we seen players sign 5 year contracts only to decide 3 years later that they want another deal? They refuse to show up to training camp and are prepared to sit out a year until they get a new contract. These contracts are legal binding instruments and yet many of these players disregard them.
I still want to do more research on this. Who knows how this thing will look in a few years…if it is still around.