It’s no secret that talent alone doesn’t necessarily dictate when top prospects will reach the major leagues. Ballclubs have significant financial and competitive incentives to keep top prospects down in the minors even when they’re hitting the cover off the ball, or embarrassing every opposing batter from the mound. These incentives are a by-product of MLB’s service time regulations.
For those unfamiliar, the basic concept is as follows: players accrue service time for each day spent at the MLB level, even if they’re on the major league disabled list. After a player collects six years of service time, he’s eligible for free agency.
Things get far more complicated from there, however. MLB has specific regulations in place to account for partial seasons, since the vast majority of players are promoted at some point in the midst of the season. Perhaps the most significant aspect of these regulations (and certainly the most controversial) is that a player doesn’t get a full season’s worth of service time if he spends 12 days in the minors.
That seemingly short amount of time is the difference between the Cubs keeping Kris Bryant under team control through 2020 or 2021, which was (unofficially) the reason the team elected to keep him at Triple-A to start the season. At the end of 2020, Bryant will fall exactly a day shy of qualifying for free agency, giving the team the rights to one more of his prime seasons.
The conversation has once again resurfaced (though admittedly to a lesser extent) in regards to Braves prospect Ronald Acuna. Although the 20-year-old annihilated Grapefruit League pitching to the tune of a .432/.519/.727 batting line with four homers and four steals, Lane Adams and Peter Bourjos made the opening day roster while Acuna was reassigned to minor league camp. He’s now been down long enough to give the Braves control over him for an additional season.
It’s hard to blame teams for managing the service time of top prospects in this way, especially a Braves club that has little chance to contend this season as it is. From a pure baseball standpoint, the fraction of a WAR that Acuna might have contributed in those first 12 days (it’s worth noting that he’s off to a .152/.222/.182 start in Triple-A) is worth tens of millions less than the WAR total he’s likely to post in the year 2024.
On the other hand, the system is hardly fair to the players. At its core, it seems absurd that a single day of service time can cost a player the additional seven or even eight figures he could have earned if his final arbitration season had instead yielded open market value for him.
There wouldn’t seem to be an easy solution to the issue, either. There’s not exactly a midway point between becoming a free agent and being under team control for an additional season (though the Super Two regulations at least guarantee players more arbitration dollars if they’ve accrued a significant portion of a seventh year’s service time). One could say that 12 days is an awfully small percentage of a season and that players should gain the full year even if they spent 20 days, 30 days, 40 days, etc. in the minors, but no matter what, it’d always come down to one day making a multi-million dollar difference in value.
What do you think? Should the service time rules change, or are they perfectly reasonable the way they are now? (Poll link for app users)
Im all for it. It’s about maximizing players service time on cheaper contracts before they explode into over priced contracts that strangle teams. But until the mlb Union starts helping the milb players it’s going to continue.
It’s about taking advantage of an artificially controlled marketplace before teams have to pay players their actual value. Players are not “overpriced” and teams are not “strangled.” Payroll limitations are arbitrary and teams are incredibly profitable.
Every player is drafted and a certain amount of his service time is given to the team. Otherwise, the Yankees would pay for all the best prospects. So while artificial, it is to make things fair & competitive for each team.
There’s no problem with them. Players want to get paid and super 2 takes care of that. If teams start abusing the super 2 deadline then you have a problem
When would Acuna reach his Super Two eligibility?
Doesn’t matter he can’t hit at AAA he’s not getting called up anytime soon
Acuna owns a .319/.371/.500 AAA batting line, chuckles.
acuna is batting .155 with 12 k’s in 33 at bats
Acuna is a .319/.371/.500 hitter in 254 career AAA at bats. He’s struggled in a mighty small sample thus far this season, but the guy already showed he can hit at that level. And he dominated spring training, regardless of how flukey those numbers can be.
254 career AAA at bats is in itself a small sample also.
I don’t see a real reason that will solve the issue except making FA come sooner for players
a real solution*
Exactly. I think it’s a problem, but I don’t really know what you do. Wherever you set the date, teams are just gonna wait until a few days after it. Even making players free agents earlier won’t stop service time manipulation, but it’ll give the player an extra year (or two) of free agent earning power. No real reason to think owners would do that though, since the players don’t really have anything to offer in exchange
We could talk for hours and find hundreds of things wrong. The truth of the matter is that there are very few good solutions to any of those hundreds of things. What really gets me is blaming teams, especially small market teams, for keeping a player in the minors for 1-3 months to either get an extra year of control or prevent super 2 status. That’s the system; of course they’re going to utilize it.
Life is full of “Show Me The Rules, And I’ll Do The Best That I Can Anyways”.
You install a fence, and hoses will always “walk up to the fence”. Doesn’t matter where the fence is……it becomes the Boundary.
Money isn’t really the issue. There’s plenty of it in both the owners and the players pockets. We’ve become conditioned to think that “$10 Million/Yr is a Deal”. Anybody really think about how much money that is?
My buddy played in MLB for 14 years, mostly as a middle reliever (until 2001). He got paid a little more than the minimum for most of his career, but his last 2 years, he made $4 Mil/yr.
When I mentioned that it was too bad that he wasn’t pitching today, he said “I made $8 Million in 2 years. You won’t be able to make $8 Million in your entire life. I feel so blessed…… because ‘My Kids Are SET FOR LIFE’…..$8 Million is a LOT of money”.
The system will be manipulated no matter what it says. But don’t feel bad for players who will make over $100 Million in their “short careers”…….they are Super Rich…..even if they don’t qualify for Super Two.
I think free agency as a whole should be addressed rather than focusing on length of the games
All in all let’s be reasonable they make a lot of money playing a game. Before they take a look at doing anything with this they will need to fix the tanking problem first. I don’t think this becomes an issue if you can get every team trying to actually win every possible game they can. It’s like the PED issue if you gave every violater a 5 year ban I guarantee you will see them go down. As a society and players we have to realize is it perfect but at the same time MLB has come a long way from the 1920s just looking on the bright side of it all
All in all let’s be reasonable they make a lot of money playing a game. Before they take a look at doing anything with this they will need to fix the tanking problem first. I don’t think this becomes an issue if you can get every team trying to actually win every possible game they can. It’s like the PED issue if you gave every violater a 5 year ban I guarantee you will see them go down. As a society and players we have to realize is it perfect but at the same time MLB has come a long way from the 1920s just looking on the bright side of it all. I would also rather see rosters moved up to 28
Minor leaguers actually make barely any money.
I agree.
Sign lower MLB contracts and pay the Single A guys better Give them incentives. Raises for production.
In a recent article, it was stated that minor league guys only get paid during the season, and their season is 5-6 months long……and they all have regular jobs that they work at for most of the year.
Single A guys make about $1,600/month (less than $10,000/yr)
Double A guys make about $6,000/month ($36,000/yr)
Triple A guys make about $10,000/month ($60,000/yr – Not Too Shabby)
Just for the record, the minimum salary for a “AAA” (AHL) hockey player is $65,000.
In a sport that generates less than half of the revenue that baseball does.
Are hockey owners just less “greedy”? No, they are just as “greedy” but the hockey union (led by Don Fehr, FWIW) doesn’t completely ignore the young players to work almost solely for the benefit of elite veterans as the MLBPA constantly does.
Oh, and the NHL minimum is $650,000 while the MLB minimum is (I believe still) $500,000. Again, in a sport that generates less than half of the revenue.
The MLBPA’s eye is so far off the ball, it’s unreal.
Interesting points.
I’m not as familiar with the financial dynamics of Hockey…..but I wonder what their profit margin is for owners? Rosters are similar…..not sure about the size / complexity of hockey’s minor league system. Baseball has 5 tiers to theirs….whereas hockey seems to have independent teams/leagues that they draw from. Seems less formal and therefore, probably less costly to run.
I did not realize that MiLB teams are independently owned, and some are subsidized by the parent MLB team. It costs $8-$20 Million to buy a Triple A Team (per Forbes)…..and the annual operating budget averages around $3 Million……with salaries where they are right now.
The minimum salaries you listed are pretty close, because MLB is actually slightly higher ($554,000 this season, and $555,000 in 2019)….and rising each year.
MLB players make a TON of money. None of them are Poor, by any stretch of the imagination. Most make more in a single year than we do over our entire lifetime.
MLB’s minimum is up to $540K, though that doesn’t do anything to alter the point you’re making.
The tanking issue is one of the contributing factors to the Service Time debate. Since the Braves don’t expect to be in the race at the end of the season – there’s no point in getting your best prospect onto the MLB field as soon as possible. So the 12, 20, 40 days wouldn’t matter to any of them. Where if these players were paid more in the Minors, clubs would want to maximize their value by having them up with the big club
if these guys wanna get paid the way they do – i’m all for it. Matter of fact, i’m all for full out incentive based co tracts across the board myself.
You wanna get paid?? EARN IT!
Let’s keep it simple. PAY THEM .. the union does not represent all the players. They discriminate against the younger players to pay older players. In doing so Union has created the same system they fought against yrs ago they have created the indentured servants.
Seven years is ridiculous. Most players have almost no good years to sell as free agents. Four years is plenty. I’ve heard all I’m going to listen to from the small marketeers and player/Boras haters. There is too little player movement and too many scumbag bloodsucker owners like everyone who has ever owned the Marlins, the Rays, Pirates etc.
Enough.
End MLB player slavery. Free the talent.
2017: This is our year
2018: This is our year
2019: This is our year
2020: This is our year
2021: Rebuild again
– Braves
The Braves are nearing the end of their first rebuild since the late 80’s. I’m not really sure what precedent you’re basing this on.
I don’t think anyone has said that last year, or this year was going to be “our year”. Most people agree that they’ll start to be competitive next year. Doesn’t mean that 2019 is going to be “our year” though.
I voted for the second option. Clearly the MLBPA doesn’t see it as a serious issue considering they did nothing to address it in the most recent CBA after Scott Boras threw a very public temper tantrum about the Cubs manipulating Kris Bryant’s service time.
Wahhhhh. Bryant is only making 10 million plus. So sad
It’s not a problem until you have the collusion we had this year in free agency. Solutions I can think of won’t necessarily stop this from happening, but it may lessen the impact it has on a prospect reaching free agency…
1) No more options after one year of service time. This won’t necessarily help the Kris Bryant’s or Ronald Acuna’s, but it will help more mid-level players to remain in the MLB to accrue service time with their current team or a team that takes them off waivers. As a counterbalance for owners, Rule V players just have to remain on the 40-man roster, not the 25-man roster.
2) Replace arbitration with restricted free agency. Player with three or more years of service time (including Super Two status) but less than six year service time can negotiate contracts with other teams, but original team retains the right to match it. Sign-and-trades should be allowable so small market teams that maybe can’t pay the huge contracts could get a nice package in return. This way players can test their value in their prime, but their original team can get something out of it or keep the player. Players who want to wait for unrestricted free agency can forgo restricted free agency, but then their team has control over their salary for the following season(s) until they reach six years of service time.. No more incentive to keep a good prospect down unless the team is planning to tank that year.
3) Players with less than six years service time who are released and are free to sign with another club are unrestricted free agents when the contract with their new team expires, even if they still have less than six years service time. Only the team that drafts or trades for a player with no free agency in between teams gets the full six years of service time.
Collusion had nothing to do with the issues this year……unless “owners being smart” is considered collusion. If so…..business owners everywhere are guilty.
You have forgotten that owning a baseball team is a Privately Owned Business…….not a Publicly Owned Company. You can’t place that many regulations on owners of a private entity. Well you can, but here’s what you’ll get……..
Owners will always find a corresponding move that counteracts any rules/regs/restrictions that get placed on them. They are, after all……Entrepreneurs at heart…..and smarter than your average Bear. They’re savvy businessmen. You can’t “out-fox them”. You can’t force them to pay players more or give out those huge albatross contracts that “are truly NOT worth it”.
Completely disagree about the supposed “collusion.” However, your ideas are interesting.
There was no collusion this year! That’s why a reliever like Greg Holland got $14 million for 1 yr. Wade Davis got $52 million for 3 years! That’s not collusion !
There was no collusion, so right off the bat we know what kind of paranoid fan you are. You’re 1st “solution” would result in players staying in the minors for much longer and the spirit of the Rule V is to give players that have been in the minors too long a shot at making it to the majors with another team, not to keep them in the minors longer with another team. The 2nd “solution” would hurt small market teams since they have no leverage. Without a hard salary cap like in the NBA, there would be no incentive for a signing team to do a sign and trade. The 3rd “solution” would make no difference at all in the major leagues. If a player is DFA and becomes a free agent, he would likely have to sign a minor league deal and start bouncing around teams, just like they would today.
I’m all for ending it, but at same time owners would need to get something. There is no cap, so if everyone was allowed to get to FA after four years it would be even worse if Haves/Have Not’s. I think they could add a Franchise Tag like in NFL, maybe 2 per team every 2 years or something. I would hate to be a small market fan and have a home grown talent leave after 4 years, but at same time it totally helps the players. I think if they made a salary cap/floor they could definitely do this though. One of unique things about MLB is the no cap. Another thing they could do to compensate for it, is instead of giving up control or years, just have them go through Arbitration after year 1. Then as the player gets more expensive, the team could try and sign him to a long-term deal or grant him free agency. Also, this helps productive players earn more earlier in career. Question is does granting arb earlier hurt small markets more than say a limiting control to just 4-5 years. I’d like to think it wouldn’t. If players are awesome younger, the teams should have no problem paying them,
Salary caps don’t really solve any problem; they just ensure players make less money.. They certainly don’t help competitive balance.
Dumbest comment…
No it’s not! A cap does nothing but put more money in the owners pocket
Salary caps will do nothing good for baseball but a salary floor could be a start. Even something reasonable like 100 million would be a sizeable difference. Teams would basically have 2 choices.
The obvious option is meet the floor by paying younger players more or signing mid tier free agents to get to the floor. Teams still get thier control but the players get paid better all around.
The second option is the team doesn’t meet the floor. The team pays the difference between their salary for the year and the floor gets added to the revenue sharing pool. If it’s a team that doesn’t meet the floor is a revenue sharing team then they not only pay the difference but lose the benefits of revenue sharing the following season too. It would address tanking with a penalty so either more teams stay competitive or you are helping your opponents get even better.
Talking about a salary floor without a corresponding salary cap is like talking about riding a unicorn to the moon.
Not gonna happen.
Spot on… NFL has it right,no guaranteed contracts,but never gonna happen.
No guaranteed contracts, in a sport with a major concussion problem and in which players can be released for getting hurt. I don’t see how that’s “doing it right.” That’s criminal.
“ . . . MLB has specific regulations in place”
This is the wrong paradigm. You aren’t talking about “MLB regulations” but the provisions of a contract between owners and players reached after engaging in collective bargaining. This isn’t something the owners are doing to the players, it’s the way their current deal works.
And, needless to say, how you, me and everyone reading this “feels” about their current arrangements is the epitome of irrelevant. Neither side will consult us when negotiating their next basic agreement nor is there any reason why they should. Although all relevant information is public, this is really a private matter between players and owners.
Your poll essentially asks how important changing these rules should be for “MLB.” MLB who, Kyle, the owners or players? Why in the world would the owners give up something which currently benefits them unless they receive something of equal or greater value in return?
The players would very much like to change the rules but they know it will cost them something. That’s kinda the way collective bargaining works. Surely you aren’t suggesting that either or both sides should voluntarily relinquish a bargained for benefit out of some sense of propriety. That’s not how capitalism works.
If the point of this piece was to explain the service time rules and that silly poll was the hook to draw folks in—OK, I guess. But you’ve done much better and more useful work than this.
This is the type of thing that might be better addressed by putting an age limit on how long a player can be controlled by the team–perhaps by giving any player 29 and older the right to elect free agency unless otherwise not under some contract extension, and./or lopping off one year of control.
So…..if a player is really NOT that Good……He still gets rewarded with a bigger paycheck….”because he’s older”…??????
That’s Ludicrous
Unless you add a provision that states that “If a player doesn’t reach a certain talent level by that same age, he Can’t Ever Play Baseball Again”……(yes, that’s stupid too)
That’s a complete misstatement. As the free agent market just demonstrated, when teams don’t want to pay for a particular player, they won’t. If a 29 year old wants to be a free agent, and take the chance he will get more that way than in arbitration, why would you care? The market will value him. What’s your problem with that? Remember, if he’s as bad as you think “Can’t Ever Play Baseball Again” then his team will not offer arbitration.
Your idea of “stupid” is anything you don’t agree with.
Maybe I misunderstood your last sentence. It seemed like you were suggesting that “once a player reaches a certain age….They Have To Grant Him Free Agency.
I guess I was wrong about that…….sorry.
My ‘Never Play Again’ statement was sarcasm, not serious. I admitted that it would be a stupid idea to do what “I” suggested…….
Again…I was trying to convey that “I was making a ridiculous suggestion”…….LOL.
Still, your idea suggests that Jose Martinez of the Cardinals…..who FINALLY seems to have developed into an MLB player (he did have a ton of injuries that derailed him)……should be granted FA… after teams stuck with him, paid him to ride the pine, and at No Fault of their own…..weren’t able to reap the benefit of his talent until he reached 29 yrs old..??? So they lose any further control of him because he spent 8 years in the minors?
Is That Accurate? Does that fit into what you are suggesting? I’m just asking, not arguing……..
Comparing the salaries of what ordinary Americans make to what Major League baseball players make is a straw man. If I could throw 100 MPH with pinpoint control I’d be happy to give up my pinstriped suits for a pinstriped uniform (or any other team’s uniform). They have talents we don’t. There’s nothing wrong with letting the market value those talents. And to say that the most talented of them must be held back because some players develop later is akin to saying a world renowned surgeon should accept the pay of an Urgent Care doc.
But you have to look at the situation and ask yourself if their salaries are REALLY what the “true” market values them. Has the market been unnecessarily, artificially, and arbitrarily manipulated, distorted, and/or inflated? There are a ton of rules and regulations regarding this stuff in baseball. I’m not sure we really know what the “market” is for their services anymore. It’s like with healthcare… Do we really know what a tonsillectomy should really cost? Not at all. The market is WAY screwed up.
The market says what it says. A good GP probably has more societal value than a lights-out reliever, But scarcity drives things, and the price that the owners can put on a ticket, beer, parking, and TV concession is related to the quality of the performance on the field. If it wasn’t, than Minor League games would have the same prices. And if the fans (and politicians) didn’t put an economic value on baseball, they wouldn’t shell out hundreds of millions in subsidies to the owners. Yes, I agree the market is screwed up. But it’s screwed up at every level.
Actually Martinez spent 10 years in the minors! But he didn’t ride the pine! When he was healthy, he put up pretty good numbers !
The only way I see you can get rid of service time is to eliminate draft signing bonuses. Kris Bryant is the largest service time issue, but lets not forget the $6.7 million bonus he got when drafted. Taking away the draft bonus would eliminate virtually all high school players, who would then elect for college. Owners are going to have to receive something to give up service time, and this seems the most logical to only pay the large contracts to the kids who make it to the big leagues. Most draft picks are busts and get millions of dollars in bonuses, so it seems logical to only reward the ones that make it. I believe this concept would be bad for baseball as many kids would pursue other sports or never get the opportunity if they fail out of college. People should be careful what they wish for. The current system is working in general outside of about 2-3 players per year.
When Kris Bryant signs in 2021 500 million dollar contract instead of 2020 I’m sure he will me just fine. Didn’t the cubs give him $1 million this year they didn’t have to?
And that $1million will not help them resign Bryant in the least unless there are exactly 2 offers exactly the same and the Cubs are one of those teams. If the Cubs are several million lower than his best offer, that $1 Million will not make Bryant nor Boros think they should go with the lesser offer just because the Cubs were nice in the last couple of seasons giving him higher amounts than they were required to. It is all business and the clubs are exercising there rights under the CBA just as the players exercise theirs.
But you have to look at the situation and ask yourself if their salaries are REALLY what the “true” market values them. Has the market been unnecessarily, artificially, and arbitrarily manipulated, distorted, and/or inflated? There are a ton of rules and regulations regarding this stuff in baseball. I’m not sure we really know what the “market” is for their services anymore. It’s like with healthcare… Do we really know what a tonsillectomy should really cost? Not at all. The market is WAY screwed up.
Players need to be paid what they are worth, and owners need to have incentives to buy, own, and run teams. In developing a system that attempts to meet both of these demands as much as possible, neither can be 100% satisfied. There cannot be a perfect resolution. There can be resolutions that everyone can “feel pretty good” about, but there cannot be a perfect solution to satisfy everyone. Both need to sacrifice.
The only way to determine what a true market is in MLB would be for all or a majority of its players to become free agents at the same time. This was Marvin Miller’s greatest fear when first negotiating on behalf of the MLBPA.
Anybody else getting tired of reading over and over that the Braves are likely not competing this year? They look pretty competitive to me.
A competitive team would not blow an eight run lead. The Braves have major pitching problems as well as questionable fielding.
In 2001 the Seattle Mariners blew a 12 run lead to the Cleveland Indians during the regular season. They also won 116 games and the AL West by a large margin. I would say they were pretty competitive that year. The Braves blowing a lead in horrible conditions, where both teams said the baseball felt like a cue ball soaked in oil shouldn’t concern anyone.
Blowing big leads is going to happen to all teams, and when you factor the horrible weather conditions, it even more understandable. That being said, this year’s Braves will be playing hard to stay within the .500 mark. If that is considered being competitive, then yeah, they will be competitive this year.
As a middle class earner who likes to take a family of 4 to about 20-24 games per year, I ask for salary control, as well as all other costs of watching live mlb games. MLB economics are not the best as teams compete in an unfair playing field. Not sure how this corrected but I know in business payroll is usually the biggest cost good that impacts the owners price of the product or my tickets so my kids can go to the game. So more salary controlled years for me pls
Player salaries have a pretty tiny impact on ticket prices. Teams set ticket prices based on what the market will bear. Don’t believe me? Check out the ticket prices of a major college football program. The ones that play in 100,000 seat stadiums and charge over 150 bucks for the cheap seats, and 1000+ dollars to sit on the 50-yard line. Those players aren’t being paid at all.
One thing that is different about College football and pro sports is that College football’s revenue covers the costs of just about all of each schools Athletic Department. It pays for all of the non revenue producing sports that the schools have. The pro teams cover the expenses of their team in their sport. They do not have to pay for other expenses not related to their sport.
That’s an interesting point, but I think the University of Alabama’s sports teams across the spectrum produce tons of revenue. And they also sell sponsorship and merchandise. And at schools like Alabama boosters pour millions of dollars into the program as well.
Paying the players less, will not make going to the games any cheaper! It justs puts more money in the owners pockets !
I thought minor leaguers made more. But for most of them it is pretty good money considering how much they could make with their age and experience in the real world.
Another topic, along with the carrot of roster size increase and expansion that should be a major bargaining point in the next CBA in order to finally get the MLBPA to agree on a fair salary cap (and floor) and do away with the luxury tax which hasn’t done enough to bridge the gap between baseball’s have’s and have not’s.
Start arbitration the season after a player completes two full years on the 40 man rotation. Rule 5 is a safeguard against this abuse.
After 4 full years on the 40 Man, allow a player to be a Restricted Free Agent – not unlike the NBA and NHL, with a maximum offer of 3 years. Original team has right to match, if they elect not to, signing club forfeits a 1, 2 and 3 over the next three seasons. Smarter GMs in big markets aren’t going to continually poach but this will see to it that young players are fairly compensated. If no offer sheet is signed by February, player goes to arbitration.
Teams wisely realized that big money to over 30 players is a bad investment, but if we’re looking at true value, service time is keeping young players woefully underpaid.
Braves should call Acuna up when’s he’s doing better in AAA. Acuna is a tremendous and transformitive player but its always better to get more seasoning. I’d rather him play full time in Triple then part time in MLB.
why not just say if a player makes an appearance at any time before rosters expand, it counts as a season? For the players most affected, this would mean an opening day roster spot, if earned. seems like a simple fix.