2020 salary terms still need to be hammered out. But what about what’s owed to players beyond that point? The near-term economic picture remains questionable at best. That’ll make teams all the more cautious with guaranteed future salaries.
Every organization has some amount of future cash committed to players, all of it done before the coronavirus pandemic swept the globe. There are several different ways to look at salaries; for instance, for purposes of calculating the luxury tax, the average annual value is the touchstone, with up-front bonuses spread over the life of the deal. For this exercise, we’ll focus on actual cash outlays that still have yet to be paid.
We’ll run through every team, with a big assist from the Cot’s Baseball Contracts database. Next up is the Athletics:
*Includes buyouts of club options over Stephen Piscotty and Jake Diekman
(click to expand/view detail list)
Beane has them in such a good position to takeover the division for when the Astros get old or can’t afford to keep everybody.
I mean, I technically don’t disagree… but by the time this happens, any good players will be gone from the A’s and the Astro can buy themselves a good enough team
Its happening this season. Next season Astros will be losing a few players with no wiggle room.
Yes, except we’re talking about what might be the worst farm system going into 2021.
The Brewers might disagree with that. 0 Top 100 prospects
having nice payroll flexibility is useless if your owner never lets you utilize/expand it
well said @will dodge… the A’s is a joke of a franchise.
Great people in the Front Office and in the organization in general, but probably the worst active owner in Pro Sports
Worse than the Wilpons?
exactly, as a Yankees fan owners like this benefit me but it really is a joke when teams like Oakland refuse to spend money
Agreed, this is nothing to celebrate.
“good joke” – all their minor leaguers
better joke, the A’s announced they will continue paying there minor league players
Even better joke, Fisher only decided to pay due to public pressure while the other 29 owners did the right thing from the start.
Slight over generalisation there, but never mind. The Nationals also performed a U turn and how many teams have laid off minor leaguers by the truckload? The A’s are yet to do so…
From these very pages…
“I’ve listened to our fans and others, and there is no question that this is the right thing to do,” Fisher said to Slusser. “We clearly got this decision wrong. These players represent our future and we will immediately begin paying our minor-league players. I take responsibility and I’m making it right.”
Additionally, while many major league teams have been releasing droves of minor leaguers, Fisher informed Slusser that the A’s have not discussed doing so. The club will also set up an emergency assistance fund for the employees it has furloughed, Slusser reports. The A’s recently furloughed more than half of their employees through the end of October, but Fisher credited those individuals for their loyalty and added, “It felt like the right thing to do was to set up a fund to support them.”
i know, but im sure the fact that the organisation had qualms about it doesnt make them too happy
Billy has been very iffy with a bigger checkbook. Davis, Soria and Billy Butler all stunk. Ryan Madson was good. He does better with a tiny budget.
I think it’s less to do with his bad signings, more that the little shots he has been given has shot him right in the foot
I’m not convinced by Beane’s approach. Sure, he puts a few good regular season teams on the field from time to time but when they do make the playoffs, they often never make it out of the first round. He made it to the playoffs in 10/23 seasons but can’t seal the deal with these teams.
Every team they face in the playoffs has twice the payroll minimum.
The Rays say hello after beating the A’s last year in the playoffs.
No playoff roster = no playoffs. Wild card games get you into the actual playoffs.
so what? that doesn’t win you championships
So you’d prefer the Marlins way and win the ‘ship every time they make the playoffs? Got it.
Welcome aboard!
They technically have great future payroll flexibility but unless they’re willing to spend it means nothing
I’ve always admired the A’s. However, I see this as a glass half empty. They don’t have anyone locked up. It’s great to not have any toxic contracts, but it’s also important to have some good contracts.
I see the A’s selling in a year or two, as they always do. Their payroll flexibility won’t be used as an asset.
Exactly ! Glass half empty is a great way to put it
When has Oakland not had payroll flexibility. I thought that was ultimate goal, stay under 80 million and be in bottom 10% by payroll. Screw winning, just field cheapest team possible.
I saw a quote the other day that had my lmao saying the A’s should move to Montreal and be the Montreal Eh’s I thought this was beyond funny and yet so remarkably true. They can be a low budget playoff team year in n year out but unless you spend the money to truly contend you’ll never be anything more then an “eh” team
I think the general consensus now is we know these teams are pocketing Rev share money.
The shine has rubbed off the Brad Pitt Moneyball penny
Either spend some money or shut up, the bleeding hearts have scared over, its no longer a novelty to do well while not paying your players, its just damn cheap.If your so broke Oak open up your books and lets take a look
Blahblahblah
A’s don’t get revenue sharing anymore.
A’s have gotten more Rev share than any team in the history of Mlb per Forbes
And they had that cute little story about players having to spend their quarters at the soda machine all the while
Spend, Relocate , or just plain be quiet – You guys sucked the teat long and hard
I was thrilled the day owners and MLBPA voted to de-fund you crooks; One of the few things they have gotten right this last decade and agreed upon swiftly
You missed the word anymore. Talking about crooks the Yanks and rangers had their tax payers pay for their new stadium. that is even worse. making the tax payers pay when they are worth billions. Shame on them.
Not sure what the point is to bring up the “payroll flexibility” of teams that don’t spend much, It’s meaningless.
Exactly they’ve had payroll flexibility since 1991
Yea for a normal team, however this is the A’s. We’ll spend it on an over priced middle reliever that we’ll release or trade for scraps at mid season
Top 5 “Sultans of Swat” of all time:
5. Cecil Fielder
4. Juan Gonzalez
3. Rob Deer
2. Hard Hittin’ Mark Whitten
1. Jose Canseco
This is just a really pointless exercise. The fact that they don’t even mention or consider arbitration estimates is a joke. Let’s cover up one eye and pretend that arbitration eligible players don’t have a significant impact on payroll flexibility. So they have flexibility for what? Flexibility to non-tender Matt Chapman??? Come on man.
No, they don’t. The A’s could have $0 on the books & still not have payroll flexibility.
I have no idea what they’ll do about Semien, but given the timing with the situation, perhaps a front-loaded extension would be a possibility.
Arbitration figures for players like Chapman and Olson will be relatively cheap in 2021 and 2022, and prospects coming into the fold, such as Luzardo, Puk, and Murphy will all be pre-arb.
If Oakland wants to keep their core in place for a while and integrate their top prospects with them, they could probably do so without much trouble.
Contending is somewhat hurting the A’s. Typically Beane would take assets like Semien and deal him before his contract is done. Because they are “kinda” a contender it’s tough to do. Beane uses current assets to replenish. He can do that when the A’s aren’t contending. It is a blessing and a curse; he can avoid scrutiny thanks to salary restraints and be considered a better executive because of any minimal success he achieves.
Not enough flexibility to pay their scouts who are being furloughed.
A’s Billy Beane is masterful only he does not have a backup owner like the late Yankees owner George Steinbrenner who just didn’t hesitate much to pull out the checkbook aiding his GMs lieutenants to land or retain best players…
I guess Beane is truly very loyal. I’m surprised he has stayed there this long. I can’t imagine how great he could be if left for a big market team and for an owner willing to spend.