As the MLBTR team has been doing contract research this winter, we’ve been loving our MLB Contract Tracker tool. Below is a video showing off some of its capabilities.
The MLB Contract Tracker is only available to Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers. Many MLBTR readers have signed up recently, so this post will serve as a brief explainer/tutorial on some of the Contract Tracker’s features.
What is the MLB Contract Tracker?
The MLB Contract Tracker is a database containing Major League free agent contracts, minor league free agent contracts, and multiyear extensions dating back to October 1, 2010. The Contract Tracker is updated daily with new contracts, and we’re also planning to add data prior to 10-1-10. Player names are linked to the MLBTR post, so it’s easy to follow up and read about the deal.
That’s a ton of data. How can I slice it up?
You can filter by player name, team, position, batting handedness, throwing handedness, contract type (MLB deal, minor league deal, extension), number of years, amount of total money, average annual value, type of option, age in the first year of the deal, age in the last year of the deal, service time for those who signed extensions, Super Two status, qualifying offer status, agency at the time of signing, and any date range from 10-1-10 to present.
What makes this tool unique?
Many aspects of the MLB Contract Tracker are unique. I have found the “age in first year” and “age in last year” filters to be valuable in learning, for example, how often a pitcher who will be 34 in Year 1 of a free agent contract has signed for at least four years. Or how many players have been signed through the age of 40 on a deal of four or more years.
Other tools lack most of the above-listed data and accompanying filters. Our tool allows for endless combinations of filtering. You may want to know how many multiyear deals for relievers a certain team has done in the last ten years, which agencies have represented players who accepted qualifying offers, or the largest extensions for outfielders with less than four years of service. The only limit is your imagination!
How about some screen shots demonstrating how to use the MLB Contract Tracker?
I thought you’d never ask! These might not show up if you’re in our app, so you’ll want to go to the actual website.
Using the MLB Contract Tracker as a free agent tracker for the current offseason:
- Change the beginning date to 10-1-2023.
- Change contract status to unsigned.
- Click search.
- You’ll see a list of current free agents, all with our default date of 11-1-23 (that date and the rest of the info will be updated when they sign).
- You can filter this list by position, bats, and throws.
- You can also filter unsigned players by age first year. To see all the free agents under the age of 30, select age first year is less than or equal to 29.
Find free agent relievers signed by the White Sox to multiyear deals since 10-1-10:
- Click the reset button to remove any previous searches.
- Change the beginning date to 10-1-10.
- Change the team to Chicago White Sox.
- Change years to greater than or equal to 2.
- Change position to reliever.
- Change contract status to free agent signing.
- Click search.
Find clients of the Boras Corporation who signed extensions for five or more years:
- Click the reset button.
- Change the date range to 10-1-10.
- Change agency to Boras Corporation.
- Change contract status to extension.
- Change years to greater than or equal to 5.
- Click search.
Find free agent contracts worth $40MM+ signed by Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman:
- Click reset.
- Change beginning date to 10-14-14.
- Change team to Los Angeles Dodgers.
- Change contract status to free agent signing.
- Change amount to greater than or equal to 40.
- Click search.
- Click Amount column header to sort by amount.
If you have any comments, questions, or interesting search results, let us know in the comments! Click here to learn more about Trade Rumors Front Office, and here to access the Contract Tracker if you’re a member.
cool
Nice addition, Tim.
Do Front Office subscribers have to log in separately each time they access the program?
If you’re logged in and you go to mlbtraderumors.com/contracttracker, you should stay logged in and not have to do it again.
I read and post 99.9% from the app, so I was initially concerned when I clicked on the link and it asked me to sign in as I already was logged into the MLBTR app. Happy to report once I signed in initially, it hasn’t asked me to log in again.
Great addition to Front Office.
This is really cool! One thing I’d suggest though, not everyone (myself included) will remember the date a particular front office member started with a club, so it seems a bit excessive that I need to find the date someone like Dave Dombrowski started with the Phillies and then putting that date into the Tracker myself. I suggest adding a dropdown menu for general managers and presidents of baseball operations to make this easier for the user. (Even paring down available names after a team and/or date is selected would be cool, too.)
I agree with that. GM/POBO search is on the roadmap for 2024.
Good to hear, thanks!
May I suggest adding another category of contract for split contracts? For example Osvaldo Bido signed an MLB deal with the A’s the other day but he also has a defined minor league salary making it a split contract. I think any player under 5 years of service time can sign a split contract. It would be awesome to have one column for the major league salary and one column for the minor league salary.
Also in my opinion the date of these contracts for the purposes of a database shouldn’t be when they get reported but when they are officially announced by the team. Like the date for Paul DeJong’s contract shouldn’t be the 21st but should be today or tomorrow when the White Sox announce it.
Last thing, I think “No MLB Service” should not look the same as when the data was not entered. Maybe type 0.000 for No MLB Service? Right now it just looks like a single dash. But free agent contracts have that same dash even those players do have MLB service time.
Overall this is an amazing tool and must have taken a lot of research to get some of these old contracts!
Split contracts could be a good addition, although contract figures for these types are not always reported.
I did put some thought into whether to use agreement dates vs official dates. I went with the agreement dates because I think that’s more useful if you’re trying to construct a timeline. For example, Taijuan Walker signed for $72 mil and then Taillon for $68 mil the next day. Sometimes official dates can lag for different reasons and could throw off a timeline of events.
I think 0.000 could make sense for the handful of players who signed before their MLB debut.
Same info is free at other sites…so, no thanks!
Which sites?
I didn’t think I’d live long enough to see the return of an MLBTR video
This might be the tipping point to me getting a FO sub
I can’t get in.
Tim, why do you all re-post old articles as new? Without adding “edit” or “update” or additional time stamps? We ask the writers all the time and all they can ever muster is: “It’s Tim’s rule.”
We’ve always moved stuff around to make sure important posts or posts we want to get more exposure don’t get buried.
Appreciate you elaborating Tim, thank you!
Is the contract tracker similar to what spotrac offers? What are the main differences between the two? Thanks in advance.