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Ryu Accounts For Half Of Blue Jays’ Future Payroll Guarantees

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2020 salary terms are set to be hammered out in the coming days. 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 Blue Jays:

Blue Jays Total Future Cash Obligation: $122.07MM

*Includes remaining signing bonus payout to Randal Grichuk

*Includes remaining obligation to Troy Tulowitzki (released)

*Includes buyout on 2021 club option over Chase Anderson

(click to expand/view detail list)

MLB Expected To Suspend Revenue Sharing

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MLB’s thirty teams are likely to suspend revenue-sharing for the 2020 season, according to Ken Rosenthal and Even Drellich of The Athletic (subscription link).

Whether and how the 2020 season will resume remains to be seen, but it’s now a certainty that fans won’t be in the seats when it does. And any hopes for a return of fans this year — at least in significant numbers — seem rather optimistic, though surely some jurisdictions will handle things quite differently than others.

The typical sharing of 48% of gameday revenue really won’t be possible in a season in which there likely won’t be any to pass around. Rather than trying to distribute whatever might otherwise come within the purview of the program, it’s expected to be scrapped altogether.

The MLB Players Association has already agreed to allow modification of revenue-sharing rules for 2020 and 2021. It’s obviously too soon to know what plans might be proposed for the latter campaign.

Manfred Expresses Optimism For 2020 Season

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In an appearance on CNN, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred expressed optimism regarding the prospects for a 2020 season. The Athletic’s Lindsey Adler is among those tweeting quotes from the interview; CNN’s Anderson Cooper has shared some video via Twitter.

Though he’s hopeful of baseball being played this summer, Manfred made clear the thinking involves spectator-free contests. Anything more would be unexpected at this point. The focus, clearly, is just on getting some reasonable product off of the ground.

Manfred also warned of the dire consequences to the economic health of the game if the campaign doesn’t work out. He said losses to the thirty teams could “approach” a remarkable $4B if 2020 is shelved entirely. Obviously, it’s not clear from a brief interview precisely what is and isn’t baked into that number.

Among many other hurdles, of course, is the matter of sorting things out with the players. Manfred expressed “great confidence” that the sides will ultimately see eye to eye, “both that it’s safe to come back to work and work out the economic issues that need to be resolved.”

MLB will not “force” any individual player to suit up, Manfred said. (How that decision would be free from disincentives is another question.) But he expects that won’t be a significant issue. “We hope that we will be able to convince the vast, vast majority of our players that it’s safe to return,” says Manfred.

Planning for the safety of players and others involved in putting on contests will obviously be critical. There’s certainly a strain of opinion that doesn’t see it as a truly achievable goal under the circumstances.

Manfred promoted the testing and tracing plan that was reported earlier today.  Critically, the league does not plan to suspend play if a player (or, presumably, other employee) tests positive. Instead, it would keep that player isolated and away from the playing field until he has received two negative tests — presuming he’s able to recover — while also testing all those that had been in close contact to the player.

That’s a far less restrictive approach than that maintained by the Korea Baseball Organization, which says it will shut down for three weeks if any player tests positive. Thankfully, Korea’s top league hasn’t had to do so just yet. And Taiwan’s CPBL has even progressed to the point where limited live fans are attending games. Of course, those leagues are operating against the backdrop of societies that have had much more success at gaining control over the spread of the coronavirus.

How Does The Future Payroll Look For Cost-Conscious Rays?

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2020 salary terms are set to be hammered out in the coming days. 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 Rays:

Rays Total Future Cash Obligation: $101.17MM

*Does not include vesting option for Charlie Morton (value between $3MM and $15MM based upon number of days on injured list)

*Includes remaining obligations to Evan Longoria (traded to Giants)

(click to expand/view detail list)

Cashman Optimistic That Judge Will Be Ready For Start Of Season

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Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge appears to be making quite a lot of progress while awaiting word on whether and when the season will occur. GM Brian Cashman says the organization is “excited to believe that he’s going to rejoin us at full capacity,” as Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News reports.

The “very unique” rib injury suffered by Judge has been complicated to treat and largely defied clear timelines. It’s rather notable, then, to hear Cashman speak with such clarity on the matter.

Though specifics on Judge’s readiness and the 2020 season schedule aren’t yet known, it sounds as if Judge would be ready to go for a shortened Spring Training that could launch in June. With little time for all players to ramp up for a compressed season, it’ll be critical for the towering outfielder to get himself to 100% before baseball re-launches.

Cashman indicated that Judge isn’t fully out of the woods yet. Imaging “shows the healing” and has left the team hopeful of “expected healing moving forward,” says Cashman, so it sounds as if there’s a lot of progress but also some ground left to be covered.

Yankees Have Over Half A Billion Dollars On Books Past 2020

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2020 salary terms are set to be hammered out in the coming days. 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 Yankees:

Yankees Total Future Cash Obligation: $612MM

*Giancarlo Stanton (after 2020) and Gerrit Cole (after 2024) can opt out

*total reflects that Marlins to pay $30MM if Stanton does not opt out

*Zack Britton contract includes opt-out opportunity after 2020 if team does not exercise 2022 club option

*Jacoby Ellsbury (released) still owed buyout on 2021 club option, pending grievance

*total does not include J.A. Happ vesting option ($17MM) with 165 innings/27 starts (will likely be pro-rated for shortened season)

(click to expand/view detail list)

The Senzel Factor: 2020 DH Would Give Reds A Lot Of Options

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With the DH likely headed to the National League, at least for 2020, we’re going to run through each of the NL teams to see how they might best handle this new need/opportunity and explore any interesting potential roster effects. We’ve already done the Dodgers and D-Backs … now on to the Reds:

This is in some respects a dream scenario for the Cincinnati organization, which has a deep group of outfielders and spent the winter adding defensively questionable hitters. Perhaps the potential for a DH helped inform the team’s rather bold decision to give hefty four-year deals to both Nick Castellanos and Mike Moustakas.

With the aid of the temporary rule change, the club can really make use of exciting youngster Nick Senzel. The versatile infielder/outfielder could get in the lineup on a regular basis while moving around the diamond, opening the door to additional opportunity for him and additional rest for some veterans. If he’s in the lineup, Castellanos or Moustakas could appear as the DH … or slide over to first base to give Joey Votto a day in the hitter-only slot.

It certainly seems reasonable to think that Castellanos will end up occupying DH duties more than anyone else. He’s not considered much of a defender and is presently slated to line up in right field. The Reds could not only plug Senzel into that slot but can draw upon their bounty of platoon-friendly corner outfielders to maximize offensive output. Phil Ervin and Aristides Aquino are the top righty bats, with lefties Jesse Winker, Scott Schebler, and Mark Payton also candidates for the mix. (Left-handed hitter Shogo Akiyama is expected to spend most of his time in center. Senzel, it’s worth noting, can also play there.)

The Reds came into the year looking to shoehorn offensive production wherever possible. Now, they’ll not only have more chances to do so, but have far more flexibility to avoid the potential run-prevention problems that might have accompanied the strategy.

MLB Teams Preparing Employment Reductions Beginning In June

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Major League Baseball teams are preparing for major changes to their operations beginning at the start of June. Most had previously committed to paying employees in full through the end of May.

The Marlins are preparing to furlough approximately two of every five members of their operations department, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter links). It’s not clear precisely which employees will be impacted. The Marlins are still committing to continuing health benefits through October.

Per Rosenthal, quite a few other teams around the game are also preparing for modifications at the start of the new month. Every organization is free to handle its own internal staffing decisions as it sees fit. Commissioner Rob Manfred previously gave authorization to suspend the basic agreements of salaried employees.

The Mariners are also planning cuts, but will be taking a different approach. Per The Athletic’s Corey Brock, the Seattle organization is planning a twenty percent paycut for employees whose salaries check in at or above the $60K level. The hope there is to avoid taking anyone off the books entirely.

Even as MLB negotiates player salaries and other matters in advance of a hopeful resumption of play in 2020, all involved understand that revenue will fall well shy of original expectations. There’s no real hope of playing before spectators this year and it still remains to be seen just what’ll be possible even for television-only games.

Davis, Cobb Account For Bulk Of Orioles’ Future Guaranteed Salary

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2020 salary terms are set to be hammered out in the coming days. 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 O’s:

Orioles Total Future Cash Obligation: $106MM

*includes deferred money in Chris Davis, Alex Cobb contracts

(click to expand/view detail list)

Universal DH Expected To Be Implemented For 2020

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The word on the street is that we’ll likely see designated hitters in the National League in 2020. Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported over the weekend that it’d be in the restart proposal from Major League Baseball. And now Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweets that the players are expected to approve.

Whether the universal DH stays beyond an unusual 2020 season remains to be seen. There has been plenty of talk of attempting some temporary rule changes and then re-assessing them as potential permanent fixtures. The league and players would still need to agree to a post-2020 DH after the fact.

If indeed we see a sudden introduction of the DH, National League teams will have quite a lot to think about. After all, they didn’t compile their rosters with that in mind. We’ll be examining each team in detail over the coming days.

In the long run, if the change sticks, it won’t be hard for NL teams to adapt to the new rule. It isn’t as if American League outfits haven’t had decades to play with different approaches. With thirty DH slots around the game, along with a 26th active roster spot, it’d also be quite a lot easier for veteran slugger types to hang on a while longer at the tail end of their careers.

For now, purists can hope it’s only temporary. But if we’re being honest, it’s a bit difficult to imagine this change being pulled back once it goes into effect. Players have long sought the universal DH, believing it creates added earning opportunities for veterans, and there’s an argument that it’s a favorable development for the game overall since it eliminates pitcher plate appearances. (There are countervailing arguments, of course.) At minimum, teams will likely be focused primarily on other bargaining points when it comes to conceiving of the game in 2021 and beyond.

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