International Signing Period Pushed To January
The signing period for international free agents typically begins July 2, but that won’t be the case this summer. Rather, according to Ben Badler of Baseball America and J.J. Cooper of BA, it will open Jan. 15, 2021, and conclude Dec. 15, 2021. A delayed signing period looked like the probable outcome when the owners and players reached an agreement on a potential season in March. It’s largely a cost-cutting measure by teams, whose finances will take a hit during a shortened or canceled season with few to no fans in the stands. And the likelihood is that it won’t be the only signing period pushed back, per Cooper, who writes that the 2021-22 version may not begin until Jan. 15, 2022.
In the upcoming edition, clubs will not be able to trade international bonus pool space, reports Badler, who adds that each team found out their exact allotments Monday. Here they are…
$6,431,000:
- Brewers, Reds, Marlins, Rays, Tigers, Twins
$5,899,600:
- Cardinals, Pirates, Diamondbacks, Padres, Rockies, Indians, Royals, Orioles
$5,348,100:
- Astros, Athletics, Mariners, Rangers, Red Sox, Blue Jays, White Sox, Mets, Nationals, Cubs, Dodgers, Giants
$4,372,700:
- Angels, Phillies
$4,232,700:
- Yankees
$1,572,700:
- Braves
Several Players, Staff Have Reportedly Tested Positive For Coronavirus
8:31pm: These positive tests and the fear over a possible second wave of the coronavirus outbreak are key reasons why the league does not want to extend a potential regular season beyond Sept. 27, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports. In a letter to top union attorney Bruce Meyer, MLB deputy commissioner Dan Halem wrote Monday: “Your recent letters have all expressed the concern, in one form or another, that players are being ‘asked to take on extraordinary burdens and risks in the current environment. However, the Association’s proposals to play as many games as possible, as deep into the fall as possible, increases the health risks to players and staff, which is not something we are prepared to do.” Halem added, “We believe it presents a heightened and unnecessary health risk to your membership to play deeper into the Fall.”
7:02pm: Several Major League Baseball players and staff members have tested positive for COVID-19, according to an MLB letter obtained by the Associated Press (Twitter link via Jonathan Lemire of the AP). This comes on the heels of a weekend report which stated that a player and a pitching coach had tested positive for the coronavirus.
The identities of the newest players and staff members are unknown, and it’s not clear how their recoveries are going or have gone. Nevertheless, it’s yet another reminder of how difficult it will be to get a 2020 season off the ground. Owners are said to be focusing on health and safety protocols as the league gears up for a potential season, but considering the unpredictability and widespread nature of the virus, there’s a chance it will help stop the campaign from ever starting or even derail it should it get underway at any point.
Of course, commissioner Rob Manfred said Monday he’s not confident a season will happen, though that’s largely because of an ongoing battle over salaries between the owners and the players. However, if a season does occur, the health of all those involved is sure to be one of the main concerns across the game, and this latest development does not bode well in that regard.
Rob Manfred No Longer Confident 2020 Season Will Occur
5:45pm: Clark has issued a statement in response to Manfred’s remarks: “Players are disgusted that after Rob Manfred unequivocally told Players and fans that there would “100%” be a 2020 season, he has decided to go back on his word and is now threatening to cancel the entire season. Any implication that the Players Association has somehow delayed progress on health and safety protocols is completely false, as Rob has recently acknowledged the parties are “very, very close.” This latest threat is just one more indication that Major League Baseball has been negotiating in bad faith since the beginning. This has always been about extracting additional pay cuts from Players and this is just another day and another bad faith tactic in their ongoing campaign.”
3:58pm: As of last week, commissioner Rob Manfred was fully confident there would be a 2020 Major League Baseball Season. That’s no longer the case, per ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Manfred told ESPN’s Mike Greenberg on Monday that he’s “not confident” a season will occur because of the lack of dialogue between the league and the union.
This is a quick about-face from Manfred, who declared June 10, “We’re going to play baseball in 2020 — 100 percent.” Since then, though, the union rejected the league’s latest proposal, which was not a surprise after MLB once again fell well short of promising the players the 100 percent prorated salaries they have been banking on receiving. Owners have since turned their attention to the best way to play a season while keeping everyone safe during the COVID-19 pandemic, but if we’re to take Manfred’s sudden pessimism at face value, it may be a moot point.
In defending the owners, Manfred told Greenberg: “The owners are a hundred percent committed to getting baseball back on the field. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you that I’m a hundred percent certain that’s gonna happen.”
The union side, for its part, expressed a desire to play this past weekend. “Tell us when and where,” executive director Tony Clark said.
However, the league sent the union a letter Monday saying there won’t be a season unless the players waive any legal claims against MLB stemming from the sides’ March agreement, Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times tweets. Additionally, Manfred went after the union for the letter it sent to the league Friday.
“Unfortunately, over the weekend, while Tony Clark was declaring his desire to get back to work, the union’s top lawyer was out telling reporters, players and eventually getting back to owners that as soon as we issued a schedule – as they requested – they intended to file a grievance claiming they were entitled to an additional billion dollars,” Manfred said. “Obviously, that sort of bad-faith tactic makes it extremely difficult to move forward in these circumstances.”
As part of the agreement that the league and the union made back, Manfred has the ability to implement as long of a season as he wants (maybe one as few as 40-some games). However, the union could file a grievance against the league for acting in bad faith and not making a legitimate effort to play as many games as possible. Furthermore, as Joel Sherman of the New York Post relays, Manfred could simply opt against starting a season because of a few conditions baked into the two sides’ agreement. As Sherman writes, “1. There are no governmental restrictions on spectators attending games. 2. There are no relevant travel restrictions in the United States and Canada. 3. That after consultation with recognized medical experts and the union that there are no unreasonable risks to players, staff and spectators to stage games in the 30 home parks.”
Therefore, thanks to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Manfred doesn’t have to force any kind of season. However, Manfred did admit to ESPN that it would be “a disaster for our game” for no 2020 campaign to take place.
Latest On MLB, MLBPA
With Major League Baseball and the MLBPA unable to reach an agreement for 2020 on salaries and the length of a potential season, the league has turned its focus to health and safety measures, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports. The union rejected the league’s latest proposal over the weekend, and the owners held a conference call Monday to discuss their next course of action, per Nightengale.
Because the two sides haven’t been able to come together during negotiations, the 2020 campaign is likely to be a 50- to 60-game regular season, Nightengale notes. Commissioner Rob Manfred has the right to determine how many games will be played. And while there has been talk about an increase in playoff teams, the union is of the belief the postseason will remain the same in 2020 with six division champions and four wild-card winners.
Acrimony between owners and players aside, it remains in question whether we’ll get any kind of season because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Just this past weekend, it was reported that a player and a pitching coach recently tested positive for the coronavirus. It’s unclear how the league will proceed if the game returns and someone else involved tests positive. In the meantime, if the league and the union do reach an agreement on health and safety, Nightengale reports that a 21-day spring camp 2.0 with the majority of teams training in their home ballparks and then a shortened season should be on the way.
Giants Agree To Above-Slot Bonus With 3rd-Rounder Kyle Harrison
The Giants have agreed to a $2.5MM bonus with third-round selection Kyle Harrison, according to Marc Delucchi (via Twitter). If indeed a contract is finalized, Harrison will forego his commitment to UCLA.
That’s a big number for a player chosen with the 85th overall selection, which came with a $710,700 slot allocation. But the Giants will evidently find a way to free up some funds by inking below-slot deals with other draft choices.
Harrison, a Bay Area high school southpaw, wasn’t generally graded as a top-end prospect entering the draft. But MLB.com (63rd) and Baseball America (71st) did rate him among the hundred best players available.
The lefty will enter the San Francisco organization with high hopes given the big bonus. Reports generally frame him as a fairly polished and crafty hurler rather than a high-upside power arm. It seems evident that the Giants see a clear path to a big league rotation, if not alaso some front-of-the-rotation potential.
MLB Warns Teams Against “Exorbitant” Education Offers To Undrafted Players
This year’s MLB draft was limited to five rounds, down from the usual forty. Those not selected are capped at just $20K in bonus money upon signing, well shy of the (already restricted) amounts typically spent. And now, MLB is warning teams not to promise too much in educational benefits when wooing undrafted players.
Per J.J. Cooper of Baseball America, via Twitter, the league has sent out formal guidance to its teams regarding the negotiation of college scholarship plan and continuing education program funding. Those programs are regular parts of the draft signing process.
It’s not entirely clear what the league is trying to tamp down on here, but the memorandum is said to advise organizations not to offer “exorbitant” funding of players’ education. As Cooper explains, there’s no evident reason for concern that teams could back-door money to players’ personal accounts. Indeed, the programs already come with clear guidelines governing their administration to avoid any skirting of draft bonus rules.
Perhaps the memo was meant mostly as a reminder to teams not to get too creative in their recruitment efforts. But it seems hard to justify any additional squeeze on incoming professional players after so much has already been taken off the table — particularly if it means limiting what those players are able to negotiate in future educational benefits.
Justin Verlander Throwing From Mound
Astros ace Justin Verlander appears to have made full use of the coronavirus pause of the season. The veteran hurler is back to throwing off of the mound, per his own Instagram feed.
When last we checked in on JV, he was making progress in healing up from a few recent maladies. As of late April, he felt he had mostly healed from a lat strain and was also moving in a positive direction following groin surgery.
It would seem the upward trajectory has continued since that time. Verlander looks to be throwing comfortably in the video he provides.
What remains unclear at this point is just what timeline remains for Verlander to ramp up to full readiness. It isn’t yet known precisely when the 2020 season will launch, but that date is surely approaching.
It would obviously be a huge boon to the Astros to have Verlander available for all of the truncated campaign. He has been outstanding ever since arriving in Houston, producing excellent results while shouldering a heavy workload even as he moves into his late thirties.
MLB Authorizes Resumption Of Scouting Activities
Scouts are dusting off their radar guns this morning. Major League Baseball has authorized a resumption of amateur scouting with some ongoing limitations, Kiley McDaniel of ESPN.com reports on Twitter.
Baseball’s eyes and ears are typically grinding out hours on the road this time of year. But they’ve been on ice along with the rest of the sport since mid-March.
For most fans, the real key here is that there’s baseball activity worthy of scouting at all. As McDaniel notes, the Perfect Game showcase schedule is slated to kick off this week. No doubt there’ll be hardball played around the country this summer, though some major events — among them, the Cape Cod League — have already been stricken from the calendar.
At the moment, teams won’t be permitted to assign more than a trio of scouts to any given event. Presumably, the primary concern isn’t with limiting large gatherings so much as preventing a scouting arms race.
International scouting is still not allowed, McDaniel adds on Twitter, though that could resume soon as well. Teams will now be allowed to comb through new video and data in assessing players abroad.
Despite those limitations, there’s loads of potential for teams willing to expend resources to get more and longer looks at potential targets. Much like the shakeup of the recent draft and post-draft signing period, the newly uncertain cost/reward structure of scouting in the coronavirus era will open opportunities for those clubs that best adapt.
What Do The Cubs Owe Players After 2020?
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. Prior entries can be found here. Next up is the Cubs:
*Includes remaining bonus payments owed to Jason Heyward
*Includes buyout on club options in Kyle Hendricks, Craig Kimbrel, David Bote, Anthony Rizzo, and Daniel Descalso contracts
*Includes buyout on mutual option in Jon Lester contract
(click to expand/view detail list)
Quick Hits: Bitsko, Tanaka, Moskos, Draft Prospects
Nick Bitsko was originally slated to be part of the 2021 draft class, so when the young righty took some extra courses to graduate high school after his junior year and thus become eligible for the 2020 draft, the Rays didn’t have a ton of fresh information available, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times writes. The Rays were limited to a three-inning showcase last August, “plus a 50-pitch March bullpen session at a small indoor facility and an hour-long Zoom call last week,” yet were still impressed enough to make Bitsko the 24th overall pick, just days before Bitsko’s 18th birthday.
Working largely off limited video from Bitsko’s high school games, some throwing-session footage posted by Bitsko himself online, and cellphone footage shot by scout Zach Clark during the bullpen session, the Rays became comfortable in the right-hander’s ability. Clark is still the only Rays employee to speak to Bitsko or his parents in person, as Bitsko’s next meeting with team officials came during the online conversation. “I think the Zoom call sent it over the top for our guys,” Clark said. “Listen to Nick talk about pitching, preparation, what he’s done in the past, you’re like, ‘Man, it’s really hard to believe you’re talking to a 17-year-old.’ ”
More from around baseball…
- Of the Yankees‘ three veteran impending free agent starters, Masahiro Tanaka is “the favorite to return” to the Bronx in 2021, George A. King III of the New York Post opines. Tanaka will turn 32 in November, though James Paxton shares almost the exact same birthday and will carry a much more checkered injury history into the open market, while J.A. Happ turns 38 in October and is coming off a rough 2019 season. Of course, there’s nothing stopping the Yankees from re-signing only one of these hurlers, and there’s also nothing to say that New York couldn’t let all three walk. The latter scenario seems less likely, however, as that would leave the team with quite a young and unproven rotation mix behind Gerrit Cole, unless the Yankees acquired another veteran starter.
- Fangraphs’ David Laurila recently caught up with Daniel Moskos, the fourth overall pick of the 2007 draft and currently the pitching coach for the Yankees‘ A-ball affiliate in Charleston. Despite his lofty draft status, Moskos’ MLB career consisted of only 24 1/3 innings for the Pirates in 2011 before elbow problems and a Tommy John surgery took their toll. After bouncing around the minors, the Mexican League, and independent ball, Moskos followed the lead of several pitchers in recent years by visiting the Driveline facility to try and get his career on track. As it turned out, it led to a career change entirely, as Moskos retired in order to take a job as coach and trainer at Driveline. That position led to a lot of interest from other organizations about coaching roles, leading to Moskos being hired by the Yankees last November.
- While teams are now eligible to begin signing undrafted free agents, some notable players who weren’t selected have opted to go back to school rather than take a $20K offer. The Athletic’s Josh Tolentino reports (Twitter link) that right-hander Tommy Mace will return to Florida for his senior year, which isn’t surprising given that Mace was a consensus top-75 prospect as per this year’s draft projections. (The Athletic’s Keith Law ranked Mace as the 46th-best player in the class, with Fangraphs not far behind in placing Mace 47th.) As Tolentino notes, another good year from Mace could make him in the top-15 range for the 2021 draft.
- Infielder Darren Baker will also forego a free agent contract and return to Cal next season, John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle writes. Baker, the son of Astros manager Dusty Baker, was rated 184th in Baseball America’s draft prospect rankings.