Uncategorized News & Rumors

Major League Baseball and Nippon Professional Baseball are discussing "significant changes" to the posting system according to Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports. The posting system has been in place since 1998 and is a vehicle for Japanese players to come to MLB before qualifying for international free agency.

Passan says MLB is pushing NPB to replace the current blind bidding process with a traditional open auction, which would likely result in lower posting fees and therefore less money for the Japanese clubs. Both MLB and the players' union want to see higher percentage of the total cost (posting fee plus contract) go to the player.

Kyuji Fujikawa is the most prominent Japanese player expected to come over to MLB this offseason, but he is a true free agent. No players from Japan — left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu is from South Korea and is still negotiating with the Dodgers — are expected to be posted this winter. Passan says MLB hopes to have a new policy implemented following the 2013 season.

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Later today, the free agent class will expand to accommodate this year’s non-tenders. Dozens of players will join the free agent market at the 10:59pm CDT deadline for teams to tender contracts to arbitration eligible players. It can be a confusing kind of transaction, so here’s an explanation of what exactly a non-tender is.

To tender a player a contract is to offer a contract, but non-tenders refer to a specific kind of offer: offers of arbitration. Rules and precedent shape the kind of salary a player can expect through arbitration, and players under team control usually get raises through the process. 

For example, Mark Reynolds isn’t eligible for free agency yet, but he and agent Beverly Hills Sports Council have some say in his future earnings. Reynolds projects to earn $8.9MM through the arbitration process, and if the Orioles believe that’s too much, they can let Reynolds leave instead. Arbitration can be expensive for teams, since a player’s salary depends in part on his previous earnings and comparable players. Players like Reynolds who have accumulated considerable service time and playing time have substantial leverage.

Players usually remain relatively affordable for their first time or two as an arbitration eligible player. Once players enter their second, third or (for super twos) fourth arbitration seasons, the stakes increase (a few players do see their salaries drop or stay the same). 

If an arbitration eligible player hasn’t performed well, but projects to earn a considerable amount, his team will likely consider a non-tender. That means the club has turned down the option to negotiate a contract with that player through arbitration, though it doesn’t mean the player’s going to sign elsewhere. After a player is non-tendered he hits free agency and can sign anywhere, including with his former team.

Sometimes it’s not about the money. Teams might choose to non-tender a player if they don’t have 40-man roster spots to spare or they view players as injury risks.

Every year some non-tendered players exceed expectations on the field, often with new teams. Joe Saunders, Jeff Keppinger and Jose Mijares were all non-tendered last offseason before producing in 2012.

It’s complicated, but here’s what you need to know: teams non-tender players when they would rather risk losing the players to another team than go through the potentially expensive arbitration process.

MLBTR has you covered with a Non-Tender Tracker, a list of non-tender candidates and specific pieces on certain players who could be cut loose. Plus MLBTR's Arbitration Tracker has up to date information on the players who are tendered contracts.

Our 2013 arbitration tracker is now available!  The tracker displays all arbitration eligible players, with fields for team, service time, player and team submissions, the midpoint, and the settlement amount.  You can filter by team, signing status, service time, Super Two status, and whether a hearing occurred.  So far only five arbitration eligible players have signed, as figures do not need to be exchanged until January 18th.

In the more immediate future, a host of players will be removed from the arbitration eligible list upon being non-tendered.  The non-tender deadline is Friday, and we have a separate non-tender tracker that will allow you to follow along. 

Marvin Miller, the first executive director of the MLB Players Association, died this morning at the age of 95, Yahoo's Jeff Passan reports. Condolences to Miller's family and the MLBPA.

“It is with profound sorrow that we announce the passing of Marvin Miller,” current MLBPA executive director Michael Weiner said in a public statement. “All players -– past, present and future -– owe a debt of gratitude to Marvin, and his influence transcends baseball. Marvin, without question, is largely responsible for ushering in the modern era of sports, which has resulted in tremendous benefits to players, owners and fans of all sports."

Miller led the MLBPA from its inception in 1966 until 1982. Under Miller the MLBPA worked to overturn baseball's reserve clause in a decision that led to free agency. The association also obtained many other rights for players, including the right to salary arbitration.

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Players on 40-man rosters with at least two years and 139 days of Major League service and less than six full years are considered arbitration eligible, assuming they are not already signed to a contract covering 2013.  Arbitration eligible players almost always receive raises, and sometimes a player's expected salary exceeds his expected value.  Such players are non-tendered, meaning they are not offered contracts by their teams and become free agents.  The deadline for these decisions comes earlier than usual this year, on November 30th.

A handful of Major League contract-worthy players typically hit the free agent market by way of a non-tender every year.  David Ortiz and Jayson Werth were non-tendered in their careers, and in more recent years players such as Edwin Encarnacion, Bobby Jenks, Russell Martin, Joel Peralta, Chien-Ming Wang, Jeff Keppinger, Joe Saunders, Jonny Gomes, Matt Capps, John Buck, and Chris Capuano were cut loose in this way.

This year, of the 191 players currently eligible for arbitration, approximately 50 are non-tender candidates.  Click here to check out my subjective non-tender candidate list from a month ago (many of the listed players have since been cut loose).  Decent names who may become free agents next week include Mark Reynolds, Geovany Soto, Ian Stewart, Daric Barton, Ryan Sweeney, Jair Jurrjens, John Lannan, Mike Pelfrey, and Brian Wilson.

As usual, we'll be all over the November 30th non-tender deadline.  Our non-tender tracker, which allows filtering by tender status and team, is the best tool for following along.  The newly-minted free agents will be added to our 2013 MLB free agent tracker and list as well. 

The offseason started weeks ago, but let’s take an updated look at the offseason calendar as the news and rumors slow down for Thanksgiving. There’s a lot to keep track of in the first full offseason under the sport’s new collective bargaining agreement, so MLBTR has compiled a timeline of offseason events. Here’s what has already happened:

• Immediately after World Series – Eligible players hit free agency
• Three days after World Series – Option decisions due
• Five days after World Series – Qualifying offers due
• Six days after World Series – Free agents can sign contracts with teams other than their former clubs
• 12 days after World Series – Players must accept or reject qualifying offers
• November 7th – 9th - GM Meetings
• November 20th – Deadline for setting 40-man roster in advance of Rule 5 Draft

Here’s what’s ahead:

• November 30th – Deadline for teams to tender contracts to arbitration eligible players
• December 3rd – 6th – Winter Meetings
• December 6th – Rule 5 Draft takes place at Winter Meetings
• January 18th - Teams, players exchange arbitration figures
• February 1st – 21st -  Arbitration hearings take place in Phoenix
• March 2nd – 11th – Teams can renew contracts of unsigned pre-arbitration eligible players

Dates via MLB.com, the Kansas City Star and USA Today.

If you're a regular MLBTR reader, you'll be familiar with our chats, our Week In Review posts and Mike Axisa's Baseball Blogs Weigh In feature. Here's some more detail on when you'll see our weekly features and exactly what to expect from them:

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