Wednesday Rockpile: Examining the New MLB Collective Bargaining Agreement

Lot of meat in it. And, don’t be “mystified”. The DBacks should’ve been the Team to move to the American League. But, since the Astros were going through an Ownership change, they were holding them hostage for Six Months. All while keeping it hush-hush, or just flat out lying about it to the Public (Alyson Footer). Within 5-6 Years, Crane and his 49 other Investors will default on their Loans, and the Team will probably be sold, and moved again, probably to Vegas.
Do like the Lottery System, but it is complicated. And, I doubt Monfort will have the Rox in that Lotto. He’ll spend just enough to keep that from happening, or the (Lotto) Ball will bounce the wrong way. The June Amateur Draftees get screwed, but at least they’ll sign now, and there won’t be anymore Luke Hochevar’s and Aaron Crow’s wondering around in the Independent Leagues. MLB Network needs a Three-Part Special on this, just to clarify everything. And, to get that Fake Cowboy (Kevin Millar) off my screen for a couple more hours.

And then held a gun to all the other Owner’s heads forcing them to sign it?

it might mean that no more Matzeks drop to competitive teams, but it does mean that all of the truly elite prospects will now either be signed in the top ten picks or in the 11th through 20th. I see Dexter’s $973K 14th round bonus record being shattered soon.

The 2.9 million international means that we will see a lot more Albert Pujols type situations where 15yo dominant Dominican or Venezualan top prospects will be showing up in Florida, California and Texas HS(you don’t think there are any unscrupulous agents who would bankroll a 2 year stint in the old Etats Unis?).

1) we can not assume the recommended slot pool will be identical to the sum of the slots in 2011. They will likely be much much higher, making it probable to continue wooing talent with big $ while still avoiding the tax. We don’t know all slot assignments yet, but Jeff Passan tweeted that the 1st overall pick is set at $7.2mil. Considering Garrett Cole got $8mil on an MLB deal, that’s pretty fair. And a lot higher than the previous slot.

2) you claim the caps on the draft and intl spending will hurt the rockies because they build through those, but that ignores HOW they build through those. We aren’t the White Sox, but the rockies rarely spend significantly in the draft. In 2011, They were bottom five, with only Story going above slot by any real amount. Other than Matzek, a little on Parker and one higher bonus lower round guy (Fowler, Cleary, Swanner, Massey), they’ve spent relatively little. The new caps shouldn’t change their procedure much…it’ll bring other clubs closer to rockies spending though.

Same with the international free agents. They’ve upped the bonuses some to Rosell and Payamps. But otherwise, you say they’ll have to look for bargains? That’s already what they do. Jimenez, Morales, Nicasio, Chacin and Rogers were relatively low bonus acquisitions.

While the rockies “build through the draft,” it hasn’t been from pouring money in. The rockies absolutely are a bottom ten market and should benefit from new rules there. Not sure of revenue, but I doubt that. But since the rockies stuck to slot, and really stayed fairly close to the new intl pool, very little will change for the rockies while other teams like Texas and Pittsburgh will have to overhaul their methods. I think this CBA benefits the rockies, at least as much as any other smaller market team.

Bring back Bonds/McGwire/Sosa ball? The good old days, I guess.

Sorry the Wall fell and you can no longer root for the East German swim team.

As long as their is baseball games to be played and the Rockies can field a quality team, I don’t care what they do.

NBC “Benches” Community

Community is my Arrested Development

Grady Sizemore gets a $5 million base salary, plus $4 m. in incentives, to re-sign with the Indians.

About as expected.

http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/pardoned-turkeys-where-are-they-now

stealing a player from the team that signs them’s farm system would decrease the volutility of the compensation.

ATF – with you vast knowledge of the DSL could you please enlighten me to the knowledge behind this statement regarding Aquino

even if he wasn’t the best pitching prospect on that team

Thrilled to see this finally expanded, but I’m very worried that they left it up to the MLB and (especially) the umpires to figure out the specifics. I can’t help but fearing this means things will be done in the worst possible way for the players and fans. We all know umpires leaving and returning to the field is what causes the biggest delay. We have great models that work (NHL, major tennis) and one model that clearly has problems (NFL). It’ll be very interesting to see what they come up with.

I think I have to agree with ATF about how the changes to the Rule 4 draft and Int’l signings doesn’t really hurt the Rockies based on their past activity. Tampa, Texas? They’re screwed.

I like the idea to have the draft driven by talent versus signability, but I think the caps and the penalties for exceeding the caps are off base. Also, the int’l signing rules seem wholly unnecessary. Not sure what “problem” is being fixed. I can’t help but feel that these rule changes were nothing more than a money grab by the players association. The money that can’t be spent on the draft can now be used to pay existing MLB players. I see an increases emphasis on signing free agents, because there will be no cap on that spending.

The worst part (and this was mentioned in the article) is the siphoning of talent away from baseball as a result of better financial incentives offered by other sports. If the players thought they were doing themselves a favor, they may be right in the short term, but they may have relegated baseball to permanent lower-tier status in the long term. Smoke ’em if you got ’em!!

I just now figured out what CBA meant….