John_Havok

Didn't say that were circumventing the CBA, just the spirit of the CBT. And well find out in 2 seasons whether the rest of baseball ownership agrees with that.

You're right that every team can defer salary if they want to, and anyone who's been here a while knows I'm no fan of the small market billionaires pocketing all their revenue sharing and pretending they cant afford to ever spend money on free agents. However, to say that every team has the the ability to take advantage of deferrals and massive signing bonuses in the same way the Dodgers currently are, is wrong. Yes, billionaires own all the teams in baseball but, that doesn't mean all their revenue streams are equal. Every team in baseball cant afford to run 300+ million payrols with massive deferrals. It's clear the Dodgers are circumventing the CBT in creative ways and are within the current CBA so ya can't really fault them for it. But ya can look at at it and say "Hang on, that's not what these rules were intended for, you're clearly breaking the spirit of the the rules" and watch them make rules in the next CBA that will prevent it. Easy ways to fix the current mess, is that signing bonuses count against the CBT, and cap both the % you can defer on a contract and the # of deferred contracts you have. It's a simple fix. 'Just like the NHL is doing with the LTIR rules, and limiting the # of salary retention contracts you can have on the books to ensure teams like Vegas cannot keep obviously screwing with it, and Tampa before them. To be fair though, Tampa was greasy, but Vegas took it to an entirely new level of horseshit. But, on the flip side, MLB has to figure out how to convince all these cry poor owners that the practice of taking revenue sharing and rarely reinvesting it in their teams payrolls is also ********. It doesn't have to be a case of every team being able to sign any player every year, but somewhere in the middle would be great

What it means is, the next CBA is gonna be a s*** show and it's not that far away.

I'm not sure what angle the Dodgers are ultimately playing from here. A 5 year deal for Snell seems extremely ill advised. The signing bonus and deferral thing really need to be looked at in the next CBA. They're clearly being abused to circumvent luxury taxes

I disagree with none of what you said. I think Felix was a better pitcher, but like, by thin margins. It's not even 1a and 1b its like 1A+ and 1A. I get why he likely won't get in, and it sucks donkey balls. CC deserves to get in for sure.

Just adding on, the 5 teams that have offers out to Soto are the Jays, Yanks, Mets, Red Sox and Dodgers. Im guessing this process is similar to what Ohtani did last year. IE, gave a specific demand and said talk to us if you're cool with that, make any add-ons you think might help, send it over and we'll call you when you win Friedman

Soto has reportedly received official offers from 5 teams this week.

Its not so much ignoring longevity... just not quite giving as much credit for it as some do, especially since those extra seasons of CC weren't really close to his peak talents, just slightly above average. On the other hand, when a guy can reinvent himself with worse stuff in order to pitch later on in this career, it's no reason to argue against him either. I guess it just sucks to not see Felix go in, who I think is the better pitcher.

Plus so many of Felix's Seattle teams were dumpster fires

I checked and going by 7 year peak, Felix has the edge over CC, imo. CC just managed to have those extra 5 seasons at the end where he wasn't as good, but still decent, so I understand why voters might vote this way.

On first pass, I dont agree with CC over Felix, id probably have voted for them both. I can understand people dinging Felix for his career ending early though. I think Utley should get in too.

That's one way to see it. But, if you consider that signing Soto means they will be operating in Luxury Tax territory, that could also mean blasting past the penalty lines and not just signing Soto, but other upper end guys that fill obvious holes. Kinda like last year, there's a budget for Ohtani+, or a stop gap budget. This year it's probably the same. A Soto+ budget instead tho

This is the most sane and logical back and forth i've seen here in a long time. Kudos.

Jays made their initial pitch to Soto today. Sources describe the pitch as "impressive"

CAn you calrify what you mean about signing Santander, Alonso/Hernandez, and Adames for less money and shorter term than Soto? LIke, its obvious any one of them would be less AAV and fewer years, but ... are you saying you could get 3 of those 4 guys together, for less AAV combined than Soto is gonna get?

Yeah just saw this. Unfortunate, but would be a real bitch move to not let a guy seek a promotion.

Vlad wins the 1b Silver Slugger. All but guaranteed a 30m final arb contract now.

For sure. This way, he gets to basically pick who he plays for for the next 7 seasons, then hit FA at 30 and, assuming health, makes a boatload more. What's interesting is that his Japanese team agreed to post him, knowing they're losing out on a boatload of cash.

Clement and Pop qualify for Super 2 status. Doesn't matter much at the end of the day since neither will make much the first time, and Pop should be released anyways

Or they could be adding, not replacing.

Grady Dick. Legit?

When you first post them they are but a refresh brings them right up.

Kim and Clement are very close to the same player overall, Kim just walks a bit more. Is the gap in salary between the two worth the extra ... 5-10 OPS+ or WRC+ ? I'd pass on Kim but only because Ernie is here.

Not surprising but Teo says his priority is resigning with LA

Worst tradition in MLB. Handing the trophy to the team president rather than a player.