glory

Alex A once said that buyouts count against current payroll, not future. I remember an example where Rajai Davis had a $3m option or $500k buyout after 2012. AA bought him out for $500k, then signed him for $2.5M in 2013. The logic was he got $3M anyway, but the $500k buyout counted against 2012 payroll. So basically AA saved $500k for 2013 by doing that. Are we sure the buyouts for Garcia, Solarte, etc, count for 2019? Not that it makes much of a difference, but now I'm curious how it works.

$3.9m for Sanchez, and $5.8m for Pillar. Damn of all the players that are arb eligible, we are going to arb with Ryan f’n Tepera.

Yeah Jays needed to open a 40 man roster spot for Phelps and trading Martin did it. Pompey saved for now.

Kendrys definitely needs to be the next sunk cost causality. Just pay all his salary and get some low minor C prospect. That will allow them to use DH to rest players throughout the year. And yeah I was arguing for trading Martin months ago and remember a lot of opposition to that from this forum. Wonder what changed.

Yeah I like Martin but this move makes sense. He can still start on a playoff team looking at who the starting catchers were for the LCS teams in 2018, and having him be a back up catcher on a rebuilding team probably didn't appeal to him. Jays can now give Jansen the keys and still have two other catchers on their 40 man. I guess this is the 40 man roster move for Phelps.

Yeah seriously. If I couldn't afford a damn haircut I'd be pretty stressed. They can at least do things like have catered meals available everyday or have food/groceries delivered to the players weekly for them to use whichever way they want. I mean in the grand scheme of things if they doubled the pay of every minor leaguer currently in the system, how much would it really cost overall? Given the numbers Winckowski was throwing out there, probably nothing noticeable. This is awful. I knew minor leaguers got paid s*** but didn't know it was that low.

Great interview, but damn that part about minor league pay made my blood boil. Working at McDonald's is more lucrative than being a minor league baseball player. That's a joke. No wonder multi sport players choose other sports. Seriously, I hate SJWs as much as anyone, but have anyone with credibility retweet this interview and have minor league pay become a real topic. To borrow a joke from Married with Children, I made more money losing a tooth when I was a kid than these guys make in low-A.

Yeah attitude and lack of options make him destined to be removed eventually. Davis and Smith have options remaining so they are probably safe, and I don’t think they remove Urena.

Pompey has lost a lot of luster but 2019 is a season in which the team doesn’t intend on competing. Seems like a perfect opportunity to use him as a 4th outfielder and see if he turns into anything useful. But yeah he seems like the guy they will DFA since he has no options left. Phelps returning to previous form would be great. Relievers are valuable at the deadline.

Nice move. Shatkins has a great philosophy when it comes to relievers. Never spend big on them. Buy low on multiple high K guys coming off down years and if a few of them stick then you get assets for nothing. Wonder who comes off the 40 man for this.

Jed Lowrie to the Mets. I have lost track of what their infield will be now.

Dozier signs for 1/9 with the Nats. That’s a really good deal for them.

Even Bauer succumbs to SJWs. He was our last hope.

I read that he turned down $60m from the Mets. Can't really blame the owners if he turned that down and settled for $18m. But yeah, MLB apparently making record money despite poor attendance around the league. Players are eventually going to get fed up with the frugal front office's, although it seems free agents have been getting paid so far this winter.

That would be a logical spot for him.

Finally. Now maybe Martin will get traded.

Yeah and that list is going to grow. Doing a quick search of just current/recent Jays, Edwin will make over $100m by the end of 2019. Bautista is over $100m. Martin will be at $98m by the end of 2019 so he might top it depending on the contract he gets for 2020. Donaldson will be at around $77m by the end of 2019 so he has a good chance if he has a good season. JA Happ by the end of his current Yankees deal will be at $90m, and if his 2021 option vests then he will break $100m. Baseball players make more money when they are older. That's really the only downside. When you're in your 20's and want to live it up, you'll be riding buses and eating Ramen noodles until you reach the bigs, then you'll have to wait another 3 years to start making millions. Risky but the upside is greater if you end up being good.

It depends. Tim Tebow won the Heisman and lasted in the league for a couple of years before he fell off and went to baseball. According to Wiki his original contract with the Broncos only guaranteed $8.7 mil. Don't know how much he ended up walking away with. If Murray is a good QB then I agree he will make good money. The knock on him is his size and level of competition he played against in college. If he's more of a back up QB, then sure he will get paid, but not as much as if he ends up being a good MLB player. Baseball is systematically set up for players in their late 20's and 30's to get paid, where in other sports it is the opposite. So baseball does present a lot of risk for him since if he's not any good then he'll make nothing in the minors and $500k a year in the majors for 3 years before he even gets to sniff millions. That's the risk he has to weigh. I'm not sure what his baseball upside is. I remember reading somewhere that only 28 or 29 players in NFL history have ever made over $100m. In baseball it's got to be way more than that. It's about whether you want to play the long game or instant gratification. But yes, being a QB changes the game since those guys usually get paid and avoid the typical injuries that most NFL players do. If he played another position then baseball would have looked more appealing.

The Braves have developed more talent than anyone in recent years yet no one will make a stink about this. The best position player we have drafted in like 15 years is Kevin Pillar, but Shatkins gets crucified for hiring their own people.

New York and Boston are a big deal though. Big markets, spend more than anyone else (on the East coast), and have more history than almost every other franchise. If Japanese players were signing with the Royals, then I'd agree. But Toronto also has the disadvantage of being in Canada, which could be another stumbling block for players from a perception standpoint. The Jays had their best shot at signing a Japanese player with Darvish since it was a blind bid. If the player has the option to choose where he goes, then it will always be a huge long shot unless Shatkins is prepared to blow everyone else out the water with their offer.

I think the average salary in MLB is double the NFL, but not sure what the number is now. A lot of this is skewed because MLB players make nothing during their first 3 years of control, while NFL players get paid and reach the league immediately. MLB seems like a league where you are more likely to make money during the life of your career (assuming you're a big league player) whereas the NFL will be more a flash of money early on (non guaranteed) and then a drop off. The one thing in Murray's favor is as mentioned QBs can last longer with the new rules, and elite QB's are generally the highest paid players in the league, but he's still undersized (5'8, 5'9?). The odds are against him. Of course if he's a s*** baseball player then he'll make nothing aside from his signing bonus, so he has to be somewhat sure he can stick in baseball. I hope Stroman doesn't read this post.

The Jays have a long history in Latin America, so that's the market they should be fine in. There is almost no point in scouting Japan if history is any indication, but never hurts to do your homework and give your best offer.

Murray is going to regret it if he chooses the NFL over baseball. Short term it makes more financial sense to go to football since the minor leagues + first 3 years of service in baseball isn't lucrative at all, but long term it is no contest. Undersized QB, non guaranteed contracts, CTE, less money as he gets older, etc. Whatever, it's the A's and not the Jays so don't really care what he does, but I hate the NFL/football so stealing players from them is always a good thing.

Well there goes my theory that he would have gone where the money was. Looks like location was more important to him, or the money difference wasn't enough to sway his mind. West Coast teams have a big advantage on Japanese talent.