One of the logistical issues I’m dealing with is how to present the information without it running off the page and making a horrible mess. Unfortunately, I’m just not that smart at the moment. So, well… Anyway, the basic situation here, of course, is that if a player opts out, he’s saying he thinks he can get more from the free market (or, of course, he just wants the hell out of the Heartland, whatevs).
To start with, we had four players opt-out but then rejoin their teams, one in particular was worth looking at, because it describes a nuance in how the game works these opt-outs when it comes to extensions. Let’s look at the three now.
| Team | Pos | Name | Age | Type | 2058 | 2059 | 2060 | 2061 | 2062 | 2063 | 2064 | 2065 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NSH | SP | Steven Clayton | 30 | O | $8.7m(O) | $8.7m | $9.0m | $10.0m(O) | $10.0m | $10.0m | $10.0m(T) | $10.0m(T) |
| VAN | C | Davenport Hinkle | 33 | O | $11.0m(O) | $11.0m | $11.0m(P) | $17.0m(P) | ||||
| OMA | 3B | Luis Mendoza | 36 | P | $17.4m | $15.4m(P) | $15.4m(P) | |||||
| TWC | SP | Bernie Stuart | 34 | $13.6m(O) | $13.6m | $13.6m(P) |
Vancouver’s institutional Davenport Hinkle opted out, then signed back with the Mounties, as did Omaha’s Luis Mendoza. Doing so, Hinkle went from $39M/3 under his control to $45M/4 years (with a team option after). At 33, that’s probably not a bad decision, though I ponder if he’d gotten more on the market. Dunno. It’s going to be a strange year, right? Mendoza opted out of $30.8M/2 to take $39M/3 (and a mutual option). He’s 36, so that makes more sense to me. If either of these choices to sign back before going to market were bad decisions, neither were catastrophic. So, yeah. OOTP seems okay by me, here.
In addition, Bernie Stuart opted out of hie Twin Cities deal that would have given him $27M over two years, and instead will take $41M over four years before subjecting himself to two team options that would give him $30.4M more. Again, probably a good deal. Stuart is 34. Injuries happen.
Bottom line, it seems like in v25, good players who opt out are generally willing to sign for less AAV so long as the years make up for it.
Then along comes the case of Nashville’s Steve Clayton, who signed an extension while still having two seasons on his existing contract (the first having an opt-out to it). In other words, on paper the extension was planned to start in 2061. And if Clayton had opted into 2059, it would have. Unfortunately for Nashville, Clayton opted out, voiding his $8.7M/$9M years of the original contract, and sliding that extension up two seasons.
Weird, right?
I’ve had cases where, when signing guys to that kind of extension, they accept the first option, and then the extension just tacks on. But not in this case. Bottom line, Clayton gave himself an immediate raise, and brought his next time through free agency up two additional years. I don’t know how this works in real life, but it kind of sucks for Nashville that the initial opt out is apparently not part of the extension negotiation. Anyway, given how the game works, this was obviously a real advantage for Clayton, and therefore a good decision by the game.
So those are the three odd twists of players who opted out, then came back in.
Now let’s take a glace at the guys who opted out, and then set them together with what they are asking for. As noted above, I’m having a hard time putting them into digestible format, so I’ll just go whole hog and make you do the side scroll. This might better be looked at with the game open, really. Don’t know. I should also note that the player’s asks are what they are asking from Bikini. I assume they are different for you, but I don’t know that, either.
A few other bits, too…as with the other tables, the first row of years are the player’s contract entering the offseason. The next row of years are what the player is asking (Bikini) for as a staring point in the negotiation. Use it for what you will. I’m nothing if not as transparent as my shelf of Monties. In addition, I’ve added columns to represent places where options exist in the asks.
Regardless, here is the data:
EDIT: The Data is Now Pasted at the Bottom of the Post Because it Was Too Hard to Read Otherwise
All right. Let’s talk about some of these guys, shall we? And by “some of these guys” I mean Pedro Rosales and Socrates Kazantziakis, both of whom should take their agents directly to court for abuse, fraud, and idiocy. Rosales give up $51M over only three years under his control, and then asks for about $59M under his control over six years. This for a fairly cruddy defensive center fielder who dropped 2 WAR last year. Jebbus but how the Portland front office must have partied. While that was happening, Socrates’s agent said “hold my beer,” and had his client leave $26M/1 on the table to ask for $51M/6. That may not sound horrible, but if the guy takes $26M this year, he’d only have to do $5M/5 next year to break even, and even at his current skillset he’d almost certainly do better than that.
Sheesh.
Maybe it’s just me, but if Portland’s front office was elated, Rockville’s may well have needed another stiff drink and a cigarette afterward. I mean, I could be wrong, but I think it would take Fred overdosing on banana bread or shoeless going on a wine bender for this to work out for either.
And in smaller avenues, look at RMO’s RP Ramon Gonzalez, who left behind $19M guaranteed over two years to ask for $12.8 over three (with the last being a player option), and Valencia 1B Carlos Souza, who declined $2.7M and is now asking for $1.2M.
Sheesh again.
Anyway. It’s always something, right?
There were a lot of good things here, though. At least good in the idea that guys leaving their teams are at least asking for more. Like Juan Marroquin. Like Eric Wagner, who was smart enough to ignore that $16M vesting option to go ask for $54M/6yr. Will he get it? I have no idea yet. But he could. At 30 years old and with a pretty solid track record, I could see it. If not all in one bit, at least I can see it rolling out that way through the years. And at least he’s actually asking for more than he was guaranteed when he left.
There are arguments to me made in some cases. Was Ollie Lowry wise to ditch $56M/4 guaranteed and now asking $72M/6 wise? At 30, he could arguably do better to ask in smaller chunks, but if nothing else that mover may get him out of Brooklyn, who doesn’t look to be winning anytime soon. That’s gotta be worth something.
Sammy McNeill probably dumped out of his $24M/2 deal at the right time. He’ll almost certainly get more years at a similar, if not better price. Elite shortstops don’t grow on trees. Felix Vidaca was an obvious case to leave.
Outfielder Felipe Vega signed a late ST deal with Twin Cities, and properly opted out of a pair of $6M years. I’d guess he’ll get something close to that, and maybe more, and he may not have to pay in the Heartland! (hehe!)
- - - You can scan the table yourself. It’s an interesting exercise. At the end of the day, this group is a collection that I think kind of went all over the place. Of the 17 guys, 5 are asking for obviously less than they were making, which one of those things that makes me go “huh.”
Of course, the big question is not what they are asking for, but what they will get.
For that, though, we’ll have to wait a few sim-months and see what happens. If I get some decent time then, I’ll circle back and see how it looks. Scoreboard doesn’t lie, right?
| Team | Pos | Name | Age | 2058 | 2059 | 2060 | 2061 | 2062 | 2063 | Asking> | 2059 | 2060 | 2061 | 2062 | 2063 | 2064 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| POR | CF | Pedro Rosales | 30 | $19.0m(O) | $17.0m | $17.0m(P) | $17.0m(P) | $10.400 | $10.400 | $10.400 | $10.400 | P | $9.600 | $9.600 | ||||||
| RCK | SS | Socrates Kazantziakis | 32 | $24.0m(O) | $26.0m | $30.0m(T) | $8.500 | $8.500 | $8.500 | $8.500 | $8.500 | P | $8.500 | |||||||
| CHA | SP | Juan Marroquín | 34 | $7.5m(O) | $7.5m | $7.5m | $13.600 | $13.600 | $12.600 | $12.600 | $11.600 | |||||||||
| PHX | 3B | Félix Parreno | 31 | $9.0m(O) | $13.0m | $15.0m | $17.0m(P) | $14.000 | $14.000 | $14.000 | $14.000 | $14.000 | P | $14.000 | ||||||
| TWC | LF | Aaron Haney | 39 | $4.5m(O) | $4.5m | $4.5m | $4.5m | $12.0m(T) | $12.0m(T) | $14.000 | $12.000 | $12.000 | P | $10.600 | ||||||
| TWC | LF | Felipe Vega | 39 | $3.5m(O) | $6.0m(T) | $6.0m(T) | $10.600 | $10.600 | $10.600 | $10.600 | $10.600 | P | $10.600 | |||||||
| BRK | SP | Ollie Lowry | 30 | $14.0m(O) | $14.0m | $14.0m | $14.0m(P) | $14.0m(P) | $12.600 | $12.600 | $12.600 | $12.600 | $12.600 | P | $12.600 | |||||
| RCK | LF | Eric Wagner | 30 | $15.0m(O) | $16.0m | $16.0m(V) | $9.000 | $9.000 | $9.000 | P | $9.000 | $9.000 | P | $9.000 | ||||||
| RMO | RP | Ramón González | 32 | $9.5m | $9.5m(P) | $9.5m(P) | As SP > | $4.200 | $4.200 | P | $4.200 | |||||||||
| VAL | 1B | Carlos Souza | 29 | $2.9m | $2.7m(P) | $1.200 | ||||||||||||||
| BRK | 1B | Ernest McBride | 37 | $16.0m | $16.0m(P) | $13.600 | $13.600 | $13.600 | P | $13.600 | ||||||||||
| EDM | DH | Gonzalo Martínez | 38 | $9.6m | $9.3m(P) | $7.500 | $7.500 | $7.500 | P | $7.500 | ||||||||||
| LBC | SS | Sammy McNeill | 31 | $12.6m | $12.6m(P,O) | $12.0m(P) | $14.000 | $14.000 | $14.000 | $14.000 | $14.000 | $14.000 | ||||||||
| RMO | SS | Sid Turcotte | 35 | $4.5m | $4.5m(P) | $4.800 | $4.800 | P | $4.800 | |||||||||||
| RMO | RF | Manoell Whanon | 37 | $3.8m | $3.8m(P) | $5.040 | $5.040 | $4.800 | $4.800 | V | $4.800 | |||||||||
| SAC | RP | Félix Vidaca | 32 | $4.0m | $4.2m(P) | $12.000 | $12.000 | $12.000 | $12.000 | $12.000 | $12.000 |
