9-News: 44.032 – YS9 Extends Three Players

[RonCo]

Off Topic

Club Piecing Parts Together


June 14, 2044: Yellow Springs – A day after designated hitter Mark Haynes agreed to a two season deal that bought out his final arbitration years, third baseman Blaine Tyler and pitcher Josh Henson took similar creatively molded deals. The moves, announced by the team via social media stream, are the latest in a string of agreements the team has been working on that might help them keep the band together over the next few years.

“We like the flow of our organization,” said GM Ron Collins. “I’ve had several conversations with Bo (owner, Hall of Famer, and business magnate Bo Jordan) and we’ve agreed to pull out all the stops. Our record so far speaks for itself.” The team is currently 51-20, leading the Heartland division by eight and a half games over the upstart Bluebirds in Nashville.

In normal YS9 fashion, the deals were publicly released.

Haynes who was projected to receive $3M-$4.5M in his last two arbitration years, agreed to retain a base salary of $2.7M and $2.8M, which will help the team fit into the salary cap more comfortably the next two years. In return, the team will provide him an additional $2M each year if he remains healthy enough to make 150 plate appearances—a number he has reached each year. Assuming he makes that mark, his overall compensation will finish higher than his arbitration estimates.

Haynes posted only .2 WAR last season, but is having a solid start (.268/.311/.589, with four homers and six doubles) as the RHB side of the team’s DH platoon. Javier Rodriguez, the LHB side of that platoon, signed an extension a few weeks ago.

Tyler’s deal is similarly structured, but is a little more complicated since it provides the third baseman an opt-out for 2047. If executed, that option could send Tyler and the team back to the arbitration table. Compensation associated with the contract works out to $9.9M guaranteed for those three years, with an additional $1.5M in bonuses.

There was some conversation within the team’s executive offices as to whether prospect Derek Cumming might be ready early enough that Tyler could have been allowed to walk, but calmer heads won out. If his bat and glove continue to grow as they have each of Tyler’s three seasons, look for the 24-year-old to stick around. Regardless, the “base and bonus” approach has again allowed the team to enter deals that serve both sides—more money for players, limited hit to salary cap for the team. More important, making these deals now remove the chance that an unexpected arbitration award would disrupt the team’s vaunted seven-season plan.

In that light, the agreement that swingman Josh Henson signed is a bit nuanced, too. Henson is only in his second season, which would usually mean that he wouldn’t be signing a new contract at this point. But the club approached him with an offer to pay him more next season, in return for taking an edge off of the first two years of his arbitration. The team will pay him a base of $700K next year, and $800K for the following two seasons. Like the other deals, Henson can earn an additional bonus of $50K for achieving 75 innings pitched—a level that barring injury he should easily surpass.

Henson is one of the more versatile pitchers in the league and has posted a 5-3 record so far this year with 15 appearances, four of them starts. His ERA stands at 3.04.


Deals Stretching Limits of Team Budget?

“There’s still a lot of work to do,” said GM Ron Collins when he discussed the deals at today’s Fan Outreach brunch. “Me and my staff are diligently working with the players and their representation to find as many ways we can fit all our guys in. It’s a tough challenge.”

Some are suggesting that the nexus point of no return might be in dealing with both hard-hitting outfielder Ricardo Mendoza and three-time Zimmer winning shortstop Luis Pena. Both are extremely talented, and expecting to be paid soon. The projection for Pena’s arbitration runs up to $8M, a figure the team appears to have at its disposal—except to make that happen would be to assume Mendoza does not exercise his opt-out of the $5M season the team is currently on the hook for. Assuming he does opt-out, word on the street is that an arbitrator would almost certainly award a higher figure.

At present, the team’s bonus structure could run as high as $10M, however, a figure that begins to warp the club’s financial resources. Most outsiders are noting that deals in Pena and Mendoza’s cases will not be able to include many such acrobatics, and could well need to stand on their own within the salary cap.

Collins acknowledged the problem.

“We’re getting closer, though,” he said. “Both Bo and I want to keep the team together, and I know the guys like being in the same clubhouse—so we’ll see what the future brings.”