Dorks Being Dorks - Contracts and Free Agency

[RonCo]

Welcome to Dorks Being Dorks!

This is a Brewster Baseball Network Podcast that will bring BBA GMs together to talk about Out of the Park and how it works in the BBA. AS such, it should wind up being a series that touches on a bunch of topics. The goal is to focus our topics into 15 minute bites that are both easy to digest and (hopefully) helpful.

Of course, our first conversation went long,so I've split it into two segments--one actually 15 minutes, the next closer to a half hour. Sorry about that...

Today Stephen Lane and I talk about free agency and contracts.

PART A: (15 Minutes)

An overview of how we think about free agency and contracts in general, and how we think about Free Agency and pursuing players, and deciding how much we want to (or can pay them). Along the way we touch on the influence of our salary cap and how market competition changes our views, and use some examples to touch on when we consider giving longterm contracts (or "creative contracts" as Stephen says!). When bloatware contracts work and when they don't.

Or at least we try. [grin]



PART B: (35 Minutes)

Against the backdrop of our previous conversation, we pick out some actual long-term BBA contracts that teams let last off-season, and discuss the ins and outs of how they work, why they work ... or don't.

Contracts we touch on are:

Carlton Winson - CCJ
Juan Sweetworld/Jayden arsnett - LV
Jon Mick - MAD
Mario Balderas -BRK
Jose Chavez - YS9
Egbert Behner - JAX
Ken Jenkins - LBC
Claudio Defazio - CAL
Jarod Wilson - ATC
Reynaldo Ruiz - NO

[7teen]

I actually listened to some of part 2. Then you all bashed John mick and I had to turn you all off. Bastards!!!


Haha but in serious good points. Mick probably isn’t worth the contract. But you try telling my fans we aren’t going to keep a 50 homer, 150 RBI guy.

[usnspecialist]

really interesting piece. Almost reinforces my view about avoiding the big names in FA haha.

[ae37jr]

Ron had the right idea behind us giving Balderas (and Nightmare) bad contracts. You can even track it back to the Juan Hernandez trade as the exact starting point when I said f' it, I'm going down in a blaze of glory.

I could have signed Balderas to a shorter, team-option friendlier contract. But I chose the longer, lesser annual value cause I knew I had the prospects to acquire players like Fernando Cruz, Alfredo Martinez, Mauro Flores, and Alfredo Martinez. I just needed to be able to fit them all under the cap. I'm going to tear it down long before Balderas/Nightmare's contracts are up. That was the plan. I created a defined window. When those two start to lump, the shows over folks.

Josh in Atlantic City inspired me a bit. For as much crap as everyone gave him about Correa and Lopez. He damn near won a Landis, both pitchers lumped to hell probably a lot sooner then expected, and while every year the entire BBA claimed "this is the year Atlantic City falls apart", they never really did. Only once did they win less then 80 games. They are going to make the playoffs this year with $22 million 5/5/8 pitcher. He took a chance to win a Landis, failed, and now is coming back again. My version is a little more extreme then his, but the concept is the same. I'm going to try to win a Landis. I may fail, but I'm going to ride through the tough years and come back.

I always say that not everyone plays the game for the same reasons or plays it the same way. In my world, if you have a chance to win the Landis, you go for it. Even if it means making a few bad trades or bad contracts. Last year I came very close. If we could of snuck past Rockville(Lost 3 one run games, a two run game and blew them out in the two we won) we would have had a great matchup against California with our lefty pitchers neutralizing their lefty bats. This year we got struck by the injury bug. But next year? No more excuses. We are going to win the Landis. And Mario Balderas who is hitting .303/.353/.503 this season plans to still be a big part of that. In the end, no one will remember if we paid him $36 million in year one or $12 million spread out over 3 years when he is well into decline. They will only remember.....

[RonCo]

Joshua is looking like a very, very good GM who can deal with risk and find ways to win.

[Big_Al]

That was a good inside view of ways to structure contracts to try to make a run for the title. Good description of how to view the team budget vs. the salary cap when planning player salaries. Has there been a recent champ that hasn't had to make a run at super high-priced free agents?

[usnspecialist]

That was a good inside view of ways to structure contracts to try to make a run for the title. Good description of how to view the team budget vs. the salary cap when planning player salaries. Has there been a recent champ that hasn't had to make a run at super high-priced free agents?

when I won in 2034 I dont think I had a single player on the roster who was signed to a major league contract as a FA.

http://montybrewster.net/BBA/HTML/news/ ... _2034.html

[RonCo]

You can extend a lot of that conversation to basic contract extensions, too, of course.

[RonCo]

You can extend a lot of that conversation to basic contract extensions, too, of course.

[Ted]

That was a good inside view of ways to structure contracts to try to make a run for the title. Good description of how to view the team budget vs. the salary cap when planning player salaries. Has there been a recent champ that hasn't had to make a run at super high-priced free agents?

Well, I only had one last year. Fernando Moreno, who was overpaid until I gimmicked my park to play well for lefty power hitters (and "only" makes 15 mil. Topped out at twenty for one season in the middle). Jacksonville has two championships recently, largely on the backs of internally developed talent, trading for other people's stars. Their FA contributions are "bargain" veteran FA pitchers (10 to 14 mil AAV). Louisville just won a couple a little over half a decade ago with no major free agents I can think of. All homegrown talent.

I think you have to get SOMETHING out of free agency. It's just too hard to fill all the roles internally, but you definitely don't have to go after the top talent/most expensive players.

[JimBob2232]

I just listened to this (yes, im very late...sorry!), but some thoughts on Ruiz deal.

1) Yes, it was a lot. I did what you guys suspected. I didnt want to let him test FA.
2) I was (am) desparate at the 2B/SS position. I really needed someone who could play those positions well. Ruiz fit the bill. Any other position and this deal wouldnt have gotten done.
3) His 60+ SB/year are worth something.
4) An OBP greater than .300 looked like gold to me. That says more about my offense as a whole than Ruiz.
5) When you get a chance to give a big contract to a fragile, unhappy, thick-headed guy with low intelligence...you do it. 100% of the time.

In retrospect...im still not sure it was THAT bad a deal. Yes, its a lot, but it filled a hole at the time. He got hurt and played poorly last year, but he only occupies 4% of the salary cap, so its not the end of the world. I have the cash, and I didnt really want to get too involved in FA this year since I am rebuilding.

Plus, if he hit Free Agency this year he probably would have gotten a 6 year 80M contract with the way people were throwing around cash.