There’s Nothing Wrong with the Yoan Moncada Deal or MLB’s IFA System
By Jon Flint
So what’s your problem with the Yoan Moncada deal? Angry your small market team cannot afford to go toe-to-toe in the Boston Red Sox’ bidding war… or are you just a bitter Yankees fan? Either way, what’s done is done. These sudden cries for International Free Agent (IFA) reforms are not only unreasonable, but absolutely unnecessary.
So why is it necessary to alter an IFA system that was upgraded prior to the 2012-13 season? Before you answer that question, lets agree to set aside personal beefs with the Moncada signing. Yes, he is being paid $31.5 million, a total that far exceeds what most of us made at age 19 while working part-time retail gigs at the local mall. In all fairness, a very small percentage of us are Cuban-born natives and even less are as awesome at playing the game of baseball.
The Red Sox have invested more than $60 million in Moncada, but why shouldn’t they be allowed to? At a $30 million tax penalty and an inability to spend anymore than 300K per IFA for the next couple years, Boston is paying a hefty price. All of this on top of the inherent risk that their 19-year old import could very well be a bust in MLB.
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What if he struggles against North American talent or fails to adjust to the culture? What if Moncada suffers major injury? We can project all day. It’s the Red Sox who play the “what if” game for at least the two years it takes before they’re comfortable putting Moncada on a big league field. If this doesn’t work out, the Boston Red Sox are forever marred with that time they invested millions into an unproven, 19-year old IFA. And how much of this is reasonable for a team like the Tampa Bay Rays? How about the Milwaukee Brewers?
If MLB was to alter the IFA signing rules then what is fair? Does Rob Manfred mandate that teams who signed a major IFA aren’t allowed to bid on another for a set period of time? Would adopting a waivers system work? However we brainstorm, the answer almost always comes down to limiting the ability of the big market clubs to spend their money on marquee players. This is the same debate that has been tossed around regarding domestic FA for years and yet MLB makes no changes because the argument is moot.
Telling a team like the Los Angeles Dodgers to keep their wallets closed doesn’t make the Pittsburgh Pirates more willing to open up theirs. So then what? Does MLB adopt the unfair labor practice of limiting how much a player can make? Again, lets think reasonably baseball fans.
Facts are, high profile IFA signings in MLB date back to Hideo Nomo, but for some reason fans are crying about the system now. Where were the calls for reform when the Yankees spent $12.8 million on Hideki Irabu in 1997 or how about the Dodgers spending $42 million on Yasiel Puig in 2012? I don’t recall the Colorado Rockies or the Oakland A’s getting in on any of the bidding. And why? Well, probably because both players were way out of their price range and against the grains of their respective teams building philosophies.
If it feels like I’m picking on small market teams, it’s because I am.
If it feels like I’m picking on small market teams, it’s because I am. The arguments for salary caps and market regulation always come up during times of a marquee FA signing and it’s the small markets to blame for this. These fans take on a victim’s mentality and completely ignore their team’s resources when complaining the Yankees and Red Sox shouldn’t be allowed to spend $300 million in an offseason.
The market differences and vaious methods in which teams build their rosters is what makes MLB so interesting. Despite their $162 million payroll for 2014, the Detroit Tigers were shelled by the Kansas City Royals’ $92 million payroll in the ALCS. The same can said about the Dodgers’ $235 million payroll.
As long as the smaller guys find ways to win and play through October, the systems MLB has in place cannot be labeled “broken.” Baseball has always been a team sport, one in which everything can go right for any club at any time. MLB has always been about those teams who get “hot” at just the right time. We may gripe about the Boston Red Sox investing $60 million into an IFA today, but come October 2015, none of it matters if they aren’t clutching a pennant at the end.
Next: Exploring the Non-existent Dioner Navarro Trade Market