MLB free agency: are certain owners just being jerks?!
This year’s MLB free agency period has brought out some contentious comments from players. Reading through the CBA, you’ll quickly see why!
Imagine with me a baseball nerd. A baseball nerd who enjoys reading the Collective Bargaining Agreement for fun. This baseball nerd is pondering the harsh player reaction to 2019 MLB free agency and asks, “I wonder if there is something in the CBA that is hurting these unsigned players?”
So, reading through the general rules on free agency, this tidbit comes up in regards to the qualifying offer system that was revamped in the most recent CBA (Article XX(B)(4b)).
The former Club of a Qualified Free Agent subject to compensation (“Former Club”) shall receive an amateur draft choice (“Special Draft Choice”) immediately following the last selection in Competitive Balance Round B of the next Rule 4 Draft. Notwithstanding the foregoing, (i) a Former Club that was a Revenue Sharing Payee (as defined in Article XXIV) and not market disqualified in the Revenue Sharing Year that encompasses the most recently completed championship season shall receive a Special Draft Choice immediately following the last selection in the first round of the next Rule 4 Draft if its Qualified Free Agent subject to compensation enters into a contract with another Club with a total guarantee of $50 million or more; and (ii) a Former Club that was a CBT Payor in the Contract Year that encompasses the most recently completed championship season (regardless of the Former Club’s status under the Revenue Sharing Plan) shall receive a Special Draft Choice immediately following the last selection in the fourth round of the next Rule 4 Draft
Do you understand all that? No? Well, it’s just that last line that is in question here. What it states is that a team that has been a competitive balance payor (paid into revenue sharing rather than received from it) and also exceeded the luxury tax in the previous season will receive no better than a compensatory pick after the 4th round for placing a qualifying offer on an eligible free agent.
This season, the only two teams who this impacted were the Boston Red Sox and the Washington Nationals. Oddly enough, they were the employers of arguably the two most notable remaining players in MLB free agency this year, Bryce Harper and Craig Kimbrel.
Both Harper and Kimbrel received a qualifying offer, which means that if they rejected that offer (and of course they would as two of the most highly-regarded players entering MLB free agency this offseason), once they signed elsewhere, no matter the size of the contract, the team would receive only a pick after the fourth round, roughly the 140th selection.
But what about the team that would sign Harper or Kimbrel? That’s where things begin to get more nefarious…
The “light penalty”
If a team that neither exceeded the luxury tax nor receives revenue sharing happens to want to sign either of those players, even to a big one-year deal, they would forfeit their third-highest draft choice (the “least-costly” of the three tiers of “penalty” in the new CBA). That means if a team only had their standard draft picks, they’d be losing a pick in the third round (roughly pick 90-120) while the team who just gave the player a qualifying offer is only getting a pick somewhere around 150.
However, due to other compensations, primarily the fact that a team qualified for that least costly bracket is also eligible for a competitive balance pick, most teams are giving up a higher selection than a third-round pick.
The Atlanta Braves could have interest in Kimbrel or Harper, but they’d give up their 2nd round pick due to having two first-round selections in 2019. They’re likely not interested, but the Arizona Diamondbacks have two first-round picks and have acquired two compensatory picks after the first round due to losing Patrick Corbin and A.J. Pollock. That would mean that they would forfeit one of their compensatory picks. A few teams in this group that may have an interest in Harper or Kimbrel would be the Indians, Padres, and Twins.
The Indians would lose the 102nd selection in the 2019 draft if they would sign Kimbrel or Harper. The Padres would lose the 85th pick. The Twins would lose the 54th pick, the earliest of the four likely teams mentioned (the Braves’ pick is #61). The value of those picks in the 2018 draft was between $549,700 and $1,287,800. Obviously, that’s a big variance, but both the Twins and Braves would have over $1 million loss to their draft pool by signing either player.
Other tiers
If you go to the teams with “more costly” status in the draft picks that they would lose, the Nationals and Red Sox are the only teams that would face the most-expensive penalty for signing a qualifying player. They would lose their second- and fifth-highest selection in the 2019 draft along with $1 million from their international bonus pool. Interestingly, the Nationals have already surrendered exactly that by signing Patrick Corbin. If they were to sign a second qualifying offer player (Kimbrel, for instance), the Nationals would add losing their third- and sixth-highest draft picks.
The next tier down is the more common tier. That is the tier of teams that neither received revenue sharing money nor exceeded the luxury tax number. This season, that would include teams that have been linked to one or both of Harper and/or Kimbrel like the Angels, Cardinals, Dodgers, Giants, Phillies, White Sox, and Yankees.
Each of those teams would lose their second-highest draft pick and $500,000 from their international pool for the first qualified free agent signed. Signing a second qualified player would cost the team their third-highest pick and an additional $500,000.
The Dodgers have already given up their second-round pick and $500K in international pool for signing A.J. Pollock. Another signing would cost them the 103rd pick and an additional $500,000 in international pool funds.
The other teams would lose the following picks:
- Angels, #56, 2018 pool value of $1,228,000
- Cardinals, #59, $1,140,000
- Giants, #51, $1,382,400
- Phillies, #55, $1,257,500
- White Sox, #45, $1,587,600
- Yankees, #68, $917,000
That cost is significant for these teams, meaning over seven figures in draft pool money and/or international pool funds. Frankly, that’s going to obviously push down the markets on players as many will not want to be involved at that price.
Real talk
Yet, what do the Nationals and Red Sox receive? The 140th draft slot was worth approximately $380,000 in bonus pool money last season, which is hardly enough to do any real movement in negotiating with top draft picks.
Heck, for the Washington Nationals, they’ve already lost three times that amount in draft funds by signing Corbin, so it’s not a draft pool issue for them at all.
So what is it?
It’s really quite easy, and it’s been a huge issue this offseason and throughout the last few CBA negotiations.
Essentially, the teams have tagged these elite free agents and significantly impacted the cost to sign them. That hurts the players’ markets, even when the resulting payout to the team is minimal. So it’s absolutely a power play.
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Tony Clark and those that negotiated on behalf of the players in the last CBA negotiations were certainly swindled by the owners, and it’s cost the players significantly, leading to what will almost certainly be a lengthy and disturbing labor stoppage coming in 2021.
However, putting these rules into place was intended to really make it worthless to a team in the situation of the Nationals and Red Sox this year to place a qualifying offer on their player. The way that these new qualifying offer rules were written was to help players avoid having the tag burden their trip through free agency.
Instead, these two organizations have shown their disdain for the players by exercising nothing but a pure power play, obviously violating the intent of these new rules. The ONLY reason that they can possibly justify the qualifying offer within their front office is the knowledge that they would depress their player’s market and hope to sign the player for a discount.
Next. Top 10 fantasy SS for 2019. dark
We as baseball fans have been hearing throughout MLB free agency this offseason how frustrated players are getting. When teams are making moves that don’t truly benefit them and only act as a way to suppress their market, it’s no wonder the players are so incredibly frustrated.