04/19/24
April 18, 2008
Does Evan Longoria's new contract : indicate a change in approach to cost certainty for baseball management?
$17.5million over 6 (guaranteed) seasons is really not that big of an investment for a MLB team. Sure, it would suck if he gets injured or pulls a Joe Charbonneau (or worse, a Brien Taylor). However, given the inflationary nature of baseball salaries, less than $3million/year is a bargain for almost any infielder that can even hit/field at league average.
posted by grum@work at 07:52 PM on April 18, 2008
Sheesh. I read that as Eva Longoria and was thinking what the hell. New contract. Baseball?
posted by netbros at 08:15 AM on April 19, 2008
$17.5million over 6 (guaranteed) seasons is really not that big of an investment for a MLB team. It's actually below the current average salary, so if the kid is good, this is a steal.
posted by tieguy at 08:50 AM on April 19, 2008
I find it humorous that the team sent him down to the minors after a good spring by all accounts to keep his service time down and then they buy out all his arb years anyway. Overall, I think this is an interesting strategy and development. What will be interesting to see is whether teams go to this longer-term buyout/lock-up strategy for pitchers, who are much greater injury risks. The Cardinals have done this with Wainwright and the Rays with Shields, but each of those are only four years guaranteed with relatively low guarantee amounts ($11.25MM for Shields and $15MM for the Wagonmaker) that probably keep the guaranteed years along the lines of what the players may have received in arbitration in any event assuming they stayed healthy. What is unprecedented about the Longoria deal is that he has yet to amass any real playing time in the majors. When Pujols was given a 7 year/$100MM contract that bought out his last 3 arbitration years, the Cardinals had 3 years of major league performance that was nothing short of historic on which to base their decision. For Longoria, it's two really good years in the minors and an outstanding college career beyond that. By all accounts he is very projectable (Baseball Prospectus has him as being worth $105MM over the next 7 years), but it's certainly taking a risk.