A Franchise Tag in Baseball?

For those of you who are unaware, here is how a franchise tag works for football.  A player who is at the end of his contract can be re-signed without negotiating a contract.  The player is paid the higher of the following: 120% of his previous year's salary, or the average salary of the top 5 paid players' salaries at his position.  There are two types of franchise tags: exclusive and non-exclusive.  Exclusive means that the team retains the player; non-exclusive means that the player has the right to negotiate with other teams.  If the player goes to the other team, then the original team is entitled to two first-round picks as compensation.  For example:

The Patriots used a non-exclusive franchise tag on Matt Cassel.  In 2008, he made $580,000.  120% of that is $696,000.  The average of the top 5 highest paid QBs is $14,650,000 Guess which one he is getting paid.  Now, if he wants to sign with the Lions (I have no idea why anyone ever would), the Pats would get two first round picks.

Now, I would like to explore the idea of using a Franchise Tag in baseball.  If it were implemented, it would obviously have to be done differently since there is no salary cap in baseball like there is in football.  And being paid the average of the top five salaries in baseball at that position can be financially disastrous for smaller market teams due to certain outliers.  However, being paid 120% of the previous year's salary can be unfair, as some players were under contract for under a million, and deserve more than 120% of their previous year's salary.  Thus, I propose the following for arbitration-eligible players.  

A team wishing to use the franchise tag on an arbitration-eligible players may use a franchise tag and retain said player for one year and pay him the higher of the following: the average of the team's players at the same position (a 2B would be paid the average of the 3B, 1B, and SS; a LF would be paid the average of the starting CF and RF; a pitcher would be paid the average of the other 4 starting pitchers, etc), or the average of the offered salary and the requested salary.  The team may only use one of these a season, and it is a one year contract.  

For other players, i.e. Type A and Type B free agents, a player would be paid either 120% of his previous year's salary, or the average of the previous year's salaries of free agents at his position.  

Similar to football, there would be an exclusive tag and a non-exclusive tag.  If a team uses a non-exclusive tag, then that player obviously has the right to negotiate with other teams.  If another team signs that player, then the original team is entitled to a compensation pick in the draft, as well as the right to match that offer to the player.  The compensation pick would be the highest pick that the team has (outside of the top 10; which would be protected).  For example, if a team has already received a compensation pick for the loss of a free agent, let's say the 20th pick in the draft, and it's own pick is pick number 25, then that team would give up the 20th pick to sign a player that has a non-exclusive franchise tag placed on him.  

Yes, I know it is complicated.  This is more of an exploration at the possibility of implementing a franchise tag in baseball.  

Angels sign Abreu; Nats, Dunn; Tejada lied; more

The Angels (I refuse to type their full name) signed Bobby Abreu for about 5 million.

I really like this move for the Angels. Abreu, 35 in March, is a career .300 hitter. Last year, he hit .296 with 20 Home Runs and 100 RBIs in the AL East. A move to the weaker and less competitive AL West will certainly improve those numbers. He has not hit under 100 RBIs for a season since 2002, and should prove an integral part of the lineup for the Angels. That being said, he is no Mark Teixera, and Angels fans should not expect him to be.

The Washington Nationals signed Adam Dunn

Bold prediction: This will ultimately prove irrelevant. The Nationals, in order to compete in the NL East, need to improve pitching. Wasting money on a guy who has a career hit-to-strikeout ratio of 3:4 is beyond insane. Not only that, this is a man who struggles to hit his weight (275, according to the Nationals' Roster), and has had more errors than outfield assists four times in his eight year career. I suppose the upside for the Nationals is that Dunn is only 29, and is pretty much guaranteed to get to 40 Home Runs. Still, that upside is not enough for me to justify this signing.

Miguel Tejada lied before Congress.

Is it just me or are these congressional hearings the baseball version of McCarthyism? Not that I don't mind when certain players who shall remain nameless get what they deserve.
Tejada pled guilty to lying about whether or not he knew whether or not there were other players involved with PEDs. It's very unlikely he'll face the maximum jail time of one year.

Andruw Jones signs a minor league deal with the Rangers

Good. I'm glad Andruw did swallow his pride and sign a minor league deal. This is a very good deal for the Rangers, as they get a low-risk high-reward player in Andruw Jones. If he does make the team, that would be a mixed blessing for the already packed OF of the Rangers. On the one hand, they'd have to send someone down. On the other hand, Jones, who presumably would return to great defensive form, would be able to play CF and give Josh Hamilton a few days off or a turn at DH.

A-Rod Tested Positive For Steroids

In 2003, Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids.

Wow. This is kind of surprising. Well, believers of Jose Canseco should not be surprised.

This certainly changes things. I remember when Barry Bonds passed Aaron, people were talking about how much of a shot A-Rod had at passing Bonds. I, for one, was rooting for A-Rod to pass him, because I thought A-Rod was clean. Now, I don't really know what to think. It definitely is surprising because he doesn't look as though he took steroids. He also has denied using steroids in the past. To put him in the same category as Bonds is hard for me to do, only because I was hoping so much that A-Rod, this supposedly "clean" guy, could put some integrity behind the game, and the records. Now, it's just tainted.

Now, some of you may be wondering why I am so against steroid use. Let me set one thing straight: I am not taking away from the natural talent and hard work the players put in. It is difficult to hit a 95 mph fastball, or adjust your swing to hit a mid-80s breaking ball. However, taking steroids takes away from all the players that are clean and the hard work they put in. They have to work twice as hard to stay in shape and stay healthy. The best example of this is Ken Griffey Junior. He missed about 280 games between 2001 and 2006 due to injuries; injuries that could have healed faster had he been taking steroids. Using his career rate of 15.25 at-bats per homerun, and about 4 at bats a game, that gives him an extra 73 home runs or so, putting his total at 684. At only 39, he certainly would have a chance to pass Aaron. Perhaps if he had taken steroids, he would have a chance to pass Aaron.

The question now is where do we go from here. The player that was the hope of forgetting Bonds is now tainted. Are there any clean players there? Sure there are. Chances are that they aren't putting up 50+ Home Runs a year, but still put in a solid effort. I know where I am going from here though. I am still rooting for someone to pass Hank Aaron. I am still rooting for someone to beat Roger Maris' single season home run record of 61. Ryan Howard came close a few years ago; perhaps he can pass it this year.

RedSox fans must feel especially happy today, as they received even more fodder with which to taunt A-Rod. I can see the "Jeter injects A-Rod" signs now. It will also be interesting to see if he gets booed at Yankee Stadium. They booed him for going through a slump in the past; so booing him for this steroids cloud is not out of the question.

This amorphous steroids cloud taints anyone who is in it; just look at Mark McGwire. Mark McGwire has 500+ home runs, which is normally a punched ticket to the Hall of Fame, with 15 of the 24 members in the Hall, 5 active, and 3 not yet elligible to to in. Mark McGwire is the one remaining of that list. Whether or not this is indicative of how players such as Bonds, Sosa, and now A-Rod will be judged remains to be seen. Rafael "I never took steroids, period" Palmeiro is a member of the 500 HR club and 3000 Hit club; his Hall ticket is looking to be punched in 2010. If anything, he will prove the true litmus test for those caught in the steroids era.

That Magic Age (Part 2)

So, now that I found a little free time, I managed to look up the ages of Cy Young Award winners. The Cy Young Award started being given out in 1956. They did not start to give one out to each league until 1967. Similarly to my previous post, I used the same rules. I also did one for history, and one for 1980 onward.














I apologize for the spacing, I am having difficulty getting it to be formatted correctly.


This is an interesting thing shown in these graphs. In the "thru History" graph, the age 27 is far more pronounced than the one showing 1980 onward, which is a contrast to the MVP graph. While 27 is the clear mode in both the graphs, it still is surrounded by the other ages, which appear often as well. The best example of this is the 1980 graph, where age 27 has come up 8 times, and ages 28 and 29 have each come up 7 times.

So what shall I conclude from my little investigation? When a player is around 27 years old, he is more likely to perform better. That does not mean that he can't still perform well past age 27, just that he has a better chance of seeing his best numbers around age 27.

Bonds Urine Test is Positive

Bonds urine sample yield positive results for PEDs (performance enhancing drugs).

I could not be happier. He is getting what he deserves. He was bad for the locker room in San Francisco, and was just as big of a distraction, if not bigger, than Manny Ramirez ever could be. Not only that, he moaned and groaned when Marc Ecko branded his 756 ball with an asterisk. And by that I mean about 4.7 million fans voted to brand it with the asterisk it deserves.

Bonds attorney argues that the release of the samples would prohibit his right to a fair trail. That concept is laughable. There is a thorough screening process for juries to make sure that there aren't any biases and that it is a trial of facts and what was presented.

It would be one thing if Bonds flat out admitted to taking PEDs, like Giambi did. If he did that, then at least he would be honest; and he could begin to earn back the trust and respect of the public.