I believe they would still have to factor in the % of games played. So if Mookie plays 81 games and gets traded, it still counts as 13.5 against the cap.
It's not "what's the AAV payroll at year's end" but rather the total payroll $$$'s spent in 2020.
Once the season starts, it gets harder and harder to get under the tax. If they get through 50% of the season, they'd have to dump Price and Mookie to get under the cap.
They should have built a team to win (lots of lower cost guys that they let sign elsewhere), but moved Mookie and Price if the opportunity came up. Sitting around and waiting for a deal seems like the worst move to make.
He was definitely a great player at one point. I'll give him that. He never got higher than 7th in MVP voting after that year though.
Similar Batters
Howie Kendrick (894.7)
Jose Vidro (878.3)
Joe Mauer (875.3)
Edgardo Alfonzo (875.2)
Travis Jackson (873.6) *
Carlos Baerga (873.3)
Asdrubal Cabrera (871.5)
Jeff Cirillo (870.9)
Bill Madlock (868.3)
Daniel Murphy (867.2)
Similar Batters through 35
Julio Franco (900.5)
Howie Kendrick (894.7)
Bill Madlock (889.7)
Placido Polanco (881.7)
Joe Mauer (875.3)
Carlos Baerga (874.2)
Al Dark (869.9)
Jimmy Dykes (866.3)
Pinky Higgins (864.6)
Brandon Phillips (862.9)
I was kicking him around when he was still performing at a high level, because I believe the end was going to be this bad. It was just considered buzzarding though.
Trying my best to be non political about this, but this is a really bad take.
It's freakin baseball. That's why we post here endlessly. It's a distraction from all the other ******** that happens in our lives. No reason to minimize what it means to us for an argument.
The guys that should be elected going forward:
Clemens
Bonds
Schill
Rolen
Wagner
Helton
Manny
Andruw Jones
2021
Buehrle
2022
ARod
Ortiz
Teixeira
2024
Beltre