Nick

Luxury tax limitation.... I've proposed this idea in the past and this maybe a compromise between the owners and the union. Each year, a team receives an exemption for one player on its roster. This will impact only few teams. 1. Every player has one home team designation based the team the player was with when such player became eligible for 'rookie' designation. Many Sox players qualify, Xander, Devers, etc. 2. Use $20M as the maximum luxury tax payroll for computing the team payroll. Thus if Devers is signed to a $30M per year deal, only $20M of his contract would count against the luxury tax. 3. The idea is to keep home grown talent with the team he debuted. 4. Suppose Sox also extend Xander's contract. Player designation for this exemption can switch from year to year. Why not exempt Dever's entire payroll? Why not?

Texas Ranger's 2021 opening payroll was $95M. That number is sure to go up with additions of Seager ($32.5M), Semien ($25M) and pitcher Gray ($14M), total addition of $71.5M. I believe Davis ($16.75M) was in his final year of his contract and is now a FA. So some money will come off the books as well but overall, net plus on player payroll. I'd imagine player's union would have applauded the signings. First two are 10 and 7 year mega deals. But my guess is that for every mega contracts added, there's probably one that's coming to an end, David Price deal comes to mind (2022). There will never be a shortage of mega contracts. Owners can't help themselves. Someone will pay Devers for his bat. Count on it. Thus the focus for the union has to be for 70-80% of the lowly paid players. Owners need to raise the minimum wage. I just can't believe that's asking for too much money. Why not $1M? That should also raise the floor for teams on the cheap. Owners should provide incentive for pre-arbitration players. It could be a 'bonus' based on some standards. But one that would not carry into following year. You pay for what a player did. This bonus pool should be contributed equally by 30 owners. Chances are good that it will benefit smaller market teams, by definition who has more 'cheap' players on the roster, or should I say more accurately more pre-arbitration players. This one time bonus payment should be left off the luxury tax calculation. It's paid by the league and not the teams. Annual payment of $3M per team generates $90M into the pot. That's not much money. If you can't pay it, then you have no business owning a team. It's performance based so no player can bitch about it. Just thinking of ways to make the life better for minimum wage earners.

You pretty much hit the nail straight on. We just want to watch baseball.

Even at his best, Renfroe constantly feels like a player at war with his worst impulses. His cannon arm probably cost the Red Sox more runs than it saved, thanks to his bloodlust for assists. He recorded a league-leading 16 of them, but just as often airmailed a cutoff man to allow an extra base or overran a ball while thinking THROWTHROWTHROW. Offensively, he wants to pull everything, and understandably so. He's blessed with tremendous power and he barreled balls at an elite rate. But his best stretches came when he at least nodded at the idea of staying up the middle. When he entered hero mode, like during the American League Championship Series vs. the Astros, he became the easiest out in the lineup, trying to yank everything and going 1 for 16 as a result. Still, he blasted 31 homers while setting career highs in average (.259), on base percentage (.315), RBIs (96), and OPS. It's hard to complain about any of that, especially for 3 million bucks. I came across article this while reading about Noah Song by John Tomase, dated 11/11/2021. It's probably been covered here before but pretty good summary of Renfroe as a player. I never thought a Sox player would be criticized for hitting 31 homers and driving in 96 runs......modern age of analytics I guess.

Thanks a million!

Does anyone have an update on Noah Song? It's been several months ago but a former Navy pilot thought Noah's flight school training should have ended last fall. I thought I read this on SoxProspects site. It amazes me that there's absolutely NO NEWS on this guy. Has he called it quits? Anyone here with military contacts?

Maybe we should simply go to class system similar to the one used by high school associations. Opulent League...top 15 big spenders. 8 teams will make the playoffs. Top 4 teams will get a first round bye. Frugal League....top 15 least spenders. 4 teams will make the playoffs. #5 seed from Opulent League will play #4 seed from Frugal League, winner to play the #1 seed from Opulent League. #6 seed from Opulent League will play #3 seed from Frugal League, winner to play the #2 seed from Opulent League. #7 seed from Opulent League will play #2 seed from Frugal League, winner to play the #3 seed from Opulent League. #8 seed from Opulent League will play #1 seed from Frugal League, winner to play the #4 seed from Opulent League. There will be no interleague play, meaning 15 suck ass owners will get to play each other 162 times. Someone shoot me.

I'm bit dumbfounded by the strong stance the owners are taking in respect to Luxury tax limit amount. No matter what the limit, they control their spending, no? Or is it the case of 25 owners knowing that few owners can't help themselves and getting their payroll up to $240M, thus making more apparent to the fanbase of 25 teams their unwillingness to spend money to improve their teams?

$30M for 8 years of Xander is way too much for my taste. I rather go all in on Devers at $32M, IF given the choice. Suzuki probably is better alternative to shore up our offense if we lose Xander and replace him with a defensive shortstop. If Paxton shows promise in September (maybe a wishful thinking in my part), then maybe we can move away from Eovaldi and add $17M to the 'pot'. I can live with outfield of Verdugo, Kike and say Suzuki. Or we can go Schwarber, Kike and Verdugo for one year before moving Schwarber to DH. Whitlock is the ultimate team player but he has stated his preference for an opportunity to start not long ago. Bloom still has couple of major moves before 2022 and that may reveal what direction the organization is headed.

Not sure what kind of money Xander and Devers are looking...... Per Cot's....selected final year contracts $22.0M JD $16.0M David Price $12.0M JBJ $07.0M Vaz $07.0M Wacha $05.0M Hill $01.5M Sawamura $70.5M Total coming off 2023 payroll (Moon, any 'penalty' for options not picked up ie JBJ as an example will be charged off to 2022 season). We will need a catcher, DH, outfield depth, three starters to be replaced (Eovaldi, Wacha and Hill). I think we'll extend Eovaldi, his current tax payroll is $17M, so that may go up to say $22M, or delta of $5M, leaves us with $65M. I will assume that Paxton will return 100% heathy for 2023, thus only one starter needs to be replaced.....this is the critical area, someone within the organization has to step up and take a starter's role, and I don't think it's asking too much...no additional money needed We'll need a DH, best case scenario is for Casas and Dalbec to step in to play 1B/DH. We can spend $10M for a OF/1B/DH, leaving us with $55M. We can budget for $5M for Vaz replacement...doable. Thus we have a war chest of $50M+ to keep Xander in Boston (I doubt we'll pay $10M, more likely $25M (delta of $5) and couple of more years added). I think we'll keep Kike, it may cost us say $12.5M for 2 years, delta of another $5M, we still have $40M+ for Devers' extension. Based on Dever's expected pay of $11M for 2022 season, even at $30M extension, that's delta of say $20M. Sox still has $20M+ to pay for arbitration raises for 2023 and some bullpen additions. Key will be a starting pitcher or two emerging within the system and both Casas and Dalbec becoming a 'major' league talent. We have extended Kike for additional $5M, acquired a catcher for $5M, acquired outfielder/1B/DH veteran for $10M, Eovaldi extended for additional $5M, Xander extended at $25M and Devers signed to a $30M contract. I doubt Sale opts out, just to cover all the basis. Bloom's biggest signing maybe Devers. I'm sure Bloom is reading this as I type.

yet no one complains about increase in price of gas.

The union and owners remain distant on several important issues, including a pre-arbitration bonus pool. The owners increased their offer on a bonus pool from $15 million to $20 million for 30 pre-arbitration players, The Athletic’s Evan Drellich reported. But the players want a $115 million pool for 150 players, according to Drellich. Not sure why it's a big deal for the owners.....$4M per team?

That makes sense..... You know there was a time when Jim Kaat/Ron Guidry games would last little over two hours.......

One of my best baseball moment was when the Sox visited White Sox for a 4 game weekend series. I believe it was the year before the White Sox moved to their new baseball stadium across the street. I drank and ate a lot that weekend. Fun times.

Let's again cut to the chase. The problem is not the spending of Yankees, Dodgers and Red Sox. I will come back to them later. The problem is teams that spend little but make enough profit to keep the money train going. Those are the teams that the union needs to address. There has to be a minimum payroll total for these teams. If they won't spend minimum money on payroll, then the major league, ie other owners, must be willing to kick them out. Force a sale. My guess is there are many wealthy individuals willing to own a baseball franchise. They would know the commitment money wise before buying a franchise. You raise the payroll starting with lowest spending teams. Period. Now if you are somehow able to tie each team's payroll to their revenue, you may end up with the Yankees being able to spend $300M. But is that good for baseball? Absolutely not. But if you are able to bring in a third team to New York with 90% owners' vote? Mets and the Yankees won't go for it but it sure would be good for baseball. A third team in New York can generate more money than bottom third of MLB teams I bet. Now that would be a game changer. I ask you, what more can the Yankess, Dodgers and Red Sox give to the players?

How about expansion? Isn't it the best way to increase pay for current fringe players? 30 to 36 teams, essentially a 5 team divisions. 6 x 26 = 156 additional players. Can we find 6 expansion teams? Expand into Mexico?

Watched Moneyball for millionth time. John Henry says to Billy Yankees just spent $1.4M per win and the A's $275K (?) per win. Maybe the owners are watching Moneyball. They all dream of winning a championship with $100M payroll.

Of course not. But Yankees will pay someone less, at some point to make up the difference in their payroll budget. You know that. They still have Cole's obligation of 7 years at $36M and Stanton for 7 years at $25M. Aaron Judge will become FA in 2023. He's anticipated to earn $17.5M in his year 3 of arbitration. They will need to cut back. They will need to take money away from player B, C, D to pay for Judge's new contract. Just not sure if one union can represent all these players equally. Only issue for these three players is the luxury tax limit. It has to be big enough to accommodate mega contracts.

My main point was NOT having guys making $20M+ representing a team on players' side. Ultimately each team has a player payroll budget. As an example, if we sign Devers to a $30M contract, something else will have to give. In essence JD's $22M will cover that increase in Dever's contract. That means next DH will have to make much less. I more or less anticipate Sox's payroll budget to be near the luxury tax thresh hold. It's about choices in how to spend $220M-$230M. Only way the Sox payroll will increase is if the team's top line, ie revenue can increase. I believe over the past several years, many franchises benefitted from bigger local TV deals. Can we expect that to continue? I'm not sure. I've stated on many occasions that mlb baseball package is relatively inexpensive for me. They can double it and I will still buy it. I'd say $300 is about where I would start thinking about not subscribing. How many fans feel the same way? My experience dealing with business owners is that they will CONSIDER SHARING LARGER % OF ADDITIONAL REVENUE STREAM WITH WORKERS. But they will NO WAY IN HELL TAKE THE MONEY AWAY FROM THEMSELVES AND PAY THE EMPLOYEES on current revenue stream.

Lets think about this further. One can argue that it's exactly these long term mega deals that's killing the apatite of many owners from spending more on 'average' baseball players. In essence, players have the responsibility of preventing owners from themselves. If I'm a union member, I'd tell Cole's of the world to f*** off. He has absolutely no interest in the majority of union members. Each team should select as its player rep the player that's earning the median salary for that team. What's better for baseball players? One guy earning $30M versus 3 players earning $10M apiece? Who puts better product on the field? I'd argue that WINNING trumps any star power. On a winning team, a star will rise. Betts who? The Dodgers won the most meaningless world series championship in history of baseball.

I noticed only 6 AL DH's 'qualified' during 2021, meaning they had enough at bats at the position of DH. I realize we are going to universal DH in 2022, owners touting additional 15 'openings'. Is that a reality? Will the teams use that position to rotate regulars, giving them day off in the field? I'm just skeptical that an older player will prolong his career. Usually they end their career when they quit hitting, no?

Very reasonable. I realize D Hern has options remaining, but is Davis that much of an upgrade over D Hern?

If the players union really want to force issues, then they have to be willing to force a shutdown. That's the only way to hurt the owners. The problem is is G Cole willing to forego his $30M+ salary? What about younger guys with family? Can they survive without $500K? Mortgage payments? This is why the owners will always have the upper hand. They are the casino owners and players are the players. Casino always wins in the end.

Do you know what athletes have most guts? Golfers....each week they are paid for their performance. Sure there are endorsement deals after success and pay for play exhibition rounds. What if we tie player pay to WAR? To be paid out of singular MLB compensation pool? Would the players go for that? Would Betts? Would Cole? I doubt it. They just want the upside. They have no guts. They won't take a pay cut for a down year. Owners take risks. Please don't paint the players as saints.

Universal DH will bring additional high paying jobs for 15 veteran players. That should not be discounted. No compensation pick attached to FA signing will benefit the players. Talk of raising minimum wage and a bonus pool for 0-3 year players will benefit the players. Looks to me like owners are making concessions.