Labor Peace for MLB
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Posted by jaygross
Comments: 0
Highlights Of New Five-Year
Labor Agreement |
Luxury Tax
Amateur Draft• Players selected in the June amateur draft who aren't college seniors must sign by Aug. 15.
Minimum Salary• Major league minimum increases from $327,000 this year to $380,000 in 2007, $390,000 in 2008, $400,000 in 2009 and $400,000 plus a two-year cost-of-living adjustment in 2011.
Free Agent Draft Pick Compensation• Draft-pick compensation for losing Type C free agents is eliminated. Compensation for Type B free agents is changed from direct (losing draft picks) to indirect (sandwich picks). Starting in 2007, Type A free agent redefined to top 20 percent at position (from top 30 percent) and Type B to 21-40 percent (from top 31-50 percent).
Free Agent Deadlines• The restriction is eliminated that said teams could only re-sign their former players who became free agents by Dec. 7 (or Jan. 8 if offered salary arbitration) or else lose rights until May 1. Deadline for clubs to offer salary arbitration to their former players who became free agents is moved to Dec. 1 from Dec. 7. The deadline for players offered arbitration to accept offers is moved to Dec. 7 from Dec. 19.
Tender Deadline• The deadline for teams to offer contracts for the following season to unsigned players on their 40-man rosters is moved to Dec. 12 from Dec. 20.
-- Associated Press
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Let's start with the good news, MLB and the Players' Association finally got it right and signed a CBA extension through 2011. We all know baseball has reached an all time high in attendance and popularity, so it only made sense to do this. Congrats to Don Fehr, Gene Orza, Bud Selig, and all the other folks who had the common sense not to kill the Golden Goose that is Major League Baseball.
The table on the right shows the changes, they are fairly small. The only significant thing was the change to the Free Agent Draft Pick Compensation, which will make it more attractive for teams to sign or resign their solid players - as fewer will qualify for Type A compensation.
As much as I'd like to see a salary cap for competitive balance, we know the union will never go for it. Here's some other things that I would have liked to see addressed at some point for the good of baseball:
- Much tougher testing and suspensions for performance enhancing drugs
The NFL does it right,. They test for everything... And if you test positive once, and you miss 25% of the season.
Will baseball need a Lyle Alzado martyr to get themselves cleaned the way the NFL did?
- A fixed salary structure for drafted rookies.
The NBA does this right, we all know what the #1 pick will make and it allows (the worst) teams to take the best player. Before they made this change, I remember Reggie Theus bitching about the Nets dumping most of their stars (including Theus) to clear salary to sign #1 pick Derrick Coleman.
It is a joke how the best players often fall to the middle of the first round because small market are terrified to negotiate with the Scott Boras type agents.
I'd think the Union would be in favor of this. Since players are not part of the Union until they play in the majors, this is money going to non-Union players and may be taking away from veterans.
- They need to address cheating in the game
After the exposure from Kenny Rogers getting caught "dirty handed" in the World Series, baseball needs to clarify what a pitcher can and can't do. And then how they will enforce the violations since there are obviously exceptions to their rulebook.
As I am typing this blog, I am watching "Mike and Mike" on ESPN, and they just had a great interview with Tommy John. So Mike Greenberg is talking about a Yankees-Angels game I remember watching in 1986 when Don Sutton was approaching his 300th win. Phil Rizutto was going out of his mind when the cameras caught Sutton with a small piece of white sandpaper he kept in his glove. So Greenberg tells it as,
"The TV cameras catch Sutton with sandpaper in his glove, and Stienbrenner calls manager Lou Piniella in the dugout telling him to go out and have Sutton searched. The Yankees were winning 1-0 with Tommy John on the mound. The story goes that Lou's reaction is that the 'we are leading and that our guy is doing it worse, so let it go."
Tommy John didn't quite remember the quote this way. As I remember it, Lou went out and the umpires never found anything on Sutton...
So if HOFers like Gaylord Perry and Sutton could cheat and get openly caught, what does this say about the game and example it sets.
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SCN Fantasy Baseball League Results
Monday, October 23, 2006
Posted by jaygross
Comments: 0
With the World Series in full swing, I figured it was a good time to fill everyone on our fantasy league results. This year we had 12 SportsCollectors.Net members join in on the fantasy baseball league on Yahoo. We had a live onilne draft back in April that was so much fun - lots of trash talking... I have been in leagues for the past 15 years, and I was impressed with this group - a decent amount of trades and lots of free agent moves.
Congrats to Andrew (The Drude) for winning the league. He made some really good moves after a mediocre draft and his team ended up being solid all the way through. I finished 10th, a pathetic display. Just like my Red Sox, my team was hit by injury bug and crumbled down the stretch.
Here's the final standings:
So here's what I learned and will be doing better next year:
- Do your homework before the draft. I went into it completely cold, and I paid for it. Taking Felix Hernandez in the 4th and Jorge Cantu in the 5th, can you say temporary insanity...
- Well rounded teams seem to do better than teams that are really strong in only a few categories.
- When young guys start looking good, grab him because someone else will (Papelbon, Verlander, Liriano, Jered Weaver, Uggla, etc.)
- Be on the alert for someone to give up on a guy too early - I dropped Chien-Ming Wang when he was 4-4 and getting shelled, and he finished 19-6.
- Don't draft players you don't like, it makes for painful games. I needed a 1B and took Giambi in the 8th round, but rooting for a Yankee wasn't fun for me.
Thanks guys, it was a lot of fun. I'm psyched for next year, and I'll be ready this time.
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Some Impressive Vintage Items
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Posted by jaygross
Comments: 0
My intent is not to make this blog about promoting items for sale, but sometimes there are ones that are just too good to ignore. Heritage Auction Galleries has some amazing vintage items ending next week (multiples of Ruth, Mathewson, Walter Johnson, Cobb, etc.). With these big time price tags, they are way out of my league, but they are cool to admire and I figured I'd pass it on to you guys:
| Picture |
Description |
Opening Price |
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$11,000.00
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$19,000.00
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$11,000.00
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$3,125.00
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$4,000.00
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$2,200.00
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$2,600.00
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$550.00
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$500.00
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$3,000.00
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$950.00
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$850.00
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$1,300.00
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$4,750.00
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$2,200.00
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$2,000.00
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$2,600.00
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$3,000.00
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$4,000.00
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$1,000.00
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$11,000.00
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$1,700.00
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$5,500.00
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$6,500.00
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$19,000.00
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$1,800.00
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$5,500.00
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$475.00
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$1,700.00
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$4,750.00
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$4,000.00
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$3,500.00
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$2,600.00
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$750.00
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$700.00
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$400.00
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$300.00
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$550.00
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$500.00
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$1,900.00
|
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$200.00
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$300.00
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$700.00
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|
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$200.00
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$1,800.00
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$1,000.00
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$300.00
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$1,100.00
|
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$550.00
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|
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$160.00
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$2,200.00
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$800.00
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$280.00
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$300.00
|
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$3,750.00
|
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$400.00
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$450.00
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$400.00
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$450.00
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$313.00
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$280.00
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$350.00
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$650.00
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$425.00
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$650.00
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|
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$3,250.00
|
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$900.00
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$600.00
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$170.00
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$400.00
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$650.00
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$650.00
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$800.00
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$1,200.00
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$500.00
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$200.00
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$500.00
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$850.00
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$375.00
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$1,200.00
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$2,800.00
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$1,300.00
|
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$900.00
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$750.00
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$700.00
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|
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$6,000.00
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|
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$800.00
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$4,000.00
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|
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$500.00
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$750.00
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$160.00
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$550.00
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$2,600.00
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$3,250.00
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$1,700.00
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$250.00
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$1,400.00
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$850.00
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$160.00
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$1,000.00
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$160.00
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$2,600.00
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$1,300.00
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$220.00
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$800.00
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$400.00
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$600.00
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$625.00
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$1,900.00
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$625.00
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$850.00
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$800.00
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$1,600.00
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$900.00
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$3,125.00
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$222.00
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$600.00
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$160.00
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$1,600.00
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$1,700.00
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$500.00
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$375.00
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$800.00
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$600.00
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$425.00
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$850.00
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$700.00
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$3,500.00
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$1,200.00
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$170.00
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$475.00
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$170.00
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$200.00
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$300.00
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|
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$800.00
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$1,500.00
|
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$300.00
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$800.00
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$375.00
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$3,750.00
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$600.00
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$550.00
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$1,600.00
|
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|
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$240.00
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$5,000.00
|
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|
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$425.00
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|
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$2,000.00
|
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|
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$240.00
|
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|
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$150.00
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$375.00
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$950.00
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$450.00
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$600.00
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$1,200.00
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|
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$325.00
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$400.00
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|
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$325.00
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$550.00
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$475.00
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$550.00
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$375.00
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$650.00
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|
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$220.00
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|
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$400.00
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|
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$375.00
|
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|
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$550.00
|
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|
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$313.00
|
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|
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$11,000.00
|
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|
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$750.00
|
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|
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$750.00
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$500.00
|
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|
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$650.00
|
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|
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$475.00
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|
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$650.00
|
|
|
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$1,000.00
|
|
|
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$350.00
|
|
|
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$160.00
|
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|
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$313.00
|
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|
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$500.00
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|
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$200.00
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|
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$300.00
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|
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$350.00
|
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|
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$200.00
|
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|
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$400.00
|
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|
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$300.00
|
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|
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$260.00
|
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|
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$300.00
|
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|
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$425.00
|
|
|
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$170.00
|
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|
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$375.00
|
|
|
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$800.00
|
|
|
|
$260.00
|
|
|
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$850.00
|
|
|
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$475.00
|
|
|
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$1,200.00
|
|
|
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$475.00
|
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|
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$800.00
|
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|
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$1,300.00
|
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|
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$500.00
|
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|
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$800.00
|
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$400.00
|
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$240.00
|
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$400.00
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As nice as some of these items are, they are nowhere near the quality of the Barry Halper collection that was available through Sothebys a few years back. I bought the catalog from that auction, and it was amazing. I remember hearing stories how he bought Cy Young's estate along with other HOFers. The piece I liked the most was a signed 1933 Goudey Napoleon Lajoie - along with almost the entire of the set signed.
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