If I’m not mistaken, in '23 the Stros owe Bregman and Altuve $~29M each, for the season.
Plus a $12.5MM deferred payment to Greinke.
Even though he’s gone from the Astros after this season he gets paid that every year from 2022-2026 for a total of $62.5MM. All on the Astros dime with no offsets from the D-Backs.
Also it’s not productive to talk about the luxury tax in 2022 and beyond. With the CBA expiring at the end of the year no one knows whether the hell it will even exist in the future or if it does somehow survive what form it would take. At a minimum the players union will ensure that those thresholds will be much, much higher than they are currently.
Then don’t.
I think you directed that at the wrong person.
Silly me. I copied and pasted what was written yesterday about Springer’s history. I should have simply asked you.
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Danke.
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Guilty.
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The player’s union is targeting the CBA and the structure which allows teams to delay FA as in the case of Springer. Houston enjoyed an extra year of prime Springer, and a narrower window of excellence is more likely for Toronto’s phase of his career. Unless there is a Hank Aaron-styled surge after 30, we got our money’s worth.
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What is just as relevant, as several folks have pointed out. How much do you think this played into it: List of players over age 31 who signed $100 Million deals.
George Springer, TOR
Yoenis Cespedes, NYM (7.7 War over 6 years - one missed with injury)
Robinson Cano, SEA (24.7 since signing FA for 2014 season - had 44.4 in 9 seasons prior)
Shin-Soo Choo, TEX (7 years in Texas 8.5 WAR had 26.4 in 8 years prior)
Josh Hamilton, LAA (3 years 3.2 WAR - had 25 in 6 seasons before - only got 56.7 million of contract before released)
Albert Pujols, LAA (14.1 WAR in 9 years - had 86.6 in the 10 years prior)
Jayson Werth, WAS (7 years - 9.0 WAR - had 20 in the previous 6)
Alex Rodriguez, NYY (23.2 WAR in last 10 seasons -9 played- missed all of 2014 - but then there is the steroid issue)
So if the trend is that you only get about a third to half of the prior production, and Springer has 27.5 career WAR, do you really want to pay $100 plus for 6 years for 9 to 14 WAR over that time?
I am sure the Astros FO knew these numbers and it impacted their pursuit of George.
I remember Greg Maddux saying that really a contract is when they pay you for your past performance. Looking at these trends, he may be right but it doesn’t make sense to pay that if I am a team owner.
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I was not emotionally prepared to learn that Springer is a year older than Carlos Lee was when he signed with Houston.
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I think there were two issues for George. Maximum money. And escaping the fan wrath for garbage can-gate. I suspect he may been open to less than the maximum had the environment not been changed by the Manfried-fed scandal. To me it cost us AJ, Luhnow and George. And it probably limited both Altuve and Bregman’s effectiveness by 33% last year. I suspect that the blowback from other MLB players has died down considerably. That said, I still expect other team fanbases to be hostile on our first trip through in 2021. I don’t blame George for not wanting to deal with the media scrutiny for another season.
That’s not true… that’s impossible!
I understand what you are saying, but this loyalty talk makes me laugh. Had the Astros called George up when he wanted them to, I’ll guarantee you anything you want that it wasn’t going to change George going to the Blue Jays. He went to the Blue Jays because they offered the best contract. The odds of him taking less money to stay here because of loyalty are VERY, VERY slim. Houston wasn’t going that high and any loyalty those wish George would have had would most likely have gone right out the window. Correa is right. It’s a business and everyone needs to look at it that way and keep your feelings out of it. The Astros did the right thing for the organization by manipulating his service time. Until it is collectively bargained out of the contract, they should continue to do so with any player. And said player has the right to do what George just did. Take the best offer when he does hit free agency.
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Good post.
I agree both sides were looking out for their own best interests and I certainly don’t have a problem with that on either end. My problem is when people criticize a player for being greedy and having no loyalty for finding the best deal they can for themselves and their family (whatever criteria that may be) while not equally criticizing the clubs for making decisions based on what’s best for the club but that are to detriment of the player. There can be no dispute that manipulating Springer’s service time costed him the ability to monetize one of the peak years of his career. If one is going to criticize a player for a lack of loyalty to the club, the club should be open to the same criticism.
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And with the news yesterday you can now add Andrelton Simmons and Marcus Semien.to that list.
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Fuller article at MLB.com re Correa’s comments today. He’s marketing himself and whether it’s directed at the Astros or possible future employers (or both) there’s nothing wrong with that.
“I’ll be really young,” he said. “I’ll be one of the youngest players going to free agency next year. I feel like it would take the right deal to stay here. I’m not going to sell myself short, but at the same time, I know what I’m worth. If the season happens, I’m expecting to have a great, healthy season, which will help my case for free agency being the youngest shortstop out there. We’ll see how it goes.”
Sounds like he has heard the rumors about his health problems.