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Jeff Sullivan FanGraphs Chat -- 2/2/18
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Jeff Sullivan
9:02
Hello friends
Welcome to Friday baseball chat
Bork
9:02
Hello, friend!
Jeff Sullivan
9:02
Hello friend
Forrest
9:02
How is everybody's morning/afternoon?
Jeff Sullivan
9:02
Fine
Craiggers
9:03
With the way things are going, do the owners lean on Glass or Fowler to give Hosmer, and by Hosmer I mean Boras, at least some of what he wants?
Jeff Sullivan
9:03
Hosmer is eventually going to sign for at least seven years and $140 million. He is going to be fine
Hosmer will be fine. Yu Darvish will be fine. J.D. Martinez will be fine
RK
9:06
What is the typical payout structure of a draft bonus?  I’m assuming Appel didn’t leave any money on the table since it wasn’t mentioned in any of the articles, but I remember reading an elongated structure might have been what was keeping Bubba Starling in baseball a year or so ago.  Does it differ based on HS/College is are they all usually about x years?
Jeff Sullivan
9:07
So I took a couple minutes to Google and I couldn't find anything worthwhile. I've always just figured the bonuses came up front, but you could always negotiate an elongated payout structure if desired. I would imagine certain players have gone that route, while most others want the money right away
9:08
Just found an ESPN link from 2011 saying that the Bubba Starling $7.5m signing bonus was to be paid out over three years
I cannot tell you how common that is
Lunar verLander
9:09
Two weeks ago, I said you could turn the hot stove back on whenever you'd like, and you said "maybe next Wednesday or Thursday"...which is when the Brewers traded for Yelich and signed Cain...are you a wizard?
Jeff Sullivan
9:09
The offseason is almost over! Teams need to get done the things they've wanted to do. Nothing helps a wizard more than a deadline
Roog
9:09
Do the Rangers finally cave & give Joey Bats a 3 year deal? Is it inevitable that they sign him?
Jeff Sullivan
9:09
A three-year deal?
For Jose Bautista?
9:10
For a 37-year-old Jose Bautista?
Coming off an 80 wRC+?
I like the idea of giving Bautista one more shot, myself, but three years would be a waste
Jack
9:11
Should MLB change the requirements for a player to be eligible for free agency? It seems wrong that a guy like Josh Donaldson won’t be eligible to test free agency until he’s 33 next year, and even if he has yet another MVP-caliber season, his age is probably really going to hurt him in free agency. I believe the NHL has a system where once players hit a certain age (I wanna say it’s 27 but I’m not 100% certain on that), they can become an unrestricted free agent at the expiry of their contract regardless of how much service time they have. What if MLB had a system where, say, once players were 30, they would be eligible for free agency even if they don’t yet have six years of service time?
Jeff Sullivan
9:13
I imagine the union is going to offer a number of different suggestions moving forward, and something like this will probably be one of them. Of course, many of the best players will be unaffected, since the best players reach the majors sooner rather than later almost all of the time, but if you can help any number of big-leaguers get their money, you have to give it a shot
Greg
9:13
Besides the guys they are paying to play on other teams, the Padres have a payroll of $55M and $20M of that is tied up in the vets they inexplicably brought in (Headley and Galvis).
Jeff Sullivan
9:14
Well, Headley is getting paid because the Padres wanted Bryan Mitchell. And Galvis is getting paid because did you see what their options were at shortstop?
9:15
It's also worth noting that the Padres are rumored to be trying to give maybe the biggest free-agent contract of the winter
But, I mean, bad and rebuilding teams tend not to spend much on the rosters. They're not alone here
9:16
How often did Dave advocate for bad teams buying prospects, when he was a writer here? That would probably be a Hosmer fallback plan
Ross
9:16
If the Dodgers’ plan is to release Matt Kemp if they can’t trade him, shouldn’t they do that pretty soon? Kemp’s done a lot for that franchise, and holding on to him all offseason then cutting him at the last minute right before spring training and not leaving him much time to find a new team would be a pretty shitty thing to do to him, no?
Jeff Sullivan
9:17
In fairness, even if Kemp were a free agent all along, he still wouldn't have a deal
9:18
The market right now is full of available decent hitters with basically zero defensive value
I expect that the Dodgers will shortly find a team to assume Kemp's salary. At least, much of it, packaged along with a young player of value
Bork
9:18
The MLB is discussing bringing back bullpen carts. To me this is a little old fashioned. What would you do to make the journey from bullpen to mound more modern?
Jeff Sullivan
9:19
I'm going to be totally honest with you -- I have never once thought that relievers took too long to get to the mound from the bullpen
What a weird idea this is
But then, if I remember correctly, this was a union proposal! Which means it's something the players do care about
Maybe relievers don't like to jog
Kev
9:20
There were talks last year about Jose Abreu being traded, but it never happened due to lack of market for the position. Do you see him getting traded this season?
Jeff Sullivan
9:20
I'm actually leaning no, now. It depends on how well Abreu produces, but I think the White Sox put a lot of value on his leadership
Disclosure: just before this chat, Ben Lindbergh and I were podcasting with Jason Benetti
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