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Meg Rowley FanGraphs Chat - 2/26/19
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Meg Rowley
2:46
There was, for a long time, an understanding that the thing players exchanged for years of control on the front end of their careers was a chance at a big deal in free agency. Some guys are getting paid. So guys are taking deals that seem light when you consider what they're projected to do.
The answer is to get money to players much, much earlier in their careers.
2:47
It also seems clear that, like the NBA, there is going to need to be some set share of revenue players receive.
North American Skin Flute
2:47
How excited are you that Julio Rodriguez could become the next Eloy Jimenez?
Meg Rowley
2:48
I'm excited to get to actually see him stateside this year. He's very exciting. Exactly *how* exciting, we're about to see.
That person again
2:48
Thanks, as always, for answering my question! I appreciate that you often do so, even if I am playing devil's advocate for a cynical point of view. That said, I have to respond that it sounds kind of idealistic (not that that's a bad thing) to say "All it takes is writing a check", when there is a viable path to avoid doing that. We live in a world where people and organizations do do whatever benefits them the most and costs them the least.
Meg Rowley
2:49
We don't have to be satisfied with that, nor accept service time manipulation as the only option.
Doug
2:50
Devils What’s the difference between minor leaguers and your typical “starving” artist? Should every musician playing in a coffee shop or open mic night be paid a living wage for providing a service that is easily replaceable?
Meg Rowley
2:50
You're describing two wildly different kinds of jobs, with wildly different levels of expertise.
2:51
I would invite you to consider how silly a comp minor league baseball player to open mic night performer is for, well, all of the reasons.
The Electrician
2:52
It feels like players getting fair compensation for their prime years is how the system should be designed, rather than relatively lean paydays early and bloated reward contracts late. Free agency has a purpose of course, but isn't (and never should have been) the goal for successful players, just recourse for players who couldn't get a fair situation where they were.
Meg Rowley
2:53
There's definitely a class of player that is unfortunately likely to just never get a pay day as a result of the historical accident of when they played. And I don't mean to say that every contract is light, or necessarily the best entry point to a discussion of the market. But the sport has so much money in it, and a decreasing share going to players. That isn't great for the health of the sport.
Aspergilius Fumigatus
2:54
Are you or any FG writers attending SABR Conference in Phoenix? Would love to meet up to chat
Meg Rowley
2:54
I sadly won't be at the conference, and I'm not 100% sure of the status of all of my colleagues.
2:55
But, if you're free to come to our meetup on Friday, we'd love to say hi.
It does not conflict with the SABR networking event, which is Saturday evening.
Name
2:56
Teams have years of control over players for the same reason inventions are patented. For every guy who makes it to the majors the clubs sink a lot of money into 5+ that don't. Maybe it should be 5 years instead of 6, but I am not in favor of reducing the incentive to develop talent.
Meg Rowley
2:59
I don't think the split between innate talent and the influence of player development is anywhere near as clean as that, nor as heavily tilted in player development's favor,
nor does it reflect the economics of the minors, but and even if it were and did, shifting the money wouldn't make teams less likely to develop talent.
Matt W
2:59
The real key could be, as I believe Sheryl has written about, is moving to a Restricted Free Agency model rather than forced arbitration. If after the entry level deal is up, players can freely negotiate with other teams (provided that team is willing to pay the penalties), they can get much closer to market rate on deals in their prime. It would give players the ability to hold out as well. Most fans wouldn't like that, and owners would hate it, but it works.
Meg Rowley
3:00
I liked the piece Sheryl wrote, and think it's a realistic solution, but I don't know that it goes far enough.
waks
3:01
As a professional actor who has had employers cry poverty and not pay because “Exposure is awesome!” earlier in my career, I would a) ask people to rethink what work is and b) actually consider how replaceable workers are. And thank god for unions.
Meg Rowley
3:01
Yup!
Rey Diablo
3:01
Can Jeff do something to get the Rays to change their primary color to the light blue? Way too much navy in the team color palettes.
Meg Rowley
3:02
I regret to inform you that Jeff traded the light blue to Seattle for use in their Spring Training uniforms for a PTBNL. Very sad.
Very confusing on spring broadcasts.
Finance101
3:02
It's been misrepresented here that teams got " bucket of money ...for doing nothing. " in the sale of BAMTech.   This (and the related call to just spend it) seems to ignore that (a) those clubs funded operating losses for years (b) demonstrated real operating expertise to build a salable business and (c) are forfeiting all future earnings from said asset.   As Fangraphs thinks about new hires, would it be possible to bring on folks with a deeper understanding of finance (and the sports/media landscape broadly)?
Meg Rowley
3:03
I think we contextualize that $50 million pretty well. For instance, we talk about it in relation to increases in franchise value and new TV deals.
Name
3:03
Did some research on % of revenue going to players. It was 54.2% in 2018 down from 56.3% the prior year. The average this decade was 55.86% (https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2019/01/11/economic-data-shows...). Basketball sets the salary cap at 51% of revenue. Not an apples to apples comparison but seems MLB players get more than NBA players on a % basis (the big difference to me is that there are far more MLB players). NFL has the players share of revenue at 47%. In the NHL it is 50%.
Meg Rowley
3:03
We don't know what is in team books.
kevinthecomic
3:03
"We're in the process of communicating to all of our applicants, and want to complete that process first. We really appreciate folks taking the time to apply, and want them to hear from us directly" -- Didn't you just let the cat out of the bag re: new writers?  As in, if you haven't received an offer and accepted it by now, you're not getting hired?
Meg Rowley
3:04
Nope. We had over 500 applicants, and this stuff takes time.
3:05
We appreciate everyone's patience. Turns out that when you have to keep a site running and hire and Jeff is leaving, it is busy! We know it's no fun to wait, and are moving through this as quickly as we can.
PTBNL
3:06
i'm heading off to graduate school this summer to pursue a masters in analytics. is that a credential that would help someone get a job at fangraphs, or is the focus more on the journalism side of things?
Meg Rowley
3:06
We look for people who know baseball and baseball analytics well, can write, and can write with voice. There are a lot of ways to arrive at that profile.
3:07
Alright friends, I need to get rolling. Thanks for chatting, and sorry for what I didn't get to. Same time next week!
3:08
Wait. Actually. Not same time next week. Same time next week, I will be traveling.
I might do a chat earlier in the day, but might also just need to skip a week.
Keep an eye on twitter dot com for updates.
Thanks!
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