Tigers were dumb to submit such a low ball figure. It didn’t even match the David Price arbitration number adjusted for inflation which would have been around $25M if I remember right. And Skubal has two Cy-young awards to Price’s one. So not surprising that Skubal and his team were able to convince an arbiter he was worth more than the midpoint between $19m and $32M. Had the Tigers come in at $22M they probably would have won.
I think players are 3-0 this year but I haven’t kept track of every case.
I’m not so sure Detroit would have won with $22M. The rules say that if a player has 5+ years of service and “special accomplishment”, then the salary can be compared not just to others in the arbitration system, but the entire league. Skubal has 5 years, and definitely qualifies for special accomplishment. With the way salaries have ben blowing up, he probably could have gotten more than the $32M he submitted.
Agree DET messed up here. The odd winner takes all set up in baseball arbitration should force both sides to submit something reasonable. I think Skubal’s side was pretty reasonable in what they asked for, where DET was low balling IMO.
I was just at the Bank and the teller started talking White Sox when he saw my hat. One of the things he said was that Jerry Reinsdorf is a clown, which I don’t disagree with. All of a sudden, a woman at the ATM nearby asked him if he’s ever met Reinsdorf. He said no, and she said “Well I have and you’re wrong. He’s a philanthropist and a wonderful person, and I don’t think you should call someone a clown that you haven’t even met”. She seemed pretty pissed off. I didn’t want to start an argument with her, so we waited until she left to resume talking shit lol
I went out yesterday and the temperature was finally above freezing and the first thought in my head was “spring training!”
One of the sports radio guys here pointed out a few days ago that the White Sox improved their record by 19 games last year. And if they can do the same this year …….. they’ll still be under 0.500.
I was discussing the upcoming lockout with a friend over the weekend. So what happens if there’s a cap and a floor implemented? Currently, there are hundreds of millions paid in luxury tax by the higher-spending teams, and a huge chunk of it goes to the teams with less money.
If a cap is put in, I assume that most (if not all) of that goes away. So the poorer teams will be missing out on that money. But now, they have to spend a minimum amount as well. So less income, and forcing more spending.
Will we see some teams go bankrupt?
Also, my friend was insisting that deferred salary payments will be banned. I don’t see why it’s such a big deal. Obviously the Dodgers are the case study here, with Ohtani being the prime example. So the current value of his contract is in the mid $40Ms per year. That’s how it’s counted towards the current cap, and the Dodgers are required to place that amount into escrow so Ohtani is guaranteed to get paid when the time comes. So why do it at all? For tax purposes - when the time comes for him to get paid, he can move to a state with no income tax, and get paid there. IMO, this isn’t a bad thing. Why should teams be penalized by the tax laws in their states? Shouldn’t it be a fair playing field? And besides, all teams can do the same thing the Dodgers are doing - it’s not like there are financial constraints around it.
It all depends on where they set the cap / floor and change revenue sharing. I assume they’ll set the amounts in a way that doesn’t crush small market teams.
The American Way is that sports teams are entertainment businesses, and the is to make profits not necessarily to make wins. So, the sale price will get lower if the profits don’t match the going price. McCourt went bankrupt. New LAD owners seem to be doing OK. Part of their success is that no other teams can come to LA to siphon off dollars, and the LAAoA are no competition. So, other teams are stuck in Podunk places without enough of a local economy to siphon from.