Arbitration and Free Agency Clocks
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If you include Erasmo and Vinnie Catricala. Or Catricala and ... me. Hey, that was the graphic we had. So sue us.
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G-Money does some legwork for us again:
Paxton could arrive the week of April 15th, and we'd get the 7th year of club control. Arb deadline fluctuates, last week of May - to - 1st week of June, normally. May 24th to June 5th is usually a good bookmark, which is why most players come up June 10 or so if a team is worried about it. It's actually done by days (Opening Day til the last day of the regular season, counted by days not games), and teams try to keep guys with 2 years and 130-something days or less to avoid it for the most part.
FYI, it looks to me like our early opener won't count for service time purposes, since it was moved up. Service time is gonna start when everybody else has THEIR opening day, not when we play in Japan.
But if you don't care what you pay them, just that it's you paying them? 172 days = a full year of service time.
A season isn't normally longer than 183 days. So 12 days into any season you should be able to call someone up and have them miss their year of service time.
Which means Sunday the 15th (or so) any of the kids should be able to come up. Somebody would have to check the exact date, but really, it can happen QUICK. When do we need a #5 starter again with this wonky schedule we have?
~ G
Gracias. Here is another good primer on the subject, at MLBTradeRumors.com.
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Q. What do you have to do, to prevent a player from getting free agency after six years?
A. Like Gordon said, you have to wait about two weeks into the season.
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Q. Is this actually feasible? Does the union actually put up with such a transparent ploy to cheat players out of deserved salaries?
A. Much to my surprise, it's totally feasible. The Rays called up Evan Longoria on April 12th of 2008, exactly 10 games after the season started. Wow.
Not only didn't Longoria pitch a fit, he jumped on the chance to sign a very team-friendly contract. One week later!?, he signed a 6-year deal with three additional club options at $9.5M per year - for his 7th, 8th, and 9th seasons. Slap me SILLY.
You give me some examples now, what say?
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Q. And nobody does anything about this?
A. Agent Matt Sosnick says, in the MLBTR article, "As an agent you have to know that. It's the team's call and it's out of your control. Go ask them to call up a guy 10 days earlier and they'll just tell you to get lost."
Why the union doesn't mind much, you'll have to ask them. They've always cared much more about entitled veterans, than they've cared about what happens to young players trying to join the fraternity.
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Q. Okay. So the M's keep H-T-P for year #7 if they wait even two weeks. Now what's this thing about arbitration?
A. If you just joined us:
MLB players get arbitration for years 4, 5, and 6.
But! A significant fraction of players (is it still 1/6 of them?) get arbitration for year #3, also. The 1/6 of players who were called up earliest, in that "class," get Super Two arbitration.
For players like Hultzen, Taijuan, and Paxton, "that's the difference between $500K in year three, and $5M that year," says Sosnick.
It costs the M's $4 to $5 million extra, in 2014, if they want to use one of their young pitchers for the two months between April 15 and June 15.
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Q. Why would anybody pay $4-5M for two months' worth of any pitcher?
A. CC Sabathia is getting $9M per two months. Felix is getting $6M per two months. Cy Young candidates actually earn about $10M per two months.
But it goes beyond that. April and May could be your season. On June 15, things could be decided. Is this about accounting, or is it about the pennant race?
So GM's will tell you: it's not about service time as much as fans think it is. If a player can help you, he's up.
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Q. Leaving us where?
A. That the Mariners would want 7 years from their young guns, that they would spend the 2+ weeks in order to avoid quick free agency for them, that's completely understandable. To play the Super Two game with them, though, that would not be.
Taijuan, Paxton, and Hultzen are liable to earn more, even this year, than the Super Two cost will be. If the Mariners allow mediocre pitching from Beavan, Millwood, and Co., waiting until June or July to call up their pitchers, that's in effect punting 2012.
Zduriencik's a competitor. Those 3-4-5 starters are going to have to kick tail and take names in order to keep their spots beyond April.
Juuuuuuust the kind of situation that Zdurienik loves :- )