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Baseball Primer Newsblog— The Best News Links from the Baseball Newsstand
Friday, May 02, 2008
We also asked high-ranking officials of two clubs what they would do if they had a big-buck disaster like Zito on their team. The first replied: “I’d cry.” The second had a more innovative proposal.
“Here’s what they should do,” he said. “They should go to Zito and say, ‘Look, it’s clear this is not going to work. Let’s put together an NBA-type deferral package. We’ll take the whole contract, defer it over 30 years with no interest and then we’ll release you, to let you start fresh somewhere else.’
“The club could get significant cost savings that way. You take $112 million over 30 years, that’s $3.7 million a year. You’re better off paying him $3.7 million a year to not pitch than having him go out and do what he’s doing. … In the NBA, this happens a lot. The union would never let him do that in our sport. But you know what? From the player’s standpoint, he’d be better off.”
...
Assuming Zito is untradable, the pitcher out there who seems to be eminently available is St. Louis’ Anthony Reyes. But clubs that have talked to the Cardinals are grumbling that they want an upper-echelon prospect back, plus “another piece.”
“I think the guy is salvageable,” said an executive of one interested team. “But that’s got to be proven, too. So I think they don’t quite understand what they have. We’re talking about a guy who is (9-24), with a (5.46) ERA. So the asking price is pretty frigging high.”
NTNgod
Posted: May 02, 2008 at 02:20 AM | 21 comment(s)
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Really? He certainly makes a LOT less (in real terms ... unless the contract is already heavily deferred) off the Giants with no particularly good reason to think he'll make big money off someone else. In theory it frees him up to pitch for another team and prove himself ... but he's gonna get the opportunity to do that with the Giants or, when the Giants release him, with someone else without losing the money.
And is this sort of thing really done in the NBA all the time?
Yes, it is. I'm sure someone like Kevin would be able to provide an encyclopedic list, if he sees this thread.
But if the time comes and its apparent he sucks, then maybe they can eat a huge amount of his contract and some other stupid pitching starved team would take him. How much would they have to eat for a PTBNL: 90 million? They'd save around 20 million, meh.
Enjoy it while you are young.
Australia, South America, Africa. Its just never the same when you are 50, and you have been cut on a few times. [probable]
Take the money, buy a car wash, and go surfing Barry.
...disconnect...
"The union would never let him do that in our sport."
Nah, contract stuff bores me. However, it is done a lot in the NBA, but it is done more to satisfy salary cap requirements when a player, especially a veteran who wants one more shot at the brass ring, demands to be traded to a playoff team. So, unless Zito badly wants to be traded, I can't imagine him going for that. The MLB cap is pretty wimpy compared to the NBA cap, which is a hard cap.
Nonetheless, the Giants can at least float the idea to him and see if he bites. His agent can do some legwork to see if some team wants to take a flyer on him and help him resolve his mechanics/command problems. From what I understand, his arm is fine.
I'm sure at this point he must realize there is something seriously wrong, but I can't imagine why he would want to leave and try to work that out somewhere else.
Buyouts are exceedingly common, but not over thirty years with no interest. If a guy is owed $40MM over two years, he might agree to take only 35 on the same schedule in exchange for the freedom to sign elsewhere.
I thought he had some sort of long-term payment plan.
I thought he had some sort of long-term payment plan.
Bret Saberhagen, too, I believe. I think the Mets are still paying those guys.
The Mets are still paying for the mistake of signing Bobby Bonilla in 1992 … and they will be for a long time. Bonilla struck a deal with the team in 2000 in which it purchased an annuity rather than pay him the remaining $5.9 million of deferred money that he was owed. So every July 1 from 2011 to 2035, Bonilla will receive $1.19 million, with the total payments adding up to nearly $30 million.
(Link)
I don't know much about Alvarez, but they don't look too similar at a quick glance. Anyone know what the scout's seeing?
No, but I am familiar with Ben "Helicopter" Bernanke and Marion King Hubbert.
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