What Are Your Thoughts

[SF11704]

Just wondering what some of you think about this year's FA process and the overall effect it will have.
We have Ohtani signing a 10 year contract for 700M (a lot deferred) and it appears that Yamanoto will most likely also be offered a 10 year contract in the range of 300M

If clubs are willing to give a 10 year contract for approximately 30M a year to a pitcher who is really unproven in the USMLB arena (I do know that he is good) ... what does this all mean to clubs when their current players come up for contract renewals?

Example ..... If the Giants are willing to offer a 300M/10Year to Yamamoto ...... what do you think Webb will bargain for? Cobb? Snell? Other FA pitchers?

Do these contract offerings change the financial structure of baseball as we now know it? I'm not saying anything is bad about it, I'm just curious about it's possible long reaching future effects ...

 

[calsnowskier]

Just to be clear, Ohtani is a unicorn and needs to be removed from any discussion like this. He has unique on field abilities and unique marketing abilities.

That said…

Yamamoto has marketing potential that Webb doesn’t offer. He opens a whole new market to whatever team signs him. In this regard, the doggies are actually at a disadvantage in signing him because they would get the least bump in signing him of any team (maybe the Ms fall in this category as well, but I have not seen any reports where they are in play for Yamamoto).

We, as fans, look at players salaries as only being tied to on-field performance. And for 99% of the players, this is 99% true. But the super top players, and a select few others, their salaries have other factors that enter the mix.

 

[tzill]

Just to be clear, Ohtani is a unicorn and needs to be removed from any discussion like this. He has unique on field abilities and unique marketing abilities.

That said…

Yamamoto has marketing potential that Webb doesn’t offer. He opens a whole new market to whatever team signs him. In this regard, the doggies are actually at a disadvantage in signing him because they would get the least bump in signing him of any team (maybe the Ms fall in this category as well, but I have not seen any reports where they are in play for Yamamoto).

We, as fans, look at players salaries as only being tied to on-field performance. And for 99% of the players, this is 99% true. But the super top players, and a select few others, their salaries have other factors that enter the mix.

Yama is going to get the 300+ contract largely because he wasn’t drafted and under MLB team control for six years. If he were, he’d be close to 30 and unlikely to get more than 6 or 7 years. IMO this can only happen with a foreign pitcher. I don’t disagree with the marketing comments but I think they pale in comparison.