Agent Scott Boras went to the GM meeting demanding that teams spend big money on his clients like J.D. Martinez and Jake Arrieta. He is looking for $200 million plus deals for his players.
But his rants only caught the attention of a few reporters.
The luxury tax threshold and penalties of the new CBA are starting to take effect. Simply put, the penalty for going over the threshold of $195 million payroll is a percentage of the overage. If you go over year after year, that percentage increases to 100%. And then, you start having your draft choices being downgraded 10 slots. So the payroll cap has now both financial and operational penalties.
Owners want to control unnecessary costs and scouting departments do not want to be handcuffed with their draft picks. It puts teams more in line with the spirit of the rule. It also lessens the big market teams from overspending on free agents who are demanding long term deals.
The longer the deal for a veteran, the more likely it is that there will be more dead money at the end.
So it will be a harder sell for agents to get top dollar for an above average, free agent player.
Some speculate that many teams, including the Cubs, are holding back overspending this year because next year's free agent class is better (with Bryce Harper the star who may blow past the $400 million contract line.)
Others speculate that a few teams would rather collect international signing bonus money to try to get 23 year old Japanese star Ontani. The Mariners just traded a young, 100 mph flame throwing reliever to the White Sox for $500,00 international cash. Seattle now has $1.55 million in international cash to attempt to sign Ontani.
The Cubs and a few other clubs previously went over the international pool cap. They are penalized by not being allowed to spend over $300,000 for any foreign player. This effectively puts them out of the Ontani sweepstakes (if he gets posted by his current club).
It has been reported that baseball revenues have increased while the CBA is effectively not allowing those new dollars to flow into player salaries. The Marlins talk about trading Stanton (who has a no trade clause) to drop their payroll is another item that irks player agents. If Stanton and few other higher cost players are traded, the Marlins (under new ownership) will field a low-cost, AAAA team in 2018.
