I floated this idea to Mike today, and I thought I'd also post it here.
It seems there are a growing number of veterans from other countries coming to play in the majors. Right now our rule is that when rosters are open, any owner can place a hold on a player not in ESPN's system as long as he or she has a free roster spot. Once the player enters ESPN system, Mike puts the player on the team's roster and assigns a salary of $1.
Most of these claims recently have been for veterans from other countries, primarily Cuba, who sign or are about to sign with an MLB team. A number of the claims have occurred during the season prior to the player's actually appearing in an MLB game, meaning the player's salary is $1 for their first season. Jose Abreu is the most prominent example of this sequence of events.
I'm wondering about the $1 price tag for veterans in particular. Technically, all foreign players entering MLB are rookies (right?), but the designation makes much more sense for an 18 year old than it does for a 27 year old like Abreu. Our current system may be working fine, especially since it's a way for a team out of the running with a free roster spot to potentially claim a valuable $1 player for the next season. Since some of these players are not young, they may not be resigned after a first contract, so their initial value may taper off quickly. The sticking point for me is that some of these guys are fast-tracked to the majors and thus there's no real risk associated with owning a $1 Yasmany Tomas, for example. A $1 rookie who is not in the majors is different, because he's dead weight on the bench and therefore has an opportunity cost.
It would also be a pain to track, but I wonder if a guy who has played professionally in another country for at least three seasons (picking a random number) and is over 21 (picking a random number) should perhaps have a higher initial salary.
It seems there are a growing number of veterans from other countries coming to play in the majors. Right now our rule is that when rosters are open, any owner can place a hold on a player not in ESPN's system as long as he or she has a free roster spot. Once the player enters ESPN system, Mike puts the player on the team's roster and assigns a salary of $1.
Most of these claims recently have been for veterans from other countries, primarily Cuba, who sign or are about to sign with an MLB team. A number of the claims have occurred during the season prior to the player's actually appearing in an MLB game, meaning the player's salary is $1 for their first season. Jose Abreu is the most prominent example of this sequence of events.
I'm wondering about the $1 price tag for veterans in particular. Technically, all foreign players entering MLB are rookies (right?), but the designation makes much more sense for an 18 year old than it does for a 27 year old like Abreu. Our current system may be working fine, especially since it's a way for a team out of the running with a free roster spot to potentially claim a valuable $1 player for the next season. Since some of these players are not young, they may not be resigned after a first contract, so their initial value may taper off quickly. The sticking point for me is that some of these guys are fast-tracked to the majors and thus there's no real risk associated with owning a $1 Yasmany Tomas, for example. A $1 rookie who is not in the majors is different, because he's dead weight on the bench and therefore has an opportunity cost.
It would also be a pain to track, but I wonder if a guy who has played professionally in another country for at least three seasons (picking a random number) and is over 21 (picking a random number) should perhaps have a higher initial salary.