Through Saturday’s late-night signing of Japanese P Kodai Senga by the Mets to a five-year, $75M contract, MLB teams “already have spent a whopping” $2.44B on 48 free agents, with the top dozen, “pulling in a cool” $1.82B, according to David Lennon of NEWSDAY. The market trends “were all pointing upward.” Players across the board “were awarded more years and more money than even the rosiest projections predicted.” Another contributing factor: the "sudden infusion of cash last month from MLB selling its remaining 15% stake of BAMTech” -- the sport’s streaming platform -- to Disney for $900M, resulting in a $30M “windfall for each team.” There was "no guarantee clubs would be investing that money back into players, but the optics certainly work against any teams crying poverty” (NEWSDAY, 12/11). ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez cited industry sources as noting other factors in play include the new CBA ratified near the middle of March, that "provided certainty about the sport's inner workings for the next half-decade,” as well as the 2022 Phillies, who grabbed the final spot in the postseason and “made it all the way to the World Series, perhaps pushing midtier teams to turn up their aggression” (ESPN.com, 12/9).
AGE AIN'T NOTHING BUT A NUMBER: In N.Y., Scott Miller wrote "especially eye catching" money was spent on older players. The Padres' deal with SS Xander Bogaerts is the “longest ever for a player who has already turned 30, and it ties him to the Padres until he is 41.” Likewise, Phillies SS Trea Turner “will be 40 when his deal expires.” Yankees RF Aaron Judge and Rangers P Jacob deGrom will both be 39, and Cardinals C Willson Contreras will be 35. Part of the reason for the long-term deals with high-priced stars is that it "allows clubs to stretch the money out over a long period of time, thus lowering the average annual value of a contract," with the AAV an “essential component in computing the competitive balance tax.” The overriding takeaway from the week “was easy.” Elite talent “will get a player paid, even when factoring in age, injury history or redundancy” (N.Y. TIMES, 12/9).
REVERSING TRENDS: The WALL STREET JOURNAL’s Lindsey Adler wrote the “frenzied spending reverses what had become the industry’s conventional wisdom until recently.” Teams had “largely backed away from enormous long-term contracts -- like the ones doled out nearly a decade ago” for players like Robinson Cano, Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera -- which "almost inevitably become painful on the back end, when players are less productive late in their careers.” Clubs have "swung back toward a practice of impracticality because, with an excellent free agent class this year, it is in some ways just the cost of doing business" (WALL STRET JOURNAL, 12/9).
SPENDING MONSTER: In N.Y., Bill Madden wrote whether they "realized it or not, the baseball owners with their contract madness" this week "unleashed the spending monster" in Mets owner Steve Cohen. Cohen essentially told his GM Billy Eppler that the club "will spend what it takes to win.” He had already spent $386M this offseason to bring his payroll to about $325M -- or nearly $100M "over the first payroll tax threshold" of $233M, and $35M "over the fourth so-called 'Steve Cohen' threshold" of $290M for which the Mets will now be taxed at 90% with their top draft pick also moved down 10 slots. Between the $900M "bonanza from Disney for the purchase of BAMTech, the extra TV millions coming in from all the streaming deals, the new revenues from selling advertising patches on the uniforms beginning next year," baseball is "awash in money and the players should be happy because a whole lot of it appears to be going to them." The Padres, in the 27th-ranked market, are "coming up with all their money by selling off small shares of the club" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 12/10).
DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES: In N.Y., Mike Lupica wrote in signing CF Brandon Nimmo to an eight-year, $162M contract on Thursday, Cohen "reminded everybody that maybe he really is the sum of everybody’s fears, just because he has more money than any other owner in the sport and clearly knows how to spend it." It is "almost as if Cohen had behaved himself until the Nimmo deal," even after signing P Justin Verlander to the kind of contract that saw the "rest of the sport lose its collective mind." The "great irony here is that in a baseball world where the other owners fear" Cohen, where they "think that because of his wealth he’s their worst nightmare, a bunch of them went out this past week and did the things that they feared Cohen was going to do when he bought the Mets." They "became their own worst nightmare and worst enemy, while Cohen sat back and watched it all" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 12/10).
