gigem1223 said:

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Tksymm7 said:

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Either way, it can't and wont be 82 lol,

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Agree but was just curious if they just randomly picked 4 or if that will be his number.

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I'd posted that elsewhere and someone said because he was picked fourth. I don't know if he's made a number choice yet. They still had him at AAA in the game. So it could have just been them deciding he wasn't going to be 82 and picked something.

Fuzzy Dunlop said:

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For years, people have wanted a salary floor. I'm certainly not for a salary floor, but a salary floor would likely solve some of this. On the other hand, in this scenario, you have players getting too much $$ just to reach the floor.

I'm with the owners here. If I'm in a rebuild, why would I pay $30MM a year for a guy when I can pay close to league minimum and potentially get similar production? Not saying that Detroit's #2 is on the same level as say a Montgomery, but Montgomery may get you 10 more wins. What's the difference between 65 wins and 75 wins? Not much really and probably very little revenue for the team.

I like the approach the Rangers took, of course I'm looking at it through blue tinted and gold trimmed glasses. They slowly added talent starting with 2022 adding Semien and Seager. Built the farm system and now have struck a balance between big contracts and team controlled players.

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Agree here. A salary floor would fix some of it, but it's also absurd to think that a team like Oakland would need to sign five players at the end of free agency just to get to whatever the floor is, and who wants to go play in Oakland anyways?

I still believe that MLB teams/owners have to start paying their guys when they are younger. That is the core issue here in my eyes. Teams have smartened up and no longer want to pay 31 and 32 year-olds (that aren't true superstars) 5+ year deals for 25+ million a year. They would rather play their youth and rely on them, and I can't blame a single one of them. If teams were more willing to hand out contracts to guys in their 20s, it would be easier for those teams to them to let them go when they are 32, and it would make those 32 year-olds more willing to take less as they age because they have already secured "the bag".

If the players really wanted to fight for something in the next round of collective bargaining, it would be completely restructuring how long teams have control of players for.

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Agree here. A salary floor would fix some of it, but it's also absurd to think that a team like Oakland would need to sign five players at the end of free agency just to get to whatever the floor is, and who wants to go play in Oakland anyways?

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would the fix for this be to say, ok Oakland is $20M under the floor. So figure out an allocation method to allocate that $20M to the players on Oakland's MLB roster. It would have to be game by game because over the course of the season teams could move above/below the floor (plus the players on the roster change game to game).

They could divide equally among the players on the roster, or factor in years of service or whatever else. But basically if a team in under the floor, they have to pay differential to the players on the roster via whatever agreed upon formula they come up with.

I could get on board with this. Make your cheap ass owner have to swish a few bonus checks or increase salary for players on that roster for that season, all based on MLB service time or something similar.

Sounds really complicated. If there was a salary floor, seems like it would be easier to just penalize a team in the same manner as going over the CBT threshold

But then the super cheap teams like Oakland would probably still find a way to be within $1million of the salary floor, so any fine or amount they would have to pay players wouldn't even be noticeable.

As you stated, it is very complicated. Baseball is in a very, very weird time in terms of off the field issues surrounding free agency. This off-season was a disaster for free agents, and while I am glad teams are starting to put their foot down on Scott Boras and over paying aging players, it's not the best look when it takes the reigning Cy Young winning pitcher till mid-March to get signed. Baseball needs a real reset in terms of how they do things with contracts, player retention and player control, but it's very complicated and could get nasty.

CowtownAg06 said:

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I think CBT is calced in AAV regardless of deferred. Not sure how opt outs factor in. That structure may help the Mets cash flow (as if Cohen cares) but I don't think gives them tax relief.

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The 10 yr mark is intentional. Any deferment that is after 10 yrs doesn't count on the CBT.

True it is ACV, but if money is paid beyond 10 years, it isn't included.

You will hear PCV ( I think?!) and that gets calculated by MLBPA, MLB, Agents, etc... Like Ohtani's numbers. The intent is to determine the Present Value which considers depreciation and inflation.

For Cash-Flow... you are right Cohen doesn't care.

Some math.

$12M for 1yr paid in 2024 means NYM pays 110% CBT Tax. $13.2M, so $25.2M.
As structured, he'll pay $4.5M + 110% on that ($4.95M), so $9.45K. and then $7.5 on the backend. $16.95M Total.

Keeping in mind that if Cohen invests that $7.5M and gets 7% over 10 years... that $7.5M will be at $14.8M when he starts to pay out that $1.5M in annual payments.

I know some of you don't care and think I'm obsessed (guilty)...

There are 19 NRI still in camp, and today at 1pm, the following 3 players will have to decide if they want to Opt-Out of their Minor League Contract they signed. I believe that means they can request their release, accept heading to the Minors, OR... negotiate getting added to the Roster.

Rangers: INF Matt Duffy, RHP Shane Greene, RHP Jose Urena

Apparently Kumar Rocker has been throwing off of a half-height mound this spring? I had no clue he was even back to throwing yet. I suppose this means he didn't have the whole TJ surgery and it was more of a brace, because he's aiming to come back early to mid-summer, which is just a year removed from his injury.

That's why you collect the unopened cans, not the beer. Apparently have a regional can for each MLB team.

I have box of "Hull-O" and vaerious Wheaties boxes.

I also have an Autographed bottle of Belfour Whiskey (Ed Belfour, Stars Goalie). I'm trying to decide if I drink it or not. It wasn't great, but certainly effective.

Michael Lorenzen says on @FoulTerritoryTV that he will go into Rangers rotation.

— Evan Grant (@Evan_P_Grant) March 22, 2024

Rangers split squad lineup for March 22, 2024 at Cleveland. pic.twitter.com/pKPD400YQO

— Texas Rangers PR (@TXRangersPR) March 22, 2024

Chasen Shreve, Danny Duffy & Shane Greene have all been told they will not make opening day roster and are evaluating options.

Young would welcome them all back into organization to pitch at Triple-A

— Evan Grant (@Evan_P_Grant) March 22, 2024

Elvis Andrus was released by the D-backs.

If we had known we were going to win that World Series, would you have traded for Timy E as a bench player so he could have walked off into the sunset as a champion?

Justin Steele, CHC's opening day start to a comebacker off the knee today and it didn't look great…

KT 90 said:

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rbtexan said:

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And what a butt show the Ohtani deal is turning into.

I'm so glad we didn't sign that guy - looking shadier by the minute.

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I was scrolling through twitter earlier, saw someone had connected some large wagers being made specifically on days that he was pitching? It was some random person (to me anyway), but if that ends up being true... not a good look.

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Yep...and I'll tell you what else isn't a good look. Giving your interpreter access to the $4.5 million dollars used to place bets. The story changing doesn't look good either (initially Mizuhara said that Ohtani willingly gave him the money and now is saying he stole it).

From a CBS news report:

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Which version of Mizuhara's story is true (or if neither is) could determine Ohtani's culpability, I. Nelson Rose, an expert on gambling law and co-founder of the California Council on Problem Gambling, told CBS Sports.
"There are so many potential crimes here, state and federal, and the big dangers with violating the anti-gambling laws is they're all written to go after organized crime, which means all the organized crime statutes can kick in, like RICO and money laundering," said Rose, who has served as a government consultant to entities including the Arizona Department of Gaming, the Delaware State Lottery, the Illinois Gaming Board, the Michigan State Lottery and the New Mexico Gaming Control Board.
If Ohtani did knowingly wire the money to pay Mizuhara's debt, either to Mizuhara or directly to the bookie, he could be considered complicit in helping an illegal gambler collect, according to Rose.

"In other words, he's helping the bookie collect the debt. It gets extraordinarily bad if he knew any of this was going on and agreed to it," Rose said.
All of this, again, would only be an option if Ohtani voluntarily handed over the money, whether to Mizuhara or Bowyer, according to Rose. If the money was stolen, as Ohtani's lawyers alleged, he could not be considered an accomplice.
"What I can't figure out is why the lawyers didn't tell everyone to just shut up," Rose told CBS Sports.

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Impressive first inning from Leiter. 1 IP, 0 BB, 0 H, 3 Ks

gigem1223 said:

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Impressive first inning from Leiter. 1 IP, 0 BB, 0 H, 3 Ks

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Evan thought so too...

A holy s*** inning for Jack Leiter, who strikes out the side, featuring 97 mph stuff.

— Evan Grant (@Evan_P_Grant) March 22, 2024

Doh! just figured out the game in on MLB Network. This should keep me busy until Aggie hoops and Aggie baseball tonight

Leiter looks great

Langford drives in the go ahead run on a rope to left. 20th rbi of the spring.

I've drafted several responses to this over the past couple days and ultimately have just deleted what I thought about posting.

RICO was one of them. Conspiracy. If you lie to a Federal official, that likely gets you more problems than the actual crime.

State Taxes.

Gift Taxes

The bank has to file Customer Transaction reports for anything over $10K. The bank is a big role. When I deposit cash to someone else's account, I have to show ID.

I don't see how this can just go away.

He cruised through 2. Then, came out 3-0 and grooved a 3-2 meat pitch for a HR.

As with most young pitchers, it appeared he struggled to pull things together after that.

All-in-all a good outing for a young pitcher. Very encouraging.

Bradford's line looks like a player that just found out he lost his starting role.

Lorenzen was interviewed and said while he was happy to be with the Rangers and happy for the opportunity, he has a Texas-sized chip on his shoulder for the way the off-season went.

During the TV broadcast, Raymond indicated that Bochy said the expectation going into the offseason was that Langford was going to be on the Opening Day roster.

Jackson Holliday will not be on the O'2 OD Roster.