If you haven’t heard, and I know you all have, Stephen Strasburg got a $15 million bonus Monday night for signing with the Nationals. His signing broke the record by nearly $5 million. The previous record holder was Mark Prior. The common denominator is Scott Boras. I think signing bonuses with Major League Baseball have gotten out of hand.
It used to be, pre-Boras that is, that every slot had a dollar value associated with it. That dollar value made sense, for an untested player, great or not, he is only worth so much. Over the past few years, the value above slots have been ridiculous. This year alone, Max Stassi who was drafted in the 4th round was given a $1+ million bonus. That is 5 times higher than the slot. I can’t blame the players on this one, I can’t even blame Boras, the blame is on the teams for letting it get this way.
The next time the MLBPA and MLB have to work out a collective bargaining agreement, they should iron out the slot rates for the drafted players. There is no way Strasburg, who didn’t even pitch in a respected college conference, should be earning a $15 million dollar bonus. That is insane! You know he is going to have a blown tendon in his arm at some point in his career, the odds are just stacked against him that it won’t happen. As good as Prior was, and he was very good, he didn’t deserve what he got and he came from a respected college conference.
Can Strasburg buck the bad arm trend, sure he can, but you can’t tell me he is worth that kind of money. This year had way too many no signs at the deadline, which tells me one thing. The players want more money and the teams are not about to give it out (unless they are the Yankees, Cubs, Red Sox and Cardinals). Instead, come up with slotted salaries, if the player wants to sign for that money they can, if not then they probably won’t get drafted, thus eliminating the wasted pick of a no – sign. Also it could possibly bring parity back to baseball, if teams knew what it would take to sign a player, they would take the best available player, not being afraid he won’t sign. Also I think the no-signing penalty should mean back into the draft, no trip to Japan to skirt those rules.
It would be a win win situation for baseball. Parity is brought back (somewhat), and if you make yourself eligible for the draft, the chances are you are going to sign. Baseball should also adopt the basketball policy of allowing to declare and then recinding just before the draft, but if you recind it’s 3 years of college ball. If you don’t recind then you are in the draft, and if you don’t get drafted you become a free agent. I know the veterans would be happier since they would get a larger slice of the pie so to speak. The owners would be happier and as for the draft picks, make them earn their money, like everyone else in America has to do.
What are your feelings on this topic?
amen