McFarland Released

[weams]

1 hour ago, sportsfan8703 said:

So he would get 114k plus whatever AAA contract he signs. What's the typical AAA contract?  I'd like to see Mac back but he'd essentially be like Andy Oliver last year since he has no options. 

It can be a million or so. It's paid for by the MLB team. There is no typical AAA free agent contract. 

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, weams said:

It can be a million or so. It's paid for by the MLB team. There is no typical AAA free agent contract. 

In McFarland's case, I'd imagine they'd be trying for a split contract where he makes significantly less than $765 k if he spends a lot of time in the minors.   

[FlipTheBird]

17 hours ago, RZNJ said:

The problem with the Rule 5 is that the Orioles haven't really gotten the type of player they couldn't have gotten just by combing over the minor league FA's that are out there every year.     Guys like McFarland and Flaherty were fringe AAAA type players when we got them.    I like what they've tried to do with Garcia and Santander, which is get legitimate high ceiling players into the system.    I just don't think Garcia came as advertised.   For all of the talk of high 90's stuff, I never saw it.    When one of these rule 5 guys become a regular then I'll be impressed.    Until then, they Orioles haven't proven anything with their use of the Rule5.

Teams rarely do. The Rule V draft has certainly produced some talent over the years for different organizations, but it's a crapshoot. All the O's have tried to do (until the last two years) is get a 24th or 25th man on the roster on the cheap... and maybe get lucky.

The last time the O's have a Rule V guy come in and claim himself a job, it was Jay Gibbons.

[sportsfan8703]

57 minutes ago, FlipTheBird said:

Teams rarely do. The Rule V draft has certainly produced some talent over the years for different organizations, but it's a crapshoot. All the O's have tried to do (until the last two years) is get a 24th or 25th man on the roster on the cheap... and maybe get lucky.

The last time the O's have a Rule V guy come in and claim himself a job, it was Jay Gibbons.

If it wasn't for Schoop, I think Flaherty would have gotten starting PA's the last few seasons. 

[POR]

52 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

If it wasn't for Schoop, I think Flaherty would have gotten starting PA's the last few seasons. 

If Ryan Flaherty is a starter, that is a major weakness for a contending team. He has never had a 300 obp in a season.

[wildcard]

3 hours ago, Frobby said:

In McFarland's case, I'd imagine they'd be trying for a split contract where he makes significantly less than $765 k if he spends a lot of time in the minors.   

Split contracts are normally used for players with options and less then 3 years of service.   TJ is out for options and has over 3 years of ML service.

[Tony-OH]

1 hour ago, sportsfan8703 said:

If it wasn't for Schoop, I think Flaherty would have gotten starting PA's the last few seasons. 

Flaherty has value as a utility player, but anytime he's gotten regular playing time he is quickly exposed offensively. The Orioles would have found another option at second base if something happened to Schoop for an extended period of time.

[weams]

1 hour ago, wildcard said:

Split contracts are normally used for players with options and less then 3 years of service.   TJ is out for options and has over 3 years of ML service.

I can see the Orioles attempting a 350,000 dollar minor league deal. 

[Frobby]

2 hours ago, wildcard said:

Split contracts are normally used for players with options and less then 3 years of service.   TJ is out for options and has over 3 years of ML service.

I don't think you are correct about this.    Players who have options aren't free agents.    Bourn is on a split contract now, and I believe Nick Johnson and Delmon Young (in 2014) were on split contracts.

[thezeroes]

56 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I don't think you are correct about this.    Players who have options aren't free agents.    Bourn is on a split contract now, and I believe Nick Johnson and Delmon Young (in 2014) were on split contracts.

http://m.mlb.com/glossary/transactions/split-contract

This may explain things a little.

[wildcard]

2 hours ago, Frobby said:

I don't think you are correct about this.    Players who have options aren't free agents.    Bourn is on a split contract now, and I believe Nick Johnson and Delmon Young (in 2014) were on split contracts.

Terminology wise, I don't think those contracts are called split contracts.  They are minor league contracts that state a salary if they are called up.  They can't be spend back down without going through waivers.

I think split contracts are major league contracts for guys on the 40 man roster and have options.  The split states how much they get while they are in the majors and how much when the are sent to the minors.   They can move up and down during the year.

 

[FlipTheBird]

6 hours ago, sportsfan8703 said:

If it wasn't for Schoop, I think Flaherty would have gotten starting PA's the last few seasons. 

As others have noted, this is probably not true. Ryan Flaherty is not an MLB-caliber starting player.

[thezeroes]

53 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Terminology wise, I don't think those contracts are called split contracts.  They are minor league contracts that state a salary if they are called up.  They can't be spend back down without going through waivers.

I think split contracts are major league contracts for guys on the 40 man roster and have options.  The split states how much they get while they are in the majors and how much when the are sent to the minors.   They can move up and down during the year.

 

Some split contracts enable a player to clear waivers because a claiming team would assume the contract if they were to claim them.  This enables a player to get clear procedural waivers and get re-assigned to the MiLB affiliates.

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, wildcard said:

Terminology wise, I don't think those contracts are called split contracts.  They are minor league contracts that state a salary if they are called up.  They can't be spend back down without going through waivers.

I think split contracts are major league contracts for guys on the 40 man roster and have options.  The split states how much they get while they are in the majors and how much when the are sent to the minors.   They can move up and down during the year.

 

Here's how I think of it.  Michael Bourn is on a contract that pays him $200 k if he's in the minors (which is way over the MiL standard contract for a guy not on the 40-man roster) and $2 mm plus heavy incentives if he's on the major league roster (way above the major league minimum).    To me, that's obviously a split contract.   

For a player that is not arbitration-eligible, he has no leverage and the CBA basically specifies what the player makes if he's in the minors and what he makes when he's in the majors.   Some teams choose to pay their better players more than the minimum; usually, that's for players who are clearly not going back to the minors unless something goes very, very wrong.    I don't think of these CBA-specified arrangements with non-arbitration eligible players as being split contracts because there's no real negotiation that goes on, though the salaries certainly are different depending if they're in the majors or the minors.

Once a player is arbitration eligible, I believe they get their agreed salary whether they're in the majors or the minors, so long as they're not released before the season (hence, the  release of McFarland).     So that's not a split contract.     

[weams]

http://athletewealth.com/mlb40man/

http://www.sportslawblogger.com/baseball/salary-information/minor-league-salary/

Of course some of this is the old CBA. As Wildcard often states, until we see the new one (which is still unsigned) we won't really know.