Britton Out 6 months per Rosenthal

[notyourbuddy]

For those talking about keeping Britton and going for a draft pick:

• In what universe would Angelos agree to pay $17.4M+ for any reliever let alone one with an injury history?  
• Why would Britton turn down $17.4M+ when its unlikely anyone on the open market would pay him anywhere near that?  Why wouldn't he accept, use the year to prove his health, then try free agency?
• In order to get a compensation draft pick after the first round Britton's new team would have to pay him a guaranteed contract worth $50M. Otherwise you just receive a compensation pick after the second round.  For reference, a healthy Andrew Miller only got $36M guaranteed from the Yankees.

So even if Duquette convinced Angelos to offer a QO and even if Britton declined it the O's would likely just be looking at a compensation pick after Round 2.  A pick they usually just send to other teams to save a few million bucks. 

[Can_of_corn]

4 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

See ya Britton. You’re cut Millhouse. We won’t be paying Britton anything more than what we have to next year. 

Is trade value was pretty low anyway. We actually caught a break here and have some money available. 

I wouldn't say they caught a break.  I would think Britton would have had some value beyond his cost to a team.  Wouldn't have been a haul but something is better than a bill for 2M.

[interloper]

1 minute ago, Can_of_corn said:

I wouldn't say they caught a break.  I would think Britton would have had some value beyond his cost to a team.  Wouldn't have been a haul but something is better than a bill for 2M.

Yeah so we save $10 mil. Sorry, but I'll take either the draft pick or the prospect. I don't have much faith that the $10 mil will be used effectively anyway.

[HelenaEngineer]

2 hours ago, webbrick2010 said:

Why are these arguments always so skewed to the side of the poor poor (millionaire) players.

The O's paid Britton 10+ million dollars last year to be injured and when not injured ineffective.

Now the ethical thing to do is pay him 12 million to rehab from another injury?

Who is represented the poor family of four who can't afford 4 tickets to attend a game?

This injury should be a bit of good fortune for the O's. I for one didn't believe that Britton would be all that effective in 2018 (already battling chronic knee and shoulder injuries), Now they can release him and recoup some payroll.

If they gave the 12 million back to the fans in free promotions... would that make it the ethical thing to do?

I think you could argue about the business implications, but I don't think it is that hard. To me, it is a simple value judgment. I realize everyone has a different set of personal values, but to me this is clear case where there is a right way and a wrong way to treat someone. An employee with a strong track record, who would be expected to contribute strongly in the next season, doing exactly what you asked him to do being injured through no fault of his own should be treated in that context. Of course it is a business, but there is more to business than short term dollars and cents. I am not going to convince anyone who has a different set of values, but to me that would be no-class, cheap, penny pinching, short term move to take advantage of someone's bad luck and I would judge it harshly. Feel free to judge it however you want. I would say the same thing about  a $30,000 a year employee unable to work the next year due to some misfortune that happened to him while he was doing what he was asked to do. 

Supply and demand for the product determines the price for a family of 4 to attend an Orioles game, just like it does for any other product you buy. The loss of Britton should contribute to a weaker team and lower demand and as a result lower prices, especially on the resale market - so you can rejoice that the family of 4 will likely be able to buy cheap seats and wander down to the prime seats later this summer.

[sportsfan8703]

2 minutes ago, interloper said:

Yeah so we save $10 mil. Sorry, but I'll take either the draft pick or the prospect. I don't have much faith that the $10 mil will be used effectively anyway.

We have a 157 million dollar payroll. We weren’t pinching pennies. 

[interloper]

2 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

We have a 157 million dollar payroll. We weren’t pinching pennies. 

I never said we were. I'm talking about the allocation of those funds. 

[Frobby]

12 minutes ago, notyourbuddy said:

 For reference, a healthy Andrew Miller only got $36M guaranteed from the Yankees.

Miller wasn’t a closer, and since then the price of closers has skyrocketed:  

Chapman 5/$86 mm

Jansen 5/$80 mm

Melancon 4/$62 mm

A healthy Britton would command more than $50 mm.

 

 

[Number5]

22 minutes ago, interloper said:

Yeah so we save $10 mil. Sorry, but I'll take either the draft pick or the prospect. I don't have much faith that the $10 mil will be used effectively anyway.

What draft pick?

[Frobby]

13 minutes ago, HelenaEngineer said:

I think you could argue about the business implications, but I don't think it is that hard. To me, it is a simple value judgment. I realize everyone has a different set of personal values, but to me this is clear case where there is a right way and a wrong way to treat someone. An employee with a strong track record, who would be expected to contribute strongly in the next season, doing exactly what you asked him to do being injured through no fault of his own should be treated in that context. Of course it is a business, but there is more to business than short term dollars and cents. I am not going to convince anyone who has a different set of values, but to me that would be no-class, cheap, penny pinching, short term move to take advantage of someone's bad luck and I would judge it harshly. Feel free to judge it however you want. I would say the same thing about  a $30,000 a year employee unable to work the next year due to some misfortune that happened to him while he was doing what he was asked to do. 

 

At times, my law firm has carried a number of people when they were ill and unable to perform their jobs for extended periods, both attorneys and staff.   But I think baseball is a very different animal.    The team already bears enormous injury risk on players who have long term contracts — they can sign a guy like BRob to a $40 mm contract and get nothing out of it because he chooses to bonk himself on the head with a baseball bat.    There isn’t a moral imperative to carry a guy like Britton IMO.     The CBA defines who bears the risk of injuries, and Britton’s not exactly going to be panhandling on the street if he “only” gets $2 mm from the Orioles.   Some other team will sign him for another couple million through the end of the year, and he’ll scrape by.

[sportsfan8703]

27 minutes ago, interloper said:

I never said we were. I'm talking about the allocation of those funds. 

DD was willing to let Nelson Cruz and Andrew Miller walk. The allocation of those funds come from contracts that we negotiated by Brady. AJ was all for keeping CD. Brady negotiated that deal. O’day was a Brady sign. So was Trumbo. 

You can blame DD for Ubaldo, Gallardo, Miranda, Bridwell, Davies and comp picks. But we won despite those. 

Back to the OP, we’ve really gotten burned bad with winter injury news. Britton this year and Tillman last year. 

[tntoriole]

2 hours ago, MDtransplant757 said:

He'll possibly play this season. Management won't allow it

I think you have the wrong idea about management.  Now if it was Ubaldo after the season started and they had to pay him 13 million, then yes, no matter how terrible he was, he would never be released because Potter does not eat contracts.  But if Potter gets to save 10 million on a guy that can't pitch....give me a break.    They cut loose Miggy for 5 million and he still could pitch.  

[TommyPickles]

Man this sucks.

I've been holding on to this optimistic (ridiculous) hope that maybe, just maybe, we'd snag the right pitchers this offseason, Gausman and Bundy would take steps forward, and all the other stars would align for one more wildcard game.

I just don't see it happening anymore. 

[mdbdotcom]

Britton is the longest-tenured Oriole and it's clear he wanted to play for them this season. Why not make a deal with him where we release him, pay him for 30 days, and then sign him to a 1-year deal for approximately $4 million? 

• Britton stays with the O's this year and works with the rehab team he knows in Sarasota
• He pitches half a year and gets paid for half a year ($4 mill. + his 30-days pay)
• He retains his right to test free agency
• The O's retain their right to trade him 

If he really wants to play for the O's this year, this seems pretty straight-forward, and no one else is going to pay him more for this season.

[esmd]

If I'm the Orioles, I tell Britton we won't release you if we can work out an extension and see if he's amenable to it. If they release him now, they have no shot at resigning him later this summer as a FA when he can pitch, unless they're somehow, inexplicably, in position for a deep playoff run. He'll be looking to go to a contender to showcase himself for free agency.

[esmd]

Oh yeah, this suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucks.

Tear it down.  Fire sale and rebuild is the way to go at this point, but they won't do it.  They'll go half arse and we'll go nowhere fast.