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Youkilis extended...


LAOSfan

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Contract for four years and worth about $40MM with an option for a fifth year. Seems to me that based on the contracts the Sox have given Youk and Pedroia, the 6 year $60MM offer to Markakis is very reasonable.

It also seems to me that the Red Sox are taking less than market value to stay in Boston for the foreseeable future.

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This is pretty low.

Youk was a year further into his career than Nick is. He's at 4.093 years, Nick is at 3.000, so he's buying out two arb years and two FA years. Nick is gonna be getting 3 arb years bought out, and obviously the arb years are bought out at a significantly lower rate than the FA years (especially year 1).

If you use the 33/50/80 breakdown of what percentage of their FA value a player gets in arbitration, then this contract breaks down to something like:

$6.25M, $9.25M, $12.25M, $12.25M.

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Contract for four years and worth about $40MM with an option for a fifth year. Seems to me that based on the contracts the Sox have given Youk and Pedroia, the 6 year $60MM offer to Markakis is very reasonable.

It is reasonable, but the situations are entirely different.

Chances are that Youkilis wanted to stay with Boston after his previous contract was up. It's a winning franchise and shows every sign that it will remain that was through the end of the extension. Would a bit more money have made going to a lesser team worth while for him?

With Markakis, finishing his contract and testing the free agent market is appealing because there are plenty of other teams out there that are better than the Orioles. Moving to a new franchise, even for a bit less money, gives him a better chance at a World Series and possibly a better environment in which to play.

To put it another way, Boston can pay slightly less because players don't want to leave. Baltimore has to pay more to compensate for what other teams have to offer.

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Hopefully, for the Sox who have signed these hometown discount extensions, it wont come back to bite them like it did Bronson Arroyo. They locked him up to a cheap contract and traded him right away. I have read articles where Arroyo said he gave them a discount thinking he would stay with them, and he would have been able to test FA, but they locked him up cheap and traded him right away. Its both genius and sleazy.

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It is reasonable, but the situations are entirely different.

Chances are that Youkilis wanted to stay with Boston after his previous contract was up. It's a winning franchise and shows every sign that it will remain that was through the end of the extension. Would a bit more money have made going to a lesser team worth while for him?

With Markakis, finishing his contract and testing the free agent market is appealing because there are plenty of other teams out there that are better than the Orioles. Moving to a new franchise, even for a bit less money, gives him a better chance at a World Series and possibly a better environment in which to play.

To put it another way, Boston can pay slightly less because players don't want to leave. Baltimore has to pay more to compensate for what other teams have to offer.

This is a very interesting comment. I absolutely agree that Boston seems to have a certain magnetism for many players and, maybe more importantly, I can't think of another team that enjoys this phenomenon. The Yankees certainly never pay below market. Quite the contrary. Jeter and ARod (and now Teixeira) didn't want to play anywhere else and they got more, not less, than other teams offered or might have offered. The Yankees bid so as not to be outbid.

The Mets, Angels, Cubs, Braves.....no one gets a discount except for the odd player (like Cal Ripken) who truly has a love for his home town and is willing to take less (again, unlike Tex).

Can anyone explain this? I don't believe that it is just about winning in the last few years. That is too simplistic. There is something else - that I can't put my finger on.

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Why does every team (other than the O's) make extensions look so easy?

If you played for the Orioles would you be eager to stay? It's much easier to sign an extension with a team like Boston (who you know probably won't suck at all during your contract) as opposed to a team like Baltimore (who you know IS going to suck over your entire contract).

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If you played for the Orioles would you be eager to stay? It's much easier to sign an extension with a team like Boston (who you know probably won't suck at all during your contract) as opposed to a team like Baltimore (who you know IS going to suck over your entire contract).

Tampa signed plenty of guys to long-term deals when they stunk. This idea that the Orioles are doomed to be awful forever is defeatist nonsense.

I think the O's have had very conservative, risk averse management for quite some time, and therefore they either don't offer long-term deals early enough or they take too long to offer realistic terms. This goes back way before MacPhail so I think you have to trace it to Angelos.

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Contract for four years and worth about $40MM with an option for a fifth year. Seems to me that based on the contracts the Sox have given Youk and Pedroia, the 6 year $60MM offer to Markakis is very reasonable.

It also seems to me that the Red Sox are taking less than market value to stay in Boston for the foreseeable future.

And the 10 million per year offered to Roberts seems to be reasonable as well.

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It's more than 4/40 according to Gammons with a 5th year option. According to XM MLB Youk's agent denies that they are close.http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/ Seems to me BRob can't expect 4/40 if that's what Youk is getting.
Roberts wouldn't be compared to Youk, and obviously even if Youk signs for 4/$40M that is more than $10M a year annually when you take into account the discount for the arbitration years.
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I think the O's have had very conservative, risk averse management for quite some time, and therefore they either don't offer long-term deals early enough or they take too long to offer realistic terms. This goes back way before MacPhail so I think you have to trace it to Angelos.

<img src=http://www.sportsfanmagazine.com/sfm/graphics/stories/angelosclose.jpg>

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