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OT: The Toronto Blue Jays

I'll never get why they've let it go this long with no one signed.

It always takes 2 to tango. The Braves got incredibly lucky that Acuna and Albies sold out early on for way way way under value. Bo's Dad made 40M in his playing career, Vlad's dad made 125M, so neither of them obviously needed a quick fix of money to send home.

But still, even regardless of that, it still feels like there would have been some value that would make sense for both sides. You could have given Vlad 10 years and 300m or something like that a few years ago, and I'm sure there was some figure that would have gotten him to sign.
 
It always takes 2 to tango. The Braves got incredibly lucky that Acuna and Albies sold out early on for way way way under value. Bo's Dad made 40M in his playing career, Vlad's dad made 125M, so neither of them obviously needed a quick fix of money to send home.

But still, even regardless of that, it still feels like there would have been some value that would make sense for both sides. You could have given Vlad 10 years and 300m or something like that a few years ago, and I'm sure there was some figure that would have gotten him to sign.

They got lucky because they were willing to offer massive deals very early….if Bo or Vlad were offered similarly massive deals so early on, Jays have a real shot of having them locked up cheap over the long haul.

They likely would never take that kind of risk for players minimally proven. So they wait till it’s safer, at which point the players want much more, and they still alligator arm it, so it drags on further and further, until you’re on the cusp of losing them, and will have to pay the highest prices of the entire negotiation process.
 
It always takes 2 to tango. The Braves got incredibly lucky that Acuna and Albies sold out early on for way way way under value. Bo's Dad made 40M in his playing career, Vlad's dad made 125M, so neither of them obviously needed a quick fix of money to send home.

But still, even regardless of that, it still feels like there would have been some value that would make sense for both sides. You could have given Vlad 10 years and 300m or something like that a few years ago, and I'm sure there was some figure that would have gotten him to sign.
There has never been any evidence that Bo and Vladdy wouldn’t sign long term extensions. In fact the opposite. Atkins admitted that they just wanted the players to share more of the downside risk.

AA was somehow able to find a sweet spot of shared risk with every one of Atlanta’s young stars and consequently they’re stacked with long-term team-friendly deals. And yeah, Austin Riley’s contract could look bad in 5 years but 1) it’s less bad than if they had waited to sign him as a FA at 28, and 2) so what if they end up having to eat $20M/yr for a few seasons. It’s the cost of doing business. For example, the Jays just did that with Ryu and might be on the brink of doing the same thing with Springer.

They should have locked Bo and Vladdy up long term years ago, but since they didn’t, they should do it now. I know everyone has soured on Vladdy, but he is 24. And he’s something like 10th all time in HR for Blue Jays. Their best raw hitter since Delgado.
 
Definitely should've locked these guys into long-term deals already. I don't think either Bo or Vlad was taking any less than max value, though.

That Albies contract is obscene, and people should understand that he did it because his family is poor and he wanted more money upfront. Shame on Alex for exploiting that so egregiously.

And I have no idea what Acuna was thinking. I would say there's a 90% chance that if Vlad was willing to take that contract he would've been signed at the same time.
 
I know everyone has soured on Vladdy

Nah, I think the organization is inept top to bottom and our Assistant Regional Hitting Managers have fucked him.

Bo, somewhat famously, completely ignored the organization when they tried to change his swing and approach.
 

View: https://x.com/JeffPassan/status/1116419435244457984?s=20


View: https://x.com/mlbbowman/status/1116446247135653896?s=20


 
I don't think either Bo or Vlad was taking any less than max value, though.
You’re free to think that, but there’s no evidence at all, just talk of sweet spot of shared risk a few years after they’d both established themselves.

That Albies contract is obscene, and people should understand that he did it because his family is poor and he wanted more money upfront. Shame on Alex for exploiting that so egregiously.
“Shame” is a bit strong, perhaps, but it sure is one of the most team friendly deals in the last 40 years. The worst part though is probably the two 7-million team options at age 29 and 30. If AA wants to make up for thr moral lapse of guaranteeing 20-year old Albies $35 million, he could sign Albies to another extension to replace those years.
 
You’re free to think that, but there’s no evidence at all, just talk of sweet spot of shared risk a few years after they’d both established themselves.
Actually, there's no evidence supporting your position. The evidence does point towards a guy like Albies taking a shit contract like this, whereas guys like Vlad and Bo with rich former MLB-player dads being much more unlikely to take any less than full market value.
 
The system works pretty well for the players already. They hire professional representation to negotiate against the club. It's not management's job to tell the player what is in their best interests. Albies guaranteed life changing money for his family in a way that the MLB scale doesn't provide.
 
Actually, there's no evidence supporting your position. The evidence does point towards a guy like Albies taking a shit contract like this, whereas guys like Vlad and Bo with rich former MLB-player dads being much more unlikely to take any less than full market value.
Atkins literally coined the term “sweet spot of shared risk” talking about the difficulty signing Vlad and Bo to extensions. To me that is pretty solid evidence that they are willing to extend, but the team wants them to do it at more of a discount than they’re comfortable with.

I know you think that they’re rich so they would never have signed a team-friendly extension, but that’s getting a little too deep into their individual psychology for me. Vladdy could have signed a 10-year deal at age 20 that paid him more than his Hall of Famer dad made in his whole career. Maybe that would have motivated him equally? I’m not going to pretend that I know.
 
The system works pretty well for the players already. They hire professional representation to negotiate against the club. It's not management's job to tell the player what is in their best interests. Albies guaranteed life changing money for his family in a way that the MLB scale doesn't provide.
Yep. Albies would only be a FA this year if not for that extension. He was an injury away from being out of baseball and having to work the rest of his life, or he had the option to guarantee himself $35 million by age 27. I’d say his agent did him a disservice, because AA might have paid twice what he did and not insisted on the team options. But he’s now uber-rich, and can still get paid again.
 
Honestly "sweet spot of shared risk" might be one of the most brilliant things I've ever heard. I use it in my day to day life constantly now.
 
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