Jon Singleton up! Agrees to 8-year, $35 million deal.

I don't know what I'll do if he hits a homerun tomorrow. Smoke one in his honor maybe.

 

Im excited about Astros baseball what a feeling! I even rushed home today thinking there was a game and there wasn't even one...

 

To be quite honest, I actually feel like more players SHOULD be taking these kind of deals given that quality of life increases much more from minor league salary/MLB minimum, to $2mil/yr.

The tweets from the agents are telling. To agents, maximizing overall salary is their priority since they work off of commission. But to players with only 200K bonus, guaranteed $10mil is a total life changer.

Obviously, great for the Astros since their risk is minimal here.

 

Not if they're expected to be any sort of good.

 

Really? If they are "expected" to be good, they should give up GUARANTEED lifetime money?

The Springer situation, which obviously still sticks in your burr horribly, was different because Springer had already signed a 2.5 million deal when drafted. That is HUGE real life money. I mean I don't know you at all Nick, maybe you are worth millions so your view of all this is different. But for me, i've taught school and coached for 21 years and still haven't made my first million. And having said that, I have a very good life.

So, if i'm a guy in the minors who doesn't have lifetime riches already, and the team offers me 10 million, I should stick to my guns and turn it down, because maybe they are "low balling" me??

Like I say buddy, maybe your background and financial situation makes your view of all of this different than mine, but for me 10 million dollars is a huge amount of money, and if I was offered that and the alternative was maybe i'd make even more, but maybe I would never make anywhere near that . . .i'll take the money...

Saying if they are "expected" to be good is one thing, but "expected" to be something don't take care of the rest of your life

 

I agree with you 100%. The rich would probably disagree, and that is what the agents are . . .rich

 

Very excited that he's joined the team ! All this jr GM baloney on who did what when is just hot air. Let's play ball !

Turn around is happening NOW ! This is the perfect time for Astro burnouts to start to pay attention if you want to go for a long ride. IMO.

 

Well, I wouldn't say all agents are rich. But rich or poor, agents' perspective is more like teams' perspectives. In that they have a large talent pool of players.

There's a huge difference between maximizing overall salary of all an agent's player, and what the player wants. If an agent has 10 players all sign for $1mil apiece, he makes $10mil worth of commisions. If 5 of those players bust and get nearly nothing, but the other 5 succeed and get $5mil apiece, then the agent gets $25mil worth of commissions. For agents, it's important to maximize the overall salary of his entire player pool. Because for him the risk is spread across multiple players. But also in this scenario, half of his players get nearly nothing, when they could've gotten at least some good money for such a high-risk short term profession(don't have much of a Plan B when you've been a baseball player your entire life).

I would say it's less a case of rich vs. poor with agents than it is a case of risk. Agents don't carry the risk of career-ending injuries or drug issues that players do. That's why they would be more aggressive in negotiations because it doesn't affect them as much.

Now, those who ridicule Singleton turning down the contract? You may be right in that it's a rich people thing.

 

So what's the point of expectations then? Why even care about "ranking the farm system" as you did in the other thread if none of these players can actually follow through on their high praise?

The highly ranked farm system players who do well make far more over their arbitration/first free agency years than these contract offers... and then they go on to make even more with their first huge contract.

Getting these players to sign early does have the possibility of driving down overall salaries (even for the "good" players), and that is something that agents and the MLBPA will always fight.

Sure, its "great" for the teams... and smart that they're taking advantage of the players' desire to get promoted by getting them to sign the deal... but for players who project (or simply believe) they're going to be great, their agents should be instructing them to reject the deal.

As I said before, I'm not sure what this says about Singleton's confidence other than that he knew by signing the contract, he'd be promoted. It likely means nothing, but don't get so bent out of shape to believe that these deals are being done out of the goodness of the team's hearts for the poor players.

 

Where in the world did I say it was done out of the goodness of the teams hearts?

As for the "point of expectations", it's just that, expectations. Expectations has never done anything. It's just what people think. Me and you can think all we want that Appel is going to be a stud, or that Folty will be a stud, or whatever. But those guys ain't gonna make a dime because of the expectations

Fact is, if a team offers guaranteed millions now, it's gonna be for less than what a player "could" make if they turn it down, and then the expectations turn into reality. Why on earth would a team offer guaranteed money now if that possibility didn't exist??

For the player, they can take the guaranteed money, or decline it and if they do fulfill expectations, earn even more.

I just don't understand the hatred towards the team for making the offer. It isn't as if the players have to take it, heck very few of them do. So Singleton decided to be a multi-millionaire. Cool. Not sure why that makes the Astros some rogue organization out to screw over the baseball world

 

Its not "hatred" towards the teams... they're using promotion as an additional incentive to sign a far more affordable contract than if the player went on to be "good" and make far more in arbitration/free agency.

I think you're a little over-sensitive.... not once have I ever criticized the Astros for offering these deals... in fact, i've done the exact opposite and praised them for being "innovative" in offering them sooner (i.e. before the player has played a single MLB game) in order to promote them faster.

Sure, stuff can happen... its why insurance companies are as successful/profitable as they are (and btw, if any of these players wanted they could take a policy out against their expected earnings in case they were afraid of injury)... however, if a player is projected/expected to be great, I'm 100% behind them in believing in themselves and going out and earning the potential money they believe they'll get.

Are you mad that Springer didn't take the deal? Cause with each HR he hits, he's basically securing the entire amount of that team-option-full contract in 2 years (which is why the Astros need to come back and negotiate with him and get him signed... it will be more than the original offer, but again likely less than the average arbitration-level settlements for players of Springer's ability). That being said, if I'm the highly touted player, I wait till after year 2 to even consider a buyout of those years.

 

Im not mad nor glad that Springer did or didn't take that deal. What these guys make have no impact on my life

I want the Astros to be great, and hopefully they do everything in their power to use whatever money they have to build the best team they have

And as i've said at least a few times before when you call me sensitive, the people that actually know me would crack up at you making that statement yet again. Not sure why you think i'm sensitive, but if it makes you feel better to call me that, cool

 

Claiming I have "hatred" towards the Astros or claiming (why the hell would I still be here?) or that I have called them out as a "rogue organization out to screw over the baseball world" based on my comments is where that came from... if you want to find another word to describe that, fine. Maybe hyperbole?

 

You just can't get over them keeping Springer down. I appologize for saying anything else about it. I won't say another word on the subject

 

I agree with you and to be honest giving out too many guaranteed contracts to guys who haven't played an inning in the majors could backfire on the team too.

 

I get the same crap even from you...

 

Please... I wouldn't still be here if I "couldn't get over" anything. I still disagree with the stashing (or any stashing), but its not stopping me from watching the games or going to the games.

I think you can't get over the fact that I was more "right" on the subject than ever... right down to the prediction that he would likely struggle to begin his career, and then likely "adjust" and put up better numbers after just a month's worth of AB's (of course, no way I was predicting he'd put up one of the best rookie month's in franchise history).

 

But, you were "right" regardless of what Springer did. If he did well from the start, you'd be saying "see, I told you so". When he struggled, you said "see, I told you so". In what possible scenario regarding Springer's call up would you have been wrong?

 

If he did well from the start, I actually would have credited the extra time in the minors... its just super rare for any player to succeed in their first stint, so either that player is one of the truly special all-time greats (i.e. - Pujols), or the system has him ready to go.

Its why, service time reasons excluded, I felt even a September call up would have benefitted him to get some of those early jitters out (which we now know only would have happened had he signed the deal). When that didn't happen, it was pretty clear that he wouldn't have been on the opening day roster regardless of how he did in spring.

I always compared Springer's possible delayed career path to Berkman's (as unfortunately Lance had real players blocking him at the MLB level on a playoff team)... and Berkman also failed in his first brief stint, and was kept in the minors to start 2000 when he had very little more to prove at AAA.

I'm also tempering my expectations of him as he just had a really hot month... but also benefitted greatly from Altuve being a elite-level leadoff hitter for the first time in his career. Things can change just that fast, and he's going to have struggling stretches as bad as he was when he first came up (although he probably will never be as bad in the OF again).

 

See that's just it, somehow you think it matters who on here is "right" about what we post

Why on earth would I care if someone who posts anonymously on a message board is "right" or not? We apparently live in different worlds, we both obviously care about the Astros, but other than that . . .