Harper and Machado

[Edgy MD]

Maybe it isn't clear what I've tried to write. I DID NOT propose putting 11 elite players (if there even can be said to be 11 elite players) on the market at once.



I DID propose freeing young players from the artificial and anti-competitive restraints of the reserve clause. The idea that the total amount of money spent on Brandon Nimmo and Bryce Harper would go down if Brandon Nimmo was free to negotiate with any team doesn't hold. Of course the total would go up. Maybe Harper gets 10-15% less because one fewer team is pursuing him. Maybe. But Nimmo's goes up by several hundred percent.



Supply relative to demand doesn't change. The market may be flooded in the first year, but even then, all those newly free guys will have created a void on their team — a commensurate surge in demand. And that first year is only the first year.



The only thing that changes is freedom. Look what rookies get paid out of school in other sports. If players could get that sort of scratch out of baseball, they'd pick it over football every time.



So now, they're proposing changing the rules to allow two-sport players to get MLB contracts, and make much more money. Just allow everybody to.

[nymr83]

Nimmo would get more money in your scenario, but that money would come from somewhere. Maybe Harper, maybe amateur signing bonuses - no reason to give a 16 year old in Venezuela a million dollars if you lose control of him at 19 or 21. I believe that 'somewhere' is ultimately going to be other baseball players because I believe each team/owner has a budget that they arent raising if the rules change.



And none of that means I favor the current system, I just disagree over the likely effects of ending it.

[Edgy MD]

=nymr83 post_id=3742 time=1551666600 user_id=54]
Nimmo would get more money in your scenario, but that money would come from somewhere. Maybe Harper, maybe amateur signing bonuses - no reason to give a 16 year old in Venezuela a million dollars if you lose control of him at 19 or 21.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Harper has a foot contusion and has yet to get a hit this spring, waiting so long to sign has put him behind schedule, and he may not be ready for opening day