I had a kickass lede regarding WAR and other new analytic statistics. But, your recent WAR discussion kind of pre-empted that. So, I put those paragraphs aside and give you this condensed version. Sorry. The delay led to the comments section growing much larger than intended.
WAR like ALL stats is not predictive. It is a historical representation of baseball stuff that has already happened. Unlike older stats that are pretty straightforward about what they convey, WAR is one of many new age stats that are a compilation of actual data and some additional stuff as baseball nerds try to come up with a single number to define the sport and compare its players.
Big week for baseball. The winter meetings in Nashville start on Monday. The Draft Lottery will be held on Wednesday. The Rule 5 Draft will be held on Thursday.
Hopefully, the players who are slowing down the free agent market reach agreements this week and release the logjam. Otherwise, we are looking at another slow news week.
Summary of Available Money – over the 2024 CBT threshold of $237,000,000 (for 40 players). Total Costs so far are $247,633,771. Tax rate of 50% on $17,633,771. Further penalties – 62% for exceeding $257M, 95% over $277M, and 110% over $297M.
- Sunk Costs – $20,916,667 for player benefits, estimated salary for the 14 minor league players, and zero-to-three-year player bonus pool.
- Guaranteed– $208,224,285 in real salary, $202,837,104 in Luxury Tax salary tied up in 14 contracts for 14 contracts – Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, Aaron Nola, JT Realmuto, Zack Wheeler, Nick Castellanos, Kyle Schwarber, Taijuan Walker, Jose Alvarado, Matt Strahm, Seranthony Dominguez, Jake Cave, Dylan Covey, and Garrett Stubbs.
- Player Options – $1,000,000 for Dcott Kingery’s buyout, no other options.
- Arbitration Eligible Players – $17,700,000 for 5 players – Ranger Suarez, Alec Bohm, Gregory Soto, Jeff Hoffman, and Edmundo Sosa. Cave, Covey, and Stubbs settled and Josh Fleming was non-tendered and elected free agency.
- Pre-Arbitration Players – $5,180,000 for 7 players at league minimum from among Andrew Bellatti, Connor Brogdon, Orion Kerkering, Yunior Marte, McKinley Moore, Nick Nelson, Luis Ortiz, Cristopher Sanchez, Rafael Marchan, Rodolfo Castro, Kody Clemens, Darick Hall, Bryson Stott, Weston Wilson, Brandon Marsh, Simon Muzziotti, Christian Pache, Johan Rojas, and Michael Mercado.
