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On the surface the headline of Gregory Polanco turning down a seven year, $25 million dollar deal would cause many people question the advice he got from his agent or friends around him. Below the surface of the years and amount of money, its very obvious why an elite prospect of Polanco’s stature would turn down this type of deal and why the Pirates would push so aggressively for this deal.
by Michael Hanley
Pittsburgh was trying to follow the trend of other teams who had the same desire: have their top prospects sign a large contract to then get a discount on those future years of their careers. Its a cost cutting move that has and continues to be scoffed at by players, managers and front office executives of some teams. By keeping Polanco down in Triple A for a while longer the team can save the Pirates an estimated millions of dollars that would have gone to him, but instead now stay in their pockets for other uses.
In an industry that is stocked full of money and teams that make and are worth hundreds of millions of dollars, skimping out on a couple of extra million going to your top prospect seems petty and makes no sense whatsoever.
It also could down the road give that player a negative view of the organization and create a desire to leave when free agency comes up for him. If that were to play out, the player goes to another team, gets a fair deal and becomes a star for them. That team who tried to limit his potential earnings and left him in the minor leagues for a longer period will be left in the dust without a big time prospect to turn to next. As we know in baseball, finding a bonafide superstar is not exactly an exact science and they don’t grow on trees. It becomes a lose-lose situation for that team that could take years to recover from.
In an odd way, this practice punished those players who say no thanks to the front loaded contract put before them. Teams are able to keep these players down in the minors for a longer period of time, further eroding one of their first years of free agency and restricting their earnings at the same time. Its an issue that continues to only grow in scope and effect more prospects as each draft class comes into these organization’s minor league affiliates.
Another example of a prospect who got caught in his net of service time manipulation was Astro’s elite prospect George Springer. He was offered a multi year deal by Houston during spring training, similar to Gregory Polanco. When Springer turned down the deal, the Astros decided to keep him in the minor leagues for a few more weeks, which pushed his free agency back a full year, essentially punishment for not caving and signing a very team friendly deal.
Prospects like Polanco and Springer are smart to not sign these deals and be locked into this organizations for nearly a decade and limit how much money they can make. If they become a big time sluggers in the next five years or so, then they will deserve to be paid a big contract and make as much as they can. There is no good reason for them to have to sacrifice future money because the team wants to be cheap when it comes to payroll and salaries. These players only have a certain amount of years at the top of their game to produce and make their money that they will need to last them for the rest of their lives. By continuing this flawed practice, it will only mean that some of the brightest future stars will be saddled being in the minor leagues, instead of being able to showcase their talents and impact a major league ballclub at an earlier stage in their career.
