This is the online version of our daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Subscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning. Here’s Blake Schuster.
April 17, 2015 may go down as one of the more consequential days in recent MLB history.
That day the Chicago Cubs called up third baseman Kris Bryant to make his Major League debut — a full two weeks later than it should’ve happened. The Cubs kept Bryant off their Opening Day roster so he couldn’t accrue the 171 days of service time needed to count for a full year in the majors. The sandbagging assured the Cubs an extra year before Bryant was eligible for free agency.
It was right there in the rule book and it was deplorable. Bryant went on to win Rookie of the Year that season, followed by MVP and a World Series the next year. All while the Cubs kneecapped his earning power.
April 2015 probably wasn’t the first time the general public learned about service time manipulation, but the most egregious case in league history helped the term breakthrough into the mainstream. Even casual fans knew this was a dirty trick. Clubs could (and still do) try to explain away their actions by saying they want a player to get in rhythm in the minor leagues before coming up two weeks later, but everyone could see what was really happening. It was simple greed keeping players who could help a team win from a roster spot.
It’s hard not to think about Bryant when you see videos circulating of high-profile prospects learning they made the Opening Day roster for their respective ballclubs. The New York Yankees made Anthony Volpe their youngest shortstop since Derek Jeter’s debut. The St. Louis Cardinals are breaking camp with hard-hitting 20-year-old Jordan Walker on the roster. The Milwaukee Brewers chose to start the season with Brice Turang and Gus Varland instead of sending them back down for no reason.
Each of those videos are a delight to watch — even if the fake-out is the oldest manager trick in the book. More importantly, this is what is supposed to happen. Players come into spring training, bust their behinds and prove they belong by winning the job.
And that happened because the most recent collective bargaining agreement between the MLB and players union made it more worthwhile for clubs. As ESPN’s Jesse Rogers noted the CBA now mandates:
- No matter when a player comes up from the minors, he’ll be awarded a full year of service if he finishes first or second in Rookie of the Year voting.
- A new system put in place now rewards teams with extra draft picks if they promote their top prospects on Opening Day. A player who receives a full year of service time and finishes in the top three in Rookie of the Year voting or top five in MVP/Cy Young voting will earn his team an extra draft pick coming after the first round.
- A new pre-arbitration bonus pool allows the best players in a class to boost their pay significantly through on-field performance while still in the early arbitration years of their contract. The top 100 players via a WAR-based formula and the end-of-year award winners will split up $50 million annually.
All of that to convince teams to roster a player who can immediately help them win. Major League Baseball still has plenty of problems, but service time manipulation is (very) slowly but (somewhat) surely becoming less of one.
Imagine it. A team doing their best to win starting on Opening Day. What a concept!
Quick Hits: New NFL mock draft! … Women’s Final Four is set … Bronny’s dunk … and more.
— Here’s Christian D’Andrea’s latest NFL mock draft, with four QBs going in the first four picks.
— The women’s NCAA tournament is down to its final four and South Carolina has history on its side.
— LeBron James had just one complaint about his son Bronny’s unreal windmill dunk.
— Sergio Romo had one final appearance for the Giants before retiring … but he got a pitch clock violation in the process.