Zack Greinke to Donate 1% of Salary to Charity

greinke has agreed to donate 1 pct of yearly salary to dbacks charity

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) December 11, 2015

Thank you to MSN Sports who bring us a little motivation and "feel good" to start out our Wednesday morning. Zack Greinke recently signed a monster deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks worth $206 million over the next six years. For those without a calculator that's roughly $34 million per season thanks to Tony LaRussa, DBacks GM Dave Stewart and Greinke's right arm. Greinke is set for life but that doesn't mean he is done giving back.

Greinke has agreed to give 1% of his salary to the Arizona Diamondbacks charity every single season he is with the team. If I did the math right that will be a $343,000 donation to the charity annually.

MLB Average Salary Tops $4 Million

For the first time in Major League Baseball history the average salary for a MLB player has topped the $4 million mark. The mark is a new record for the league thanks in large part to teams like the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw has the largest average annual value per season with $31 million while his Los Angeles team has the highest payroll in baseball at $270 million. Major League Baseball has had the largest two year growth in more than a decade due in large part to the re-emergence of the Dodgers, the Miami Marlins spending money again and the Yankees being the Yankees and the entire league is benefiting from it.

The average salary for this season heading into the season looks to be $4.25 million according to the Associated Press which is up from $3.95 million in 2014 and $3.65 million in 2013. The last year before free agency was introduced into the game, 1976, the average player was making $50,000 so you can see the steep increase we have seen across the years even with the strike that ended the World Series in 1994. 

Interesting Way to Get Around the Luxury Tax

When teams sign or trade for big time free agents the art of deferring payments is not something new in Major League Baseball but the Max Scherzer contract brought up an interesting aspect of the deferral. As we all know Scherzer signed with Washington for seven years and $210 million with 50% of that money being deferred out over an additional seven seasons. So many times we have seen the Bobby Bonilla’s of the world getting paid millions of dollars for being retired due to deferrals and do not blink an eye but could a team that is looking to get under the luxury tax threshold use this to their advantage?

I found it interesting when Jon Heyman tweeted out that, for luxury tax purposes anyway, the Nats were on the hook for a shade over $191 million rather than $210 million due to the deferral of money. Now while an AAV of $27.29 million is a miniscule discount from $30 million it is a discount nonetheless. Could a team like the Yankees, the Dodgers, the Phillies or any other big market team with staying power financially take advantage of this loophole?

Naturally these deals would have to be reasonable as I am sure MLB and the Player’s Union have to come to terms and agree on them but this could work for New York. With an absolute ton of money coming off the Yankees books after the 2016 and 2017 seasons the Yankees, while employing this strategy, could conceivably still go large with their spending and get under the cap for one season to get the fiscal benefits of the penalty reset.

Whether Rob Manfred and the league would allow this on a large scale remains to be seen but I personally would rather the Yankees be ahead of this curve than behind it. Try it out, all the league can do is continue to show their bias against the team and say no. 

Jon Lester, $25.84 Million in AAV & I’m Not Having Fun Anymore

Breaking News out of New York where reports are circulating that the days of the deep pocked Yankees and endless money supply seem to be over. In the days of The Boss George Steinbrenner would have snatched up Jon Lester just because it would hurt the Boston Red Sox. George operated in the red for many years while owning the Yankees as the team seemed to be his hobby and his passion and not so much his job like his sons portray. Lester earned a $25.84 million AAV for six years with the Chicago Cubs and while that’s a ton and he’s probably not going to be worth anything near that in four or five years, maybe six in the National League who knows, George would have done it.

The days of the hot stove and rumor seasons being fun are over I do believe. In its place are fiscal responsibility and the hopes of austerity after the 2016 and 2017 season when players like Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, Carlos Beltran and CC Sabathia are off the books. These have the potential to be dark times ahead in Yankees land ladies and gentleman and I don’t look forward to it.

Be wary and be warned. 

Most Popular Article of the Week: Marlins & Giancarlo

Marlins and Stanton About To Make History

http://www.thegreedypinstripes.com/2014/11/marlins-and-stanton-about-to-make.html

It's not official yet, but pretty soon Yankees fans can take solace in the fact that their team no longer has the highest paid player in baseball history*.

Jon Heyman was the first to report that the Marlins and Giancarlo Stanton are about to finalize a 13 year contract worth $325 million.

I'd be smiling pretty damn big too if I was about to make that much money.

It's hard to believe a team with a payroll under $50 million last season will pay one of their players $25 million (or that's what the average annual value of the deal would be), but if anybody in the league deserves that type of payday it's Giancarlo.

Stanton finished the 2014 season with a batting line of .288/.395/.555, to go along with 37 home runs. It was recently announced that he finished 2nd in National League Most Valuable Award voting behind Clayton Kershaw.

It's being said the not only will Stanton get the largest contract in baseball history, but his deal will include an opt-out clause. So the chances of seeing Giancarlo in pinstripes is not dead. Although, I'm afraid that it will be after the eighth year of his contract, when he'll be 35 years old and on the decline.


*Unfortunately, those same Yankees fans still have to come to terms with their team paying Alex Rodriguez $61 million over the next three years for next to nothing. 

The Last Time the Yankees Acquired a Texas Rangers Shortstop

News broke yesterday on the blog that the New York Yankees would at least kick the tires on acquiring Texas Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus in a trade this winter. It is no secret that the Yankees are in the market for a shortstop and it’s also no mystery why most of the rumors regarding the position have been via trades. The free agent market is dry at the position and so it the farm system. Do we not remember the last time the Yankees acquired a shortstop from the Texas Rangers after the team had a change of heart after handing out a lofty contract?

The Yankees acquired Alex Rodriguez from the Rangers before the 2004 season for Alfonso Soriano and others while Texas kicked in a ton of cash. Truth be told that was a great deal for the Yankees as Texas was paying a huge chunk of Rodriguez’s salary while New York was getting MVP caliber seasons and awards out of their new third baseman. It wasn’t until A Rod opted out during the World Series and subsequently signed a new 10 year deal that the deal went sour but I digress, should the Yankees really bail out the Texas Rangers once again? In a word, and reluctantly, yes.

Basically Andrus is being paid for the eight eight seasons through the 2022 season at $120 million, or an AAV of $15 million. If the Yankees can pay a 40 year old Derek Jeter $17 million then I see Andrus as an absolute steal at a $2 million savings. This is before Texas presumably eats some salary to help the trade move along. Andrus is 27 years old and while he has his question marks and concerns attached to him honestly, who doesn’t?

Sure you could give Stephen Drew a one year pillow contract but then what? The shortstop free agent market looks worse next season then it does this season. The Yankees best and closest shortstop prospects are in A Ball and won’t be ready by 2016. A fresh team with a new atmosphere can do wonders for a players especially when they are playing for the New York Yankees. I don’t necessarily worry about him coming into camp 15 lbs. overweight last spring and I don’t worry that he is just a .272 career hitter. Andrus would make this team exponentially better and is probably the best shortstop that has been made available this winter, including Troy Tulowitzki, and if New York can snag him for a reasonable prospects deal I would do it in a heartbeat.

Andrus does not change the whole dynamic of the team and the middle of the order like a Hanley Ramirez would but he would inject speed on the base paths, flexibility in the field, and a gritty average at the plate. The Yankees are building a team with all three of those components and Andrus fits all three of those components, add the fact that New York would get his entire prime and can move him to second or third base if need be by the end of the contract this seems like a no-brainer to me. Get it done. 

Dodgers Extend Kershaw, Likely Out On Tanaka

The Los Angeles Dodgers got their man in Clayton Kershaw and will likely lead to the Yankees getting their man in Masahiro Tanaka. The Dodgers extended Kershaw seven years and the deal is worth $215 million. The deal includes an opt out clause after just five seasons, Kershaw's age 30 season conveniently. Surely this has to take the Dodgers out of the sweepstakes for Tanaka doesn't it? Kershaw's AAV is $30.714 and how they could find room to bring in Tanaka as well is beyond me. If they do, and write this down, I am buying the domain for the Greedy Dodgers and I am branching out because that would be absolutely insane. Good news for the Dodgers and probably better news for the Yankees today.

Derek Jeter's New Contract Explained, Finally

It is official thanks to Joel Sherman that Derek Jeter's new contract will indeed cost the New York Yankees money on their $189 million luxury tax AAV and not save them money. The original deal had Jeter simply accepted his player option would have been for a $10,750,000 AAV and this new deal is worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $12,810,000. The Yankees were not concerned with AAV and the luxury tax threshold but more worried about making Derek happy and not having an awkward or drawn out negotiation like the last time Derek was a free agent.

Derek's new contract also includes incentives which could push the deal higher including $4,000,000 for a MVP award and $2,000,000 if he finishes anywhere between second and sixth place. Also Derek could make an additional $1,500,000 if he wins the Silver Slugger award, $500,000 for winning the ALCS MVP, another $500,000 for winning the World Series MVP award, and finally $500,000 more for winning the gold glove.

Now that we have that settled we can move on to qualifying offers...

Conflicting Reports On The New Derek Jeter Deal

Source: Given how Jeter's old/new contracts are assessed, with factors such as escalator clause, it actually increases his AAV by about $2m.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) November 1, 2013

All of you jumping up and down that the new Derek Jeter deal will save up nearly $2,000,000 on the Hal Cap with AAV you now have conflicting reports. Buster Olney on his twitter account says "source" are reporting that this new deal will actually increase the Yankees AAV salary by $2,000,000. So the Yankees once again are bidding against themselves and this is how we are going to do business before we go talk to Robinson Cano, oh boy hold on to your hats.

Marchand: Brian McCann Could Be A Possibility

The news I have been waiting this whole winter for has finally come down the pipes, the Yankees could have an interest in Brian McCann and they could sign him! Wait, it's only the middle of October and the Hot Stove hasn't even started yet? Crap this is going to be a long winter, anyway back to McCann.

Andrew Marchand reported that Brian McCann could get as much as $100,000,000 over six seasons this year in free agency, which I personally think is a stretch but not by as much as you would think, and that team may be the Yankees. Andrew notes that if the Alex Rodriguez suspension is held up and his $25,000,000 ($27,500,000 AAV) is off the books for 2014 including the $6,000,000 that he will not be getting for passing Willie Mays on the All Time home run list that the Yankees could have the money to sign both McCann and Cano and stay under the $189,000,000 luxury tax threshold, something I have been saying for a month or more just as an FYI.

Alex Rodriguez,Mark Teixeira, The Astros, And AAV

We have all heard the term "AAV" used a lot since the new collective bargaining agreement changed the ways we look at salary. Instead of a yearly salary in a contract that can be back loaded or front loaded the new CBA simply looks at the average annual value of the contract and this AAV is the actual number that is counted against the luxury tax and such. Now that we have that out of the way I thought this little tidbit was interesting concerning Alex Rodriguez and the Houston Astros.

The highest paid Astros player in 2013 will be Wandy Rodriguez at $5 million, which is very inconvenient for the Astros because he is now a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates. With that said the Astros team salary is sitting at a little less than $25 million this season including Wandy's salary. There are twenty players, including two Yankees Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez, making more in one season than the entire Houston Astros team. Here is the complete list if you do not include Wandy Rodriguez's salary.

Alex Rodriguez, $29M

Johan Santana, $25.5M

Cliff Lee, $25M
Mark Teixeira, $23.25M
C.C. Sabathia, $23M
Prince Fielder, $23M
Joe Mauer, $23M
Tim Lincecum, $22.25M
Adrian Gonzalez, $21.86M
Miguel Cabrera, $21M
Vernon Wells, $21M
Carl Crawford, $20.86M
Matt Cain, $20.83M
Cole Hamels, $20.5M
Matt Kemp, $20.25M
Felix Hernandez, $20.2M
Justin Verlander, $20.1M
Roy Halladay, $20M
Ryan Howard, $20M
Barry Zito, $20M