I'm sure MLB will think that players like Tucker would not be able to be signed by teams like the Dodgers and would go to the Pirates instead. Sounds good in theory but I wonder how deferred payments would work in that equation. Teams that needs to add payroll may frontload a contract for a year or so to players while teams that need to shed would still defer.
Deferring payments has no actual impact on anything in terms of MLB salaries or player earnings. The teams still have to put the money in interest-bearing accounts and the players end up with the same thing in the end. If they defer money, they just get a bigger number of inflation-adjusted dollars down the line. It doesn't help teams save money and it doesn't earn players extra money. The main impact is that players (1) can't do stupid things with the money and lose it today and (2) they get to say they made more money than they actually do, which help players save face when they don't get contracts as large as they hoped.
Yup - it just counts in current $ terms. So if Ohtani is getting $30MM in 2050 for his 2026 earnings, they'd see how much that is worth in 2026 and that's how much they count it as. And that's how the much the Dodgers have to put in a savings account that will grow to $30MM by the time he has to be paid. It's effectively just forced savings.
Did't wanna spam gameday or Astros season 2026 with lot of offtopic. Might be helpful in big picture long term planning if AL West would have strong team(s) above .500 like atleast 10 games like 4 other divisions. Would be clearer to see what this team is. We are in the same bunch with Twins, Royals, Baltimore, Mets and Giants. We win games now and then. Astros are gonna get deeper in crap if Dana gets green light to just fight for his job regardless what comes after 2026. Atleast we are not the Cubs, who are at .500 now but have about 75m tied to Bregman, Swanson and Hoerner in 2029. Miracle that Hoyer has't been fired. At the same time Brewers signed 8y deal for Venezuelan (int.signing 2022) prospect only 31m guaranteed total. Kid has been tutored by stud catcher Contreras for 2 years as was Chourio. Chourio has about 8ish WAR so far during his contract, paid 9m in 2028 and the highest guaranteed 17m in 2031, all deals have options too so they can exercise and trade if healthy. They also signed earlier US kid named Pratt (6th round pick 2023) for 8y 50m guaranteed with options in the end. I watch too much baseball so this went off the cliff again . Would be great to see some huge suprise star from int.signing for Astros again. Im not sure if scouting or developing is the stumbling block these days or is it just lack of high picks and international pool money.
