Quicker Free Agency

Travis Sawchik revives the idea of restricted free agency replacing arbitration:

Restricted free agency was actually proposed by the owners in November of 1994, a subject I visited nearly a year ago.

In the midst of the players’ 1994-95 strike, the owners not only briefly created a salary cap but abolished arbitration, replacing it with restricted free agency. Murray Chass reported on that series of events on Nov. 27, 1994 for the New York Times.

If major league clubs don’t like the selection of pitchers currently available as free agents, they need only be patient. More are on the way. When the owners, as expected, declare an impasse and implement their salary cap proposal, they will also eliminate salary arbitration, establish a salary scale for players in their first four years in the major leagues and create a new class of free agents — players who have been in the majors at least four years but fewer than six… Clubs will have the right of first refusal, meaning a club can retain a player by matching an offer from another club. With most of the best new free agents, offers from other clubs most likely only will drive up the price for their own clubs because their clubs will do what’s necessary to keep them.

It’s a fascinating development but one that was never implemented.

This would be a step in the right direction, but the union’s ultimate goal should be universal free agency. Limiting the supply of free agents was a good idea when the owners and general managers operated in a pre-sabermetric world. Now that almost team can value players fairly well, it’s wrong to allow young talent to subsidize declining players. Let these men make their money while they are young and at their peak.

from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/2Euqi68