Some minor league news and notes:
40 man roster
We’ve talked here already about the Tigers need to trim the 40 man roster and the need to protect players ahead of the rule 5 draft coming up in December. The 40 man will be set initially tomorrow (things could of course change between now and the actual rule 5 draft due to trades/free agent signings).
With that in mind Tigers 40 man roster candidate Scot Drucker really wants to be on a big league roster next year and is offering to pay the the $50,000 rule 5 draft fee for any team that takes him:
@utbaseball30 Deadline for the 40 man rosters tonight, remember to any team that may want me if Im not protected, Ill cover the 50k in the Rule V draft
Not sure if Drucker would look to recoup the $25K if he were returned to the Tigers.
Ronnie Bourquin
The Tigers 2nd round pick from 2006 is eligible for the rule 5 draft. But his status as a prospect was already in doubt as things haven’t gone the way either he or the Tigers would have liked. He finally started to hit in A ball this year before being pushed to Erie where he struggled. Now he’s been suspended 50 games for testing positive for amphetamines.
AFL Championship Game
The Peoria Javelinas will be playing in the AFL Championship game this Saturday. See AFL strike out leader Robbie Weinhardt and other Tigers on the MLB Network and MLB.tv. The game is at 2:45 ET. By that point OSU should be rolling over Michigan so if you need a diversion, see a couple guys who could be helping the Tigers next year finish up their fall season.
Pretty unbelievable that Drucker would cover the $50,000. He must really, really, really want to pitch in the bigs. Can’t say I blame him.
Most teams probably wouldn’t take him up on the offer. Let’s say the odds are only 20% that a team would take him up on having to write that check, well then the expected value of his offer is only worth $10k (and 0 dollars before he is actually selected), or only $5k if you figure at 10% odds. A pretty small price to pay to pitch in the bigs. I’d have recommended to him to offer double the amount.
” well then the expected value of his offer is only worth $10k (and 0 dollars before he is actually selected), or only $5k if you figure at 10% odds. A pretty small price to pay to pitch in the bigs”
Well, no. The odds are 100% that it would cost him 50K to pitch in the bigs. The odds are, your scenarios, 4-1 or 9-1 that nobody will take him up on his offer. The odds are 0% that his offer will cost him 5K.
Exactly.
How do you figure that Coleman, what’s the basis for your certainty that he’d have to pay it?
The odds that he’d get paid less than $400K if he stuck on a major league roster would also be zero, so it’s not a big risk for him and not a great incentive for the team. If he gets picked, it’s not going to be because of this offer.
Hmm. I wonder if his offer is even legitimate. In effect he is offering to work below scale, which might not make the Players Union too happy.
It’s not that he’s offering to work for cheaper. A team that claims a player in the rule 5 has to pay a 50k fee to the team losing the player. He’s just saying that he’d pick up that charge.
Are you aware of any case in which a team didn’t claim a player they wanted because they didn’t want to pay a 50K fee? Doesn’t seem like a lot of money for a big-league club.
Yeah, $50k seems like a joke relative to the 25-man roster spot.
Yeah, but the net effect is that he’ll be $50k cheaper than he’d otherwise be and the $50k would come directly out of his pocket. It’s not the kind of precedent MLBPA would like.
I can see how this could be construed as Drucker offering to pay a $50k kickback to get put on a ML roster.
Desperate times call for desperate measures, I guess.
Catholic Charities of Ventura County is hosting a Celebrity Roast of Baseball’s Hall of Fame Manager George “Sparky” Anderson on Sunday, December 6, 2009 at the Westlake Village Inn. (in Westlake Village, CA) Legendary manager Sparky Anderson will be “mildly seared” by a panel of friends, including Angels’ manager Mike Scioscia and former Dodger manager, Tommy Lasorda. Events starts 5 PM and Tickets are $250 each. For more info contact John Rak 805 279-8484.