Dodgers, Angels can afford to wait on signing players - Los Angeles Times

Links (3)

Locking Up Young Stars: Martin, Kendrick, Kotchman, Pedroia
Published 5/19/2008 by Tim Dierkes at MLB Rumors - MLBTradeRumors.com
Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times takes a look at the spate of recent long-term deals for young stars.  Talking to different players and agents, Shaikin found no consensus on whether such contracts are a good idea. Some folks (including Shaikin and Pat Gillick, apparently) believe it's wise for richer clubs to go year-to-year to avoid getting stuck with a bad contract.  ...

Don't Hold Your Breath on a Fielder Long Term Deal
Published 5/19/2008 by Matt (noreply@blogger.com) at Chuckie Hacks
Interesting story in the LA Times about the wave of young players signing long term deals (a la Ryan Braun). Brewers owner Mark Attanasio is quoted in the story, talking about how it is to the advantage of the big market clubs to not sign their young players to long term deals, as opposed to what Milwaukee did with Braun. "You have a lot of advantages when you're a bigger-revenue club," said Mark Attanasio, the Brewers' owner. "You can afford to wait." Here's why: Teams control a player for six years, with salaries determined solely by the club for the first three years and subject to salary arbitration for the final three. Then a player can try free agency. "You have to get to them early," ...

In the News (5/19)
Published 5/20/2008 by Jared (noreply@blogger.com) at Right Field Bleachers
- The big news of the day is probably that the "news" that was rumored to be happening never went down... Yost is still the manager of the Milwaukee Brewers. Melvin says there is no truth to the rumor that Yost would be fired: "I have too much respect for newspapers and news stations for them to respond to a blog for their news. When they do so, they lose their ...