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What Super 2 means for top prospects
In his column yesterday on Pittsburgh Pirates top prospect Gregory Polanco turning down a long-term deal, Yahoo! Sports baseball columnist Jeff Passan explains the whole Super 2 cut-off and process.
Feb 24, 2014; Jupiter, FL, USA; St. Louis Cardinals player Oscar Taveras (77) during photo day at Roger Dean Stadium. Image Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
While Polanco is not the first top prospect to be offered a long-term deal while in the minors, he most certainly will not be the last. It was only recently reported that the Houston Astros made a similar offer to George Springer. As Passan reports, when Springer turned it down, the Astros decided to start him off in the minor leagues in order to delay his free agency by one season.
The top 22 percent of each service class are designated Super 2 players, meaning they are granted arbitration – and therefore a higher salary – for four seasons instead of three. By keeping a player in the minor leagues until after the Super 2 cut-off, which is usually in early to mid-June, teams estimate a savings of millions of dollars.
That’s what the whole Super 2 thing is all about. The delay in service time means another year under team control before a player is allowed to file for free agency and seek a larger contract.
Passan is exactly right when he says this:
Whether it is tying Super 2s to performance – it makes sense that the best players should earn money quicker – or some other change, it’s obvious service-time manipulation harms the game by ensuring teams aren’t rostering their 25 best players.
It’s one of the reasons why so many St. Louis Cardinals fans are calling on general manager John Mozeliak to make the call and promote top prospect Oscar Taveras from Memphis.
It’s not just Passan that is writing about the Super 2 service time but also Fox Sports senior writer and MLB Network insider Ken Rosenthal, who took a look at the delayed arrivals only yesterday.
Feb 24, 2014; Jupiter, FL, USA; St. Louis Cardinals player Oscar Taveras (77) during photo day at Roger Dean Stadium. Image Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
Rosenthal is defintely not a fan of the system.
I dislike the system, which often discourages teams — for unspoken financial reasons — from using their best 25 players. And frankly, such roster manipulation is becoming more difficult to defend with clubs signing many players long-term before they even reach arbitration.
He’s not alone with a dislike of the system as it is right now. Rosenthal examines a number of prospects, who some feel are ready for the big leagues right now.
The problem, Rosenthal notes, with the Cardinals is that Taveras is not going to replace either Allen Craig or Matt Holliday in the outfield–unless Matt Adams gets traded, which seems unlikely. Craig is signed long-term and even though he’s not exactly hitting at the moment, the team is unlikely to trade him. This leaves not right or left field but center field as Taveras’ home for the long-term. The problem with that? The team has three center fielders on their big league roster right now in Peter Bourjos, Jon Jay, and Randal Grichuk. Grichuk would be the most likely candidate to be demoted to Memphis when Taveras gets the call unless the team wants some power on the bench.