In re Royce Ring
“Once again, we come to the season of overreaching agents rejecting wholly reasonable contracts. Once again, it is time when people who don’t know better start acting like Scott Boras and requesting outrageous contracts for a [young player with a mediocre track record]. In this case we have a reasonable offer and an unreasonable agent trying to extort more money in spite of performance and comparables. Once again, it is time to put the naughty agents in their place and to tell them to stop being douche bags.”
In re Manny Ramirez, Atlanta vote in favor of Colorado (2008).
A.
The Offers
New York Offered:
5 years 5.75 mil per 1 mil for .220 avg or better 600k for era of 2.50 or under era 600 for obp of .250 or lower 500k for Slg of .280 or better and 20k for every save and 1k for every strike out and a 6.5 mil SB Yankees would like to let Ring know that Izzy is not in consdieration for closers job if Rivera goes down that its between him and Rowland-Smith and would also like to point out that Ryan Wagenr the closer for the Rockies next year to 3 years at 3 mil and Billy Wagner(better than Ring) took 2 years at 1 mil also the Yankees would like to point out that Ring is doing better in than what his OBP AVG ERA and SLG % are right now (misspellings and grammar in original)
tinyurl.com/nt9tpAtlanta would like to point out that the offending agent said that this was a “good offer.”
Id.The Unreasonable Agent Wanted:
Less years, for two paydays.
B.
The Performance
There has been a Jekyll and Hyde side with Royce Ring. Over his major league career, Ring has a 4.38 ERA, 15-13 W/L record, and three of twelve in save opportunities (that is nine blown saves for you who are math deficient). He has a 2.75:1 K:BB ratio, and roughly, a 1.40 WHIP. Those numbers are decent, but not really those of one who is demanding the moon with a contract. However, this last season Ring has posted a 2.52 ERA, 3-5 W/L record and blew a save. He had a 4:1 K:BB ratio and a WHIP of around 1.00. Which is an excellent season for any reliever.
C.
The Previous Chedda
Royce Ring made the league minimum of $300,000 for four years. Thus, this is his first real payday.
D.
The Arguments
The New York Yankees contend that there offer is a fair offer for a reliever who has been inconsistent in his four years in the majors and is a good balance between cost, performance, and ability. The agent contends that he should get more paydays and a chance to close.
E.
Analysis
There are a few things to consider here; 1) the money, 2) the closing, 3) the paydays, and 4) the competition. I will first deal with the closing and the competition as they are intertwined with each other. The main competitors for Royce Ring are Mariano Rivera, Ryan Rowland-Smith, and Jason Isringhausen. Rivera is signed for at least one more year with a mutual option for a second year. Rowland-Smith is signed with a league minimum contract for three years. Isringhausen was recently re-signed to a three year extension. New York made it clear that if Rivera went down that Ring was the next person in line to be the closer. There is no way to contradict that statement and thus it has to be taken at face value. He will get his chance to close more likely than not. Further more, one only need to look at Rings past to see the danger in using Rowland-Smith as a closer. Ring has three completely mediocre years as a reliever in the majors before he stepped up. While Rowland-Smith has a great year, there is the danger of regression. While we believe that Rowland-Smith is the superior pitcher to Ring, there is no reason to believe that New York is lying when they say that Ring is the first option for closer if Rivera goes down.
The money is fair and both sides agree to this. The Yankees closer would be making less than Ring if this contract were to be accepted. Rivera made $5,000,000 this past season and will do so for next season and possibly the season after. Some other closers* (as of the file before the final regular season file) money and years:
Jorge Julio, 27 (Bal.) - $4m/3 years remaining
Jason Frasor, 29 (Tor.) - $6.5/3 years remaining
Scott Williamson, 33 (T.B.) - $1m/2 years remaining
Brandon Looper, 32 (Det.) - $6m/2 years remaining
Joe Nathan, 32 (Tex.) - $6.5m/1 year remaining
Julio Mateo, 29 (Sea.) - $3m/2 years remaining
B.J. Ryan, 31 (Fla.) - $5m/2 years remaining
Octavio Dotel, 33 (Mon.) - $7.5m/1 year remaining
Oscar Villarreal, 25 (Phi.) - $3.5m/3 years remaining**
Jose Valverde, 27 (Hou.) - $5m/2 years remaining
Keith Foulke, 34 (Mil.) - $5m/2 years remaining
Randy Choate, 31 (Col.) - $3m/4 years remaining**
LaTroy Hawkins, 34 (S.D.) - $5m/1 year remaining
Rob Nenn, 37 (S.F.) - $5.5m/1 year remaining
* Some closers were omitted such as those with league minimum contracts and others who were outliers or had some other deficiency.
**Re-signed this past season.
So, comparing the offer of $5.75m, Ring would be making above what established closers make. Adding in signing bonus it would be more. This is not something to be taken lightly as the New York Mets did when he voted (In addition, NYM shoddy analysis, hell, any analysis would have been fine, even faulty analysis, is a bit disappointing). When deciding if a contract should be accepted you should look at comparables and clearly, the offer would put Ring in the upper echelon of money even though he isn’t a closer.
Finally, the Agent indicated that Ring wanted the ability to get an additional payday. This is completely faulty on many levels. The first of which is that the second someone turns 32 they can’t sign an additional contract. He would get another contract and it will be based upon his performance on these last five years. He would get a second payday. Looking at the closers listed above, there is not reason to think that Ring would not get at least $5m, if not more.
This leads to the final faulty conclusion of the agent, that Ring would get more money in two or three years. Ring, as should be agreed by all involved is a very nice reliever, he could even be an excellent closer. The basic fact is that while Rivera is on the roster, Ring will be a middle reliever, a well compensated middle reliever. If he were to come up on the free agent market in three years, the odds of him getting a more generous contract than what he is getting now is slim to none. He just does not have the track record, or the projections to warrant the money of an elite closer. The offer that New York made was more than generous and is probably superior to what one could get on the open market.
F.
The Decision
Thusly, Atlanta votes for Ring to accept the offer of New York. Ring is a middle reliever being paid the money of a closer. For this generosity of New York asked for additional years which is completely reasonable. Ring may feel like “that he would be vastly underpaid for what he feels he is worth,” however, that is completely irrelevant. Ring had visions of pie in the sky and was unreasonable in what he was asking. He was asking to be paid closers money knowing that he was going to be a middle reliever. Further more, he was going to possibly get a chance to close and finally, he was going to get a second payday. In fact, with New York’s offer, he was getting everything he asked for. New York’s offer was a good, reasonable offer and should have been accepted and someone with Ring’s ability should have laughed all the way to the bank with the money.
Addendum:
For all contracts in the future, saying that they didn't offer what X player wanted isn't enough. This being the third, the previous times we have done this, the offending agent has asked for something completely unreasonable. That is why this committee is in place. So the justification of, he didn't offer is a completely stupid answer to give.