No more BBWAA award if player has contract bonus clause starting in 2013
stown
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in Sports Talk
This should have been done a long time ago, since most of the awards are BS anways..
Linkypoo
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Starting in 2013, players banned for awards if they have bonus clauses
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Associated Press
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Baseball players no longer would receive bonuses for winning the Most Valuable Player, Cy Young or rookie awards bestowed by the Baseball Writers' Association of America under a rule passed Wednesday.
Starting in 2013, players with such bonus clauses in their contracts will be banned from receiving votes for any BBWAA awards. Hall of Fame voting is not affected, nor are manager of the year or non-BBWAA awards such as the World Series MVP or Gold Glove.
"When we first started giving out these awards it was just to honor somebody. You got a trophy, there was no monetary reward that went with it," BBWAA secretary-treasurer Jack O'Connell said. "I honestly don't think people vote with that in mind. But the attachment of a bonus to these awards creates a perception that we're trying to make these guys rich."
The vote was 41-21 on the rule, which was brought up by The Associated Press several years ago. The BBWAA appointed a committee to discuss the rule with the commissioner's office and the players' association.
"We've been on record for the past 20 years as being opposed to bonus clauses related these awards," O'Connell said. "The idea behind this was to toughen our stance against these clauses."
Many veterans have award clauses in their contracts, some for honors bestowed by The Sporting News and Baseball America, others for postseason awards given by Major League Baseball, such as World Series MVP. Some are small -- at least relative to the multi-million salaries -- but others are worth millions.
New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez earned a $1.5 million bonus for winning the AL MVP in 2007, and Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling has a clause in his agreement for next year that would pay him $1 million if he receives even a single third-place vote for the Cy Young Award.
"The Schilling thing is disturbing because he doesn't even have to win," said O'Connell, noting that Schilling joked about a kickback to the voter if he collected the bonus. "That's something that none of us finds very funny."
Only a handful of players have contracts that cover 2013, when the rule would take effect. The lag time was designed to give agents and teams an opportunity to adapt to the ban.
David Schwartz, whose clients include Rudy Seanez and Josh Paul, said the rule would benefit the owners and hurt mid- or low-level players who perform better than expected.
"It seems like ownership put the writers up to this," Schwartz said. "It seems like the real beneficiaries here are owners who don't have to pay bonuses to players who've had good years. Players who have award-winning seasons ought to be rewarded for it."
Linkypoo
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Starting in 2013, players banned for awards if they have bonus clauses
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Associated Press
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Baseball players no longer would receive bonuses for winning the Most Valuable Player, Cy Young or rookie awards bestowed by the Baseball Writers' Association of America under a rule passed Wednesday.
Starting in 2013, players with such bonus clauses in their contracts will be banned from receiving votes for any BBWAA awards. Hall of Fame voting is not affected, nor are manager of the year or non-BBWAA awards such as the World Series MVP or Gold Glove.
"When we first started giving out these awards it was just to honor somebody. You got a trophy, there was no monetary reward that went with it," BBWAA secretary-treasurer Jack O'Connell said. "I honestly don't think people vote with that in mind. But the attachment of a bonus to these awards creates a perception that we're trying to make these guys rich."
The vote was 41-21 on the rule, which was brought up by The Associated Press several years ago. The BBWAA appointed a committee to discuss the rule with the commissioner's office and the players' association.
"We've been on record for the past 20 years as being opposed to bonus clauses related these awards," O'Connell said. "The idea behind this was to toughen our stance against these clauses."
Many veterans have award clauses in their contracts, some for honors bestowed by The Sporting News and Baseball America, others for postseason awards given by Major League Baseball, such as World Series MVP. Some are small -- at least relative to the multi-million salaries -- but others are worth millions.
New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez earned a $1.5 million bonus for winning the AL MVP in 2007, and Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling has a clause in his agreement for next year that would pay him $1 million if he receives even a single third-place vote for the Cy Young Award.
"The Schilling thing is disturbing because he doesn't even have to win," said O'Connell, noting that Schilling joked about a kickback to the voter if he collected the bonus. "That's something that none of us finds very funny."
Only a handful of players have contracts that cover 2013, when the rule would take effect. The lag time was designed to give agents and teams an opportunity to adapt to the ban.
David Schwartz, whose clients include Rudy Seanez and Josh Paul, said the rule would benefit the owners and hurt mid- or low-level players who perform better than expected.
"It seems like ownership put the writers up to this," Schwartz said. "It seems like the real beneficiaries here are owners who don't have to pay bonuses to players who've had good years. Players who have award-winning seasons ought to be rewarded for it."
So basically my kid won't be able to go to college, but at least I'll have a set where the three most expensive cards are of a player I despise ~ CDsNuts
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Comments
<< <i>The association can make up the rules and if the players violate the rules they can't win. Seems pretty simple to me. >>
So you agree the award would simply have absolutely zero meaning. . .
Winning a Stupid award is NOT worth millions in bonuses
Look at Arod
he has a bonus clause for hitting 6 milestone home runs that will pay him $30 million $$$
Most players who have ever played baseball can only dream of having made that much in a career,
much less just as a milestone bonus
did u know Hank aaron made A total of ONE million $$$ in his entire career?
Obviously he played in the wrong era
Ever wonder what Babe Ruth could command today?
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
<< <i>So what happens if a player wants to make a statement and still include such a bonus in his contract, then goes out and has an MVP worthy season? Wouldn't that completely destroy everything the MVP award has become over the past century? >>
When you look at the voting results of MVP and Cy Young of the past 60 years, I think the awards are a tad meaningless already. While the writers may be good at constructing sentences, they simply are not good at MVP and CY Young picking. They are terrible, extremely contradictory in their choices, and should probably stick to what they do best...brushing doughnut crumbs off of their shirts.
Who in MLB is going to vote? Look at the job they do for the gold glove...yikes! They may have a natural ability to throw 95MPH, but they don't have a natural ability to discern, evaluate, or judge. In fact, many are complete morons.
When these awards are decided on the ability of a players teammates, like they usually are when you hear the knuckle draggers say..."Oooh, look where they would be without him," and "his team would still be in 1st with him," then what is even the point of using it as judging criteria for an individual if it is largely decided by the goodness or badness of the teammates!
If you have the frame of mind that they already are novelties, then it won't make much difference anyway.
If Hank Aaron was playing today he'd be asking for the same stuff and getting it. If AROD played back in the 50's and 60's the owners would hold him down and make sure he didn't make too much.