MLB's All-Value Contract Team, Position by Position
In an age where franchise values are skyrocketing, television contracts are doing the same and player deals rise in worth every winter, Major League Baseball is the one North American professional sports league constantly having its finances evaluated and booming payrolls criticized.
Yet, since baseball is the one sport without a salary cap, the teams are free to spend as their owners see fit. However, this also makes the bargain player—great production on the cheap—so much more valuable. Time and again, franchises that wisely utilize resources—both players and money—have found regular-season success, which is what they can most control since postseason results depend a fair amount on small-sample-size luck.
Teams that get great value on one contract can spend more on other needs, improving their chances to win. It's simple, really. And it is why Bleacher Report is taking a look at the best bargains in baseball by putting together MLB's All-Value Contract Team as this season enters its stretch run into randomness.
Using advanced statistics like weighted runs created plus (wRC+) from FanGraphs and adjusted OPS (OPS+) and adjusted ERA (ERA+) from Baseball-Reference, along with FanGraphs WAR (fWAR), we will gauge production. All stats are through Sunday.
And using Cot's Baseball Contracts, we will measure value in current salaries. Rookie contracts are exempt from the list as those deals are not based on production, but arbitration-eligible players are in play. Also, to ensure we find the best values in the outfield, we will designate those players simply as outfielders and not by specific positions, much like the All-Star Game does.
It's time to start counting pennies…
SP: Corey Kluber, Cleveland Indians
1 of 10
ERA+: 125, 10th in the American League.
fWAR: 5.3, second in the majors behind Clayton Kershaw.
Current contract: Signed an extension in April that pays him $1 million this season and $4.5 million in 2016.
Corey Kluber won the 2014 AL Cy Young Award on a $514,000 contract, which earned him his five-year, $38.5 million extension in April. While his traditional numbers are not as good as a season ago, Kluber is still producing elite numbers like his 2.59 FIP, 9.61 strikeouts per nine innings, 5.68 ratio of strikeouts to walks, 27 percent strikeout rate and 0.65 home runs allowed per nine.
Those numbers show Kluber's 3.34 ERA and 8-12 record are not reflective of how great he's been this season. His $1 million salary this year means he is giving the Indians one of the best bargains in baseball, and if he duplicates this season's production next year, he will still be a serious candidate to make this list in 2016.
According to Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal, the extension is the largest guarantee ever for a pre-arbitration player, but given Kluber's position among the game's best starting pitchers, the deal is a steal for the Indians.
C: Buster Posey, San Francisco Giants
2 of 10
wRC+: 149, ninth-best in the National League.
OPS+: 148, sixth in the NL.
fWAR: 5.2, seventh-highest in the majors.
Current contract: At $16.5 million, Buster Posey easily has the biggest 2015 salary of anyone on this list.
The catching options are thin here, as most are either not arbitration-eligible or have non-elite numbers. That brings us to Posey, who is the highest-paid player on this team but also among the game's elite at any position.
So while he costs more than double what a guy like Russell Martin does, he is also worth more than two more wins above replacement level, and he more than doubles the worth of guys like Stephen Vogt and Brian McCann. Yasmani Grandal could have been the choice here if he were arbitration-eligible, but he is not, with just over two years of service time.
If we are allowed to splurge on one player, Posey is it. And relative to the open market, his salary is still reasonable.
1B: Paul Goldschmidt, Arizona Diamondbacks
3 of 10
wRC+: 171, best in the majors among first basemen.
OPS+: 178, third in the majors and tops among first basemen.
fWAR: 5.6, best in the majors among first basemen.
Current contract: Signed a great bargain extension in 2013 and is making $3 million this year and will make $5.75 million in 2016.
Paul Goldschmidt has better numbers and a slightly cheaper contract than Chicago Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo, the chief competition at this position. The Diamondbacks were wise to offer Goldschmidt a five-year, $32 million extension before the 2013 season when he had fewer than 800 major league plate appearances. He has developed into a perennial National League MVP candidate since.
Being that he is so good and won't hit free agency until he is 32, there has been some discussion that the Diamondbacks ought to redo the deal to keep the player happy. The player, though, is not saying anything like that. Not publicly at least.
"I've got no problems with anything," Goldschmidt told Zach Buchanan of AZCentral.com. "That's just how it is. You play bad after you sign a contract, and the team's probably looking for a way out of it. If you play good, maybe the player wants something. It's just how the game goes, and it's not something I'm really ever thinking about."
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2B: Jason Kipnis, Cleveland Indians
4 of 10
wRC+: 145, first among major league second basemen.
OPS+: 139, 11th in the American League and first among second basemen.
fWAR: 5.0, 10th in the majors.
Current contract: $4 million this season.
The Indians locked in Jason Kipnis last year at six years and $52.5 million, and after a disappointing 2014, he's rebounded to be the best second baseman in the majors this season with a .326/.401/.477 line and an .878 OPS. His 5.0 fWAR puts him in the company of much richer players like Buster Posey, Nelson Cruz and Joey Votto.
Kipnis is mildly challenged for this title, but other guys who can be considered bargains are still on rookie deals and not nearly as productive. And when looking at previous extensions signed by elite second basemen, such as Dustin Pedroia's eight-year, $110 million deal or Brandon Phillips' six-year, $72.5 million deal at an older age, it was right to deem Kipnis' deal a bargain the second he signed it.
3B: Josh Donaldson, Toronto Blue Jays
5 of 10
wRC+: 152, eighth in the majors.
OPS+: 150, fourth in the American League.
fWAR: 6.1, third in the majors.
Current contract: Making $4.3 million after losing to the Blue Jays in arbitration.
The baseball world was appalled when the Oakland A's traded Josh Donaldson to Toronto last November. The reason: He is a massive bargain and should be coveted by a small-market team like the A's. Now he is contending for the AL MVP for the Blue Jays and serves a critical piece of that team's offense, defense and playoff push. Plus, he won't be a free agent until after the 2018 season.
At the time of the trade, Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports wrote:
"For Donaldson, I'm not sure it was possible for the A's to get enough [in return].
The usual caveat applies: Trades like this cannot be judged immediately. But when you move a player of Donaldson's quality, and give up that much club control, the odds of coming out ahead are more difficult.
"
The fact that the Blue Jays actually won in arbitration against Donaldson and saved almost $1.5 million in salary makes this deal even more of a bargain for Toronto, and it likely will continue to be for the next few years.
SS: Brandon Crawford, San Francisco Giants
6 of 10
wRC+: 129, tied for highest among major league shortstops.
OPS+: 128, highest among shortstops.
fWAR: 3.8, highest among shortstops.
Current contract: In his first year of arbitration, settled with the Giants at $3.175 million.
This is the first time Brandon Crawford is eligible to make this list, and he did so with ease. He is an outstanding defensive player at a defense-first position, but his bat has finally caught up with his glove to make him the best all-around shortstop in the majors.
"He's a wizard out there at shortstop," Giants pitcher Tim Hudson told Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle. "He makes all the routine plays and makes all the tough plays seem routine."
Crawford spent his first four seasons in the majors compiling a 92 OPS+, which was below average for a major leaguer. But he's erupted this year to become an All-Star and easily the best shortstop bargain in the game.
OF: Bryce Harper, Washington Nationals
7 of 10
wRC+: 196, best in the majors.
OPS+: 196, best in the majors.
fWAR: 6.9, best in the majors.
Current contract: Signed a two-year extension last offseason to earn $2.5 million this year.
The value of this deal is unbelievably team-friendly, and it will stay that way for the Washington Nationals since Bryce Harper's agent, Scott Boras, rarely has his players sign extensions before free agency, which won't come until after the 2018 season. His salary goes up to $5 million next year, and that is still a clearance price for someone as good as Harper has been in 2015.
If the Nationals are interested in locking him up before he hits free agency, it will take a record deal that goes longer than a decade, as Boras told reporters in 2013. Consider what the Miami Marlins gave fellow right fielder Giancarlo Stanton—13 years, $325 million—add to it and you have your likely jumping-off point. Harper is also three years younger than Stanton.
Harper is the best player in the game this year, and if this is the kind of production we can expect from him going forward, almost any kind of contract can be considered a bargain. That he is making $2.5 million this year—well, that is just a pure win for the team.
OF: Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels
8 of 10
wRC+: 174, third in the majors.
OPS+: 177, fourth in the majors.
fWAR: 6.5, second in the majors.
Current contract: The big money on Mike Trout's current extension won't kick in until next season, so his $5.25 million salary this year is club-friendly.
It would not seem like a player who is starting in on a $144.5 million extension would be a bargain, but we are talking about the game's best player with a track record and whose 2015 salary is still dwarfed by the sport's top money earners. Next year Trout will start closing the gap as his paycheck will reach $15.25 million.
But like Bryce Harper, Trout is so good right now that virtually any yearly salary can be a high-value deal—so much so that Sports Illustrated dubbed Trout's extension, signed before the 2014 season, the "deal of the century."
Trout and Harper might be battling for the title of the sport's best player for years to come, and because of other contemporary contracts, production and inflation, they might be doing so as underpaid hitters relative to the market. Through Trout's first five seasons, that has certainly been the case.
OF: Lorenzo Cain, Kansas City Royals
9 of 10
wRC+: 140, seventh among major league outfielders.
OPS+: 137, sixth among American League outfielders.
fWAR: 5.2, third among major league outfielders.
Current contract: Settled in arbitration for $2.725 million.
Lorenzo Cain has become an improved offensive player, greatly increasing his worth and boosting his contractual value. Defensively, he is one of the very best in baseball, which allows him to have an elite status in the game while not being a big-time power hitter or devastating OBP guy.
Cain went into arbitration this season and asked for $3.6 million, while the Royals offered $2 million. They found a reasonable midway point and added incentives for plate appearance and an All-Star selection that will likely give him another $100,000.
For a guy who has pretty much been a five-win player the last two seasons, that is a great bargain for a small-market team that cannot afford the game's best players on the open market.
RP: Zach Britton, Baltimore Orioles
10 of 10
ERA+: 215.
fWAR: 1.5, sixth among major league relievers.
Current contract: Avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $3.2 million salary.
This was something of a difficult decision because the top relievers are either not arbitration-eligible or have big salaries for 2015. Zach Britton is arbitration-eligible, and his salary is not as expensive as guys such as Aroldis Chapman ($8.05 million) and David Robertson ($10 million). Also, his numbers rank with the elite.
Britton's FIP (1.88) is the fourth-lowest in the majors, and he strikes out more than 10 hitters per nine innings. He also leads the league with 43 games finished and is ninth in the majors with 28 saves.
Considering production, that he is eligible for arbitration and that he isn't making anywhere near eight figures, Britton is the relief ace for this All-Value Contract Team.
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