Saturday, February 4, 2023

Small print in the new Collective Bargaining Agreement gives the Yankees an extra incentive to play Oswald Peraza

 

Hot scoop: It's frikkin cold outside. Time for some warm soup minutia...

It's well known across the Yankiverse that, last fall, the Death Barge blew it with Oswaldo Peraza. He shoulda started every game in the ALCS. Instead, they used a SS revolving door with IKF, Oswaldo Cabrera and Peraza. How can you go 165 games, and when the moment finally arrives, you can't even decide on your starting shortstop? Yikes. 

Well, now they can make up for it. 

According to Mike Axisa - (at his Pantheon site, sub required, but worth it) - the new MLB players' union contract offers the Yanks another reason to make Peraza their opening day shortstop. 

Under the agreement, teams that carry top prospects all season, rather than stash them in the minors to limit service time, will receive an extra sandwich-round draft pick the following year.

Peraza fits like a condom. If he wins the SS job out of spring training, then sticks in Gotham, Brian "Cooperstown" Cashman could snatch an extra pick - called the "Prospect Promotion Incentive" or PPI - in 2024. There a lotta yatta-yatta here - lawyers wrote this - but the rule is designed to stop teams from sitting on MLB-worthy prospects. In this case, it works for the Yankees. 

Unless Peraza gets hurt or publicly discusses race theory - (Florida, you know) - SS should be his, and Cashman will get a pick. If he must return to Scranton for reprogramming, and then falls into a mine shaft, no SS and no Yankee pick. 

Gotta believe that possible pick serves as tie-breaker in any spring battle for SS. 

As for Anthony Volpe? He's probably six months way, a second half call-up. No draft pick.

Why sweat a pick? Well, we'll lose two this year for signing Carlos Rodón, and our 2024 first-rounder will be bumped back 10 spots due to luxury tax spending. We need an MLB PPI, ASAP. 


7 comments:

BTR999 said...

If Peraza plays well enough to stick, that would be its own reward. But yeah, we’ll take that extra pick

AboveAverage said...

What is: Colder than a Cooperstown Cashman Pick?

Doug K. said...

That rule was probably created to avoid law suits and ill feeling. There was a situation with a Cub (I forget which one) that turned nasty.

Of course, as with any rule change, there are going to be unintended consequences such as, when they keep a guy up when it becomes apparent that he's over matched or needs to work on something.

Instead he will languish on the bench or, even worse, stay in the lineup when he should really be getting at-bats and working on the issue in the minors.

Good for Peraza though. We really need him to be the starting SS.



JM said...

Hope and Cashman are two words that will never appear in the same sentence, edb.

Publius said...

I hope Cashman gets fired.

Alphonso said...

Why sweat a pick, indeed. We are useless in selecting players.

Rufus T. Firefly said...

What high school pitcher needing Tommy John surgery would they use the pick on?

I Jesse Jackson would say, "The point it moot!"