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Big League Advantage (BLA)

metirish Jun 14 2023 12:31 PM

This is wild , and seems like something MLB should crack down on, although how would they ? [TWEET]https://twitter.com/JoePompliano/status/1669014407106502658[/TWEET]

batmagadanleadoff Jun 14 2023 12:46 PM Re: Big League Advantage (BLA)

=metirish post_id=128788 time=1686767482 user_id=72] This is wild , and seems like something MLB should crack down on, although how would they?

A player has the right to invest his money as he sees fit. This all sounds legal to me.This happens all the time with personal injury lawsuits. A plaintiff borrows money against his future potential recovery from his lawsuit. The lawyer loathes the arrangement because the client will then only settle for an unreasonable and unattainable amount because he has to pay back the loan and all of the accrued interest.

Frayed Knot Jun 14 2023 12:50 PM Re: Big League Advantage (BLA)

This is a totally voluntary thing that young players can choose, or choose not to, enter. It's an insurance policy of sorts. I don't see how MLB could crack down on it or why they would.

A Boy Named Seo Jun 14 2023 01:08 PM Re: Big League Advantage (BLA)

It feels predatory and gross whether it's legal or not.

Edgy MD Jun 14 2023 01:16 PM Re: Big League Advantage (BLA)

MLB should crack down on MLB's cartel-controlled salary structure so Elly De La Cruz can earn what the market suggests he's worth.

Frayed Knot Jun 14 2023 06:45 PM Re: Big League Advantage (BLA)

btw, this is the guy who founded and runs BLA https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/schwimi01.shtml

A Boy Named Seo Jun 15 2023 09:07 AM Re: Big League Advantage (BLA)

Frayed Knot wrote: This is a totally voluntary thing that young players can choose, or choose not to, enter. It's an insurance policy of sorts. I don't see how MLB could crack down on it or why they would. It's an insurance policy for BLA. They're playing roulette and betting on every number. If you're a young prospect, up-front money from them can give you an edge on so many of your peers and I understand taking it. For all these guys, getting signed means everything. I bet most don't even understand the full picture of the financial implications if they do get a big contract years down the road. =batmagadanleadoff post_id=128789 time=1686768391 user_id=68] =metirish post_id=128788 time=1686767482 user_id=72] This is wild , and seems like something MLB should crack down on, although how would they?

A player has the right to invest his money as he sees fit. This all sounds legal to me.This happens all the time with personal injury lawsuits. A plaintiff borrows money against his future potential recovery from his lawsuit. The lawyer loathes the arrangement because the client will then only settle for an unreasonable and unattainable amount because he has to pay back the loan and all of the accrued interest.


Comparing this practice to personal injury law captures the stench perfectly.

batmagadanleadoff Jun 15 2023 09:47 AM Re: Big League Advantage (BLA)

I would guess that the borrowers are extremely informed. The PI plaintiffs have lawyers and the baseball players have agents who are usually lawyers themselves and in any event, work with lawyers and accountants. It's hard to resist the powerful lure of money.

Frayed Knot Jun 15 2023 09:56 AM Re: Big League Advantage (BLA)

A Boy Named Seo wrote: Frayed Knot wrote: This is a totally voluntary thing that young players can choose, or choose not to, enter. It's an insurance policy of sorts. It's an insurance policy for BLA. They're playing roulette and betting on every number. No, BLA loses money on the players who Don't make it and on those who do but have only brief careers without big money. The money being paid to prospects by BLA is payment, not a loan. [Quote] If you're a young prospect, up-front money from them can give you an edge on so many of your peers and I understand taking it. For all these guys, getting signed means everything. I bet most don't even understand the full picture of the financial implications if they do get a big contract years down the road.

They should, and BLA states up front that potential clients are encouraged to use financial agent/advisors before agreeing to anything.

Fman99 Jun 15 2023 10:48 AM Re: Big League Advantage (BLA)

I thought the big league advantage was plowing women in other towns? I'm so confused

A Boy Named Seo Jun 15 2023 12:12 PM Re: Big League Advantage (BLA)

Frayed Knot wrote: A Boy Named Seo wrote: Frayed Knot wrote: This is a totally voluntary thing that young players can choose, or choose not to, enter. It's an insurance policy of sorts. It's an insurance policy for BLA. They're playing roulette and betting on every number. No, BLA loses money on the players who Don't make it and on those who do but have only brief careers without big money. The money being paid to prospects by BLA is payment, not a loan. [Quote] If you're a young prospect, up-front money from them can give you an edge on so many of your peers and I understand taking it. For all these guys, getting signed means everything. I bet most don't even understand the full picture of the financial implications if they do get a big contract years down the road. They should, and BLA states up front that potential clients are encouraged to use financial agent/advisors before agreeing to anything.

I get how it works. It's gross and predatory, man.

batmagadanleadoff Jun 15 2023 12:43 PM Re: Big League Advantage (BLA)

What in life isn't predatory? Who isn't being exploited in one way or another? One guy gets a full time 40 hour a week job at McDonald's and doesn't earn enough money to move out of his mother's basement. But the guy at the top of that food chain makes about a million dollars a week and has twice that in stocks and benefits.

Frayed Knot Jun 15 2023 01:20 PM Re: Big League Advantage (BLA)

In a way it's akin to players -- like Ronald Acuna, Ozzie Albies and, hell, half the Braves lineup -- who accept offers buying out their pre-arb and arb (and sometimes early FA) years for more than they'd be making that early in their career but ultimately less than if they went season by season AND IF they wind up turning into stars. Those players are giving away part of their ceilings but also raising the floor and acting as a hedge in case they don't make it big. And, as in the BLA offers, those young Braves had the choice of Not signing a long term deal w/the club and instead 'betting on themselves' in order to gain higher future pay. So if Acuna, Riley, Strider et al are still good in five or six years the Braves 'win' by having top-level stars on their roster for mid-level money. On the flip side, the Phils tried that strategy with Scott Kingery and have paid him some $20 million dollars in 2021-2023 for what at this point is one hit over 19 ML ABs despite him being in now what should be his prime seasons (he's 29 y/o) so it's the club in this case that's over-paying and the player who's over-earning. I agree it's not for everyone, just as signing an early long-term deal isn't either. But I don't find it either predatory or gross, and it's certainly not a heads-we-win/tails-you-lose situation. BLA is offering a deal where they'll both help the player reach MLB as well as financially compensate his journey through the minors so that if he doesn't make it he won't find himself every bit as destitute as when he started. An impetus for this project being started was the founder's experience of how hard and poorly paying the minor league process is.

A Boy Named Seo Jun 15 2023 02:32 PM Re: Big League Advantage (BLA)

Frayed Knot wrote: In a way it's akin to players -- like Ronald Acuna, Ozzie Albies and, hell, half the Braves lineup -- who accept offers buying out their pre-arb and arb (and sometimes early FA) years for more than they'd be making that early in their career but ultimately less than if they went season by season AND IF they wind up turning into stars. Those players are giving away part of their ceilings but also raising the floor and acting as a hedge in case they don't make it big. And, as in the BLA offers, those young Braves had the choice of Not signing a long term deal w/the club and instead 'betting on themselves' in order to gain higher future pay. So if Acuna, Riley, Strider et al are still good in five or six years the Braves 'win' by having top-level stars on their roster for mid-level money. On the flip side, the Phils tried that strategy with Scott Kingery and have paid him some $20 million dollars in 2021-2023 for what at this point is one hit over 19 ML ABs despite him being in now what should be his prime seasons (he's 29 y/o) so it's the club in this case that's over-paying and the player who's over-earning. I agree it's not for everyone, just as signing an early long-term deal isn't either. But I don't find it either predatory or gross, and it's certainly not a heads-we-win/tails-you-lose situation. BLA is offering a deal where they'll both help the player reach MLB as well as financially compensate his journey through the minors so that if he doesn't make it he won't find himself every bit as destitute as when he started. An impetus for this project being started was the founder's experience of how hard and poorly paying the minor league process is. lol no it's not Those extension guys are already established in America, in the major leagues and are set to make a bag of millions either way - one big or the other bigger. The guys referenced in the OP are poor and still trying to just get noticed and signed, so giving up the potential of millions of dollars one day for the chance to be slightly better than their peers now works because what else are they gonna do? Stay poor and anonymous? Obviously they could say no but the reasons are plentiful for a poor, foreign player to say yes, especially when surrounded by people looking to make money off them and giving them sketchy advice along the way. That's why it's gross and predatory. Sounds like we disagree on that.

Frayed Knot Jun 15 2023 05:54 PM Re: Big League Advantage (BLA)

The similarities are in giving up (possibly millions in) potential future money for extra money now. If Spenser Strider's arm falls off tomorrow he'll wind up with some $75 million more than he would have had he opted to go year to year because he's getting paid through 2028 regardless of how well, or even IF, he continues to pitch. If the wing stays attached then he quite possibly gave up millions more so their are plusses and minuses to both. Teammate Mike Soroka, on the other hand, had maybe even a better rookie year (also 2nd RoY but with CY votes as well) but is on a deal which ends this year so he and his twice blown out achilles tendon have no such guarantees. For the majority of BLA clients (80 or so pct acc to that mega-tweet) who don't go on to have ML careers this deal provides them with several hundred thousand bucks that they otherwise wouldn't have, something which is almost certainly life-changing money for them and their family to move forward with now that the MLB dream is dead. For the minority who do make it and wind up paying BLA millions it's because they were able to earn tens of millions, and those owing tens of millions are the ones who inked deals for hundreds of millions and will have to swallow the idea that the deal they made is going to force them to deal with keeping only around 92% of their multi-generational set-for-life money rather than the whole pie. It's a deal that some are going to want to take and others will pass on. I have no problem that such a choice is out there.