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Mlbtraderumors.com has a listing of players who are on pace to be Type A free agents. Currently, the Astros have three players (Tejada, Brocail, and Valverde) who would be Type A free agents, if the calculation were made now. In addition, LaTroy Hawkins is borderline and could be a Type A FA too. Four Type A free agents would be a lot, unless you are the Yankees who sometimes have that many Type A FAs.

A Type A free agent can produce an extra first round pick for a team if the team offers arbitration and the FA signs with another team. Of course, it depends on whether the team is willing to offer arbitration. After the 2006 season, the Astros did not offer arbitration to three Type A FAs (Clemens, Pettitte, and Springer), and gave up a ton of extra draft picks, which they needed, since the team also signed two other team's Type A FAs (Carlos Lee and Woody Williams) which cost the Astros high draft choices.

over 2 years ago Nsapcs13_large_tiny clack 7 comments 0 recs  | 

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yea

read that yesterday…big fan of mlbtraderumors.com

anyway if all 4 were type A’s, then we offered them arbritration and then they all signed somwhere else then we would get 4 picks? including our own??? THAT WOULD BE SICK!!!

by EveryHoustonTeamRox! on Jun 18, 2009 3:17 PM CDT reply actions  

is it true

the first like 10 or 15 picks are protected?

Say for some reason the nats sign valverde after we offerd him arbiritration, then he declined and went to WSH…would we get there number 1 overall pick if they have it? (BRYCE HARPER WOULD BE SWEET!!!

by EveryHoustonTeamRox! on Jun 18, 2009 3:18 PM CDT up reply actions  

Hey, Clack

What is it with you and misspelling Hawkins’ name?

Your friendly neighborhood Dreamshake mod.

by Only_A_Lad on Jun 18, 2009 3:54 PM CDT reply actions  

getting picks for Type A free agents

is not the slam dunk everybody seems to think it is. you have to offer arbitration to the player and you have to be prepared to sign the player and pay them what they’ll get in arbitration if it goes that route. if you’re dealing with a player that’s overpayed (Tejada), that you may not want back (Brocail), you may not want to risk them accepting arbitration. i still contend that there was no way the Astros were going to offer arbitration to Pettitte or Clemens. I can’t remember the details with Springer, but I’m guessing he signed a subsequent contract worth MUCH less than he would have gotten from Houston in arbitration. just because we have a type A guy and they go on to sign with somebody else, doesn’t mean we necessarily should have offered them arbitration and are idiots for not cashing in on those picks. not saying that’s what you’re implying, Clack, but I’m just saying…

I think the guy most likely to get offered arbitration (if he’s not already traded a resigned to a multi-year deal), who we might actually cash in some picks for, would be Valverde.

by littlevisigoth on Jun 19, 2009 1:49 PM CDT reply actions  

Yeah, I think the thing most people forget is that the arbitration/draft pick scheme is designed to compensate teams who still want that player on the team, but can’t keep him because the guy is being wooed by teams with more money to spend and who are willing to go way over market price to get them. You make a very good point that it’s not an automatic means of getting draft picks. In fact, the draft picks aren’t even the point of the rule…it’s supposed to be a way for smaller market teams to retain the major-league talent that’s already on their roster.

It’s not a set of rule that are there to be gamed. In fact, if you try to game the system by offering arbitration to a guy you don’t want, you’re very likely to get burned. You only offer a guy arbitration if you want him on the team, there are teams out there that are willing to pay more than you to get him, and you are willing to pay the “market price,” as determined by an arbitrator.

by AstroAndy on Jun 19, 2009 3:26 PM CDT up reply actions  

I still think the decision not to offer arbitration to Pettitte and Clemens...

was a mistake. But that’s an old argument for another day. I also forgot to mention that Aubrey Huff was a Type A FA…wasn’t that in the offseason prior to 2007 also?

by clack on Jun 19, 2009 5:22 PM CDT up reply actions  

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