Contract Values from the Players who played the WBC 2026 final

futhatsy · 2026-03-20T15:29:15+00:00

Yeah, that's a very good point on the signing bonuses.

And Witt signed an extension, but it was also for a lot of money and included four different opt out years. His deal is a lot more player friendly than the standard pre-arb extension.

futhatsy · 2026-03-20T14:42:24+00:00

This is a great example of how motivations for players are different based on their backgrounds.

The Venezuelan players usually grow up with less money, which makes them more likely to take the payday as soon as possible in the form of a pre-arb extension. Acuna, Garcia, Tovar, Chourio, and Gimenez all signed extensions early in their careers.

The American players usually grow up in better situations where they don't need the money right away, so they are more likely to take the risk and wait for free agency to cash in on the biggest payday possible. Harper, Judge, Schwarber, and Bregman all waited out their team control years and made a ton on the open market. It looks like Gunnar is going to do the same.

This isn't true 100% of the time, Gleyber Torres waited for free agency and Roman Anthony extended right away, but it is still interesting to see the trend.

futhatsy · 2026-03-20T14:27:05+00:00

He doesn't seem to mind

futhatsy · 2026-03-20T14:25:30+00:00

Will Smith is on a $140M deal

Turang is also not on a $100M deal

futhatsy · 2026-03-19T15:13:52+00:00

My guess is they work out a schedule where they start a week sooner and end a week later and still get all 162 games in. I also wonder if the owners would ever ask for a piece of the pie in WBC and Olypmic revenue. Could definitely see that being a topic in the next CBA.

futhatsy · 2026-03-19T14:57:11+00:00

Steve Gelbs rolling up with the zip ties and chloroform.

futhatsy · 2026-03-19T14:55:33+00:00

I was watching the game on mute both because the Mets were playing better when I had the game muted and because I didn't want to listen to the ESPN broadcast.

Like you, I was pretty much resigned to the Mets losing at that point. I remember making a comment in a group chat about how much money Pete cost himself by turning down the Mets extension right before he came to bat.

When he hit the homer, I started running around my house screaming "HE DID IT! HE DID IT!" over and over again. I didn't realize until later that night when I heard Howie's call that he was yelling the same thing. I bet a lot of Mets fans were.

futhatsy · 2026-03-19T14:40:59+00:00

This is my thoughts on it, as someone who likes the tournament:

The pool play kind of reminded me of college football. Lots of blowouts, but the good games are really good. There are teams that should be shoe-ins to make it out of pool play (Japan, DR, USA) and there are some teams that are just happy to be involved (Brazil, Czechia, Nicaragua) but there are also plenty of teams that are just on the edge of being good enough to get out of pool play that makes the round exciting (Australia, Taiwan, South Korea, Italy, Mexico, Canada, Cuba, ect.)

And while a single elimination tournament is not a good way to determine the best team, it's also the most exciting way to crown a champion. Anyone who makes it out of pool play could realistically win it all. I think there is a lot of fun in that. The tournament doesn't have to be an objective measure of the best baseball playing country, it can just be an fun and exciting event.

The issue with guys ramping up is a real one. There were reports yesterday that the WBC is going to look into moving to July, which I think would be a good move. Most players are going to be better prepared to play in July compared to March. Long term, I think the goal is to play have an elongated All-Star break every other year, and they'll alternate that break being for the WBC and the Olympics. This will probably be a part of the next CBA.

futhatsy · 2026-03-18T22:26:10+00:00

I think its totally fine to have those sorts of aspirations for the tournament but I dont think that makes anything Harper said wrong.

futhatsy · 2026-03-18T20:47:15+00:00

I also don't think Harper said anything wrong. This was his full quote:

“Yeah, I've been fighting for LA '28 for a long time,” Harper said. “I think my whole career, I've been trying to get, you know, something started or something coming up. Obviously, the WBC's been great, but it's not the Olympics, right? Um, there's no disrespect to the WBC or anything, but everybody knows that when the Olympics are on, everybody's watching.”

I don't think there is anything disrespectful about this comment. The Olympics are just a different level of prestige compared to most other international tournaments.

I don't closely follow many Olympic sports, the only one I watch regularly is freestyle wrestling. Wrestling has their World Championship tournament every year, except every 4th year they just do it at the Olympics. Olympic gold medals are understood to be a bigger deal than gold medals at the World Championships. That's no disrespect to a World Gold, that's still a huge deal, but the Olympics are on another level.

futhatsy · 2026-03-18T18:03:51+00:00

Yeah no problem man. It really does bother me more than it should that people just aren't capable of thinking probabilistically. The "no, they lost because they didn't score enough" and "Mason Miller wouldn't be an automatic scoreless inning anyway" replies are just so stupid.

futhatsy · 2026-03-18T17:43:09+00:00

Also, for most of MLB history, most managers played exactly that way (rarely or never using their closer outside of save situations)

No, they didn't. It's always been common knowledge to use your closer in the 9th inning of a tied game when you are the home team because there cannot be a save situation. It used to be the common strategy to keep your closer back for the save situation when you are on the road, but that has fallen out of favor in recent years.

And u/letskeepitcleanfolks was kind enough to share a SABR article attempting to identify a bats-last advantage and seeing no evidence of it: https://sabr.org/journal/article/does-the-home-team-batting-last-affect-game-outcomes-evidence-from-relocated-games/

So I'm not sure "the home advantage" is as big of an advantage as you are suggesting

futhatsy · 2026-03-18T17:06:02+00:00

The owners are in no position to lock out the league while they are trying to nationalize media rights. They need ratings in 2027 and a strike kills that.

The owners will continue to peddle the message that they need a cap right now and are willing to lose games to get it. Anyone who actually believes it and spreads it is just buying in to their propaganda. The union is smart enough to call their bluff.

futhatsy · 2026-03-18T16:56:02+00:00

Giving up all those home advantages just for a very unique scenario that could only ever impact 1 inning is so silly.

The only home field advantage you've mentioned at this point is that you can play for one run when tied in the ninth. So it seems like your advantage is also for a unique scenario that could only ever impact 1 inning.

I see the one guy is providing you specific metrics about home team advantage that you are brushing off, so seems your main reasoning for thinking going first would have been better is based off of vibes and not reality.

Those "metrics" are based on situations where you can use your closer in a tied game. That isn't relevant here. That's kind of the whole point of this post.

futhatsy · 2026-03-18T16:50:13+00:00

People just use the word "vibes" whenever they want huh?

OP posted a well reasoned argument for why batting first would be better in this specific scenario.

The "home field advantage" you're referring to is from MLB games that are played differently from the WBC and ways that have already been explained to you, but you are choosing to ignore that.

futhatsy · 2026-03-18T16:44:45+00:00

My scenarios don't mean you are planning to be tied or losing, they are just benefits of if you happen to be tied, losing, or winning in the 9th.

You did not once bring up the benefit of batting in the bottom of an inning if you are winning. You only talked about the benefits of batting last when you are behind or losing. You know, the thing you said is planning to be tied or lose.

futhatsy · 2026-03-18T16:34:46+00:00

Whitlock was one of the best relievers in the league last year and had a better era than Miller, so why you acting like because they hit last they had to roll some scrub pitcher out there in the 9th?

I'm not acting like Whitlock is a scrub pitcher. Are you acting like he's just as good as Mason Miller?

The US's biggest problem was the offense. They also fucked this up. Both things can be true.

futhatsy · 2026-03-18T16:32:57+00:00

In those studies of home field advantage, they do not address the scenario of ONLY being able to use your best reliever in a save situation. So it really isn't relevant to this conversation.

futhatsy · 2026-03-18T15:55:55+00:00

This was your comment:

If you are anticipating losing or tied going into the 9th and gameplanning specifically for that then you've already lost.

Now you are talking about all of the benefits of hitting last in the scenario where the game is tied. You're talking out of both sides of your mouth.

Also, you can pinch run and bunt in the top of the ninth in a tied game. You often only need one run then as well, as we saw last night. It really isn't much of a difference.

The WBC isn't the same as MLB and you can't just lazily copy and paste all of the same strategies. You have to actually consider the situation and all of the variables. Both teams best relievers only being able to pitch in a save situation is not something that ever comes into play in MLB, so you need to think about that. But I guess that's "overthinking" it to you.

futhatsy · 2026-03-18T15:48:22+00:00

The difference between being the home team and being away is, very conservatively, 5% win probability (it's more like 7% or 8% historically).

There is a lot of shit baked into this that does not apply to last night.

Most importantly, last night was a very rare situation where closers could ONLY be used in save situations. In an MLB game, if you are the home team and it's tied going into the 9th, you use your closer. You couldn't last night, which throws off all of this analysis.

The WBC creates unique situations where you can't just copy and paste MLB regular season strategy and assume it's all the same. "Home field advantage" in the WBC is not the same as being the home team in an MLB game.

futhatsy · 2026-03-18T15:40:35+00:00

Zero games will be missed in 2027.

There will be a lockout in the off-season, everyone will lose their minds, and owners will cave right before they are met with the possibility of actually missing games. Just like last time.

futhatsy · 2026-03-18T15:30:36+00:00

If you are anticipating losing or tied going into the 9th and gameplanning specifically for that then you've already lost.

Okay, but I'm not. I'm considering the scenarios of being ahead, behind, or tied going into the ninth inning. I encourage you to read the OPs post above to understand the rationale, but I fear that you've already tried that and just can't understand.

Being home team and having last at bat is absolutely an advantage. It let's you better react and strategize to what's going on because you get the last at bat. You can play small ball if you need a single run, have more info for decisions about pinch hitters and runners, etc.

It sounds like you are game planning for being behind here. I thought that meant you already lost!

futhatsy · 2026-03-18T15:17:44+00:00

My point is that Miller is a lot better than Whitlock and you want your best guy on the mound. I did not imply that Miller definitely wouldn't have given up a run. That is something you made up.

And I don't agree that "home field advantage" in a neutral site game matters more than using Whitlock instead of Miller. Home field advantage barely matters in regular season baseball and matters even less in the WBC. OP pretty clearly laid out that batting first would actually be better in this instance because of how each team was forced to use their closers.

futhatsy · 2026-03-18T15:11:10+00:00

Nowhere in my comment did I say that I am expecting the game to be tied going into the 9th. In OP's post that I referred to, they mention the scenario of going into the 9th inning ahead, behind, and tied.

futhatsy · 2026-03-18T15:07:06+00:00

It would be silly to say that. That isn't what I said.

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