500K

Guys,

I would like to formalize the ruling on extending prospects whose bonuses were spread out over future years as part of a standard contract.  We have discussed this topic before, but it has never been fully resolved.  As an example, I would like to use my own Max Stassi.  His contract is $0.5 million (2011).  In all likelihood, he will not have even played a game in the majors, let alone exhausted rookie eligibility, by the end of the 2011 season considering he is currently in A Ball.  My understanding at the time we started free agency was that we would NOT forgo future prospect status if we chose to sign a prospect to a standard contract.  I was told that Stassi would return to a prospect contract once his signing bonus was paid out if he was still prospect eligible (less than 50 games played or 40 IP).  I don't see how such contracts could otherwise work, because there would be NO other logical means of extending them if they have little to no MLB stats by the end of their current deals.  Extending them as prospects makes perfect sense to me, because they are years away from being eligible for arbitration.  I have several of these contracts, and I know I'm not the only one.  I propose that we allow players like Stassi to be extended with prospect contracts when their contract contracts are over.

Roy

500K.

$1 million.

$1 million.