Ignore this Talk of Tanking, the Phils Need to Continue Rebuilding

            Tanking.

            Really?

            Let me get this straight.  The Phillies front office neglected its minor league system to a point where it was one of the worst in baseball.  The skill and talent from the team that once dominated the National League East got old, got injured, and the talent pool from the minor leagues was not able to replace it.  And now that the Phillies are doing what they can to fix their minor league system, they get lumped into a discussion about tanking?

            Let’s take a step back and talk about tanking.  It is an allegation that a team is not working to put together a staff that could be competitive on the major league level specifically for the purpose of taking advantage of higher draft picks and the “slot money” that comes with it.  What is slot money?  It was former Commissioner Bud Selig’s attempt to limit the amount of signing bonuses a club could offer a new draftee.  Each “slot” in the draft was assigned a dollar value.  A number one pick was worth more than a number two pick, and on down the line.  A team could add up all of the dollar values of the slots where the players signed, and use that amount to pay out signing bonuses. Failure to live within the limits of this system resulted in monetary penalties.  Thus, the team with the number one pick would have the most “slot money” available to pay signing bonuses.

            The allegation is that the Astros were so bad for so long, that they were able to use draft picks and slot money to build up their minor league system and become a serious contender.  Now critics claim that as many as six clus in the National League this year that will not field truly competitive teams, which includes the Phillies.  Some critics go further and allege that certain teams are neglecting their major league roster intentionally so that they could have an advantage when it comes to the draft.

            Those who are hinting that tanking may be occurring fail to consider a few key factors.  First is that when you have a major league team that stinks, your ticket revenue goes down.  People don’t want to watch to games on TV, so your TV and advertisement revenue takes a hit. Being bad is not a situation a major league club wants to maintain.

            Second is that the draft is not a sure thing.  Major League Baseball is different from football and basketball.  Players selected in the draft are not expected to make a contribution to the major league club immediately.  Quite the contrary, often players are selected out of high school.  This means that clubs have to invest time and effort in teaching and training through the minor leagues.  Even those drafted out of college need refinement in the minors, especially due to the use of the aluminum bat in college play.  First round picks do not often make an impact as quickly as one might expect.  Mike Trout and Bryce Harper stand out as key exceptions.

            Third is the realization that there is a cycle.  Bad teams get good draft positions, and build up their minor leagues and hopefully eventually become good teams.  Good teams rely on their talent for a few years, and then players get older and skills decline.  Eventually, all teams have to go through some form of rebuilding.

            When it comes to the Phillies, New General Manager, Matt Klentak, was hired at the end of the season, and was faced with a difficult task.  He had to fix the minor league system, while at the same time fielding a major league team that could draw fans.  His off season emphasis has been to focus on building the Phillies talent pool in the minor leagues, and not on wasting resources signing flashy free agents.  In the long term, this will benefit the Phillies by giving the team a better chance to build around home grown, young talent.

            Klentak has so far wisely steered away from pressure to sign free agents, such as Jason Upton, reserving the Phillies’ resources for nurturing the young talent.  And for this, the Phils have been lumped in with a group of teams that are the subject to this “tanking” discussion.

            Of course to really understand why there is this discussion of “tanking” this year one need only follow the money.  This is the last year of baseball’s collective bargaining agreement.  Slot money is just one issue addressed by the collective bargaining agreement.  There is also the plight of free agents.  Under the current agreement, if a player receives a qualifying offer and rejects it in favor of free agency, then the team eventually signing that player loses a draft pick, and the player’s former team receives a compensation pick.  This has made many general managers reluctant to sign free agents.  One result is that at this point in the year there are still many quality players who have not been signed.  Thus, the tanking argument can be seen as nothing more than setting the stage and jockeying for position when it comes to negotiating the new collective bargaining agreement.  The draft, slot money and the qualifying offer will likely be keys issues that the owners and players will have to address.

            Whatever the true purpose behind the tanking argument may be, it appears that Klentak is staying the course and pursuing a strategy that is likely beneficial for the Phillies future.  Klentak should ignore the critics and continue to strengthen the Phillies minor league system.

 

William J. Kovatch, Jr.