It’s surprising to me how little attention the new free agent compensation system has gotten. Marc Normandin has a nice overview of it here, Jeff Sullivan here; essentially, there’s no more Type A and Type B. Instead, any departing free agent will bring back a draft pick (only the one, a sandwich pick) for the team that loses him — and cost an unprotected first-rounder for the team that gets him — as long as his old team is willing to make a “qualifying offer,” a one-year deal worth the average of the top 125 big-league salaries (this year, $13.3 million). It’s really quite different from what we’re used to, and I don’t think anyone really knows how it’s going to affect things yet, but it certainly could change things substantially.
And Yankees’ reliever Rafael Soriano, who is represented by Scott Boras and played a big role in exposing the developing flaws in the old system when he accepted arbitration with the Braves in 2009, may be the first to really put the system to the test. Yesterday, Soriano opted out of the final year of his contract.
This was not a surprise. It’s barely even news. Parkes covered it here over a month ago, saying Soriano had “nothing to lose.” And that’s probably true.
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