Not sure the exact starting point, but WAR is wins ABOVE replacement. In theory, a team of AAAA replacement level players would win 60 wins or so. So a team winning 90 games strictly acquiring players through free agency should expect a payroll of 450 million.

Seems about right.

That's what's dumb though. bernstein loves to point out a negative WAR guy (usually on the White Sox) and act like there is some farm with "replacement level" players just waiting to replace him.

I don't follow NBA much, but don't they track through WIN Share. Essentially each win is participated out to each player to determine value. So if you add up the total win share of a team you get the actual number of wins?

That's what's dumb though. bernstein loves to point out a negative WAR guy (usually on the White Sox) and act like there is some farm with "replacement level" players just waiting to replace him.

Of all things stupid things he says, I don't think this is that dumb. Just because they are replacement level doesn't make them free and they are likely under contract to a team during the season. If the Sox are out of contention, there is no reason trading a lottery ticket in single A to slightly improve a good awful centerfielder to a bad centerfielder.

These trades happen with contenders when a team "shores up their [insert position]" for some player you are likely never to hear of again.

The Sox paid Jackson $5M and he was a -0.1 WAR player. The Gigantes better hope they don’t get that guy.

My point is, nobody wants to have a negative WAR guy in the lineup. When someone does it's not like he's that easy to replace. bernstein seems to have the impression that "replacement level" means any other bum you throw in there. You could get a guy that is a worse negative.

Speaking of Pujols, the dumpster fire that is the remains of his contract.

-2 WAR last year
2017: $26M, 2018: $27M, 2019: $28M, 2020: $29M, 2021: $30M

Speaking of Pujols, the dumpster fire that is the remains of his contract.

-2 WAR last year
2017: $26M, 2018: $27M, 2019: $28M, 2020: $29M, 2021: $30M

Jesus Christ. MLB desperately needs a salary cap or some type of new CBA limiting the years of a contract.

Commie.

His WAR so far on that contract

3.6
0.6
2.8
1.8
.8
-2

He is standing at 7.6 of total WAR with 4 years remaining on the contract. They may have paid him 240 million to be a less than replacement player for the contract on the whole.

I'm guessing a decent amount of Jackson's WAR is dWAR which is still really fucked up.

Jesus Christ. MLB desperately needs a salary cap or some type of new CBA limiting the years of a contract.

The Angels knew there would be a lot of dead years on it, but I don't think anyone thought he would die as quickly as he did. The fact that MLB contracts are fully guaranteed is something that I think would be very hard to get MLBPA to back down from, especially seeing how you are treated like a piece of meat in the NFL. You would think most players would be for it if they could get something to help them out when they are younger though.... these ridiculous contracts only happen to maybe 2 or 3 players a decade?

A free market system is the best. No one put a gun to the Angels heads and forced them to give Pujols that contract. A salary cap puts more money in the owners pocket. I’d rather see the money go to the players.

Agreed.. I enjoy seeing teams fuck themselves with awful deals. 4 more years for Albert

A free market system is the best.

6 more for Heyward