I don't think that's what he meant. He's suggesting once Gonzaga showed interest the asking price went up. What Ben was able to offer was no longer sufficient to keep him committed.
All speculation of course.
The Twins (15-20) have a run differential of +1 while Cleveland (20-14) is -23.
Colorado is on pace to go 29-133. The White Sox last year and now Colorado trying to beat them. Baseball has a problem.
The only way I could see it working is if they did something like MLB does for international players where each team has a set amount of bonus money they can offer overall and the players can sign anywhere. The teams that did worse usually get more money they can offer.
Only 3 of Gonzaga's last 8 HS recruits have been top 100 players. At least since Holmgren went there, they haven't really been in on top recruits as much as they used to. Maybe concentrating more on the portal?
Ober and Ryan are under team control through 2027. I don't see why they wouldn't want to keep those three around for an additional 2 seasons at well under $40 million total a year.
For a team that doesn't have much money to spend, I think the contracts are very relevant. I agree about most position guys but think Buxton is the exception unless it's a good return.
Pablo is on a very team friendly contract. Guys like Berrios and Musgrove are making more than him. I like keeping the staff in place. Buxton's is even more team friendly.
Correa definitely though. And the bullpen minus Duran and Jax. The rebuild has to be with the front office, coaching...
Even with the salary caps, top NFL and NBA players are making just as much if not more than MLB players. Individually, the caps haven't had that much of an effect.