Explaining Alex Kirilloff’s Service Time to Your Child

I need to reference you in a running debate on another TD article.  Not a child, but who knows at 75 I might be entering a new childhood because I do not accept or understand the logic - that is until you gave us this excellent primer. Just like the LF before him we can not have an extra year of service - oh wait, we got rid of that LF because he was getting too costly even though he had not reached the extra years.  Please Mr Stu help me understand this nuance because I believe Mr Kiriloff will also be really expensive before the seventh year too. 

Who here would opt to accept 3 weeks pay fresh out of college instead of an entire years pay 6 years post graduation when its fair to assume you will be more valuable? If this was considered in investment terms the return is 17X assuming you were not more valuable after 6 years experience. Your child may not understand this but people making asset management decisions better. 

I have asked this before and no responses, but who has Falvene duo manipulated service time to while they are in charge?  I cannot think of anyone.  People assume they will because teams are known to do it, but what evidence do we have they will here?  If Kirilloff rakes this spring and they do not bring him up claiming needs more time, then I will agree they did it.  If he does not rake in spring they will be in all rights to send him down.  I hope if he does show he is fully ready that he gets the start from the beginning.  Games in April mean same in standings as in September and you want the best team all the time.  

I am also not convinced they will do this in part, with the CBA coming up and this is a huge issue for union, and it should be, I think teams might try to not blatantly do this the year prior to CBA is up.  If they do, I hope Kirilloff never resigns with Twins as a lesson to them and any team that does it.  As much as I want him to be with Twins, provided he becomes what I hope he does, I would cheer for him to stick it to the Twins for messing with his service time.  It is up to Kirilloff to force their hand this spring though. 

Twins historically have not manipulated service time coming out of spring.  There may be some you could point to, but there are many times guys had hot springs only to fall flat on face in April.  Aaron Hicks comes to mind several times.  What happens if Kirilloff breaks with team, for first 2 weeks hits sub .200 with like 40% K rate, can they send him down without being called out for manipulating service time?  

I have asked this before and no responses, but who has Falvene duo manipulated service time to while they are in charge? I cannot think of anyone. People assume they will because teams are known to do it, but what evidence do we have they will here? If Kirilloff rakes this spring and they do not bring him up claiming needs more time, then I will agree they did it. If he does not rake in spring they will be in all rights to send him down. I hope if he does show he is fully ready that he gets the start from the beginning. Games in April mean same in standings as in September and you want the best team all the time.

 

I am also not convinced they will do this in part, with the CBA coming up and this is a huge issue for union, and it should be, I think teams might try to not blatantly do this the year prior to CBA is up. If they do, I hope Kirilloff never resigns with Twins as a lesson to them and any team that does it. As much as I want him to be with Twins, provided he becomes what I hope he does, I would cheer for him to stick it to the Twins for messing with his service time. It is up to Kirilloff to force their hand this spring though.

 

Twins historically have not manipulated service time coming out of spring. There may be some you could point to, but there are many times guys had hot springs only to fall flat on face in April. Aaron Hicks comes to mind several times. What happens if Kirilloff breaks with team, for first 2 weeks hits sub .200 with like 40% K rate, can they send him down without being called out for manipulating service time?

I just can believe there isn’t more outrage about this.

There’s been significant outrage regarding the NBA about sitting a player a few games while they find a trade partner. There’s been endless leftist protests regarding “billionaires” and their evils.

But, nobody seems to give a rip about robbing a baseball player of multiple seasons and potentially tens of millions in earnings to save some crusty billionaire from having to pay before he’d like to. Or, better yet, under the pretense that these crusty billionaires, in Minnesota’s case, fully intend on never paying the player and milking their prime before they walk.

In fact, if you bring up how backwards it is, you’re told “you just don’t understand,” by the baseball intellectuals.

Very interesting socio-political anomaly.

There was quite an uproar here when Buxton wasn’t called up in late 2018, which caused the Twins to gain an extra year of control. That’s the only one that comes to mind.

That's the one I thought of immediately.  And I understood it, because the Twins weren't in contention.  First time I heard of it was with Kris Bryant, and I thought "short term gain, but long term pain for the Cubs--he'll leave as soon as he can."  

There was quite an uproar here when Buxton wasn’t called up in late 2018, which caused the Twins to gain an extra year of control. That’s the only one that comes to mind.

Now that you mention I do recall that, but that was after having terrible first part of year and not like he tore up minor leagues either.  Sure they could have brought up in September, but not like he was forcing their hand to do so.