What will the Cubs offer Starlin Castro in 2012. To make a prediction one might look at players similar to Starlin in other organizations.
Starlin Castro joined the Cubs in 2010. With 463 at bats Starlin hit .300, had 41 RBI’s, hit 3 homeruns, and had a slugging percent of .408. Starlin was nominated for” Rookie of the Year.” In 2011 Starlin improved his stats to hit .304, had 66 RBI’s, hit 10 homeruns, and had a slugging percent of .422. In 2011 Starlin led off much of the year and had 674 at bats. The statistics all slightly improved and many think they will keep going up as Starlin matures. He is only 21 years old.
What did Starlin make as he was one of the few productive offensive players the Cubs had? In 2011 he made .44 million which probably doesn’t seem to be much, but this is very close to what other similar players made. Most players that were up for “Rookie of the Year” in 2010 made around ½ million in 2011. Buster Posey , a promising player for the Giants, was the “Rookie of the Year” in 2010, and he signed a one year contract for .575 million. Other respected rookies from 2011 include Detroit Tiger outfielder Austin Jackson(.44 million), and Jason Heyward(.4956 Million) an outfielder for the Atlanta Braves in 2011.
.To predict what Starlin could make in 2012 you can look at the 2009 “Rookies of the Year” to see what they made after they have had 2 years of experience. Chris Coghlan, the national league rookie from Florida, made .49 million in 2011 and the American 2009 “Rookie of the Year” Andrew Bailey of the Oakland Athletics made .465 million in 2011.
However many players do not make as much as it seems they should because according to baseball labor rules a player cannot file for free agency until after his sixth year. This leaves them to the whims of their organization although they can refer their contract to an arbitrator if they aren’t happy.
Some organizations will try to lock in a prospect with a nice contract even though they do not have six years of service. For instance, the Giants offered Tim Lincecom 11.5 million after only 2 years of major league service.
Will Starlin Castro make big money early in his career like Lincecum, or will he settle for less like Posey, Coghlan,or Bailey? This is one of the many decisions for the Cub’s GM,
Resources
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/teams/chc
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/awards/mlb_awards_content.jsp?content=roy_history
http://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/
http://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/2000/05/most-lucrative-contracts.html
http://baseball.about.com/od/majorleaguebasics/a/freeagentprimer.htm