I grew up in the era of the NBA where isolation basketball was at its peak. Stars like Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson, and Tracy McGrady would hoist up over 20 shots per game over multiple defenders.
Ball movement and putting your teammates in position to succeed? Forget it. It was four guys sitting and watching their teammate go one on two or even one on three.
That is what we all valued and loved to watch.
Fortunately the league evolved. Stars have come into the league that can affect the game in multiple different ways. We have three and D players like Courtney Lee and a few who can do a bit of everything like Nicolas Batum and Kawhi Leonard.
That is what is valued in today’s game, the ability to complement everyone. Those who can’t aren’t highly sought after anymore.
If you’re paying attention to MLB’s free agency you’ll notice a couple of big names still out there in the market like Jose Bautista, Mark Trumbo, and Edwin Encarnacion.
Just like the NBA changed, the MLB is changing as well. It seems power is going out of style and MLB General Managers are placing more emphasis on players who can do several things well just not one.
There was a lot of negative feedback when Jason Heyward signed a eight-year, $US184-million contract with the Cubs. But what GMs are realising is it’s better to pay a good supporting player big money who can do everything and still have the ability to steal the show from time to time than a gaudy home run hitter who strikes out a lot.
Don’t get me wrong, guys like Trumbo and Bautista will still get paid – just not like they would in the mid 2000s when power was everything.
From what it looks like so far this offseason, MLB is evolving and we can thank the NBA for that.
no one in particular
Roar Guru
Kris is on the right track. Player valuation and evaluation has improved greatly over the past two decades in the MLB, and is filtering across into other sports. A few things about this years hot stove. Quality pitching was very rare. Just look at the contract a guy like Rich Hill got. That means supply is greater then demand with hitting. With batting, there is a wave of young players coming through. The success of Trout and Harper, and then Bryant, Correia, Lindor, Seager, Russell etc and their minimal early contracts means teams are willing to punt a little more on these guys. Joey Bats is 36. Very soon age will catch up with him. No one wants to pay big money to find out how soon. Encarnacion will be 34 when the season starts. Similar situation as Bautista,but he fields even less (therefore ruling out half of the teams). Teams will also have to give up a first rounder to sign him. Trumbo will stay at Baltimore
Xavier Paula
Roar Rookie
All very valid points and giving up a draft pick is indeed huge. Thanks for the feedback!
Kris
Guest
I think analytics have played an important role in this, and I would argue it is the other way round, that the NBA learned off MLB. Things like WAR have helped Baseball to realise that the big money on a power hitter, particularly one that doesn't field if they are DH, does not necessarily translate into success. Although in both these cases they had qualifying offers offered to them by their current teams, so any team that signs them has to give their current team a high draft pick as compensation. A chance to pick up a cheap talented player who is under team control for up to 7 years is something many teams are weighing up, and not just if these guys will help them win.