Philly Front Office

The city of Philadelphia is currently experiencing its single best rookie crop in history with Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper Dejean, Matvei Michkov, Jared McCain, and let’s just throw recently crowned AFL Pitcher of the Year Andrew Painter in there too. BREAKING NEWS: This is good. As far as we are concerned, there is absolutely nothing more valuable to a team than a good player on their rookie contract. Full stop.

They hand out mvp awards to guys with fat contracts because usually these are the best players, but English is hard and words like “valuable” are thrown around without any meaning. Rookie contracts allow good teams to contend for championships (in theory). All 4 of our teams are using rookie contracts in different ways. Some good, some not so good.

The Bad – SIXERS

Obviously this was written because Jared McCain is crushing it, the Sixers are a joke of a franchise, and I am mad. About a month ago we all thought McCain was going to be a bust but the team would be okay. Somehow it is the complete opposite. McCain is the one bright spot on this team.

The reason this is in the bad section is because a rookie contract surrounded by aging vets without a chance doesn’t help anything. The goal is to have stars surrounded by complimentary talent, the cheaper the better. We almost made it. The plan was sound, but the execution…well it stinks. Sure this has the potential to flip into the good section, but as of right now the sky is falling so I am choosing to be pessimistic.

Anyway, Jared McCain. Drafted 16th overall this past year, he has vaulted to the top of the rookie ladder by catching fire the last few games. As a middle first round draft pick he is making about $4m this year. That is just over 2% of the Sixers payroll. TWO PERCENT!!! The salary stays like that for the most part the next 3 years too. You get starter level production for 2% salary for the prime of Tyrese Maxey. Instead of grinding his way up the rotation the next 3 years, he is there right now. That’s fantastic. In theory, this allows you to use money that would normally be spent on a veteran shooter elsewhere.

I said the prime of only Tyrese Maxey because, unfortunately, the Sixers are failing at everything right now. They used all of their cash already. Instead of having 3 stars with McCain as a cheap compliment, they have 2 aging vets who either are not on the floor or are ineffective when they get there. A rookie starter is a waste if he won’t get to play with anyone good until he gets expensive.

Things would be different if George and Embiid were either good or coming off the books soon. Neither is true. The two of them are tied to the Sixers for between $100m and $120m for each of the next 3 years too. Granted the cap will be going up by 10% each year, but these contracts are immovable for 2 reasons. They are either playing bad and therefore no one wants them or they are playing well and we want them. This is the team going forward

The Rebuild – FLYERS (still kinda bad)

The Flyers are rebuilding so unlike the other 3, they are not really trying to win right now. That still ends up as a waste of a rookie contract, even if it is obviously necessary. That rookie is Matvei Michkov. NHL entry contracts are a bit of a fluid thing in that Michkov is going to make less than $1m per year to start every season. However, his deal has about $3m in likely to meet incentives for each of those years that will eventually count against the cap. This is all very good because the kid is a stud. Barring him getting salty with the team (IMPOSSIBLE!!!) he has legitimate wearing orange and black into the Hall of Fame potential.

So why is this kinda bad? Well the Flyers have locked up a lot of players. I am not saying they shouldn’t have signed Konecny, Sanheim, Seeler, Farabee, and Tippett, but along with Couturier and multiple corpses they have a lot of money tied up. This is the Sixers “as is” but with a bigger rookie star. Aging average guys wasting the cap space of a legit talent. At least much of what the Flyers have is tradeable and they have more talent in the pipeline.

The It’s Better When You Squint – PHILLIES

The Phillies run an absolutely massive payroll and its, frankly, awesome. Not to be generational, but do 20 somethings have any idea that this team used to be considered cheap??? I digress. We have something to discuss.

Even though the Phillies are going to run out approximately $300m in payroll this year, that money pit is not bottomless. This is not only for actual payroll concerns, but future ones as well. Ideally an MLB roster supplements its free agents and hefty extensions with cheap young talent. For the first 3 years of MLB time, these guys are making the minimum of around $750k per year. The 2 years after that, in the mid-millions, and then finally a nice pay bump in their 6th year that if they are good is in the teen-millions. Think of it like this, if a rookie starts and stays starting for his first 3 years, the team will pay him for those 3 years the same as what Bryce Harper makes in 15 total games. Thats ridiculous value!!! If you can lock down a position for basically a rounding error, you can pay the crap out of other positions of need for years.

The Phillies have made this work. Bryson Stott, Brandon Marsh, Johan Rojas, Orion Kerkering, and Christopher Sanchez made a total of about $3.75m last year (25 games of Harper (not getting down on Harper at all, he has an unbelievable deal, just using as a reference)) along with $4m for Alec Bohm allowed for big contracts everywhere else. This would be great if all those guys were locking down their positions. They haven’t. Sanchez and Kerkering are the only ones on that list close to guaranteed to be back next year. The others have the Phillies searching for upgrades.

Because those guys haven’t become sure thing starters on this team, they may have to be replaced. These positions (especially the outfield) need to be addressed. Is there enough payroll room for another big free agent like Alex Bregman or Teoscar Hernandez? Do we even want that considering they will join a few others with negative value in a few years?

Much has been made this off season about a change needed on this team but because of bigger contracts it is the young guys that have to be on the move. Unfortunately, this all happened a year early. Painter, Aiden Miller, and Justin Crawford and their miniscule payroll figures won’t be here in earnest until 2026. The Phillies almost threaded the needle. Thread the needle? I need an editor.

The “Kelly Green” Gold Standard – EAGLES

A few years ago, the Eagles looked old and bad, completely devoid of young talent. Then Hurts and Mailata hit and we went back to the Super Bowl. Last year they looked like they whiffed on their draft picks and had guaranteed too much money to old guys again and were likely doomed to .500 purgatory. Then the 2024 draft class happened and the 2022 and 2023 classes picked up big time. Now we are absolutely loaded with young talent.

Young talent in the NFL is even more necessary than in baseball because of the salary cap and QB salaries. A QB rookie salary is obviously the most valuable contract in sports if the player is good. The Eagles first round picks will make between $3m and $7m per year for each of their first 4 years. The second rounders will make less than half that. Everyone else, even less. Jordan Davis, Cam Jurgens, Nakobe Dean, Jalen Carter, Nolan Smith, Quinyon Mitchell, and Cooper DeJean are going to make it possible to supplement the roster with talent wherever they need it.

The Sixers vets are failing their youth. The Flyers ascending talent isn’t likely to ascend that far. The Phillies youth is failing their vets. The Eagles have struck the perfect balance of young talent, ascending talent, and veteran talent.