Process in which amateurs get major-league deals

Sunday, August 17, 2008 | Feedback | Print Entry

Reader Dan B. posed a question to me about the difference between major- and minor-league deals given to amateur players when they sign their first pro contracts:

Take Brian Matusz for example -- he got a four-year MLB deal. How exactly does that work? I know a minor league deal would give a team control over a player for six years. And once he starts collecting service time, it's six years MLB service time before he hits MLB free agency. What happens to Matusz after his four years?

(Note: Matusz, a left-handed pitcher, actually signed a five-year deal running from 2009-2013 with the Baltimore Orioles and also received a signing bonus worth $3.2 million.) There are two different concepts at work here: How long a player is under contract and how long he is under control.  
 

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  • Keith Law Keith Law

    Keith Law joined ESPN.com in June 2006 as the lead baseball analyst for Scouts Inc., covering the majors, minors and amateurs. He appears regularly across the ESPN family of networks, providing analysis on all baseball topics.

    Before joining ESPN, Law spent 4½ years with the Toronto Blue Jays as a special assistant to the general manager, and was previously a writer for Baseball Prospectus. He graduated from Harvard College and holds an MBA from the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon.

    Follow Keith on Twitter: @Keithlaw

    He also writes about food, literature, and other subjects on his personal site, The Dish. Check it out here.

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