Alright, so today I got real curious about Clint Frazier’s contract situation after seeing him strike out twice last game. Grabbed my laptop around morning coffee time and started digging. First thing I did was pull up his basic stats from last three seasons – batting average, RBIs, homers, the usual stuff.
My Digging Process Step-by-Step:
Opened five different sports stats tabs like a crazy person. Remembered that injury report from last year where he missed 60 games – pulled up that medical report page too. Then I made this janky spreadsheet comparing:
- Pre-injury numbers (when he was hitting .280)
- Post-injury stats (where he dropped to like .210)
- Salary numbers year by year
Started noticing this pattern – every time his on-base percentage dipped below .300, contract talks stalled. Like clockwork. Then I hunted down local newspaper reports about his latest contract negotiations. Found one where the GM literally said “performance metrics dictate our offer structure” with dollar signs flashing in my eyes.
What Actually Matters
The real kicker? It ain’t just about homers. Teams care about this boring stuff called defensive efficiency and clutch hitting way more than I thought. His errors in right field last month? That’s gonna cost him at least half a mil per error in negotiations next week according to my back-of-napkin math.
Here’s the crazy part – I called my buddy who works in minor league scouting. Dude drops this bomb: “Teams got secret metrics we can’t even see that decide contracts. They track how fast he runs to first on ground balls.” What?! Made me triple-check my own numbers.
Ended up staring at these spreadsheets for four hours straight. Nearly missed my kid’s soccer game because I was obsessing over exit velocity charts. Turns out front offices use this like a report card – good exit velocity gets you paid, bad gets you traded. Simple as that.
