Andrew Heaney might be on to something

Phil Gurnee ♦ March 26, 2017 ♦ Leave a comment

Pedro Moura wrote a column yesterday about Andrew Heaney and the unique contract he signed with Fantex that left me wondering if maybe Andrew Heaney started something that might become commonplace.

eighteen months ago, Angels left-hander Andrew Heaney agreed to commit 10% of his future earnings to investors in exchange for $3.34 million up front. It was an unprecedented transaction for a major league player.

This might have been talked to death when he signed the deal but I don’t recall the conversation. What I liked in the story was how Huston Street eventually agreed that maybe this was now an option for players instead of signing team friendly deals that buy out their arbitration years.

I could certainly see this as an option for certain types of players.

1. Pitchers as insurance in case their arms implode before they hit arbitration
2. Allen Craig types who didn’t get the contract Craig got and want to make sure they get something monetary out of their major league career.
3. Players who don’t plan on blowing it all on houses/entourages/blow/girls/cars/jewelry in one year.
4. Players who never got a signing bonus over $1 Million when drafted and have never seen any money yet from their pro career.

Heaney felt his breakeven point was $60 million in career earnings, Street crunched his own numbers and came up with $80 million.

Given that Heaney signed this deal before he knew he was going to have TJ surgery, it looks like his move was a prudent one. He didn’t pitch much in 2016 before discovering his elbow ailment and is expected to miss all of 2017. It is very possible that Andrew Heaney may never get a large major league payday and the odds of him ever earning $60 Million over his career are now longer than they were eighteen months ago when it looked like he was going to be a mainstay in the Angel rotation for at least the next five years.

Just a quick review of Dodgers on the 40 man roster, I could see several Dodgers who might want to check out this route.

Brock Stewart

Grant Dayton

Andrew Toles

Anyway, the whole thing intrigued me. I can understand eschewing any type of insurance and bet on oneself, but injuries have waylaid many a confident baseball player. It just might be that getting the best of both worlds is the right option. An immediate payday for a % of your lifetime earnings. I’d like to meet the person who was the first one to suggest this to an agent. Bold move Cotton.