Q&A with Jeff Euston of Cot’s Contracts

By: brockforbriglio.com

Jeff Euston (Founder of Cot’s Contracts) has built one of the most referenced baseball resources on the Internet. Want to know how long Jose Reyes is still cost controlled? What about the special perks associated with Zito’s 7/$126M.M? All of this information can be found at Cot’s Contracts.

Can you share some information about yourself: background, career, etc?

“I’m a baseball fan near Kansas City, and when I’m not following the game, I work as an attorney. I grew up in both KC and St. Louis, so those are the teams I grew up watching. My first baseball memories are playing catch with my dad and being impressed by the size of the big crown scoreboard in KC.

 What was your inspiration for starting Cot’s?

“I started the site in 2005 because I didn’t know of a source where a fan could find out a player’s contract status. Like most fans, my friends have running conversations about how teams should spend money, and we’d get bogged down trying to find out when a player became a free agent or how many years were left on his contract.

I had tracked contracts for a few years, with the thought of possibly working as a player agent. I’d thought about making the information available on-line, and a blog seemed to be an easy format. The site is named for Cotton Tierney, who was my great grandfather’s brother. I have a copy of his 1923 contract with the Phillies. The salary was just $5,000, but many of the other terms are largely the same as those found in the uniform player contract used today.

What fun or interesting opportunities have come your way through Cot’s?

“The site has generated much more of a response than I ever expected. I get feedback every day from everyone from fans, media members and fantasy owners to agents, front office executives and grad students writing dissertations on economics.

It has been fun seeing the site mentioned in a number of places, including Baseball Prospectus, Maury Brown’s bizofbaseball.com web site, SI.com and Bill Simmons’ Page 2 column at ESPN.com.

 What are your long term goals for the site?

“I’d like to eventually include a spreadsheet summary of each team’s financial outlook going forward. I’d also love to catalog more historical contract information for notable players from the past.

 How do you gather gritty details about these seemingly more complex contracts?

“My sources for financial terms are usually Associated Press stories reporting the signings or stories by the local writers who regularly cover a particular team.

The beat writers are a great source for bonuses or perks, but it varies by city. All the details of Johan Santana’s deal were public almost immediately, for example. But the details on an extension for, say, Kansas City’s David DeJesus trickle out a few days later, if at all. I occasionally get tips or specifics from agents or people working in the game. Also, USA Today’s Salary Database is a great source for annual salaries.

 What is one of the most unique contract structures you’ve seen?

“Well, the Rays gave Troy Percival a vintage car this past off-season. The Royals’ ill-fated $55 million extension for Mike Sweeney included a unique clause that guaranteed the final three years if KC finished .500, and, at the other extreme, Curt Schilling had a 2007 option vest when Boston won the 2004 Series. (MLB apparently frowns on those types of clauses now.) Players coming over from Japan routinely get a big package of perks now: flights to and from Japan, translators, massage therapists, a housing allowance. Several veterans have hotel suites on the road written in to their deals. But my favorite is Astros owner Drayton McLane giving Roy Oswalt a bulldozer the year after he won Game 6 of the 2005 NLCS.

What would your best advice be to somebody looking to start a baseball website?

“Write about what interests you, whether it’s a player, a team, statistical analysis, scouting, amateur baseball, fantasy baseball, the draft, the business side of the game or anything else. There are other people out there with the same interests.

What’s one strategy in fantasy baseball that might be underrated or under utilized?

“Well, this isn’t groundbreaking, but a player’s contract status can be an important factor when it comes to playing time opportunities. You might gain a small edge over your competition if you know where a player was drafted, how much an organization has invested in him, how many options he has remaining.

 

I’d like to thank Jeff for his time; both by answering these questions, and building an invaluable resource. Beyond the contractual information at Cot’s Contracts, there’s some great articles, and information about the many different waiver and draft processes in Major League Baseball.

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The idea behind Brock for Broglio is a fantasy baseball resource first; general MLB commentary second. In my opinion, there’s a lot of cross over between the strategy in the real game, and the game we emulate as general managers through our monitors. You can read more about the idea behind Brock for Broglio here. For now, I’d like to Thank You in advance for your attention; it is my hope I can earn it long term. I look forward to sharing future baseball dialogue with you.

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