The Franchise Tag has its pro's and cons for all parties involved. As everyone knows by now, a team can elect to use the tag on one of their free agents 1 time during the length of the CBA (which will last for 3 seasons) and the contract is a 1 season deal for the league average salary + 50%.
What is a little bit funky is that the tag is designed for players to still get a good payday if they're tagged. But since the cap just went up and nobody has signed big deals yet, that tag salary right now would only be about $6.
The problem with the tag for managements is that it naturally makes the player upset and not want to re-sign after the tagged season. And if a good player got tagged before the 28th for a mere $6 while other players just as good as them get to sign for way-way-way more with other teams then you could pretty much kiss the good relations between them and management completely goodbye.
Here's the catch though. There might be a couple teams out there so desperate to hold on to one of their stars they may not care about that at all.
Let's take a look at who some of those might be...
Anaheim Storm / Tyler Hudson: Is Hudson an all-star? Not in JAL 14, but he's a quality hitter and has been the rock for the Storm for the last 2 seasons. It's already been confirmed he's drawing interest from a couple teams. Not using the tag on him could be a risky move by the Storm.
Bay Area Fog / Lucas Myers: The Fog need Lucas Myers, probably more than any other team needs a free agent to return to them. Myers is reportedly interested in exploring his options and it has been confirmed he has already been speaking to outside teams.
San Francisco Cobras / Kevin Johnson: Is Kevin replaceable if he were to leave? Yes, but tagging him keep the dangerous trio of hitters the team has together. The real issue with the Cobras using the tag on him would be the fact that after JAL 15 they wouldn't be able to tag Michael Sullivan if they wanted to.
Ubbelohde Hill underdogs / Adam Clark: The underdogs really can't Clark anymore upset about being on the team than he already is, so what's the harm right? The u-dogs have an awful history of convincing players to come there, so if they strike out big time again in free agency at least they would still have Clark.
Washougal Wrecking Crew / Sean Guthrie: It's likely he won't go anywhere since the Crew is made up of all his close friends. But a couple different teams have already asked for his contact information. If they were to lose Guthrie would Washougal even win 2 out of 6 games next season?
*Free agents that can not be tagged:
Ty Johnson: Is coming off a Franchise Tagged contract and rules state you can't be tagged in back to back contacts.
Nate & Brad Williamson: Rules state a tag must be used by 2 weeks after the season, they became FA's after JAL 13 not 14.
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