Dear EFL Answer Man,

Angel Zerpa was traded, by himself, for Isaac Collins and Nick Mears. Collins debuted in 2024 and is unowned. Mears debuted in 2020, meaning his EFL rookie eligibility ran out in 2025, but he’s still pre-arb going into 2026, as far as I can tell. 

I have Zerpa. Can I accept this trade with Mears’ contract status still unknown? Or will he be a 750k contract?

Thanks,

Mixed-up Macropod

(SPECIAL NOTE FROM MR. ANSWER MAN: Before I could answer this question, I had to identify its source by researching what a “Macropod” is. Literally it obviously means “Big Foot”, but we have no Sasquatches or Yetis in the league. (But why not? Those would be EXCELLENT names for EFL teams!)

So I consulted the internet, where an uninvited AI informed me they are “a diverse group” that “includes well-known animals like … pademelons, quokkas, bettongs, and potoroos.” I hate to break it to these “well-known” animals, but I have never heard of any of them.

Not knowing which of these secretly “well-known” species our “Mixed-up Macropod” might be, I decided to mainly address the other part of this correspondent’s identity.)

Dear Mixed-Up:

Our EFL Rules do not precisely cover this case. We have pretty clear rules for how to pay players we draft. Our rules about traded post-Rookie (ie, veteran) players assume the traded players are under contract. Mears is NOT currently under contract, although he is (according to Baseball Reference) in his second year of arbitration eligibility.

However, the fundamental purpose of our rules is to, as much as possible, put ourselves in the same position as MLB teams. We make exceptions, especially to make our work more manageable by smoothing out uncertainties in our players’ “Rookie” years. But otherwise we go to pretty great lengths to not make our jobs easier than MLB teams’ jobs.

So if you decide Mr. Mears is ripe to become a fellow Pademelon (get it? “ripe”? …melon”? ¹) you will, like any MLB team acquiring him before his arbitration process has finished, run some risk as to what you will have to pay him. You will find out at the same time the Royals do: when his arbitration is resolved (or avoided). If you are a brave bettong man, you’ll be willing to wager that you can afford him.

He might only get a million or two. But if he gets $10,000,000? Then it will suck to be potoroo.

If, amid this confusion, you need more help to discern the honest thing to do, our league has a plethora ² of respected fairly big-footed Quokkas you can consult for wise spiritual discernment.

I hope this helps you become ex-mixed-up.

Sincerely thine,

Mr. EFL Answer Man

—

1. You might tired of the melon jokes. If so, I apologize. It was new to me at the time. ↩︎
2. In the EFL, a “plethora” equals “three.” Flint Hill v. Old Detroit (2025) ↩︎