Analytics are good for player contracts, not bad. The Astros proved it.

Like clockwork this time of year, baseball’s Hot Stove season, baseball’s great debate over the fairness of player compensation slides back into the consciousness of media, agents, players, and fans. This year specifically, with numerous Free Agents seemingly held hostage on the open market while everybody waits for Bryce Harper and Manny Machado to sign, the argument rages because there isn’t a whole lot else to talk about in the baseball world.

But what is the argument, exactly? It’s hard to say, sometimes. Some appear to be hinting at owner collusion to depress player salaries. Some seem to have general outrage over MLB’s record profits that they perceive are not trickling down into the…