There was a time in sports when players were rewarded for their performance on the field. It actually is more logical to pay a player for his potential rather than his resume since that is essentially the period of time for the contract. It does help to have a body of work at the highest level to convince owners and general managers to part with some of their money. Derek Jeter is definitely on the downside of his illustrious career.
Jayson Werth and Carlos Pena have taken a substantial amount of heat in the media for the terms of their contracts, but it should come on the other side of the aisle because management is the side that agreed to the terms.
By Patrick Herbert
Conventional wisdom dictates that teams like the Washington Nationals have to pay a premium for the same player because of their lack of tradition and success in the recent past. They are, however, stockpiling some talent with Stephen Strasburg, Bryce Harper, and Drew Storen. In addition, everyone knows that the wildest party scene is around members of the House and senators, not in South Beach.
The Carlos Pena deal is taking too much criticism because critics are looking at it too simplistically. They immediately see that he hit under .200 last season and come to the conclusion that there is no way that he could be worth eight figures . The reason that it is a better decision than that of the Yankees is because it is only for one season. Another factor is that the most valuable statistic for any offensive player is the run batted in. This is why players like Ryan Howard, Albert Pujols, and Alex Rodriguez typically are paid the most money of everyday players.
They receive substantially more during the life of a contract than a player like Ichiro Suzuki in Seattle. Ichiroโs hit parade over the last decade has been unparalleled, but he only signed his most recent contract for ninety million over five years. Those are exactly the same terms for Torii Hunter down in Anaheim because the latter is able to consistently be a middle of the line-up offensive player.
Derek Jeter had the audacity to call out GM Brian Cashman and the organization as a whole in the media upon signing on the dotted line. He was upset when the proceedings were leaked to the media. Jeter has done a tremendous job of keeping things in-house during his career, but that was before today’s environment of Twitter and Facebook.
The crux of the situation is that Jeter received fifty one million dollars for three years after hitting .270 last year with little power. It is true that he is an extremely motivated person who is the leader in the clubhouse, but the team only pays Joe Girardi three million dollars a season.
Giving this amount to Jeter doesnโt seem like a good investment when they have already been burned by some bad, bloated contracts to veterans in the past. Just because Jorge Posada makes too much money does not mean that Jeter should also.
